Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane say they wish they could have done more to help Kyle Beach, who identified himself on Wednesday as the "John Doe" at the center of the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault scandal.

"We wish we could have done something differently, myself included," Toews said, according to The Athletic's Mark Lazerus. "My heart goes out to Kyle for what he dealt with. Wish I could have done something. It's not an excuse looking back, but the truth is a lot of us were focused on just playing hockey."

The two players spoke to the media following the team's 3-2 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, hours after Beach came forward during an interview with TSN's Rick Westhead.

"Very courageous for (Beach) to come out and let his name be known to the world after everything he went (through)," Kane said, according to Lazerus. "Wish back then we could have done some different things, knew about some different things, maybe we could have helped him."

Beach was a member of the Blackhawks organization in 2010, when he says former video coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted him during the playoffs. He said during the interview that he believes everyone in the locker room was aware of the incident.

"Word spread pretty quick," Beach said. "I do believe that everyone in that locker room knew about it. Because the comments were made in the locker room, they were made on the ice, they were made around the arena with all different people of all different backgrounds - players, staff, media in the presence."

Toews and Kane, however, suggested they were unaware at the time.

"Listen, at the end of the day, I don't wish to exonerate myself in this situation by saying I didn't know. But the truth is I had not heard about it until training camp the next year," Toews said, according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kane said he didn't know Beach was "John Doe" until he revealed himself Wednesday, adding that he remembered hearing "vaguely some different rumors" about why Aldrich left the team.

Toews also defended former general manager Stan Bowman and former senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, both of whom stepped down in light of an investigation into the franchise's handling of the allegations against Aldrich.

Law firm Jenner & Block determined that Bowman and MacIsaac knew Aldrich had at least allegedly sexually harassed a player and - along with other members of the management group - didn't act on the information until three weeks later after the team won the Stanley Cup.

"To me, Stan and Al, make any argument you want, they're not directly complicit in the activities that happened," Toews said. "Regardless of mistakes that may have been made, for someone like Stan, who has done so much for the Blackhawks - and Al as well - to lose everything they care about and their livelihoods, as well.

"I don't understand how that makes it go away, to just delete them from existence and (say), 'That's it, we'll never hear from them again.' I have a lot of respect for them as people. They're good people."

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Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is expected to miss approximately eight weeks with a tibial plateau contusion in his knee, general manager Rob Blake announced Wednesday.

The veteran will resume skating six weeks from now.

More to come.

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Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins believes what goes around, comes around.

The 27-year-old said a fan wearing a Dallas Stars sweater taunted him about the death of his close friend and former teammate, Matiss Kivlenieks, as he exited the tunnel prior to Monday's game in Columbus, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.

He went on to make 31 saves on 32 shots en route to the Blue Jackets' 4-1 victory over the Stars.

"I was expecting a shutout, because I believe in karma. There are some stupid people in this world," Merzlikins said after the contest. "After the first period, the three posts that I got, I really believed in karma. I saw that (Kivlenieks) was really there."

Merzlikins added that he didn't respond to the fan.

"Stupid people don't come into my head. I didn't get upset," he said. "I just realize how stupid people are. This is all. I don't care what he said."

Kivlenieks died in July following a fireworks accident. Merzlikins previously called him a hero and said he's going to win the Vezina for him.

Merzlikins has enjoyed a fantastic start to the 2021-22 campaign, going 4-0-0 with a .952 save percentage.

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The Ottawa Senators will place goaltender Matt Murray on injured reserve with a head/neck ailment, head coach D.J. Smith said Sunday, according to the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch.

The 27-year-old exited Saturday's contest against the New York Rangers in the third period after forward Chris Kreider collided with his head.

Meanwhile, Senators forward Shane Pinto is expected to miss a week or two, but his injury is "a little better than we thought," said Smith.

Pinto left Thursday's game against the San Jose Sharks with an upper-body injury after crashing into the boards following a hard hit from defenseman Mario Ferraro. Smith said at the time that he didn't believe Pinto suffered any structural damage.

