Coyotes’ Schmaltz out remainder of season with lower-body injury

Arizona Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz will miss the remainder of the season with a lower-body injury, the team announced.

The news is a big blow for the Coyotes, as Schmaltz - who has been out since Dec. 30 - was given an original prognosis of week to week.

Since joining the team from the Chicago Blackhawks via trade Nov. 25, Schmaltz had been red-hot, tallying five goals and 14 points in 17 games.

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Truck driver in Humboldt crash pleads guilty to all charges

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the transport truck driver involved in the April 2018 crash with the Humboldt Broncos' team bus, pleaded guilty to all charges against him Tuesday, according to The Canadian Press.

Sixteen people, including 10 players, were killed in the crash and 13 were injured. Sidhu's charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 charges of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The case has been adjourned until Jan. 28, when sentencing will begin.

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Blues’ Binnington shuts out Flyers in 1st NHL start

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko scored and Jordan Binnington stopped 25 shots in his first NHL start to lead the St. Louis Blues past the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on Monday night in a listless game between two of the worst teams in the league.

The Blues' win gave them 38 points and moved them past Los Angeles out of last place in the Western Conference. Only Ottawa has fewer points than the Flyers (36) in the East after Philadelphia's seventh straight loss. Both teams fired their coaches this season.

Schenn scored his ninth goal of the season on a rebound off the Carter Hart's pads 41 seconds into the second period for the 1-0 lead. Tarasenko scored midway through the third to become the 20th active player to score against 30 other teams while playing for one franchise.

Binnington, a third-round pick in the 2011 draft, made the lead stand and needed to make only eight saves in the third. David Perron scored an empty-netter in the final minutes.

The 25-year-old Binnington had played just two games in mop-up duty this season behind Jake Allen. He was sent to the minors in December to keep fresh and earned three wins with a shutout to earn AHL player of the week honors. He was called up - and got the call to start against the hapless Flyers.

''It's whole different feel,'' Binnington said at morning skate. ''You can do your own routines and know you're starting the game off and you can dictate the whole game.''

Binnington wasn't challenged much in a half-empty Wells Fargo Center. Once of the NHL's loudest and craziest buildings, the crowds have dwindled with each defeat and the few fans that showed on Monday mostly sat on their hands and booed.

The exception came when Gritty - their popular, googily-eyed mascot - wore a blindfold ''Bird Box'' style and kicked a Nerf football into the stands on a field-goal attempt as part of the ''Cody Parkey Challenge.'' The Chicago Bears kicker had a field goal blocked in the final seconds that gave the Philadelphia Eagles a 16-15 upset win in an NFC wild-card playoff win. Flyers fans roared, breaking into the ''Fly! Eagles! Fly!'' fight song when Parkey's missed kick was shown on the video screen.

This is how sad the season has become for the Flyers - the fans can only cheer for other team's highlights. They used to root for Schenn when he starred for the Flyers for six seasons. He scored 59 points in 2015-16 and 55 points the next season before he was traded for the Blues. The Flyers had another reminder of better days on the Blues bench: coach Craig Berube led the Flyers to the playoffs in 2014 and was fired the following the season. The Flyers fired his successor, Dave Hakstol, last month and have failed to win a playoff series since 2012.

The Flyers have scored only 12 goals over their seven-game losing streak, their longest losing streak since they went 0-5-5 over November-December last season.

NOTES: Blues F Alexander Steen left with an undisclosed injury. ... Blues C Tyler Bozak missed the game with the flu.

UP NEXT

Blues: Host Dallas on Tuesday.

Flyers: Play Tuesday at Washington.

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Canadiens’ Agostino ejected for late hit on Wild’s Fehr

Montreal Canadiens forward Kenny Agostino received a game misconduct for a late hit on Minnesota Wild forward Eric Fehr on Monday night.

Fehr appeared to hit his face off the top edge of the boards. It's somewhat familiar to Claude Lemieux's infamous hit on Kris Draper in the 1996 Western Conference Finals.

Wild defenseman Nick Seeler came to the defense of his teammate, fighting Agostino and receiving an instigator penalty.

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Predators’ Forsberg returns after 17-game absence

Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg is in the lineup Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs after missing the last 17 games with an upper-body injury.

Forsberg had 14 goals and 22 points in 26 games prior to the injury he suffered on Nov. 29.

Nashville went 8-7-2 without its top forward in the lineup.

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Bergevin: Canadiens not in rental market, may trade veterans

Despite a surprising first half that has the Montreal Canadiens just a point out of a playoff spot, general manager Marc Bergevin doesn't foresee making a big splash at the trade deadline to improve his club.

"I don't think I'll be in the rental business," Bergevin said at a press conference Monday, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

He added he's already considered the possibility of trading away veterans for future assets at the deadline, according to Basu.

Bergevin isn't keen on giving up long-term assets for short-term gain, in part because he knows GMs around the league would inquire about Montreal's impressive group of prospects who dazzled at the World Junior Championship, according to TSN's John Lu.

United States forward Ryan Poehling, a 2017 first-rounder, was named tournament MVP, while Russian blue-liner Alexander Romanov, a 2018 second-rounder, took home top defenseman honors. The Canadiens had five other prospects participate in the tournament: forwards Jesse Ylonen (Finland), Nick Suzuki (Canada), Jacob Olofsson (Sweden), defenseman Josh Brook (Canada), and goaltender Cayden Primeau (United States).

Even if the Habs were to part with one or more of these prized prospects to make the postseason as a wild-card team, they'd likely find themselves with a tough first-round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, or Pittsburgh Penguins.

In the more realistic scenario where the Canadiens sell off veterans to acquire future assets, there probably wouldn't be a whole lot available for other teams. Their list of pending unrestricted free agents over the next two years isn't all that enticing:

Player Pos. UFA year
Kenny Agostino F 2019
Matthew Peca F 2020
Nicolas Deslauriers F 2020
Michael Chaput F 2020
Jordie Benn D 2019
David Schlemko D 2020
Antti Niemi G 2019

It's also possible that Bergevin stands pat at the deadline. In what was supposed to be a re-tooling year, the Canadiens trail the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders by a point in the wild-card race and are just three points behind the Boston Bruins for third place in the Atlantic Division.

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Price skipping All-Star Game for extra rest

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price will not participate in the upcoming All-Star Game, opting instead to use the break for rest, the team announced on Monday.

"We took the time to discuss the situation with Carey and the medical group earlier today, and we all agreed that the best decision for him would be to rest and recuperate during the upcoming All-Star Break. Carey has had a nagging injury for some time, and we want to make sure to have him healthy and rested for the second half of the season," Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said.

Price is the second All-Star to skip the festivities, joining Alex Ovechkin. Per league policy, both players must serve a one-game suspension for missing the event after being selected.

The veteran has made 31 starts, posting a .908 save percentage this season. But Price said earlier in January he's been battling through a lower-body injury for about seven weeks. His health down the stretch is imperative to the Canadiens' success. The team sits just one point out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference entering Monday's games.

With Price out, the Atlantic Division squad needs a new representative between the pipes to suit up alongside Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings.

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