Starting goaltenders Craig Anderson and Thomas Greiss both failed to make it out of the second period in a game between the Senators and Islanders that was reminiscent of 1980s hockey Friday night in Brooklyn.
Anderson was pulled in favor of backup Mike Condon after a Jason Chimera breakaway goal gave the Isles a 5-4 lead just 8:40 into the second frame. About three minutes later, Greiss was yanked for Jaroslav Halak after Mike Hoffman scored to even the game at five apiece.
While scoring is indeed up throughout the league, 5-5 games midway through the second period are still exceptionally rare, but the fans certainly won't complain.
Malkin returns as the club gets set to take on the Buffalo Sabres in a home-and-home series this weekend after missing the last four games with an upper-body injury.
Of course, Malkin will surely give the Penguins a shot in the arm as he has been his usual productive self this season when healthy, posting 21 points in 22 games.
The 31-year-old missed the last three games with what the team initially called a lower-body injury, and was moved to the injured reserve Wednesday.
The ailment is a nagging issue that Versteeg has dealt with over the years, but recently re-aggravated against the Dallas Stars last Friday.
"He'd had some history with the hip,'' Flames general manager Brad Treliving said, according to team insider George Johnson. "He tweaked it. He zigged when he should've zagged.
"It's not something like he blocks a shot and you have a bruise there, or somebody hit him and that caused the problem.
"He turned and got jammed up and put stress on the joint. What we're dealing with is a hip labrum issue."
Versteeg has tallied just three goals and eight points in 22 games, but has served well on the Flames' power play, recording one goal and five points with the extra man.
MacKinnon wrapped the month with five goals and 15 assists in 20 contests. The stretch included seven multi-point games, plus a career-high five-point outing against the Washington Capitals on Nov. 16. MacKinnon sits first in Avalanche scoring with 28 points in 23 games.
In 12 November appearances, Andersen posted a 9-2-1 record alongside a 2.14 goals-against average and .938 save percentage. The Maple Leafs netminder also picked up back-to-back shutouts against the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens.
Schenn finished the month with seven goals and 12 assists in 12 games. The Blues forward saw four multi-point games in November. He also notched back-to-back game-winning goals against the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. Schenn has 30 points in 25 games this season.
The Chicago Blackhawks placed starting netminder Corey Crawford on injured reserve on Friday with an undisclosed injury, the team announced.
Crawford played all 60:51 of the Blackhawks' loss Thursday to the Dallas Stars, but seemed to be laboring near the end of the game. No official update on his status was provided.
In a corresponding roster move, Chicago recalled goaltender Jean-Francois Berube from the AHL's Rockford Icehogs.
Crawford has an 11-7-2 record along with a 2.29 goals-against average and .930 save percentage across 21 games this season. Meanwhile, Berube has experienced an up-and-down year in Rockford, registering a 6-6-0 record and two shutouts.
Boeser's scored 13 goals with 12 assists in 23 games to lead the rookie class, but there's also some obvious value in players like Barzal, Hischier, and DeBrincat, who have all shown flashes of offensive brilliance.
Running an NHL team can be an extremely thankless gig.
Sure, a multimillion-dollar paycheck should help soothe the stress of having your job security threatened and your competency questioned every day, but that doesn't change the fact that building a winning hockey club can be a grueling long-term project.
Few general managers know what that's like better than the much-maligned Kevin Cheveldayoff, who's watched his reputation get dragged through the mud over the course of his seven seasons in the Winnipeg Jets' front office.
Now, however, it's being rinsed clean, and the redemption of both Cheveldayoff and the team comes down to patience: his patience in waiting for the Jets' young guns to start performing, and the patience of ownership in allowing its GM to see out his plan.
Ask any NHL executive: Stanley Cup-winning teams are - ideally - built from within. Take, for example, the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings - three teams that won their recent championships on the backs of talents they developed in-house.
Cheveldayoff is doing his best to put Winnipeg in the same position, and the team's lineup is stacked with players he had a direct hand in drafting.
Here's a list of the homegrown talent powering the Jets' assault on the top of the standings:
Player (position)
Draft year
Draft position
Mark Scheifele (C)
2011
1st round/7th overall
Adam Lowry (C)
2011
3rd round/67th overall
Jacob Trouba (D)
2012
1st round/9th overall
Connor Hellebuyck (G)
2012
5th round/130th overall
Josh Morrissey (D)
2013
1st round/13th overall
Andrew Copp (C)
2013
4th round/104th overall
Nikolaj Ehlers (LW)
2014
1st round/9th overall
Kyle Connor (LW)
2015
1st round/17th overall
Patrik Laine (RW)
2016
1st round/2nd overall
After looking over this list, it's not so much of a surprise that Winnipeg's currently just one point adrift from a tie with the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Western Conference.
