The Montreal Canadiens set an NHL record for the fastest two goals scored by one team Thursday night against the Washington Capitals, according to NHL Public Relations.

Max Domi notched the go-ahead goal off the rush with 22 seconds left in the game.

Trailing with little time left, the Caps pulled their goalie. Immediately off the ensuing faceoff, Joel Armia scored to put the Habs into the record books.

The Canadiens moved to 7-3-2 with their victory, good for third place in the Atlantic Division.

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The Ottawa Senators have sent rookie forward Alex Formenton back to his junior club, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, general manager Pierre Dorion told TSN 1200 following Thursday night's game.

The 19-year-old played in nine of the Senators' opening 12 games, where he recorded just one goal on 16 shots. By returning Formenton down prior to him playing in his 10th game of the season, the team won't burn the first year of his entry-level contract.

Formenton was drafted in the second round, 47th overall, in 2017. Last season, he recorded 29 goals and 48 points in as many games with the Knights.

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BUFFALO - Turning around to face a reporter after sliding his helmet onto the top shelf of his KeyBank Center stall, it took Jack Eichel milliseconds to reply to a question about Rasmus Dahlin’s adjustment to the NHL.

“I think he’s been pretty good,” the Sabres captain and No. 1 center told theScore. “You watch our games? He’s been pretty good, eh?”

While it was a run-of-the-mill quote, Eichel’s body language said something different. A straight face and suggestive eyes accompanied the second “pretty good," as if Eichel was downplaying Dahlin in an effort to keep the rookie’s rising stock under wraps a tad longer.

It was the look a person gives when they know something and you don't.

“He’s been as advertised. He’s been tremendous,” Eichel said following some prodding. “If he’s not one of the best defensemen in the NHL in a few years, I’d be extremely surprised.”

In selecting Dahlin with the No. 1 pick this past June, the Sabres - who have been entrenched in Rebuild 2.0 ever since Jason Botterill took over for Tim Murray as general manager a year and a half ago - landed the perfect piece to complement Eichel. Armed with an 18-year-old future franchise defenseman and a 22-year-old star center, second-year bench boss Phil Housley now has premier building blocks at two key positions.

The early returns are promising, too. The Sabres recorded at least one point in eight of their 12 games in October, and Dahlin whistled past the nine-game rookie audition period. Appearing in every contest and earning 19 minutes per outing, he's been showcasing a diverse toolbox headlined by breezy skating.

“Effortless. Floating. At the same time, so fast, so powerful,” veteran winger Jason Pominville said of Dahlin’s trademark skill. “It doesn’t seem like he’s really breaking a sweat when he gets moving out there. It’s fun to watch, but sometimes it’s frustrating as players. You’re like, ‘How does he do that!?’ He just blows by guys.”

Pominville and the rest of the hockey world were acutely aware of Dahlin’s tantalizing abilities long before the 2018-19 season began. Since opening night, the team has transitioned from drooling over his offensive wizardry to being enthralled by the nuanced contributions Dahlin brings. Yes, he's far from a finished product, but the big Swedish blue-liner, who's recorded a goal and three assists, is on his way to mastering the small things.

“Maybe in the first five games he was a little hesitant, didn’t want to mess up, didn’t want to turn the puck over,” defenseman Jake McCabe said prior to a game against the Canadiens on Oct. 25. “But, with how much skill and talent he has, you can tell he’s starting to go back to his instincts and let those take over. These next 10-to-20 games, he’s really going to take off.”

As for those subtleties - the plays you might not notice unless you’re really glued into the action - well, for starters, Dahlin has flashed some impressive dexterity when handling the puck. He tends to shift his weight from one leg to the other and enjoys mixing in a head shake or two.

Below, focus on No. 26 in white, the guy holding the line at the bottom right of the screen. He's in constant motion, even while not skating forward:

Known for always playing with his head up and banking 80 Swedish Hockey League games before coming to North America, Dahlin says the shimmy-shake has been part of his arsenal for a while now.

“It’s an old thing. It’s helpful,” said the modest, soft-spoken teen who spent part of his minor hockey career playing forward.