Ottawa recalled netminder Filip Gustavsson earlier Sunday.

The Senators take on the Washington Capitals on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

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The website the Carolina Hurricanes created to roast the Montreal Canadiens after handing them their fifth loss on Thursday looks a lot different.

It appears someone has given didthehabslose.com a facelift on Friday, changing it into an anti-Hurricanes site instead.

Rather than an animated image of Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho scrolling through his phone and nodding, users are greeted with a stock image of a hockey rink with the title "Carolina Hurricanes suck" in all caps.

Below that, there's a message in smaller letters: "Just spreading the truth to a bunch of ... (it's copyrighted but you get it)." Hint: they mean "jerks."

There's plenty of worthwhile information in the site's "About Us" section. Whoever made the changes wanted to make it loud and clear they, in fact, hate the Hurricanes and that they are "not even a real team."

The minds behind the Hurricanes knew not everyone was going to be pleased with the website.

"It's literally our jobs: to entertain and drive revenue. That did both of those things," Hurricanes vice president of marketing and brand strategy Mike Forman said, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "If you're a Montreal Canadiens fan, it probably rubbed you the wrong way. But we're not building our marketing plan around Canadiens fans or Canadian media, for that matter. We're building it for our fans."

The Hurricanes reserved domains for four teams, including their own, and they've even mulled buying URLs for every single NHL team.

"We're not actual jerks. We're the figurative jerks. Our philosophy is that we won't throw a first punch. But we'll throw the second punch and we're going to try for it to be a knockout," Forman said.

He added the website was hacked, and the Hurricanes are currently debating what to do with it.

"Honestly, it's just gaining more traction because of it," Forman said.

The Hurricanes and Canadiens will square off again on Dec. 30 in Carolina.

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Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said there's no target date set for his return following offseason wrist surgery, according to NHL.com's Wes Crosby.

The Penguins star underwent the procedure Sept. 8 and was expected to be sidelined for a minimum of six weeks, meaning his earliest return date would have been Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Crosby, however, was officially ruled out of that contest Thursday.

Pittsburgh general manager Ron Hextall said at the time of the surgery that the wrist injury wasn't a new issue for Crosby, and the center confirmed that fact on Friday.

The 34-year-old revealed his left wrist was initially injured by Ryan Reaves in a game shortly after the 2014 Winter Olympics. He'd been trying to manage the issue over the past seven years, including undergoing a scope last season, before opting to get surgery, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Mike DeFabo.

"We all felt like it was something that I wouldn't have gotten through the season if I didn't take care of it," Crosby said.

He added: "I'm hoping it improves it a lot. This last year - with the scope and just dealing with it - it became more of an issue. Hopefully, it can feel a lot better here and I can kind of put it behind me."

He practiced for the first time since the surgery Oct. 9 and participated again Friday but, before he can return to NHL action, he would like to shore up some aspects of his game.

"I haven't really had any force," he said, according to NHL.com's Crosby, "whether it be through faceoffs or lifting sticks. ... Those are things I haven't been able to do. When I can do that comfortably ... I think that will be a big step."

Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen provided an encouraging report about the veteran after Friday's session.

"I mean, it's Sidney Crosby. He's always going to be the best player out there," he said.

The Penguins haven't lost a game outright in four contests without Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, going 2-0-2.

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin isn't pushing the panic button just yet amid his team's 0-4 start.

The executive insisted during an impromptu press conference Wednesday that he won't shake things up just for the sake of it.

"I don't feel the need. It has nothing to do with cap space, it has to do with the group we have," Bergevin said.

He added: "There's some pretty good hockey players that aren't playing up to their potential, and until they do, there's nothing I'm going to do to make a change.

"Change a fourth-line player just to say I made a change, I don't believe in that."

The Canadiens have followed up their Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Final last season by scoring just three goals in four contests so far this campaign. When asked why he was appearing before the media Wednesday, Bergevin explained that he wanted to show his support, and concern, for the team.

"Montreal's a different market, it's a special market," he said. "Sometimes (the) tension is higher than it should be. ... I believe the answer is within."