Of course, Cheveldayoff had the privilege of drafting three of those players in the first round, but that's no guarantee of overnight success, and Hellebuyck, Trouba, and Morrissey are just starting to hit their strides.
Since Cheveldayoff took the helm in 2011 - when True North Sports and Entertainment bought the team and moved it from Atlanta to Winnipeg - the Jets have qualified for the playoffs only once. It's understandable that fans in the Peg have taken turns calling for the firing of both the GM and head coach Paul Maurice.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Repeat losing seasons usually lead a team to clean house or at least fire a coach. Ownership went in the opposite direction, though, awarding Maurice and Cheveldayoff multi-year contract extensions in September.
While many observers scratched their heads, that move is looking better with each Jets victory.
Cheveldayoff's patience is paying off with a young core that now includes the likes of Laine, Scheifele, and Ehlers - three players whose ability suggests they can carry the team deep into the postseason.
A stacked lineup of homegrown players is garnering Winnipeg serious Stanley Cup buzz for the first time in years, and Cheveldayoff deserves credit for his work in putting that star-studded group on the ice.
Four former NHLers will be inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation's Hall of Fame in 2018.
The inductees include Chris Chelios, Daniel Alfredsson, Rob Blake, and Jere Lehtinen. The induction ceremony will take place May 19 in Copenhagen.
A three-time Norris Trophy winner, Chelios tallied 948 points over 26 seasons to sit second all-time among American blue-liners. His 1,651 career games ranks sixth in NHL history. Chelios won the Stanley Cup once with the Montreal Canadiens and twice with the Detroit Red Wings.
Alfredsson, a former Ottawa Senators captain, is the franchise leader in several categories, including goals (426), assists (682), and points (1,108). In 1996, Alfredsson won the Calder Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year. He led the Senators to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007.
Blake's decorated career included a Norris Trophy win in 1998 while with the Los Angeles Kings. He then won the Stanley Cup in 2001 as part of the Colorado Avalanche. He played 805 games with Los Angeles, where his 494 points ranks first by a Kings defenseman. Blake currently serves as general manager of the Kings.
A three-time Selke Trophy winner, including back-to-back wins in 1998 and 1999, Lehtinen was an exceptional defensive forward who provided value at both ends of the ice. He won the Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999, a season in which he collected 52 points en route to the Selke.
Teemu Selanne, Joe Sakic, and Saku Koivu were among last year's inductees to the IIHF Hall of Fame.
Chuck Greenberg still desires to become an NHL owner.
The Texas businessman and former co-owner of the Texas Rangers remains interested in gaining a majority interest in the Carolina Hurricanes and continues to put together investors in order to submit a bid.
Peter Karmanos Jr., the owner of the Hurricanes, hopes to sell the team for as much as $500 million.
"In late September, we had made a lot of progress getting the equity, but we weren't all the way there," Greenberg told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. "Pete told me he felt the value had gone up, and he wanted to test the market by talking to other buyers.
"Since that time, the last eight or nine weeks, (Karmanos) and his representatives have been talking to other buyers. I've been talking to other potential investors."
In September, Karmanos questioned whether Greenberg had the financial backing to buy the club, while on Wednesday, reports revealed a fellow Texas businessman, Thomas Dundon, is in discussions to secure ownership of the team.
Greenberg previously had a letter of intent to buy the team from Karmanos, however Hurricanes president Don Waddell indicated that agreement has since expired.
"If he came back to the table, he would be one of the pursuers," Waddell said. "Right now we're meeting with other groups and talking to other people. It's wide open."
Still, Greenberg remains hopeful.
"We're still very much in the process," Greenberg added. "It hasn’t been sold yet, and we'll see what happens."
Karmanos purchased the then-Hartford Whalers in 1994 and relocated the team to North Carolina three years later. A sale to Dundon or Greenberg, or another buyer, would be conditional on the team remaining in Raleigh.
Vancouver Canucks rookie Brock Boeser was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for November on Friday after racking up 11 goals and five assists in 15 games.
Even more impressive, Boeser paced the league with 11 goals in the month, becoming only the second Canucks rookie to hit double digits in goals in a calendar month. The other was Pavel Bure, who had 12 tallies in March 1992.
Through 23 contests this season, Boeser leads all rookies in scoring with 13 goals and 12 assists.