Center Casey Mittelstadt doesn’t care if it’s second nature to Dahlin, he’s still impressed.

“It looks small, but it sends most guys in an absolute twirl,” he said.

Similar to how young snipers Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, and fellow rookie Elias Pettersson are finding new ways to score by firing the puck from different release points and angles, Dahlin is also incorporating an element of unpredictability to his game.

While less boisterous than, say, a quick-twitch snap shot from Matthews, those Dahlin fakes - which seem to emerge mostly when he’s quarterbacking the first power-play unit - serve a similar purpose.

“Deception is one of his best assets - getting a forward leaning the wrong way and going around him, or making no-look passes on the tape, or getting pucks through guys’ sticks,” McCabe said, later praising the rookie's hockey sense.

“It’s also a mental thing,” added fellow defenseman Casey Nelson, stopping to snap his fingers. “He just comes on very quick to things, just gets it, you know what I mean? He’s a very smart hockey player.”

Dahlin’s elite hockey brain has given Housley and assistant Steve Smith - who runs the defense - lineup flexibility. It's extremely rare for a defenseman his age to play regular minutes in the NHL, as entering the season Aaron Ekblad, Jakob Chychrun and Dahlin's teammate, Zach Bogosian, stood as the only 18-year-old rookie blue-liners to dress in more than seven NHL games during the salary-cap era. Even better, Dahlin can also be moved up and down the depth chart and not miss a beat.

Some might suggest the absence of a consistent partner reflects poorly on Dahlin, perhaps hinting he's difficult to play with. Housley and Smith would disagree.

Dahlin’s seven-game stint with McCabe, for instance, illustrated the youngster’s adaptability.

“Quite frankly, we asked Jake to go to the right side and Dahlin to go on the left,” Smith said of the now-injured McCabe, who, like Dahlin, shoots left. “We found Jake was struggling a little bit on the right side, so we put him back on the left side and his game took off. It didn’t matter where Dahlin was; he was playing just as well on both sides of the ice.”

“I actually like the right side a lot,” Dahlin said, eliciting images of Red Wings great Nicklas Lidstrom. “I can play both, so it doesn’t matter.”

The Sabres' defense has been struggling for years, finishing 29th, 21st, 15th, 29th, 25th, and 23rd in goals against since the 2012-13 lockout. In shots against, they’ve ranked 21st, 30th, 22nd, 30th, 28th, and 30th. Though part of the problem can be traced back to poor goaltending, the core issue has been defensive personnel.

Enter Dahlin, a spunky three-zone player from Trollhattan who genuinely cares about defending. Suddenly, Buffalo's defense has a second player worthy of top-pairing minutes. Over time, Rasmus Ristolainen, who's been tasked with carrying the group for the past few years, should be able to breathe a little easier.

Dahlin, who has a 52.2% Corsi rating heading into Thursday night's game against the Senators, asserted himself physically during his debut NHL shift, engaging with Bruins power forward Jake DeBrusk before he could hit the hash marks.

There's a difference between making a big hit for the sake of making a big hit, and making a big hit when the situation calls for physical force. Dahlin often opts for swiping at pucks with his stick while gaining a positional advantage through his efficient lateral movements.

“He’s a guy who is reliable defensively because of his skating, because of how good his stick is,” Pominville said. “He can get away with (riskier pinches) because of that - even if he gets caught, he can still get back.”

Added Smith: “When we first drafted him here, everybody - of course - had an opinion. And I remember listening to a guy who I do respect an awful lot in the game, (NHL Hall of Famer) Denis Potvin. ‘Teach this kid defense first, the offense will come.’ The crazy part is, this kid is so sound defensively that we’re almost pushing him in the other direction.”

Here, Dahlin beats the Calgary forward to a loose puck along the boards and immediately hits teammate Tage Thompson with a clean backhand chip pass:

No edginess was needed, and the crisis was averted through subtle movement.

That combination of heads-up defense, quick decision making, and next-level skating makes Dahlin dangerous to the opposition. Excellent at anticipating what may happen a second or two down the line, the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder selectively activates, cruising through the neutral zone and into the far end of the rink to support Sabres rushes.

