Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella bluntly voiced his displeasure with the NHL All-Star Weekend when asked about forward Travis Konecny's omission from the rosters unveiled Thursday.

"The whole weekend, I don't even watch it. … I don't give a shit," he told The Philadelphia Inquirer's Giana Han following the Flyers' 6-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.

Konecny is in the midst of a career year with 20 goals and 20 assists in 33 games this season. However, Kevin Hayes will be the Flyers' representative at the festivities.

Hayes, who racked up 10 goals and 25 assists in 38 contests, said the All-Star nod is an achievement his late brother Jimmy always wanted for him.

"It could have been a few guys in the room. It’s nice to get the selection," he said. "My brother wanted it for me, but I never thought it would happen. My family’s excited."

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Juuse Saros was a busy, busy man on Thursday night.

The Nashville Predators goalie made a stunning 64 saves during his side's 5-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, good for a new franchise record and a tie for third in stops made during a single game in NHL history.

Here's how his performance stands in the Predators' record books:

And here's how Saros' gargantuan effort stacks up in league history:

*Only includes goalies who debuted in 1955-56 or later

If you exclude overtime, Saros is now tied for the second-most saves made by a goaltender in regulation, behind only Lessard.

Saros stopped all 28 shots he faced in the third period alone.

The Hurricanes joined the history books in their own right during the loss: Their 67 shots on goal in the contest tied for the fourth most in a single game in NHL history:

*Tracked since 1959-60

Heading into Thursday's contest, Saros, 27, owned a .915 save percentage and 2.76 goals against average in 28 appearances on the campaign.

The Finnish product was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season.

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Dylan Guenther scored the golden goal as Canada won the World Junior Hockey Championship for the second year in a row, defeating Czechia 3-2 in overtime in Thursday's gold-medal game.

Canada got its revenge on the Czechs after losing to them 5-2 to open the tournament on Boxing Day.

This is the first time any country has gone back-to-back at the tournament since Canada won five years in a row from 2005 to 2009. Canada has now won the tournament five times in the last nine years and 20 times overall.

Czechia hasn't won the tournament since 2001, but a silver medal is still the nation's best result since that year.

The OT winner marked the second of the game for Guenther, the Arizona Coyotes' 2021 ninth-overall pick. He opened the scoring with a bar-down rocket from the left half wall on the power play.

Captain Shane Wright doubled Canada's lead in the second period, undressing a Czech defender before ripping home a lethal backhand into the top corner.

Canada held on to the 2-0 lead up until the latter half of the third period when Jiri Kulich and Jakub Kos scored 54 seconds apart to even things up for Czechia and send the game to overtime.

The goaltenders were stellar in the contest. Tomas Suchanek made 35 saves for the Czechs despite looking shaken up after Canada's Caedan Baniker ran him over in the second period, while Thomas Milic turned aside 24 shots for Canada. Both netminders are undrafted.

Canada will look to make it a three-peat next year in Sweden.

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Max Pacioretty is set to make his Carolina Hurricanes debut Thursday against the Nashville Predators.

The 34-year-old forward sustained a torn Achilles in August, an injury that has kept him out of all 38 games this season. He was limited to 39 games in 2021-22 due to a broken foot and broken wrist but managed to tally 19 goals and 37 points when he was in the Vegas Golden Knights' lineup.

Vegas traded Pacioretty and his $7-million cap hit to the Hurricanes in July, along with defenseman Dylan Coghlan, for future considerations.

Carolina leads the Metropolitan Division with a 25-7-6 record. Its 11-game win streak was snapped Tuesday by the New York Rangers.

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Wednesday was a great one for our best bets as we swept the board. Despite a surprise start from Brian Elliott, our under of 6.5 goals in Minnesota came through. We also hit both player props.

We'll look to keep the ball moving in the right direction with a pair of sides for Thursday's slate.

Capitals (-200) @ Blue Jackets (+170)

The Washington Capitals are on a roll. They have won seven of the last 10 games and collected at least a point in nine of them.

Their underlying process in that time has been strong, as they slot seventh with an expected goal share above 55% at five-on-five. They are always dangerous on the power play - and the goaltending is potent - so the Capitals are evidently an extremely difficult team to deal with when getting the job done at full-strength.

We have every reason to believe they can deliver Thursday night in Columbus. For one, T.J. Oshie is expected to return and skate alongside Marcus Johansson and Lars Eller on the third line. His presence makes that unit a lot more formidable, giving the Capitals three lines with legitimate scoring threats. He'll give a strong power play an extra little boost.

