Eric Staal is ready for a fresh start.

The Montreal Canadiens' newest forward is excited to be back in the playoff race after spending the first half of the campaign with the historically poor Buffalo Sabres.

"Well, the good part for me right now is I don't really need to explain," Staal said Sunday, according to The Athletic's John Vogl.

"I can kind of put that behind me and focus on what I can do for the Montreal Canadiens, which is what I'm going to try and do ... for me, having this chance to be a Montreal Canadien and join this team, with a lot of great players and talent, is exciting for me."

Montreal acquired the 36-year-old on Saturday in exchange for a pair of draft picks. Staal tallied three goals and 10 points over 32 games for Buffalo, which is currently enduring a franchise-worst 17-game winless streak.

The Sabres have been hit with several setbacks this season. A COVID-19 outbreak sidelined the club for the first two weeks of February, and Buffalo has since lost captain Jack Eichel and starting goalie Linus Ullmark to long-term injuries.

"There were so many hurdles, there were so many things that just didn't line up the way we envisioned," Staal said, per Vogl.

"The reality is we started OK, we had an up and down first two weeks or so, we were kind of finding our game, filling our roles, and then we got hit with COVID. It went through our room like wildfire, and it wasn't great. Two weeks of guys battling that, and a couple of guys battling it pretty hard, it was difficult. We kind of, after that, coming back, never found any footing."

Staal has tallied 439 goals and 1,031 points through 1,272 career outings but has appeared in the playoffs just five times since capturing the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes during his rookie season in 2005-06.

The Canadiens occupy the fourth seed in the North Division entering Sunday's slate of games.

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Thatcher Demko's emergence as the Vancouver Canucks No. 1 option in goal has been a welcome revelation for the club, and his teammates believe his brilliance is no longer a secret after a dominant March.

"I don't know about underrated, but I know he's really good, and we all know he's really good," J.T. Miller said Thursday on Dropping the Gloves podcast. "He's super competitive, practices really hard, and gives us a chance to win every game, and that's all you can really ask for."

Demko has been a steady presence in goal since his incredible playoff run in the bubble, but he took a massive leap in his development this month. The 25-year-old has collected eight wins while posting a .937 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against average over 11 starts in March.

The California native's also faced one of the heaviest workloads all season on a Canucks' team that's been a wreck defensively. Demko ranks second in shots faced among all netminders and fourth in minutes played, while Vancouver sits among the bottom teams in Corsi For %, shot share, and expected goals share at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"He's a huge part of our team, keeps us in a lot of games when we're not bringing our A-game, and he's an awesome guy too," Miller said.

"It's obviously a really bright future for him, and obviously, he's playing like one of the best goalies in the league right now, so we expect nothing less, and I know he's challenged himself to be that guy."

Demko is in line for a new contract following this campaign. Braden Holtby, who the Canucks inked to a two-year, $8.6-million deal in October, has turned into an expensive backup, and Vancouver could look into trading him to clear more cap space for stars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, who are also up for new deals this summer.

The Canucks sit sixth in the North Division entering Sunday's action. Vancouver is two points shy of a playoff spot, but the math is heavily against the franchise, with the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens having six games in hand.

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Aaron Ekblad wasn't going to be denied in his quest to score the decisive marker against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

The Florida Panthers defenseman thought he netted the winner with about 44 seconds left in overtime.

However, the officials reviewed the play and overturned that goal after determining the Panthers went offside.

But Ekblad wasn't done. The star blue-liner took a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and shoveled it home on the backhand with 10 seconds left in the extra frame for the unquestioned winner.

Ekblad has collected 11 goals and 10 assists in 34 games this season.

The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory. Florida and Dallas will meet again Sunday.

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The Montreal Canadiens inked forward Cole Caufield to a three-year, entry-level contract, the club announced Saturday.

Caufield, whose NCAA season ended Friday, is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, handed out annually to the nation's top collegiate men's hockey player.

The 20-year-old led all Division I skaters with 30 goals and posted a Big Ten-best 52 points in 31 games for the University of Wisconsin this season. He was named the conference's player of the year and helped the Badgers claim the Big Ten title during the regular season.

Montreal selected Caufield 15th overall in 2019.

Bemidji State upset Wisconsin 6-3 in the NCAA tournament's opening round Friday.

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The New York Rangers traded forward Brendan Lemieux to the Los Angeles Kings for a fourth-round pick, reports TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

More to come.

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Boston Bruins star forward Brad Marchand has been placed on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list and won't play in Saturday's matinee versus the Buffalo Sabres, the team announced.

Here are the Bruins' lines without their leading scorer:

Boston recently had two games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. The club returned to the ice Thursday versus the New York Islanders.

Marchand has put together another strong campaign in 2021, posting 12 goals and 22 assists in 29 games while averaging nearly 19 minutes of ice time per contest.

The Bruins enter Saturday's clash fourth in the East Division with 37 points.

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