Montreal Canadiens defenseman Michael Matheson wasn't penalized for a hit that injured Florida Panthers forward Eric Staal on Thursday night.

Matheson stopped, turned slightly, and caught Staal up high when both players pursued the puck along the boards late in the first period.

Staal left the game and was later ruled out for the remainder.

The Panthers lost goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to an injury earlier in the contest.

Matheson, a former Panthers blue-liner who turns 29 in February, is in his first season with the Canadiens. Staal is a 38-year-old ex-Hab in his first campaign with Florida.

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Evander Kane wants the NHL and his fellow players to improve the way they market themselves.

"Hockey has always been more of a reserved sport. We must do a much better job promoting our athletes as a league," the Edmonton Oilers forward told Andscape's Adam Aziz.

"It's not just on the league but also the players," Kane continued. "Guys have to want to put themselves out there. Get in front of the camera and open their mouths to showcase themselves. We don't have many guys that enjoy doing that type of stuff. I could count on one hand the guys who are genuinely good at it. When you look at many of the players the NHL tries to promote and use as faces of the league, they are some of the quietest, reserved people."

Some may interpret Kane's final point as a dig at Oilers captain Connor McDavid, but the winger heaped praise on the center when asked how McDavid handled reporters pointing out Kane's history of off-ice controversy when Kane was on the verge of signing with Edmonton last January.

"(McDavid is) the best player ever to play the game," Kane said. "It felt like the media had this hit piece on me and tried to get everybody to denounce and cancel me without knowing the facts. And you fast forward to almost a year later now, it's funny how things change.

"For Connor, it showed he was not a follower. He's a leader. We have a lot of followers in society and a lot of followers in our game. It was refreshing to see that type of leadership. When I looked at the landscape of where I could go at that time, his comments meant quite a bit to me."

Kane has been one of the most outspoken players ever since he arrived in the NHL, and he's been trying to get the league to improve its marketing efforts for years. Back in 2014 while with the Winnipeg Jets, he questioned why other leagues were better at it and said hockey is in the entertainment business.

"If you are mindful of that, maybe me winning money in Las Vegas and being excited about it - like anyone else would - isn't the worst thing in the world," he said at the time.

The veteran forward was referring to the furor that arose over a photo he posted on Twitter during the lockout in 2012 that showed him holding stacks of money and pretending to use them as a phone to call boxer Floyd Mayweather from his Vegas hotel room.

Kane is in his second season with the Oilers and his 14th in the NHL.

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Paul Maurice is a little lighter in the wallet Thursday.

The Florida Panthers head coach was fined $25,000 for his comments about the officiating after a 5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

"I don't know what the hell those guys were doing tonight, but it wasn't Florida Panther-friendly," Maurice said postgame regarding the officiating.

Maurice was particularly upset with one call against defenseman Radko Gudas, who was assessed four of Florida's 18 penalty minutes in the game.

"Gudas hits as clean a hit as you can level," Maurice explained. "Stick on stick, body on body. Not a charge; they're both going in the same direction."

Here's a look at the play Maurice is referring to.

Maurice thinks his history with one of the officials was the reason he believes the calls didn't go his team's way.

"I just explained to them it had nothing to do with my players, it had to do with me and a relationship that I have with one of the referees," he said. "That's what that was all about."

Maurice was fined $5,000 while coaching the Winnipeg Jets in 2016 for blasting referee Francois St-Laurent after he didn't call a penalty for a hit to the head on Bryan Little. St-Laurent and Pierre Lambert were the refs Tuesday.

The Maple Leafs converted on two of their seven power-play opportunities in the contest, while the Panthers scored on one of their three chances with the man advantage.

Maurice's first campaign in Florida hasn't gone as hoped. The 21-20-5 Panthers find themselves outside the playoff picture a year after winning the Presidents' Trophy with a franchise-record 122 points under Joel Quenneville and Andrew Brunette.

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Matt Dumba is taking a seat Thursday.

The Minnesota Wild are making the veteran defenseman a healthy scratch against the Carolina Hurricanes, head coach Dean Evason announced.

"We had a real good meeting," Evason said, per The Athletic's Michael Russo. "He knows why he's sitting out tonight."

Dumba said he was surprised and that "it's an organization decision."

Alex Goligoski will take Dumba's place in the lineup.

Dumba has endured a down year by his standards, with four goals and eight assists in 43 games. He's also averaging 21:12 of ice time per game, his lowest since 2016-17. Additionally, his underlying numbers are poor.

The 28-year-old has been the subject of trade rumors. Recent reports indicated that the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators are interested in Dumba's services.

Dumba carries a $6-million cap hit this season and is a pending free agent. The 2012 No. 7 pick has spent his entire 10-year career in Minnesota.

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There are 13 games scheduled for an extremely busy Thursday in the NHL. Let's waste no time in getting to a few shot props that really stand out.

Patrik Laine over 3.5 shots (-125)

It hasn't been a banner year for Patrik Laine - or any member of the Columbus Blue Jackets - but the streaky sniper appears to be heating up.

Laine registered 29 shots and six points over the last six games. He's been far and away the Blue Jackets' most prominent shooter, attempting a ridiculous 50 shots during that stretch.

For perspective, Johnny Gaudreau (28) is the only other player on the team with more than 22 attempts over the same period.

Laine is shooting from anywhere and everywhere right now, and I expect that to continue in a mouthwatering matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. No team allowed a higher rate of shots at five-on-five or on the power play than the Ducks over the last 10 games.

Anaheim bleeds shots each and every night no matter the caliber of opponent. It allowed at least 35 shots in seven straight and 39 or more in six straight.

This Blue Jackets team should be able to send John Gibson plenty of rubber, and Laine will no doubt be the player doing the heavy lifting.