The Blue Jackets are not a good five-on-five team, especially defensively. Only the Anaheim Ducks have given up Grade A chances at a higher clip than the Blue Jackets.

That's not ideal for a team scheduled to start Elvis Merzlikins. Among all goaltenders with at least 10 appearances this season, Merzlikins ranks last in Goals Saved Above Expected (minus-18) and GSAE per start (minus-1.531).

Joonas Korpisalo is a plus in both categories while dealing with the exact same playing circumstances. Thus, it is fair to say Merzlikins is making a bad Blue Jackets team even worse.

Given the level of play we have seen from the Jackets this season, all the injuries they're dealing with, and the fact a strong Capitals team is starting to get healthy, I expect the latter to take care of business with relative ease inside 60 minutes.

Bet: Capitals in regulation (-130)

Penguins (+105) @ Golden Knights (-120)

Things are not looking good for the Pittsburgh Penguins right now. They have struggled defensively for a few weeks and it has really started to catch up to them. The Pens have dropped five consecutive games, giving up at least four goals in four of them.

With Jeff Petry (injury) and Kris Letang (personal) sidelined, their blue line is having a very difficult time holding up. Given as much, the Penguins are more reliant on goaltending than they generally have been in the past. That's why the recent injury to Tristan Jarry is even more troublesome.

Now the Penguins have to try and right the ship against a very good Vegas Golden Knights team.

Despite dealing with a ton of injuries all season long, the Golden Knights lead the Pacific Division and enter play in strong form.

They own a 6-3-1 record over the last 10 games and have controlled better than 59% of the high-danger chances at five-on-five. That slots them third in the NHL.

The Penguins have posted a 45% high-danger chance share over the same period and rank near the bottom of the NHL. Their poor share stems mostly from struggles preventing Grade A chances.

The imminent return of Jack Eichel won't make life any easier for Pittsburgh. He leads the Golden Knights in points per game and average Game Score. He is by far the team's most threatening weapon.

Eichel's return will provide some much needed firepower to the lineup and give Vegas more depth at the center position, which will come in handy going up against the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

I think the Golden Knights are underpriced in this spot at home against a vulnerable Penguins side.

Bet: Golden Knights (-120)

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

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Welcome to the fourth edition of theScore's 2022-23 Norris Trophy Rankings and the third in-season version. New rankings are published once a month throughout the campaign.

These rankings focus on analytics and the all-around ability of defensemen rather than just points or reputation.

• xGF% = the share of expected goals a team produces while a player is on the ice at five-on-five

5. Rasmus Dahlin, Sabres

Previous rank: 2nd

Dahlin's come down to earth a bit after a scorching start, tallying just three even-strength points and a sub-50% xGF% in 10 games since the last rankings. His lack of discipline continues to be an issue, as he's racked up eight penalty minutes in those 10 games and pushed his total to 44 on the season. There's nothing wrong with playing with an edge, but the Sabres need him on the ice, not in the box.

The 2018 first-overall pick is still enjoying a spectacular season and is firmly in this Norris race, but several other players have pulled ahead of him over the last month.

4. Cale Makar, Avalanche

Previous rank: 4th

Makar had to carry a lot on his shoulders through December with the Avalanche's rash of injuries, and he's delivered. He's collected 10 points in 12 games with a 54.9 xGF%, and Colorado was able to tread water with a 6-4-2 record in that time.

But Makar's heroics and overall stellar play at both ends of the ice this season weren't enough to move him any higher on our list - that's no fault of his own.

3. Josh Morrissey, Jets

Previous rank: N/A

All aboard the Josh "Norrissey" hype train. Morrissey has put together an excellent campaign offensively, but some defensive red flags have kept him out of our top five in prior editions.

However, Morrissey has cleaned those up, posting a 56.8 xGF% and a much-improved 2.27 expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five since our last rankings. He's stayed hot offensively, too, with 15 points in 13 games in that span. Morrissey also leads all NHL defensemen 13.2 goals above replacement.

The 27-year-old has never even received down-ballot Norris votes in his seven previous NHL seasons, but that's certainly about to change during a career year.

2. Adam Fox, Rangers

Previous rank: 1st

Fox has been one of the most complete defensemen in the league this season. Among qualified blue-liners, he ranks 15th in xGF%, 19th in GF%, sixth with 9.6 goals above replacement, and first with 16.2 expected goals above replacement. He also sits third at his position with 23 even-strength points.

