Anderson had been away from the club attending to his wife, Nicholle, who was diagnosed with cancer in late October.
"The crowd has just been outstanding," he added Saturday.
"The city of Ottawa, the organization, it's just been a dream come true the way they've handled everything and allowed me to be a husband and to be a dad. (They understand it's) family first, and they've really hammered that home. I can't thank the city and the organization enough."
Anderson previously took several brief absences before deciding the situation required a more extended leave.
Nicholle tweeted earlier Saturday that she couldn't be happier to see some normalcy back in their lives, and her husband agreed when asked about that after the game.
"That's key for myself to get into a routine and get her into a routine, and (for) the kids," he said.
As for Saturday's first-star honors, clearly it's not a one-game achievement in the Anderson household.
It doesn't matter what day it is babe, you will always be my first star! I love you! ❤️@CraigAnderson41
Patrick Kane with 269 career goals is now tied with Sylvain Turgeon, whose card young Kane appeared on in the 90's (upper right)#Blackhawkspic.twitter.com/wbEw6cAhYt
Yes, that's a young Kane sitting in the front row with his father watching his hometown Buffalo Sabres take on Sylvain Turgeon and the Ottawa Senators in the picture used on Turgeon's 1994-95 Pinnacle hockey card.
"He is five or six years old (in the photo), and what we notice is that he is not eating popcorn, not eating ice cream," Patrick Kane, Sr., told Allen at the time. "He's not dillydallying. He is watching the game."
Granted, Bowness has been a head coach for only 463 of them, while Bowman occupied the lead role for 2,141 regular-season contests.
Still, it's an impressive accomplishment for the 62-year-old Bowness, who's been a reliable assistant for more than a decade.
"He knows how to change with the times," Bowman told Burns before Friday's game. "Over the three or four decades, he's kept up. He's got the experience. Nothing's going to surprise him now."
Before becoming one of the league's most dependable associate bench bosses, he served as head coach of the original Winnipeg Jets and the Boston Bruins for less than a season in both locales, spent parts of four campaigns as the head man with the Ottawa Senators, parts of two more with the New York Islanders, then reunited with the old Jets franchise for 20 games with the Arizona Coyotes in 2003-04.
Bowness joined the Vancouver Canucks as Alain Vigneault's associate in 2006-07 and remained there until the end of the 2012-13 season, joining the Lightning for the following campaign under then-first-year head coach Jon Cooper.
To this day, the quest to lift Lord Stanley's mug is still his primary driving force.
"That's my main motivation," he said. "I don't care what the job description is, assistant coach, head trainer, I don't care about that. I just want to win the Stanley Cup. So the drive of trying to win a Stanley Cup is still there. I've never worried about the job description. I just want to go somewhere where you have a legitimate chance to win and to win that Cup."
Paul Maurice has an interesting sense of humor, particularly when it comes to the status of his rookie superstar, Patrik Laine.
“Pat's been sent down to the minors today,” the Winnipeg Jets head coach joked to reporters Wednesday, according to Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun. “He's been returned to the Moose.”
Laine won't be demoted, but he struggled in Tuesday's loss to the Minnesota Wild, making a costly giveaway that led to a Wild goal and watching as Minnesota scored another while he was on the ice.
Maurice demoted the 18-year-old to the fourth line after his first-period woes, but the coach insisted Wednesday that the move shouldn't be blown out of proportion.
“He had a rougher night. That's going to happen,” Maurice said. “I love the guy. I also know what he's going to mean to this franchise. If I shaved three minutes off his game, I apologize to Manitoba.”
Laine understands why he was banished to the bottom six.
“It was a tough game,” he said. “I wasn't playing my best. So it was a good decision from him. I've been sitting on the bench before. It's not new to me. That kind of stuff happens."
Laine ranks second among rookies with 23 goals to Auston Matthews' 25 markers. He also sits third in the rookie class, narrowly behind Mitch Marner and Matthews with 43 points despite playing four fewer contests than both of them due to a concussion he suffered earlier in the season.
More importantly for Jets fans' collective sanity, Laine's logging more average ice time than every rookie forward not named Mikko Rantanen, even taking into account the 12:58 he played Tuesday night.
That was his lowest ice time of the season, and judging by Maurice's sarcastic remarks, it's clearly an anomaly that isn't likely to continue.
