St. Louis Blues forward Ivan Barbashev suffered a left ankle injury during the club's 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and will be re-evaluated in six weeks, the team announced Friday.
Barbashev tallied two goals and two assists over his previous five games while getting frequent top-line minutes alongside captain Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron. He's amassed six points while averaging 13:23 of ice time over 17 games this season.
The 25-year-old is on the final year of his current deal and becomes a restricted free agent after this season.
St. Louis is dealing with injury troubles. Pivots Robert Thomas, who suffered a broken thumb earlier this month, and Tyler Bozak remain out, while forward Jaden Schwartz and blue-liner Colton Parayko are day-to-day.
Welcome to the fifth edition of "Looking North," our weekly Friday dive into the all-Canadian division. This installment dates back to Feb. 12.
The rundown
The Toronto Maple Leafs returned to form after suffering their most humiliating defeat since last February's infamous David Ayres game. The Maple Leafs let the Ottawa Senators overcome a four-goal deficit and prevail 6-5 in overtime on Monday, but they've since responded with two wins against Ottawa: a 2-1 victory on Wednesday and a7-3 rout on Thursday.
Wednesday's result didn't inspire much confidence in Toronto, but the next night's dominant showing proved the North Division's top dogs have put Monday's collapse behind them. Still, it will be more telling if they can continue to play well against better opponents.
Out west, the slumping Vancouver Canucks showed some improvement. They went undefeated in regulation over three games against the Calgary Flames, earning a convincing 5-1 victory Wednesday.
Team
Points over last week
Vancouver Canucks
5 (2-0-1)
Toronto Maple Leafs
5 (2-1-1)
Ottawa Senators
4 (2-2-0)
Montreal Canadiens
2 (1-0-0)
Edmonton Oilers
2 (1-1-0)
Calgary Flames
2 (1-2-0)
Winnipeg Jets
2 (1-2-0)
The stars
Andrew Lahodynskyj / National Hockey League / Getty
Forward: Auston Matthews is making a case for the Hart Trophy and the Maurice "Rocket" Richard this season. The Maple Leafs superstar scored five times and collected four assists in four contests this past week, burying two goals Thursday for a league-leading 16 in 17 games.
Defenseman: Tyson Barrie deserves recognition despite a small sample size. The Edmonton Oilers rearguard didn't dominate on the scoresheet (two assists) but he did take on a heavy workload, leading all NHL blue-liners for the week by averaging 29:19 of ice time across two games; he played a whopping 30:48 in Monday's loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Goaltender: It was a high-scoring week in the North Division, with more than a few games resembling 1980s barn burners. That was due partly to poor goaltending, as no netminder in the division has had an exceptional run since Feb. 12. Braden Holtby did excel in his one game, though. The Canucks puck-stopper turned aside 35 of 36 shots in Wednesday's aforementioned win over the Flames, putting together a strong outing after a less than stellar start to his season.
Canadian of the week
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Mitch Marner had a very good week with two goals and four assists in four games, but Mark Scheifele outperformed him in fewer outings, notching three goals and two assists in three contests. The Jets center tallied in all three of his team's games, and he logged nearly 23 minutes of action in a loss to the Oilers on Wednesday.
The moments
Two days before the Senators rallied to stun the Maple Leafs, Brady Tkachuk provided some heroics of his own.
It took some time for Evgenii Dadonov to gel with his new teammates, but the Senators winger has found his groove. That fact was fully evident during Monday's wild win over Toronto, as he tied the game with 2:01 left in regulation before winning it in overtime.
Speaking of overtime winners, Johnny Gaudreau wasted little time netting one on the power play in the Flames' victory against the Canucks on Monday. Canucks forward Brock Boeser tied it up with his team shorthanded in the final minute of regulation before Gaudreau responded less than 30 seconds into the extra frame.
Johnny Gaudreau in overtime! Flames survive the late Boeser goal with a power play tally to win it!#Flamespic.twitter.com/xG6xcD59oE
Flames head coach Geoff Ward did not mince words when asked about his team's inability to establish momentum this season after the 5-1 loss to Vancouver.
"Inconsistent I think is probably the best way (to describe the four-game set against the Canucks), but we've been talking about it for a while now," he said.
He added: "It's time to put this thing to bed and take charge and take control of what we can. We certainly can control the way we start, we certainly can control how we pay attention to details, how hard we compete, how much we care. All those things are certainly within our control. It's time for us to start giving a shit about it."