“When the situation comes up,” Dahlin said, “I will try to do something. But (I try to) not force it.”

That part of his game proved vital when Dahlin scored his lone NHL goal, a tap-in against Arizona. He weaved his way to the red line before dishing to crafty puck-carrier Jeff Skinner. Following Skinner's drive to the net, Dahlin buries the rebound amid a group of defenders.

Twelve games in, Dahlin is a work in progress. There are shifts when he looks precisely 18 years old (maybe that's why he wasn't named a finalist for Rookie of the Month in October?), and there's a chance he'll hit the dreaded rookie wall at some point, considering he's never completed an 82-game season.

Then again, no matter what transpires between the boards, whether it’s during practice or a game, Dahlin wants to learn more. That aspect of his personality blows away Smith, who was an NHL defenseman himself from 1985 to 2001, and said the young D-man is showing a "thirst for knowledge."

“I find that his maturity is overwhelming for such a young player," he said, later adding, "It's after every shift. He’s not adverse to turning around and saying, ‘Hey, was I OK there? Should I have been there?’ Sometimes I’m initiating, sometimes he’s initiating.”

A projected superstar with a willingness to learn after every shift? What a start.

“I think it’s sorta scary to think about how good he’s going to be in the future,” Skinner said.

“We’re super lucky to have him,” Eichel said, this time cracking the slightest smile.

John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.

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Bobby Orr isn't optimistic the NHL will be able to avoid a fourth lockout since 1994.

"My gut feeling is I'd be surprised if there's not," Orr said this week, according to The Canadian Press. "I hope there isn't. But it's going to be a tough one."

After the most recent lockout in 2013, the NHL and NHLPA signed a 10-year collective bargaining agreement, but both sides own the right to opt out next September. Should that happen, a renegotiation would be required prior to the 2020-21 season, rather than before 2022-23.

Olympic participation and escrow are reportedly among the most pressing issues for the players in the current CBA.

"I think there are concerns (with the current CBA) on both sides." Orr added. "I hope I'm wrong. We don't need another lockout.

"We've got it going now. It would be a shame to put it on the back burner."

Though his playing days are long gone, Orr remains linked to several current players as the head of Orr Hockey Group, an agency that represents superstars Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, among others.

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Slava Voynov has formally applied to the NHL to be reinstated.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said on Thursday that the league will now decide whether to permit the former Los Angeles Kings defenseman to return.

"We’re in (the) process of an intense factual investigation," Daly said, according to The Fourth Period's Dennis Bernstein. "I’m not in a position to give (a) timeline. When (the) investigation is done, (the) commissioner (Gary Bettman) will deal with his application for reinstatement."

The investigation will include witnesses, and Bettman has the right to issue a further suspension upon its conclusion, according to Sportsnet.

Voynov was arrested in fall 2014, and a police report said he punched, kicked and choked his wife, Marta Varlamova. He was convicted on a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge in 2015, and then sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of corporal injury to a spouse.

The Kings terminated his contract shortly thereafter, and Voynov left for Russia in September 2015. He's been playing for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL ever since.

A judge dismissed his conviction in July, opening the door for NHL reinstatement.

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A woman has filed a lawsuit against San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane alleging he failed to follow through on an agreement to pay her $3 million to abort their baby - an accusation Kane's lawyer insists is "baseless."

The lawsuit, claiming a breach of contract, was first reported by TMZ Sports on Wednesday.

Kane's lawyer issued a statement on Thursday, which was obtained by Kevin Kurz of The Athletic:

We've received notice of the filing of a lawsuit by someone referred to as Jane Doe alleging a breach of contract against Evander Kane. We firmly believe that this lawsuit is baseless both factually and legally. We will aggressively defend this claim in court on Evander's behalf and assert all applicable counterclaims.

According to TMZ, the woman's lawsuit states that she and Kane had a relationship dating back to 2015, and that after a third pregnancy - which followed two abortions - Kane started "bullying" her and ultimately offered her $3 million to get an abortion. The woman says she did so, but that she never received the money. She's now suing for more than $6 million over the allegedly neglected payment and other damages.