A new group formed by the NHL and NHLPA called the Playing Environment subcommittee will rate ice conditions around the league by having players submit postgame surveys, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reports.
Then there's the situation at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where several New York Islanders players criticized the ice in an arena where the floor piping system reportedly doesn't meet NHL standards.
The league clearly knows the situation there is less than ideal and there's not much the Islanders can do about it barring a move to another venue, but these new surveys should help determine other arenas where the ice needs to be improved.
The Calgary Flames apparently shared that sentiment, as they held practice at one of the outdoor rinks in New York's most famous public space ahead of Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.
Some big names could be on the move before March 1, but there are several less productive players who could still provide value to buyers looking to add ahead of the trade deadline.
From veteran forwards to seasoned blue-liners, more than a handful of reasonably priced options abound for teams looking to bolster their playoff-ready rosters.
Here are five under-the-radar players who might find new homes before the clock strikes 3 p.m. ET on deadline day:
Mike Ribeiro
Ribeiro went unclaimed on waivers Saturday, so he's not exactly in high demand, but his value should rise closer to the deadline as teams get a better idea of where they stand.
The 36-year-old center has certainly flown under the radar with only four goals and 25 points, but he's only a season removed from a 43-assist, 50-point campaign.
He's a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of $3.5 million, and that figure shouldn't be too cumbersome for teams looking to add depth down the middle.
Patrick Eaves
There's a ton of parity in the league at the moment, and that's essentially led to crickets in terms of significant trades, because so many teams aren't sure whether they'll be buyers or sellers.
The Dallas Stars are one of those teams, sitting third-last in the Western Conference but only four points out of a playoff position.
If they bottom out and decide to sell, Patrick Eaves would have to be considered a trade candidate, considering his status as a UFA, his age (32), and his team-friendly cap hit of $1 million.
The fact that he's on pace for a career year - leading the Stars with 19 goals - doesn't hurt his value, either.
Drew Stafford
When you look at Stafford's production this season as a whole, it's not very impressive, but the Winnipeg Jets' notoriously streaky forward was putting together a nice run before an injury forced him to miss the last six games.
He's posted only 12 points in 34 contests, but eight of those points came in the last 13 games he played prior to getting hurt.
He's nearing a return, and if he picks up where he left off upon retaking the ice, he'll be a possible trade target as a pending UFA who's proven he can contribute.
The Jets are only two points out of a playoff spot, so they may opt to hold on to him, but, should they falter in the weeks ahead, Stafford could garner some interest despite his $4.35-million cap hit.
Brian Gionta
The Buffalo Sabres won't admit it, but let's be honest - they're not really in contention this season, sitting eight points out with effectively seven teams to leapfrog if they hope to claim a playoff berth.
That means, barring a February surge, general manager Tim Murray will look to do what he did at last year's deadline, when he dealt versatile forward Jamie McGinn to the Anaheim Ducks.
McGinn was a pending UFA, just like Sabres captain Brian Gionta is this year. The latter is 38 years old, but he can still score on occasion, and teams might covet his wealth of experience.
Dennis Seidenberg
The New York Islanders have resurrected their season under new head coach Doug Weight, but it's still going to be an uphill battle to qualify for the postseason.
If they deem the playoffs a lost cause come deadline time, Dennis Seidenberg would likely be discussed considering his ultra-affordable cap hit of $1 million, and his status as a steady defenseman with plenty of playoff experience, including a Stanley Cup championship with the Boston Bruins in 2011.
He's 35, and the offensive production hasn't quite been there this season, but Seidenberg could be a reliable bottom-pairing addition for a team looking to solidify its blue line.
Corrado never managed to carve out consistent playing time since the Leafs claimed him off waivers last season. He appeared in only two games for Toronto this year after getting a 39-game look in 2015-16.
The 25-year-old Marchenko recorded six points in 30 games this season for the Red Wings, who drafted him in the seventh round in 2011.
Each week, theScore looks at the teams, players, and other hockey figures trending upward and taking a step back. This week, we're examining the NHL's most recent replacement head coaches.
▲ Mike Yeo
Ken Hitchcock's firing means Yeo takes over the St. Louis Blues a little earlier than he - or anyone else - was expecting, and he'll do so with the club in relative free fall.
