Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot has been handed a two-game ban for his hit on Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Monday.

The incident occurred in the second period of Saturday's contest. Johnson remained in the game and Kerfoot was handed a two-minute minor for boarding.

The suspension is Kerfoot's first in his 179-game NHL career.

The 25-year-old was playing his former team when the infraction occurred after being traded from Colorado to Toronto in July.

"First and foremost, I think I'm disappointed in myself," Kerfoot said Monday, according to TSN. "It was obviously a bad play. I know Johnson well and I just hope he's alright, I hope that he doesn't miss any time or anything like that. I feel terrible.

“He kind of unfortunately lost possession right as I was pushing him and then he stumbles and I pushed him into the boards. It's no excuse. It was unfortunate timing but it was also a bad play by me and I just hope he's alright.”

Kerfoot has tallied five goals and eight points in 22 games during his first season with the Maple Leafs.

The 5-foot-10 pivot will be eligible to return in the latter contest of a home-and-home series with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

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Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson will be sidelined 4-6 weeks after being cross-checked by St. Louis Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo during Saturday's contest, the team announced Sunday.

Arvidsson played one more shift after the incident before exiting the game.

Bortuzzo received a two-minute minor penalty for cross-checking on the play and was scheduled for a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Sunday.

Arvidsson has been a key contributor throughout his tenure with the Predators, and he's led the club in goals over the last three campaigns.

The 26-year-old Swede has tallied six goals and 15 points in 22 contests this season.

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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Kerfoot will have a hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Monday.

The incident occurred in the second period of Saturday's contest. Johnson remained in the game and Kerfoot was handed a two-minute minor for boarding.

The 25-year-old Kerfoot has appeared in 179 career NHL contests and has never faced supplemental discipline.

He was playing against his former team, as the Leafs acquired the 5-foot-10 pivot as part of the July deal that sent forward Nazem Kadri to Colorado.

In 22 games with the Leafs this season, Kerfoot has contributed five goals and eight points.

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Calgary Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie skated with the team on Sunday for the first time since collapsing during practice on Nov. 14.

Brodie, who has missed the club's last five games, is listed as a game-time decision for Monday's tilt with the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to Sportsnet's Ryan Leslie.

The 29-year-old was immediately taken to the hospital following the incident. He was discharged later that day and has been recovering at home since. Flames doctor Ian Auld said Brodie's episode is likely related to fainting as opposed to a brain issue.

Brodie (black jersey) looked comfortable as he took part in drills during the optional skate.

The 6-foot-1 rearguard has contributed eight assists through 21 games this season while logging an average of 19:13 of ice time per game.

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The red-hot Dallas Stars will likely welcome back a pair of key contributors on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Forward Roope Hintz and defenseman John Klingberg, who have been sidelined with lower-body injuries since Nov. 2 and Nov. 5, respectively, are expected to return, the team announced. The final decision regarding their availability will be made following warmups.

Hintz, 23, turned heads with his impressive play during the 2019 postseason and carried that momentum into his sophomore campaign. The 6-foot-3 Finn tallied a team-high nine goals and 11 points in 16 contests before the injury.

Klingberg has long been the Stars' anchor on the blue line. Despite contributing just one goal and four points through 17 games this season, the 27-year-old rearguard has led Stars defensemen in scoring over five straight campaigns and has logged 23:36 of average ice time per game in 2019-20.

After stumbling out of the gate this season to a 1-7-1 record, the Stars bounced back to win 12 of their next 14 contests and they enter Saturday's tilt riding a five-game winning streak.

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Edmonton Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson has been activated off injured reserve and will play against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, the team announced.

Larsson suffered a broken foot in the club's season opener and has missed the last 22 games. He was expected to be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks.

The 27-year-old has played an important role on the Oilers' blue line since being acquired from the New Jersey Devils in June 2016. Last season, Larsson finished third among Oilers defensemen with 21:37 of ice time per game, chipping in three goals and 20 points in 82 contests.

Edmonton has started off strong in his absence, posting a 14-6-3 record to sit atop the Pacific Division entering Thursday's action.

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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is holding himself accountable for the departure of former head coach Mike Babcock.

