Tampa Bay Lightning star forward Brayden Point returned to the lineup against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Point, who last played on Nov. 20, has missed the last 14 games with an upper-body injury.

The 25-year-old sustained the ailment after being tripped on a breakaway against the New Jersey Devils. He collided with the boards and appeared to be in pain but was able to stay in the contest.

The next day, Point was a late scratch for the Lightning's clash against the Minnesota Wild.

Despite a long stretch without Point's talent in the lineup, Tampa Bay sits atop the league with a 20-6-4 record. The Bolts have gone 11-2-1 since Nov. 21 - the first game of Point's absence.

Point has seven goals and six assists in 16 contests so far this campaign.

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The United States forfeited Tuesday's World Junior Championship preliminary matchup against Switzerland due to COVID-19 issues, the IIHF announced.

Teams must undergo a mandated quarantine following a positive test result of two of their players.

"We're extremely disappointed, especially for our players," U.S. national junior team general manager John Vanbiesbrouck said in a statement. "We've followed the tournament protocol from the outset and will continue to do everything we can to ensure our players have the opportunity to compete at the World Junior Championship."

Their quarantine status will be further evaluated to determine if they can play against Sweden on Wednesday.

The game will be recorded as a 1-0 victory for the Swiss and the team will be rewarded three standings points.

Efforts were initially made to postpone the matchup and reschedule it at a later date, according to Bob McKenzie of TSN.

Team USA postponed its pregame media availability earlier on Tuesday, according to TSN's Gord Miller.

The United States beat Slovakia 3-2 in their first preliminary contest. The Swiss dropped their tournament opener against Russia 4-2.

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League journeyman Devante Smith-Pelly has signed a professional tryout with the Montreal Canadiens' AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket announced Tuesday.

Smith-Pelly last suited up for the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings' AHL team, during the 2020-21 season.

The 29-year-old forward won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Washington Capitals in 2018. He put up seven goals and one helper in 24 contests while averaging 12 minutes of ice time per game.

Smith-Pelly last played in the NHL in 2018-2019 with the Capitals, recording four goals and four assists in 54 games.

The Ontario native has previously spent time in the Canadiens organization between 2014-2016. He scored 15 points in 66 games across parts of two campaigns as a Hab.

Smith-Pelly, the Anaheim Ducks' 42nd overall selection in the 2010 draft, has 44 goals and 57 assists in 395 career NHL contests.

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Seattle Kraken forward Brandon Tanev suffered an ACL injury and will miss the remainder of the season, the team announced Monday.

He was hurt during the Kraken's 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 18.

Details on the 29-year-old's surgery and recovery will be provided at a later date.

Tanev got off to a hot start with Seattle, notching six goals in his first eight contests. Though his production cooled, he currently has the third-most goals on the team with nine, trailing only Jared McCann and Jordan Eberle.

A fan favorite in Seattle, Tanev scored two goals in the Kraken's first franchise win on Oct. 14 against the Nashville Predators, then potted another pair against the Montreal Canadiens in the team's first home victory later that month.

He will end the 2021-22 campaign with 15 points in 30 games.

Tanev was the Kraken's pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2021 expansion draft.

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Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand isn't pleased with the NHL's decision to opt out of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

"I think guys have worked their entire lives to put themselves in a position to compete at that level and that opportunity. It should be guys' decisions whether they choose to go or not, regardless of what's happening in the world," he said, per Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal. "The Olympics are on and they're playing and the best players in the world should have that option."

Marchand has never suited up for Canada in the Olympics. If NHL players are allowed at the next Winter Games in 2026, he will be 37 years old.

The NHL committed to allowing players to go to the Olympics as part of the new collective bargaining agreement signed in summer 2020. However, in light of the opt-out, Marchand believes the league never wanted its players at the games.

"It almost felt like they were trying to get out of it for a while and they didn't want us to go," he said.

Marchand added: "I know at the end of the day, they don't care about the Olympics, they don't make money on it, and that's ultimately what this is. It's a business and we're an asset. Let's just call a spade a spade."

The league, NHLPA, IIHF, and IOC confirmed players could return to the Olympics in September, but the deal included an opt-out clause that would allow the league to back out if the regular season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid has joined the growing list of players who have expressed their disappointment with the NHL's decision to pull out of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to COVID-19 concerns.

However, rather than lament another lost opportunity to compete on the world's biggest stage, the Oilers captain offered up a potential solution.

"They pushed the Summer Olympics back one year, maybe that happens again this year," McDavid said while meeting with the media, according to Oilers beat reporter Tony Brar. "Obviously it’s not looking that way, I think we do need to find a way to get a best-on-best tournament done at some point here.

"We can't go six, seven, eight years without playing best-on-best. I'd like to see something worked out if the Olympics don't get pushed."

This will mark the second straight Winter Games that NHL players will miss after the league didn't go to the 2018 Olympics in PyongChang.

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey was the last best-on-best hockey tournament. McDavid was captain of Team North America, which boasted a talented roster from the United States and Canada aged 23 and under.

McDavid said another World Cup of Hockey would be a "great second option," but there is no true substitute for the Olympics.

"I think you want to play at the Olympics because, for me, it's the biggest stage in sport," he said. "The Olympics is a stage that's on such a global scale and I think everybody wants to play on that stage."

TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported on "Insider Trading" earlier this month that there won't be a World Cup of Hockey in February as there isn't enough time to plan for an event of that scale.

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Doug Armstrong's time as general manager of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team was cut short after the NHL confirmed players wouldn't be competing at the 2022 Beijing Games.