It wasn't Hitchcock's fault that the Blues had the worst goaltending in the NHL, nor will it be Yeo's, but it will be the new bench boss' responsibility to right the ship until and unless general manager Doug Armstrong is willing to make a move to improve the team's netminding woes.
Yeo has enough previous head coaching experience with the Minnesota Wild and associate coaching time learning under Hitchcock to be fully prepared for this role.
He's expected to lead the Blues for three more seasons after this one, so while there's certainly pressure to make the playoffs and match last season's Western Conference Final run, Yeo can take comfort in knowing he was hand-picked and groomed for this opportunity.
▼ Tom Rowe
Coaching changes often rouse teams regardless of whether it's a necessary move, but that awakening simply hasn't happened in Florida.
When the Panthers fired Gerard Gallant and named general manager Tom Rowe the interim head coach for the rest of the season, it was a puzzling move, not only because of Gallant's abrupt departure but also because his replacement occupied a desk in the front office.
Rowe isn't without coaching experience, but the skepticism appears to have been warranted. The Panthers have reeled off two straight wins, but they're 11-10-9 in the 30 games since he took the reins. For those scoring at home, that's really 11-19, or eight games below .500.
The defending Atlantic Division champions find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture looking in - two points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild-card spot in the East, and one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have three games in hand.
▲ Doug Weight
The New York Islanders look like an entirely new team under Weight, who was elevated to the head coaching position when Jack Capuano was fired last month.
They're 5-0-1 with Weight behind the bench, rising from last place to within three points of the Flyers for that final playoff position in the parity-riddled Eastern Conference.
The Islanders have outscored opponents 19-10 in the first six games of the Weight era. Like Yeo, he was groomed for the job, but, unlike his Blues counterpart, his tutelage came as an assistant coach. Either way, he's proving that experience paid off.
theScore's new series, "The Noise," is published every Monday. It normally kicks off each week with a quick look at three teams or players making headlines, good or bad, but we made an exception this time around.
When you think about lasting memories from this past All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, what immediately comes to mind?
Other than Chris Pronger giving Justin Bieber a gleeful back massage, the main takeaway for many was the presence of the NHL's past luminaries and the mutual admiration between them and the league's current stars.
The legends were there as part of the league's centennial celebrations and in conjunction with the "NHL 100" list that was unveiled Friday night to commemorate that anniversary, but surely the alumni can and should be involved more in future All-Star celebrations.
Even though it wasn't in the original plans, tabbing Wayne Gretzky to fill in as head coach for the victorious Metropolitan Division squad was a brilliant move that ultimately had a major impact on the event itself, both in terms of the outcome and Gretzky's own redemption story behind the bench.
Doing more of this with the legends in future years, and intentionally as opposed to as a last-minute replacement, would go a long way in terms of increasing interest in All-Star weekends that lack a John Scott-esque transcendent must-watch factor.
There are a number of ways to do it, too. Getting the best of the best like Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Joe Sakic to serve as head coaches of the four respective divisions or having one legend from the host city lead that team's divisional squad would be fun ways to get the league's greats more involved.
That might be a bit unfair to the best current head coaches, who deserve to be honored with All-Star nods of their own, so here's another way: Work the alumni into the skills competition.
This year's skills event was a snoozer for several reasons, and while there are other ways to liven it up, teaming the modern-day players up with the legends would be delightful, as long as it was done in a way that didn't embarrass the old-timers.
They wouldn't be expected to fire 100-mph slap shots or set fastest-skater records against the current stars. Just have them square off against each other while representing the four divisions (by virtue of their most identifiable former team), and award points to the current squads based on the assistance of their legendary partners.
It could be much simpler than that, like having the elders feed passes to the active players in the accuracy event, or how about ditching the less than thrilling four-line challenge for an entirely new event that gets the alumni and current players to work together in another way?
For the second straight year, the NHL lucked into a compelling All-Star angle, this time thanks in large part to the 100th anniversary. To its credit, though, the league got this one right, incorporating its alumni in a way that both gave the past stars their proper due and celebrated the vast history of the league.
But this shouldn't be a once-in-a-century phenomenon. Whether it's behind the bench or on the ice, the league's most respected figures need to be front and center at these events more often.
