John Carlson can do no wrong right now.

The Washington Capitals blue-liner scored twice Tuesday against the Calgary Flames, giving him a league-leading 20 points on the season. By reaching the mark, he became the fourth defenseman ever to tally 20 points in October, according to Capitals Public Relations.

With three more games to go this month, Carlson has a chance to capture the all-time record for points by a defenseman in October, according to NBCS Capitals:

MacInnis, Leetch, and Coffey are all enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Carlson is also the second-quickest defenseman to record 20 points, per NHL PR, needing just 11 games. Bobby Orr also required 11 games to reach the mark in 1974-75, while Coffey needed just 10 in 1988-89.

The 29-year-old has been incredibly productive over the last two campaigns, recording 68 points in 2017-18 and 70 in 2018-19. However, 47% of his points those seasons came on the power play. This year, he's dominated at even strength, as only six of his 20 points have come with the man advantage.

Carlson has a three-point lead on David Pastrnak and Connor McDavid in the Art Ross race, is the front-runner for the Norris Trophy, and should be firmly entrenched in Hart Trophy conversations as well. What a start.

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Auston Matthews is calling for changes after his Toronto Maple Leafs fell to 5-4-2 on the season following a loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

"It's just not good enough," Matthews said postgame, per TSN. "We need to be better and I think it comes from the leadership group. I need to be better. All of us need to be better. We just need to look each other in the eye and hold each other accountable."

The loss was the Leafs' second in their last three games without captain John Tavares, who's ruled out for two weeks with a broken finger suffered Oct. 16.

"It's just been the same thing kind of over and over for us. We haven't been disciplined, we're taking ourselves out of the game with lots of penalties," Matthews said.

The Leafs blew a 3-2 lead to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday and didn't perform particularly well against the Bruins in response. Boston controlled 58.38% of shot attempts and 70.27% of scoring chances at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, and Matthews' line was consistently hemmed in against the vaunted Patrice Bergeron-led top unit.

With the win, Boston leapfrogged Toronto for second spot in the Atlantic Division with 14 points and two games in hand.

The Maple Leafs return to action Friday versus the San Jose Sharks before traveling to Montreal on Saturday to conclude their second back-to-back of the week.

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Minnesota Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk was forced to exit Tuesday's contest versus the Edmonton Oilers after being taken down in a collision in the second period.

Wild forward Ryan Donato and Oilers defenseman Brandon Manning got tangled up and slid into Dubnyk, who crashed hard to the ice.

Backup Alex Stalock immediately entered the game in relief and remained in goal for the start of the third period.

Dubnyk had a 1-5-0 record with an .874 save percentage on the season entering Tuesday's matchup, which marked his 300th career start for the Wild.

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Not even the Vaxjo Lakers are safe from Kanye West's social media wrath.

The 21-time Grammy winner apparently had the Swedish Hockey League outfit put in Twitter jail for using one of his songs in an old promotional video, Vaxjo announced Tuesday on Instagram.

"Right now, Vaxjo Lakers' Twitter account is down due to the fact that music from Kanye West was used in an old video," the post read, as translated by Thomas Williams of Yahoo Sports. "Twitter was contacted about the removal of the clip and we hope to get the account back as soon as possible."

It's not known which West song the Lakers used, but it's clear no one person should have such power.

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The Detroit Red Wings placed veteran defenseman Jonathan Ericsson on waivers Tuesday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Ericsson has spent all 12 seasons of his NHL career in the Motor City. The stay-at-home blue-liner never recorded more than 15 points in a single campaign but ranks 23rd all time on the storied franchise's games played list.

The 35-year-old is unlikely to be claimed by another team due to his $4.25-million cap hit - which expires after this season - but he could serve as a veteran mentor on the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.

Ericsson managed to carve out a lengthy career despite being chosen in the ninth round - 291st overall - of the 2002 NHL Draft.

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Just because their teams are rivals, doesn't mean David Pastrnak can't show Auston Matthews some love.

"He has an unbelievable shot and skill set and he can find the soft spot," Pastrnak told reporters Tuesday, via TSN. "Every time he's 100% healthy he's showing that, and I just think he's a hell of a player."

During the summer, the Boston Bruins winger predicted that the Toronto Maple Leafs star would win the Hart Trophy this season.

"I don't think there's something wrong with just giving him credit when he deserves it," Pastrnak added. "It's early in the season, he's showing that he can score goals, and he's been showing that since he got here."

So far in 2019-20, Pastrnak is tied with James Neal for the league lead in goals with nine, but Matthews isn't far behind with eight. The two players clashed on Saturday, as Pastrnak scored a goal but Matthews helped set up the game-winner for Toronto in overtime.

The Maple Leafs haven't had a Hart Trophy winner in 64 years. Ted Kennedy won the honor in 1954-55.

The Bruins and Maple Leafs will meet again Tuesday night in Boston.

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