"I'm disappointed in myself ... that coming into the job, knowing Mike was the coach, you certainly want everything to work out," Dubas told assembled media, including TSN, on Thursday.

" ... I tried to do as best I could ... and I'm disappointed in myself and only myself that it didn't work out, that we couldn't become simpatico on every single topic."

The Maple Leafs fired Babcock on Wednesday, replacing him with former Toronto Marlies bench boss Sheldon Keefe following a 9-10-4 start that has threatened what was supposed to be the club's most promising campaign in recent memory.

"Our major way of looking at it was, 'Is this best for the long term of the group?'" Dubas said. "Not to sit here at the end of the weekend and say was this a success or not but in the long run was this the best thing to do for our program?

"And (Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and I) both agreed that it absolutely was."

Babcock led the team through a rebuilding season in 2015-16 before helping the Maple Leafs reach the playoffs in three straight campaigns. The club failed to advance out of the first round in each of those postseason appearances, however, and a regressive start in 2019-20 signaled to Dubas it was time to make a change.

" ... Our ups and downs, our inconsistency a little bit, and just kind of reading off the players and watching them and how they were reacting to different things that it was time to potentially go down this path," Dubas said.

Tuesday's loss to the Vegas Golden Knights pushed the Leafs' losing streak to six contests, the longest such slide of the Auston Matthews-Babcock era.

Asked if Babcock had lost the room, Shanahan dismissed the notion but admitted there has been something amiss with the club.

"Certainly from a player's perspective you could see the frustration in their eyes and I really thought even in our last game that the players were working hard but there was a sort of a belief missing in them," Shanahan said.

Keefe will coach his first NHL game Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes as the Maple Leafs look to turn their season around.

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Tyson Barrie is fed up with losing after the Toronto Maple Leafs dropped their sixth straight contest Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

"We had a good meeting this morning and it's time to go now," the defenseman said following the 4-2 loss, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "It's time to man up.

"We have expectations on us and we're not living up to them and it's time to go. We competed hard tonight ... we battled back and had a chance to tie it. We have to keep going, a lot of hockey left."

Barrie, who was traded to Toronto in July after a career-best 59-point season with the Colorado Avalanche in 2018-19, has struggled to find his offensive touch with the Maple Leafs, managing just seven assists through 23 contests.

The 28-year-old has picked up a helper in two consecutive games, however, and posted a Corsi For rating of 60% or better over five consecutive games.

Tuesday's loss marks the longest losing streak of the Auston Matthews-Mike Babcock era. The team's longest skid last season lasted three games. Prior to the defeat against Vegas, the Maple Leafs hadn't lost six in a row since 2015-16, when they finished dead last in the NHL.

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The annual award given to the NHL's top general manager will be renamed in honor of the late Jim Gregory, the league announced Tuesday.

The league ran the idea by general managers at Tuesday's meetings in Toronto, and it received a unanimous stamp of approval, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

"This is a terrific tribute to a wonderful man by a group uniquely qualified to appreciate his many contributions to our game," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

"During his tenure as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jim Gregory transformed the art of team-building. Through the many years he spent at the League, our general managers regularly sought his counsel. They universally revere his lifetime of service to the NHL."

The award was first presented to then-Phoenix Coyotes general manager Don Maloney in 2009-10. Last season, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney captured the honor.

Gregory, who died Oct. 30 at 83 years old, served as general manager of the Maple Leafs for 10 seasons from 1969-79 and then as a league executive for four decades. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builders category in 2007.

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Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer will return to the crease Tuesday against the Calgary Flames, the team announced.

Grubauer, 27, has missed the club's last five contests with a lower-body injury he sustained earlier this month.

Netminder Pavel Francouz, who suffered a head injury Nov. 12, has also been cleared to return and will assume backup duties Tuesday.

The Avalanche weathered the storm with Grubauer sidelined, posting a 4-1-0 record in his absence while receiving steady play from Francouz and rookie puck-stoppers Antoine Bibeau and Adam Werner.

Through 11 starts this season, Grubauer has authored a 6-3-2 record with a 2.80 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage.

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