Montreal is missing two massive parts of its lineup, as netminder Carey Price is taking part in the player assistance program while Shea Weber is out with a myriad of injuries.

Bergevin said Weber hasn't undergone any recent surgeries or resumed training. He added that Weber won't return this season and said it's a "long shot" the defenseman will be able to resume playing at all.

As for his own future, Bergevin said he'd like to continue being the Canadiens' GM "in a perfect world."

His contract runs until the end of the 2021-22 season.

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Before they were on the same team, St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug wasn't the biggest fan of David Perron.

"Man, did I hate that guy," Krug said during an appearance on the "Cam and Strick Podcast" earlier this week. "Honestly, after I signed, someone was like, 'Perron's asking for (your) number, can I give it to him?' I was like, 'You know, let's just wait a couple weeks.'

"He was just a guy that I didn't understand how good he was until you see it up close."

The 2019 Stanley Cup Finals were at the heart of Krug's initial dislike for Perron. Before inking a seven-year, $45.5 million deal in St. Louis as an unrestricted free agent last October, Krug spent nine seasons with the Boston Bruins.

The Blues defeated the Bruins in seven games to hoist the Cup for the first time in franchise history.

"I battled him like crazy in the corners during the finals. That was my matchup. I never liked him," Krug said.

Perron chimed in on Twitter Wednesday morning to say he felt the same way.

For Krug, that disdain has since shifted to admiration.

"That guy hounds the puck like crazy, protects it like crazy, he's got a heavy stick, and he cares so much," he said. "I just can't believe how good his wrister is, his impact on the game. He can change the game pretty easily."

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Just three months removed from the Stanley Cup Final, a winless start to the 2021-22 campaign is hardly what the Montreal Canadiens had in mind.

Not only have the Habs dropped their four opening contests, but they've also scored just three goals total, including Tuesday's 5-0 home loss to the San Jose Sharks.

"It's frustrating," defenseman Jeff Petry said postgame. "We're four games into the year and we played two games like that. Half of our games have been no effort."

The 33-year-old veteran said the Canadiens must focus on the fundamentals to solve their woes.

"I think we need to put in the effort and make sure we're supporting each other," he said. "There's so many times where we're skating away from the puck, we're leaving guys out to dry, we're not playing as a unit of five. We're gonna go nowhere with that."

No matter what the answer is, fans are starting to get antsy. The audience at the Bell Centre booed the team as time ran out Tuesday.

"I've been through that before. You get a couple wins, they'll be back," longtime Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher said postgame.

He added: "They're frustrated. The thing about us as players is we have an opportunity to change that and fix what's going on. They don't. They feel like their only voice is to boo us."

Gallagher said that it's key that the Canadiens stick together amid their losing skid.

"A lot of people are going to turn on us," he said. "It's gonna be important in that locker room that we do the right thing, we work to find solutions. It's never easy to get out of these things."

When asked about the possibility of holding a players-only meeting, Petry said, "I think every guy in here knows this is not good enough. If it comes down to that, then we have to do that. We shouldn't be in that situation four games into the year."

The Canadiens will square off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

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After a slight delay due to a lower-body injury, Mike Hoffman made his Montreal Canadiens debut against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

The Canadiens signed the 31-year-old to a three-year, $13.5-million deal as an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Hoffman suffered the injury before going to Montreal and was initially expected to miss the first week-and-a-half of the regular season.

That puts his recovery slightly ahead of the originally targeted Oct. 23 game against the Detroit Red Wings as his debut.

"The body feels good and I'm ready to go," Hoffman said Monday before receiving the green light on Tuesday, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

Hoffman was on the third line at morning skate.

The Canadiens have been held winless through the first three games of the season and have scored just three goals. The typically productive Hoffman has 189 career goals in 545 contests, 67 of which have come on the man advantage. The Canadiens' power play has gotten off to an 0-for-11 start.

Forward Adam Brooks also made his Montreal debut on Tuesday in the place of the injured Jake Evans. The Canadiens claimed the 25-year-old off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs last week.

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