Kane, 27, signed a seven-year, $49-million contract with the Sharks in the offseason.

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The NHL is poised for more European excursions in 2019-20, as commissioner Gary Bettman announced tentative plans Thursday for the league to host games in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland, according to Brian Compton of NHL.com.

Bettman said Prague and Stockholm will host regular-season games, while cities in Germany and Switzerland will get preseason contests, according to The Fourth Period's Dennis Bernstein. Dates and the potential teams involved haven't been determined.

The Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers are currently in Finland for a two-game slate, while the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils each played an exhibition match in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, before opening their regular season in Gothenburg, Sweden. All these events were part of the NHL Global Series, which began in 2017.

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Cory Schneider's bid to reclaim the New Jersey Devils' crease begins Thursday night.

The goaltender will start against the Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey head coach John Hynes confirmed Thursday morning, according to NJ.com's Chris Ryan.

Schneider missed the first eight games of the season while recovering from hip surgery that he underwent in May.

Keith Kinkaid performed admirably in Schneider's absence, but then allowed seven goals in Tuesday's 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Schneider made five saves on six shots in relief of Kinkaid in that contest, the 32-year-old's first appearance of the campaign.

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Scoring is up across the league to begin the year, but that doesn't mean goaltenders haven't been posting monster numbers. Here are the early front-runners for the Vezina Trophy after the first month of the 2018-19 NHL season.

5. Jaroslav Halak, Boston Bruins

He's not the Bruins goalie you might expect to make this list, but through six games this season Jaroslav Halak is playing incredibly well.

The veteran netminder was brought in to be Tuukka Rask's backup, and now he's stolen starts while going 4-0-2 with a .947 save percentage and a 1.51 goals-against average, putting him second and first in those categories, respectively, among goalies who have appeared in at least five games this season.

If he can maintain that level of play, which has also included two shutouts, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy will face a very difficult decision.

4. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

Andrei Vasilevskiy has been nearly perfect to begin the season, posting a 6-1-1 record through eight games.

Following a 2017-18 campaign that ended with Vasilevskiy receiving his first career Vezina Trophy nomination, it appears the 24-year-old could once again contend for the award. He's posted a 1.98 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage, marks that rank third and sixth league-wide.

The Lightning's offense is beginning to hit its stride, which will make Vasilevskiy's job easier. He could hit the 40-win plateau for the second straight year.

3. Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota Wild

The Wild sit just two points outside of the top spot in the Central Division, even though the club is averaging the ninth-fewest goals per game.

Devan Dubnyk has been a rock between the pipes and is driving the team's success. The 32-year-old has recorded a goals-against average of 2.19 and a .937 save percentage. He's given up two or fewer goals in six of his nine games played. Even more impressively, Dubnyk has also faced the third-most shots in the league.

If he keeps this up, Minnesota should earn its seventh straight postseason berth.

2. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks

No goalie has faced more rubber than John Gibson, with an average of 38.4 shots per game directed his way. He appears to be the sole reason for the Ducks still being within reach of the Pacific Division lead.

Opposing teams are outshooting Anaheim by roughly 14 shots per game this season, but the Ducks are still just three points back of the division-leading San Jose Sharks. Gibson's 9.38 goals saved above average leads the league, and he's also produced a league-leading 84 high-danger saves, which is 26 more than the next-closest goalie.

Few players have been more valuable to their team than Gibson. He could be in the running for the Hart Trophy if he can drag the Ducks into the playoffs.

1. Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche

Semyon Varlamov has faced 262 shots over his first eight games of the season, and just 13 pucks have gone past him.

He's the league's save-percentage leader with a mark of .950, and Varlamov ranks fifth in 5-on-5 high-danger save percentage. His stellar play is helping the Avalanche challenge for the top spot in the crowded Central Division.

Colorado brought in former Washington Capitals backup Philipp Grubauer this offseason, with the hope he would challenge for the starting role. But after Varlamov's scorching start, it appears the net is his until further notice.

(Analytics courtesy: Natural Stat Trick)

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