Miro Heiskanen over 2.5 shots (-120)

Heiskanen is somewhat of a cheat code right now. The fluid, minute-munching blue-liner recorded three shots or more in nine of the last 10 games.

The lone exception came Wednesday night against the San Jose Sharks. Heiskanen didn't struggle to generate opportunities, attempting five shots. He just failed to hit the target on three of them.

I like Heiskanen to bounce back quickly against the Los Angeles Kings. For one, the shot volume he's generating is almost unmatched.

He averaged 6.7 attempts per game over the last 10, which is more than anyone but Roman Josi and Dougie Hamilton. With that kind of output, the Dallas Stars blue-liner will hit very frequently.

Los Angeles' stingy shot-suppression defense hasn't hindered Heiskanen at all. He went over the number in each of the five times he faced the Kings since the beginning of last season, generating four or more shots four times.

Expect another strong performance Thursday night.

Alex Ovechkin over 4.5 shots (-125)

The Arizona Coyotes give up a lot of shots. They routinely get caved in at five-on-five and averaged more shorthanded time per game than all but two teams.

That should be music to the ears of Ovechkin, the NHL's distant leader in power-play attempts. He doesn't need a lot of time to pile up the shots on the man advantage. Facing an undisciplined team like the Coyotes definitely raises his floor and ceiling.

It's also worth noting the Coyotes rank dead last in shots against per game against left-wingers, which happens to be the position Ovechkin plays.

Ovechkin piled up 13 attempts and six shots on goal when he faced the Coyotes earlier this campaign. He should be in line for another big performance this time around.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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A very busy week of NHL action continues as we get set for a juicy 13-game slate.

Let's dive into a couple of my favorite plays on the board.

Wild (+140) @ Hurricanes (-165)

Although there are plenty of high-end forwards set to take the ice in this game, the defenses stand out the most.

The Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricanes are two of the very best defensive teams in the league, as has been the case for several years.

We'll start with the road side. Minnesota is the only team conceding fewer than 10 high-danger opportunities per 60 minutes of five-on-five play. They also grade out very well in terms of expected goals, allowing an average of 2.34 per 60 minutes. That's the third-best total in the league.

It just so happens the Wild are taking on one of the two teams ahead of them. The Hurricanes have given up 2.10 expected goals per 60 minutes of five-on-five play, establishing a fairly healthy gap between them and the Boston Bruins (2.30) and Minnesota (2.34).

Both the Wild and Hurricanes are capable of suffocating opponents in any third. They can forecheck, cause turnovers high up the ice, and sustain shift after shift working down low in the offensive zone. They also have the ability to handle their assignments and prevent glaring breakdowns in the defensive zone.

Given those characteristics, it's hardly surprising the Wild and Hurricanes are quite adept at killing penalties. They rank inside the top seven of limiting expected goals in undermanned situations.

The Wild and Hurricanes combined to score only 12 goals in their three meetings during the 2022 calendar year, going under the number each time out.

I expect similar Thursday night.

Bet: Under 6 (-125)

Capitals (-190) @ Coyotes (+160)

The Arizona Coyotes have hit a new level of bad. They won just one of the last 10 games, needing overtime to grind out the lone victory against a mediocre Detroit Red Wings team - in the latter half of a back-to-back.

Hockey is a very luck-driven sport - sometimes you play well and don't get the bounces, making you look worse than you are. This isn't one of those times.

Over the last 10 games, the Coyotes rank 31st in expected goal generation and in the bottom five in expected goal suppression. They're having a miserable time at both ends of the ice.

Earlier in the year, Karel Vejmelka was able to mask some of those problems and help the Coyotes steal a few wins. Whether he was playing over his head or whether the workload has simply caught up with him, Vejmelka has really slowed of late.

Of 38 netminders to log at least 400 minutes over the past month, Vejmelka ranks 34th with a putrid .884 save percentage. No matter the circumstances, that's never going to be good enough.

The Washington Capitals may have tailed off a little bit of late, but there isn't any real cause for concern. I think they've simply been going through an adjustment period while working a few key players back into the lineup.

Considering how poorly the Coyotes are playing at both ends of the ice and the level of goaltending they're getting from Vejmelka right now, this is a perfect spot for the Capitals to get the ship moving in the right direction.

Look for Washington to take care of business inside 60 minutes.

Bet: Capitals in regulation (-120)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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Steven Stamkos is the newest member of the 500-goal club.

The Tampa Bay Lightning captain reached the milestone by redirecting Alex Killorn's feed against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.

Stamkos joins Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby as the only active members of the 500-goal club. He's the 47th player in NHL history to accomplish the feat and the only player to do so entirely in a Lightning uniform.

He wasn't done against the Canucks, either, as Stamkos added his 20th goal of the season and 501st of his career just under 10 minutes later in the first period. He then potted an empty-netter to cap off a hat trick with under two minutes remaining.

Stamkos became the eighth player in NHL history to score his 500th goal and notch a hat trick in the same game, according to Sportsnet.

It's been a season full of milestones for Stamkos, who reached 1,000 points earlier in the campaign. With 965 career games played, he'll also reach the 1,000-game mark by the end of the season if he stays healthy.

The Lightning drafted Stamkos first overall in 2008. He's won both the Stanley Cup and the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy twice in his 15 years with the Bolts.

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The Vancouver Canucks are turning back the clock and acknowledging their history in more ways than one with a new alternate uniform.

The club revealed its new third jersey on the same night it paid tribute to late fan favorite Gino Odjick, who donned the original "Black Skate" sweater during his playing days. He died Sunday at the age of 52.

The Canucks used the "Black Skate" as their primary logo from 1978-97, according to SportsLogos.net. They've occasionally brought the classic jersey back in smaller doses, including for a few games in 2019-20 during their 50th anniversary season.

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