BUFFALO, N.Y. - Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists, and the New York Rangers edged the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 on Tuesday night after nearly blowing a three-goal lead. J.T. Miller sealed the victory with a backhander into an empty net with...

Logan Couture caught Cam Talbot napping.

The San Jose Sharks forward collected his ninth goal of the season poking in a loose puck that sat at Talbot's feet. The Edmonton Oilers netmidner appeared to lose sight of it after he made a shoulder save on Couture.

The blunder comes after Talbot was named the NHL's first star last week. Couture snapped a seven-game goalless skid.

It wasn't pretty, but he'll take it.

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Boston Bruins defenseman John-Michael Liles somehow escaped a trip to the penalty box for a hit during Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it won't be a shock if he hears from the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

During the first period, Liles delivered a dangerous forearm to the head of Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, who struggled to get back to his feet.

Kucherov, Tampa's leading scorer, went straight to the dressing room, but returned for the start of the second.

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During the first period of their Tuesday night meeting with the Dallas Stars, the Montreal Canadiens announced forward Brendan Gallagher will miss the next two-to-three weeks with a lower-body injury.

The 23-year-old left the game after doing the splits and suffering an apparent groin injury, according to Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. He finished with just 4:52 of ice time.

Gallagher has 18 goals and 17 assists in 49 games this season. He joins a crowded injury list for the Canadiens, who are already without a number of key players.

So Habs injured list tonight is: Price, Gallagher, Eller, Petry, Beaulieu, Gilbert, Desharnais, Carr and Flynn. That's nine players.

— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) March 8, 2016

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New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello took his sweet time circling in the neutral zone during a first-period power play in Tuesday's game against the Buffalo Sabres, and his patience paid off.

The Norwegian winger found a teammate sneaking behind both Sabre defensemen and fed Derick Brassard a perfect pass, springing him on a breakaway where he buried his team-leading 24th goal of the season.

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The Los Angeles Kings and forward Milan Lucic have apparently taken the first steps toward a contract extension.

Both sides have exchanged contract proposals, ESPN's Pierre LeBrun said during Tuesday's TSN "Insider Trading" segment.

Related: Lucic: 'I would love nothing more than to remain a King'

According to LeBrun, it's very early in the process, and he expects talks could take a while, noting the length of Anze Kopitar's negotiations with the club. However, there's reportedly mutual interest in keeping Lucic in L.A.

Lucic is enjoying his first season with the Kings since being dealt by the Boston Bruins. He has 15 goals and 40 points in 64 games.

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Though the NHL was quick to shut down reports the league had made a decision on expansion Monday, the general managers are expected to discuss an important part of that process at meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., beginning March 14.

"They're going to talk about the expansion draft rules," Pierre LeBrun reported during TSN's "Insider Trading" segment on Tuesday.

"I'm not sure that this is an issue that's making GMs lose sleep at night. More than that, they want to get an idea of how this might work. If the NHL expands, the league is expected to give them a general parameter of how an expansion draft might look, even though that's not finalized yet."

The league has not held an expansion draft since 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league. At that time, teams were allowed to protect either one goalie, five defensemen, and nine forwards, or two goalies, three defensemen, and seven forwards.

Then-recent league additions the Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers were given full protection for their rosters during that draft.

Las Vegas and Quebec City are the two candidates currently going through the NHL's formal expansion process.

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