Bobby Ryan made the most of his return to Canadian Tire Centre.

The veteran forward played in front of Ottawa Senators fans Thursday night for the first time since he entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program, and he recorded a hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Ryan scored in the first period before adding two more in the third to wrap up an incredible performance. He also had a fight in the contest and was named the first star.

The 32-year-old was noticeably emotional on the bench afterward as the home crowd and his teammates gave him a rousing ovation.

"I knew Ottawa, being the community it is, that the reception would be good," Ryan told Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas after the win. "It just got harder to keep the emotions down throughout the game."

Ryan was also asked if he believes in hockey gods after his unforgettable evening.

"Yeah, I do." Ryan said. "But I didn't think I'd be on their good side for everything that's gone on in my personal life for the last little while. I guess they granted me some reprieve and gave me a good night."

Ryan took a leave from the Senators on Nov. 20 and returned to the club's lineup on the road Tuesday versus the Nashville Predators. The 2005 second overall pick had posted 551 points in 826 career games entering Thursday's contest.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly interview-style podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's national hockey writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Josh Smith, founder of ScoutingTheRefs.com, joins this week's show to discuss a variety of topics, including:

• David Ayres and emergency backups
• Regular season vs. playoff officiating
• Should Chara get special treatment?
• Kane ripping Department of Player Safety
• Most obvious changes to NHL rulebook

... and more

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Seattle's NHL franchise is looking to hire a head coach earlier than initially expected, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."

"When (general manager) Ron Francis was thinking about his first head coach, he thought he would hire him between January and June of '21," LeBrun said. "Well now, he has cleared it with ownership that he can go out and hire a coach as early as this summer."

Seattle hasn't been linked to any hires at this point, but there are plenty of high-profile coaches potentially available due to a slew of firings across the league this season.

Mike Babcock, Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette, and Bruce Boudreau could all be candidates for the NHL's 32nd team.

Seattle will take the ice for the 2021-22 season.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Vegas Golden Knights signed forward William Carrier to a four-year contract extension with an average annual value of $1.4 million, the team announced Thursday.

Carrier, 25, is on the final year of his current deal and was set to become a restricted free agent on July 1.

The 6-foot-2 winger has recorded seven goals and a career-best 18 points through 65 games this season, his third with the Golden Knights. He also ranks second on the club and sixth in the league with 199 hits.

Vegas selected Carrier during the 2017 expansion draft.

With Carrier signed, forwards Chandler Stephenson, Nick Cousins, and Nicolas Roy, along with defenseman Zach Whitecloud, are the team's remaining restricted free agents heading into this summer.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano will be a game-time decision for Thursday's pivotal contest against the Nashville Predators, the team announced.

The Flames captain has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since Feb. 4, missing the club's last 10 games.

Giordano is Calgary's defensive backbone. He's logged a team-high 23:57 of ice time per game this season and leads the club with 136 blocked shots while contributing 27 points through 54 contests.

The Flames have gone 6-4-0 in Giordano's absence and will enter Thursday's action with a two-point lead over Nashville for the first Western Conference wild-card spot.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion wants defenseman Mark Borowiecki to finish his career in the nation's capital.

"We hope to make Mark Borowiecki a Senator for life," Dorion said Thursday morning on TSN Radio 1200 Ottawa.

The 30-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and Dorion says he's begun discussing an extension with Borowiecki's agents.

The rearguard is enjoying a career-best season in 2019-20, recording seven goals and 18 points in 53 games. With the Senators in the midst of a rebuild, Dorion assured the veteran he wouldn't be moved ahead of the trade deadline.

"I told Borowiecki sometime in December he wasn’t going to be traded,” Dorion said, according to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch. “There’s got to be a human side to how we do our business here and everyone here knows that Mark and his wife were expecting their first child.

“To get the return that we probably would have gotten wasn’t worth it," Dorion said. "We wanted Mark to be here until the end of the year and possibly talk contract negotiations moving forward because we really like what he brings to our team and how he shows our younger kids how to play and how he practices hard every day and those are key elements for us in the rebuild.”

The Senators selected Borowiecki in the fifth round in 2008. The Ottawa native is the second-longest tenured player on the club behind netminder Craig Anderson.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

In the fifth edition of theScore's Norris Trophy Power Rankings, a new defenseman enters the mix.

5. Shea Theodore

Theodore cracks this list for the first time. The 24-year-old is enjoying a breakout season in his third campaign with the Golden Knights. He's logging the most ice time of his career and has already set a new personal best in points. Unfortunately, as great of a year as he's producing, Theodore's chances of moving into the top four here by season's end are slim.

4. Alex Piertrangelo

Pietrangelo is peaking at the right time. Fresh off a Stanley Cup run with the Blues last spring - in which nobody would've balked if he took home the Conn Smythe Trophy - the 30-year-old is continuing his career year offensively, just as he's set to enter unrestricted free agency.

3. Victor Hedman

If you could create an NHL defenseman in a lab, he would look similar to Hedman. Standing 6-foot-6 and able to fly up and down the ice with ease, the Swede is as close to perfect as they come. He's put together another strong campaign, and Hedman is in line for his fourth straight top-three Norris Trophy finish.

2. Roman Josi

Josi's sensational season is getting drastically overlooked because the Predators are playing poorly, and the man in front of him in these rankings is on the verge of being included in the record books. However, the Swiss blue-liner is on pace for 70-plus points, and only 10 defensemen since 1986 have accomplished that feat.

1. John Carlson

Carlson has held the top spot in these rankings since the first edition this season. Is he flawed defensively? Sure, but a 94-point campaign (his current pace) would put him in a league of his own. To find the last D-man to record 94-plus single-season points, you have to go way back to 1992-93, when Phil Housley posted 97 points during an era when 7.26 goals per game were scored (the average now is just over six per contest).

Just missed the cut: Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Kris Letang, Ryan Suter

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Edmonton Oilers forward Andreas Athanasiou is not expected to be out for long after exiting with a lower-body injury during Wednesday's contest against the Vegas Golden Knights.

"I don't think it's serious," head coach Dave Tippett said following his team's 3-0 loss, according to TSN. "I didn't see it because of any one play. He was hurt in the second (period) and tried it in the third but couldn't go."

The 25-year-old winger recorded one shot on net in 11 minutes of ice time before departing. He tallied one goal and one assist in his debut with the Oilers on Tuesday.

Edmonton acquired the native of Ontario from the Detroit Red Wings ahead of Monday's trade deadline in exchange for forward Sam Gagner and a pair of second-round draft picks.

Athanasiou contributed 10 goals and 24 points through 46 games with the Red Wings this season.

Copyright © 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.