The Colorado Avalanche aren't taking any chances when it comes to the health of superstar Nathan MacKinnon.

The 23-year-old will undergo an MRI on his foot Thursday and could be held out of this weekend's All-Star festivities in San Jose, Calif., Sportsnet's John Shannon reports.

MacKinnon logged 18:39 of ice time and added one assist during Wednesday's loss to the Minnesota Wild.

With 27 goals and 44 assists in 50 games played this season, the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native was selected to captain the Central Division team in what would be the third All-Star appearance of his career.

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Carter Hart's time with the Philadelphia Flyers is over for the time being.

The Flyers have loaned their top goaltending prospect to the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and recalled netminder Anthony Stolarz from his conditioning stint, the club announced Thursday.

Hart posted a .918 save percentage in 12 games for the Flyers, the first dozen appearances of his NHL career, and went 4-1-0 with a .927 save percentage in his last five contests. He was recalled on Dec. 16.

Stolarz had been on a conditioning loan since Jan. 17, when he was activated off injured reserve. He missed 16 games due to an injury suffered against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 15.

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The Washington Capitals want at least two fairly high draft picks for Andre Burakovsky, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Washington has asked for "a couple of mid- to high-round" selections in exchange for the young forward, Friedman wrote in Thursday's edition of "31 Thoughts."

Meanwhile, general manager Brian MacLellan told The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan he wants to do a forward-for-forward swap and that it makes sense to do two separate moves if he's not offered exactly what he wants.

The team has reportedly been listening to offers for Burakovsky, who has been relegated to bottom-six duties and has only 12 points in 44 games this season.

The 23-year-old hasn't been able to match the consistency he displayed in 2015-16 when he potted 17 goals, but he does have a goal and two assists in his last three games.

A first-round pick in 2013, Burakovsky is a pending restricted free agent and carries a $3-million cap hit.

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Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's National Hockey Writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.

In this episode, John's joined by Brock McGillis, the first pro hockey player to come out as gay, and Rachel Doerrie, a former analyst for the New Jersey Devils, to discuss a variety of topics, namely:

• Homophobia in hockey and Brock's coming-out story
• Diversity in hockey and Rachel's experience of climbing the ranks
• The importance of mental health education/support

Jan. 30 is Bell Let'sTalk Day and February is Hockey is for Everyone month.

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Welcome to Puck Pursuit, a weekly NHL podcast hosted by John Matisz, theScore's National Hockey Writer.

Subscribe to the show on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, and Spotify.

In this episode, John's joined by Brock McGillis, the first pro hockey player to come out as gay, and Rachel Doerrie, a former analyst for the New Jersey Devils, to discuss a variety of topics, namely:

• Homophobia in hockey and Brock's coming-out story
• Diversity in hockey and Rachel's experience of climbing the ranks
• The importance of mental health education/support

Jan. 30 is Bell Let'sTalk Day and February is Hockey is for Everyone month.

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Ryan Getzlaf has had enough.

The Anaheim Ducks captain vented Wednesday night after his club managed only 13 shots on goal in a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, its seventh consecutive defeat on home ice.

"I'm pissed off, and I'm frustrated, and it's really, really frustrating to understand that our group's in a playoff race still after everything, and we can't come out and compete hard around our net, around their net, and (that we) do things like we did (Wednesday night)," Getzlaf told reporters postgame.

The veteran center added that the notion that the team can't consistently compete is unprecedented in his Ducks tenure.

"Never had it in 14 years here," he said. "Never had that feeling that we're not going to compete on a daily basis. We've had three-, four-game stretches where things didn't go our way and maybe we didn't have the group that we wanted, but never for a consistent period like this have I (felt) this."

The Ducks dropped 12 straight games before shutting out the Minnesota Wild last week, and they followed up that victory with a win over the New Jersey Devils, but then they were blanked by the New York Islanders prior to being dismantled by the Blues.

However, as Getzlaf mentioned, Anaheim is still in the playoff hunt, sitting one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second Western Conference wild-card spot, albeit with one more game played and four fewer regulation or overtime wins.

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A marquee matchup between two of the better teams in the league turned ugly on Wednesday night, with P.K. Subban claiming he was bitten by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare during a skirmish in front of the net.

The Nashville Predators defenseman left the incident telling referees that the Vegas Golden Knights forward had bitten his finger, something he confirmed to reporters after the contest.

"He bit me. My finger was bleeding," Subban said, as per Ryan Quigley of Knights on Ice. "All I tried to do was grab him. I grabbed him by the head to pull him up and he bit me. I don't know how I walk out of there with four minutes in penalties."

Bellemare was not penalized in the incident, with the referees instead opting to send Subban and Ryan Reaves to the box after he came to his teammate's defense. While Subban seems certain there was a bite, Bellemare saw his opponent as the aggressor in the situation.

"I'm in front of the net trying to get the rebound and suddenly I'm in a headlock with an entire glove in my mouth and I'm choking," Bellemare told Vince Sapienza of FOX-5. "He started yelling like, 'I bit him, I bit him.' I don't know what you have in your mouth, but like, if you put all of your hand all the way through and you pull up you are going to feel the teeth."

Bellemare wasn't done there, continuing by questioning Subban's reaction to the whole incident.

"I don't know why he's going absolutely crazy there," he said. "I have half a glove in my throat and playing with the back of it and pulling me up and there was no mouthguard, so it's like, those are my teeth."

The teams won't have to wait too long to renew acquaintances, as the two are scheduled to meet in Vegas once again on Feb. 16.

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Things got a little out of hand between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights towards the end of the second period on Wednesday night.

In a scrum in front of the Predators' goal, blue-liner P.K. Subban wrapped his hand around the face of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and proceeded to react hysterically as if he was bitten by the Vegas forward.

While Subban pleaded his case to the officiating crew, he had to avoid an oncoming Ryan Reaves. He eventually gestured to the Golden Knights' bench that his finger had been chomped on.

Both Subban and Reaves were assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties while Subban was given an extra two-minute minor for roughing.

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