So while he hasn't been quite as dynamic offensively as Morrissey, his two-way play gives him the nod over the Jets blue-liner. But it's still not enough to close in on our list's No. 1 spot.

1. Erik Karlsson, Sharks

Previous rank: 3rd

Yes, these rankings aren't just about points and reflect the all-around abilities of defensemen, but what Karlsson is doing offensively has more than made up for any defensive shortcomings in his game.

The two-time Norris winner isn't just a power-play wizard. His 39 even-strength points are the most among all NHL skaters - four more than second-place Connor McDavid - and 12 more than the next blue-liner.

The fact that he's on pace for 112 points is just flat-out absurd. It would mark the most by a rearguard since Paul Coffey tallied 113 in 1988-89. Scoring is up in the NHL (6.34 goals per game), but it's still way harder to find twine now than during the '88-89 campaign (7.48 goals per game). Even if Karlsson slows down a bit but still reaches 100 points, it would mark the highest by a blue-liner since Brian Leetch's 102 in 1991-92, when scoring was at 6.96 goals per game.

Karlsson is showing no signs of slowing down, either. He's amazingly racked up 18 points in 10 games and a 56.0 xGF% since the last edition of these rankings - all while playing for one of the worst teams in the league. Imagine if he was on a contending club! In that case, he would be the Hart Trophy favorite.

Honorable mentions: Miro Heiskanen, Hampus Lindholm, Filip Hronek

(Analytics source: Evolving-Hockey)

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The NHL is incorporating Twitter activity into All-Star voting this season.

Fans will choose a dozen of the 44 players that will suit up for the festivities in Sunrise, Florida, next month, and the league will factor tweets into the equation, NHL chief marketing officer Heidi Browning told ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

The league's hockey operations department has already chosen 32 All-Stars, who'll be revealed Thursday night. The NHL is opening the voting Wednesday for the remaining players - two skaters and a goaltender from each of the four divisions - for both the All-Star Game and the skills competition.

Twitter voting will be combined with the standard online selection procedure and incorporate tweets mentioning a player's name or handle while using the official All-Star hashtag, as well as retweets, replies, and quote tweets.

The 12 remaining players are likely to be unveiled Jan. 19, just over two weeks before the skills event on Feb. 3.

Last season, fans selected the four divisional team captains and the four "Last Men In."

Former enforcer John Scott got an All-Star nod and ultimately claimed MVP honors in 2016 after the "Marek vs. Wyshynski" podcast supported his candidacy with a tongue-in-cheek online campaign. The NHL changed the process following that saga to limit the fans' influence over voting.

The retired forward couldn't help but make reference to that incident Wednesday:

The NHL's first modern All-Star debacle came in 2007 when fans rallied behind journeyman defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick, who had no points in 18 games at the time. Fitzpatrick finished third among blue-liners with around 23,000 fewer votes than Nicklas Lidstrom and approximately 116,000 more than Chris Pronger. It likely happened because fans were encouraged to vote as many times as they liked that year.

The Florida Panthers will host the All-Star festivities for the first time since 2003. The NHL awarded the event to Sunrise in 2021 but later canceled it due to the COVID-19 pandemic and gave the 2022 edition to the Vegas Golden Knights.

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The Boston Bruins won the Winter Classic, but they may have suffered a significant blow in the process.

Jake DeBrusk has a broken fibula, reports Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said Wednesday that DeBrusk isn't traveling with the team on its three-game West Coast road trip, and the club will provide an update on his condition Thursday, according to The Boston Globe's Matt Porter.

The winger was the star of Boston's outdoor victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, scoring two third-period goals in a 2-1 win at Fenway Park on Monday.

DeBrusk was on track for a career season with 16 goals and 14 assists over 36 games. Five of those tallies came in the last six contests. He'd missed only one game before the injury in 2022-23 and was on pace for 35 goals and 31 assists had he been able to play 80 games.

The 26-year-old was thriving on the Bruins' top line alongside Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

DeBrusk collected 25 markers and 17 helpers across 77 tilts in 2021-22. He's in his sixth campaign with Boston. The Bruins nearly traded him in November 2021 and then again in March, but the forward rescinded his request to be dealt in July.

Boston drafted DeBrusk 14th overall in 2015.

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