Montreal Canadiens icon Guy Lafleur died at the age of 70, his sister Lise LaFleur announced Friday.

The cause of death was not immediately made known. On Tuesday, the Canadiens acknowledged reports of his health, asking for fans to respect the privacy of LaFleur and his family.

Lafleur played 14 seasons in Montreal between 1971-1985. Nicknamed "The Flower," he helped lead the Canadiens to five Stanley Cups in the 1970s, including four consecutive championships from 1976-79. He also won three straight Art Ross Trophies during that span.

He is the franchise's all-time assists and points leader with 728 and 1,246, respectively. He also ranks second in career goals for Montreal behind Maurice Richard.

LaFleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988.

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That's a whole lot of goals.

The Florida Panthers broke the NHL's salary-cap era record for most goals scored in a single season during their 5-2 drubbing of the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, according to Sportsnet Stats.

The Panthers have lit the lamp 322 times in 77 games so far this campaign, and they still have five games remaining on their regular-season schedule.

Thanks to their sheer dominance, the Panthers now find themselves at the top of a high-octane list dating back to the 2005-06 season.

Note: All goal totals exclude shootout winners

The Panthers are also the first squad to average over four goals per game since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

Leading the charge for Florida this season is Aleksander Barkov, who has found the back of the net 38 times in 64 contests. Jonathan Huberdeau and Anthony Duclair help round out the Panthers' balanced attack as the team's other two 30-goal scorers.

The Panthers have been no slouches on the back end, either; they came into Thursday's action ranking 10th in goals against per game this season (2.83).

After their victory over the Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning's win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Panthers secured the Atlantic Division title as well as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

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The Calgary Flames ensured themselves of the top spot in the Pacific Division with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

It's the Flames' eighth division title in franchise history and only their third in the last 27 years.

Calgary is 48-20-10 with four games left in their regular-season schedule. Their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, occupy second place and sit 10 points back with a game in hand.

The Flames have completely transformed themselves under head coach Darryl Sutter. The previously moribund Calgary squad went 15-15-0 last season after hiring the veteran bench boss and improved further in 2021-22.

Only the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche - the No. 1 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference, respectively - have produced a better goal differential than the Flames this season.

Calgary has also been one of the best road teams in the NHL, going 24-11-3 away from the Saddledome.

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Andrew Copp came ready to play Thursday night.

The New York Rangers forward buried three consecutive goals in the opening frame against the Islanders.

Copp one-timed a feed from Artemi Panarin for his first of the period.

Panarin found Copp again for the American's second of the night.

Copp then completed the natural hat trick off a pass from Ryan Strome.

Copp became only the third Rangers player ever to net three goals in the first period, joining Kelly Kisio in 1986 and Don Raleigh in 1948. No Rangers skater had scored a natural hat trick in the first period since Raleigh did it 74 years ago.

Unfortunately for the current New York forward, he left the game in the third period. The Rangers said postgame that he sustained a lower-body injury and that they will issue an update Friday, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

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