Brett Pesce with possibly the most blatant textbook slew foot the NHL has seen pic.twitter.com/02nf5QZPIg
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) March 5, 2021
Pesce, 26, was assessed a two-minute minor for tripping on the play, while Fabbri avoided injury.
The 6-foot-4 blue-liner had never received supplemental discipline over 371 prior NHL games.
Pesce has contributed three goals and 13 points over 18 games this season while ranking second on the Hurricanes in blocked shots (28) and third in average ice time (22:32).
The 22-year-old didn't finish Thursday's morning skate, according to TSN's Farhan Lalji. The star pivot is battling an unknown ailment, though it isn't believed to be serious, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
In a corresponding move pre-game, the Canucks activated forward Marc Michaelis, who's expected to make his NHL debut in Pettersson's place, Dhaliwal added.
Pettersson has 10 goals and 11 assists in 26 games this season.
Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving is looking to add a right-shooting right-winger to his team, TSN's Frank Seravalli reported on Thursday's edition of "Insider Trading."
The Flames have often deployed Elias Lindholm as their top right-winger, but he's frequently played as a center this season, and the team prefers to have him centering its second line, Seravalli added.
Flames head coach Geoff Ward has been shuffling his lines throughout the season as the team struggles to find consistency. This is how the lineup looked Thursday morning ahead of Calgary's game against the Ottawa Senators:
#Flames projected lines, pairings and goaltenders vs. #Senators:
San Jose Sharks forward Joachim Blichfeld is suspended two games for his hit to the head of Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon during Wednesday's contest, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Thursday.
Blichfeld was ejected for the hit, while MacKinnon exited the game with 12 minutes remaining and didn't return.
It was Blichfeld's first game of the season and just the fourth of his NHL career. The 22-year-old had never previously faced supplemental discipline.
MacKinnon, 25, tallied one assist in the 4-0 win. The 6-foot pivot has scored five goals and leads the club with 22 points through 19 games this season.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was activated from the COVID-19 list and is in the lineup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, the team announced.
Crosby was placed in the protocol Tuesday and subsequently missed that night's 5-2 victory over the Flyers.
The 33-year-old is tied for the team lead in goals (seven), assists (11), and points (18) through 20 games.
Assistant coach Todd Reirden, who was placed in the protocol Tuesday as well, is also cleared to return Thursday.
Lindholm, 27, suffered the injury during Saturday's overtime loss against the Vegas Golden Knights. He missed the previous three games with a lower-body injury.
The Swedish blue-liner ranks second on the club in average ice time per game (22:02) and has tallied two goals and six points through 18 outings this season.
Anaheim has lost eight consecutive contests and owns the second-worst points percentage (.370) in the league entering Thursday's action.
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier is out week-to-week with a sinus fracture after taking a puck to the visor during Saturday's game against the Washington Capitals, the team announced Thursday.
A rocky start to the week has dropped me to 68-53 (+16.52 units) on the season. There was nothing fun about watching the Panthers and Wild blow late leads on Monday night, only to lose in overtime.
But that's hockey, and we've had a few of those go our way this year as well.
Here are a couple of plays I've singled out for Thursday.
I enjoyed betting the Devils early in the season, but they've managed just 43.18% of the expected goal share at five-on-five across their last seven games. That number drops even further at all strengths, with the Devils struggling a great deal on special teams. Their power play ranks 27th in the league, while the penalty kill is dead last by a wide margin with just a 63% success rate. To put that miserable number into perspective, the Red Wings are second-worst, sitting at 70.4%.
To compound matters, New Jersey will be without captain Nico Hischier once again after he took a puck to the face in Saturday's game against the Capitals. The Rangers appear to be getting Kaapo Kakko back - he hasn't played since Feb. 18 - and while Artemi Panarin remains away from the team for the fifth game, they've been managing well in his absence with 52.48% of the expected goal share at five-on-five.
Oddsmakers were too low on the Devils early on, and after finally catching up, there seems to be an overcorrection happening now. They're also too low on a Rangers team playing strong hockey without their leading scorer. We're getting a bargain on the Blueshirts on Thursday.
After cashing on the Penguins on Tuesday, I'm really liking this bounce-back spot for the Flyers. The Pens have struggled in the second of two-game sets, putting in much more convincing performances in the initial meeting. They've lost the second game in three of the last four occasions after winning the first, and the underlying numbers show that's hardly a coincidence.
Opponent
xGF% (Game 1)
xGF% (Game 2)
Capitals
55.2
28.7
Islanders
63.61
37.45
Capitals
59.24
40.26
Islanders
54.37
30.24
Flyers
48.88
???
Thursday's ask is even tougher as they're once again without Sidney Crosby after rallying impressively in the captain's absence in the opener. Meanwhile, the Flyers are getting healthy, and have no notable absences after Travis Konecny returned to the lineup on Tuesday.
Tuesday's scoreline was a bit flattering for the Penguins, who capitalized on a rough outing from Carter Hart. The young netminder has had his share of struggles this season, but we won't have to worry about that here as Brian Elliott is expected to get the start. The man they call "Moose" has been nothing short of spectacular this season, ranking third in the NHL in GSAA/60 among goalies with at least five starts. He's also posted a terrific 4.41 GSAx, ranking ninth in the league, while Hart sits 64th out of 69 goalies with a minus-7.84 mark.
Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, despises how the NHL handles starting goalie announcements, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.