The 57-year-old executive, who also serves as general manager of the St. Louis Blues, stepped down from his post earlier on Wednesday, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Armstrong revealed that he had 70% of Canada's roster set, per Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The full 25-man roster was going to be announced on Jan. 12.

"This last month was gonna be a big scouting month for all of us to round out the group and get our coaches involved," Armstrong told Thomas. "We probably had eight or nine more players to pick out of 14 or 15 (candidates). So it was getting down to the nitty-gritty."

Though Armstrong didn't get to see these Olympics through, he added that Canada's selection process "evolves (with) watching young players get better. It evolves with watching veteran players fight off Father Time."

While acknowledging that the NHL's decision to not send its players to the best-on-best tournament is disappointing, Armstrong said he understands the league's thinking.

"With the latest surge and the cancellation of games, the uncertainty of what's ahead of us - I certainly support and understand both the (NHL)PA and the league's decision," he said.

Armstrong also confirmed that Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby would have been named team captain, according to LeBrun.

"When we got our management staff named, the first decision we made was to reach out to Sidney and let him know that we would love him to be our captain; this was well over a year ago," Armstrong said.

Armstrong was named general manager of Canada's Olympic squad back in February.

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Zach Senyshyn's NHL career hasn't quite gone to plan with the Boston Bruins.

A first-round pick in 2015, Senyshyn has spent the majority of his career with the team's AHL affiliate in Providence. Looking for a larger opportunity, he's asked GM Don Sweeney for a trade through his agent, according to team beat writer Mark Divver.

"Obviously, I'm super thankful to everyone in Providence for all of their help in the development of my game, but I want to play in the NHL," he said. "I feel like I haven't been given that opportunity in the Bruins organization.

"I feel like my game has gotten to that level where I'm ready to play and I'm ready to make an impact. With the way the Bruins organization has been going, it just doesn’t seem like I'm in the mix."

The 24-year-old forward has played in just 14 games with the Bruins across three seasons and last suited up in an NHL contest on May 11. He's scored just one goal and tallied two assists.

Senyshyn added that a fresh start would be best for him moving forward.

"With all of the backlash with the media, considering where I was drafted and everything going on there, it's just been a lot emotionally," he said. "I'm not being used at all."

Senyshyn has logged 48 goals and 44 assists in 213 career AHL games.

He isn't the only Bruins 2015 first-rounder to request a trade this season. Jake DeBrusk's agent confirmed he asked to be moved back in November.

Their third consecutive first-round pick that year, defenseman Jakub Zboril, went 13th overall and has since played in 54 NHL games across three campaigns. The blue-liner will miss the rest of the 2021-22 season with a torn ACL.

DeBrusk and Senyshyn went 14th and 15th overall, respectively.

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The NHL's last game prior to the season's break didn't disappoint.

The Tampa Bay Lightning reigned supreme in Tuesday night's 4-3 slugfest against the Vegas Golden Knights, a battle that featured the No. 1 teams in the Atlantic and Pacific Divisions.

The Golden Knights entered the contest on a five-game win streak.

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos potted Tampa Bay's third unanswered goal to secure the victory and passed Martin St. Louis as Tampa Bay's all-time game-winning goal leader in the process, according to team beat writer Bryan Burns.

Golden Knights captain Mark Stone scored twice in his return to the lineup before exiting midway through the second period. He saw just 7:46 of ice time. The 29-year-old winger was a late scratch in Sunday's shootout victory against the New York Islanders.

Both teams were dealing with substantial absences. Defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Nicolas Hague, forward Evgenii Dadonov, and goaltender Robin Lehner were all sidelined on the Golden Knights' end.

The Bolts, meanwhile, were without head coach Jon Cooper.

Lightning rookie Gabriel Fortier drew first blood with his first-ever NHL goal in his eighth career game, beating Vegas netminder Laurent Brossoit on his blocker side. Stone responded just three minutes later by redirecting the puck home.

Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy scored a beauty to give Vegas a two-goal lead before the Lightning struck twice in 43 seconds at the end of the second period.

Tampa Bay never looked back after Stamkos buried the game-winner on a power play in the final frame. Star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made several key saves in the last minute.

Stone got clipped in the first period by Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph and had to crawl to the bench. He initially stayed in the game and scored his first goal of the contest shortly after.

Vegas head coach Pete DeBoer said postgame the team pulled Stone from the game because of the issue that held him out of Sunday's matchup, according to The Athletic's Jesse Granger.

DeBoer added that he didn't think it would be worth it to leave Stone in the contest due to the upcoming break.

The Lightning improved to 20-6-4 on the season, while the Golden Knights fell to 20-12-0.

Tampa Bay's 44 points leads the NHL heading into the pause.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning placed head coach Jon Cooper in COVID-19 protocol before Tuesday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith.

Assistant coach Derek Lalonde will run the forward lines in tonight's game.

The Bolts' clash with the Golden Knights ended up being the only game on Tuesday's slate due to a rise in positive tests around the league. It will also be the last NHL game played before the holiday break.

The Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers were initially scheduled to play Tuesday, but their matchup was postponed earlier in the day due to COVID-19 issues impacting the Caps.

The NHL and NHLPA announced Monday that the league will pause all operations from Dec. 22-25 in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19 within teams.

Cooper has helped guide the Lightning to a 19-6-4 record to start the season. The Bolts sit at the top of the Atlantic Division.

Earlier this month, the 54-year-old became the fastest NHL coach ever to notch 400 wins.

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