Stat of the week
The Senators' remarkable comeback was a historic one for the franchise, as Ottawa overcame a four-goal deficit to win for the first time after previously going 0-237-3 when falling behind by four.
Games to watch
The two best teams in the division will meet again when the Montreal Canadiens return from a week off to host the Maple Leafs. The Canadiens beat Toronto 2-1 when they last took the ice. Elsewhere, the Flames and Oilers will revive the Battle of Alberta in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
Murray relieved an injured Marcus Hogberg in the first period and allowed six goals on 26 shots.
"For sure, it's tough going in like that, but that's not an excuse," Murray said. "I think I could have done a better job and given us a chance to win."
Reporters didn't request Murray be made available after the game, but he felt the need to own his poor performance, according to Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch.
The 26-year-old has posted an .877 save percentage in 14 appearances for Ottawa this season. He signed a four-year, $25-million contract with the Senators after they acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a second-round pick this past offseason.
Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman is the front-runner to serve as GM of the United States men's hockey team at the 2022 Winter Olympics, TSN's Frank Seravalli reported on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."
USA Hockey will not name a management group until there is a formal Olympic agreement in place, Seravalli added.
Bowman has been Chicago's GM since 2010, and the team added president of hockey operations to his title in December. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup under his guidance in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
The son of Hall of Fame head coach Scotty Bowman, Stan was not part of USA Hockey's previous Olympic management groups. He served as an assistant GM for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Longtime Nashville Predators general manager David Poile and Carolina Hurricanes GM Don Waddell would likely serve as assistants on Bowman's staff, according to Seravalli. Poile was the U.S. team's assistant GM at the 2010 Vancouver Games and its general manager at the 2014 Games in Sochi. Waddell was general manager in 2006 at the Turin Games and assistant GM in 2010.
The U.S. has collected two silver medals in the five men's Olympic hockey tournaments NHL players have attended.
The star forward is reportedly open to exploring his future with the club.
"There is mutual interest between Taylor Hall, his camp, and the Buffalo Sabres to discuss an extension when the time is right," TSN's Pierre LeBrun said on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."
Hall is a pending unrestricted free agent. He signed a one-year, $8-million contract with the Sabres in October.
In a normal season, players on one-year pacts can begin negotiating new contracts on Jan. 1. The NHL moved that date to March 12 for the 2021 campaign. This year's trade deadline is April 12.
Hall entered Thursday's action with one goal but ranked second on the team with eight assists and third in points through 12 games.
The Sabres came into Thursday's contest against the Washington Capitals in last place in the East Division.
Artemi Panarin and K'Andre Miller are slated to return to the lineup for the New York Rangers as they take on a Philadelphia Flyers team that's been idle since Feb. 7. Sitting at 4-7-3, this almost has the feel of a must-win for New York, which is hoping to avoid slipping too far down the East Division standings.
All things considered, though, the Rangers have been playing relatively well. They lost a pair of hard-fought one-goal games against the Boston Bruins despite controlling a greater portion of the expected goal share at five-on-five in each, which has been a common theme this season. Seven of their 10 losses have been by just a goal, so they're due for some better results.
This represents the perfect opportunity for the Rangers to begin adding to the win column as they get their Hart Trophy candidate back against a Flyers lineup that's ravaged by injuries. Philadelphia is without Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, and Justin Braun, and the team hasn't played in 11 days. If the Rangers can't win here, there's legitimate cause for concern.
Have the Los Angeles Kings turned a corner? They've won back-to-back games by a combined 10-2, but the underlying numbers still haven't been pretty.
They were outplayed in a 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, benefitting from yet another Martin Jones horror show. They scored those six goals in the first and third periods despite just 1.08 expected goals, and the Sharks controlled 57.4% of the expected goal share at all strengths. And then in a 4-0 win on Tuesday, they benefitted from taking on a Minnesota Wild team that hadn't played in two weeks and looked like it had nothing in the tank.
So, the pair of positive results isn't scaring me off here, but rather inviting us to sell high on the Kings, who are dead last in the NHL in expected goal share at five-on-five with a putrid mark of just 41.32%. The Arizona Coyotes, meanwhile, are a very respectable 13th with a 51.61% share despite a really tough schedule that's had them play 11 of their first 15 games against the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights.
It may seem like a lot of juice to lay with the Coyotes, but this is a bargain considering what the price would have been if not for a pair of fortunate results for the Kings over the past week.
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, despises how the NHL handles starting goalie announcements, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.
