The Florida Panthers were bitten by a couple of familiar faces Sunday.

In Las Vegas for their first-ever contest against the Golden Knights, the Panthers lined up against old teammates Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault, both of whom were sent to Sin City in connection to the expansion draft.

Parting with Marchessault was an odd move for Florida, considering he netted 30 goals last season at an affordable cap hit of $750,000. His availability in the draft made more sense when it was reported that the Panthers left their leading-goal scorer on the table on the condition that Vegas also acquired Smith.

Florida was prepared to move on from Smith and his five-year, $25-million contract after he struggled to a 37-point finish last season. The Panthers received a fourth-round draft pick in return.

A few months later, both Smith and Marchessault have been key contributors for the Golden Knights. One reason for their success has been their familiarity with bench boss Gerard Gallant, who also coached them as Panthers prior to his unceremonious firing last year.

All three ex-Cats got the last laugh Sunday as the Golden Knights defeated the Panthers 5-2. Marchessault led the way with a goal and two assists, while Smith picked up two helpers of his own.

The victory gave Gallant and the Golden Knights 44 points on the season, good for fourth-best in the league.

As for the Panthers, Sunday's loss marked their third consecutive defeat. The team's collected 29 points in 33 games, ahead of only the lowly Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes.

The Panthers will have the opportunity to revenge Sunday's score when the two sides meet again in Sunrise in January.

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The Chicago Blackhawks must be thrilled to have Corey Crawford back between the pipes.

Coming off a brief stint on the injured reserve with an undisclosed injury, Crawford's return has resuscitated a Blackhawks squad that reeled in his absence. With the two-time Cup winner back in the fold, the Blackhawks have won five straight, with the most recent victory coming in a 3-1 decision over their division rival, the Minnesota Wild, on Sunday night.

The win continued a dominant stretch for Crawford, who has to be strongly considered in the Vezina conversation at this point.

After Sunday's performance, Crawford now leads all starters with a .935 save percentage and is tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy for tops in the league with a 2.11 goals against average.

While the Blackhawks have plenty of work to do to catch the Predators-Blues-Jets triumvirate currently pacing the Central, their five-game stretch has pushed them into the top wildcard spot in the West, and Crawford is the main reason why.

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Uh oh.

Vancouver Canucks forward and Calder Trophy favorite Brock Boeser left Sunday's game versus the Calgary Flames with a foot injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest, the team announced.

Boeser blocked a shot on the power play early in the second period, and was in clear distress while attempting to get back to the bench.

While the severity of the injury is unknown, it couldn't come at a worse time for the Canucks, who recently lost Bo Horvat for six weeks.

Boeser leads all rookies with 17 goals and 30 points in 30 contests this season.

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Joey Anderson is Captain America.

The University of Minnesota-Duluth product will captain the American squad at the upcoming World Junior Championship, USA Hockey announced Sunday.

"Joey has been among the leaders of this group since this summer and we couldn't be happier than to have him leading this locker room," Team USA coach Bob Motzko said in a statement.

"We have a strong leadership group and will announce our alternate captains in time, but in putting our mission together, every mission needs a leader and we're excited to have Joey take that step forward."

Anderson was a part of last year's squad that toppled Team Canada in a shootout to win the gold medal. The forward notched two points in seven games in the tournament.

Anderson has tallied four goals and five assists through 13 games with Minnesota-Duluth this season.

The Minnesota native was a third-round draft choice by the New Jersey Devils in 2016.

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Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson has been suspended two games for slashing and boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov on Saturday, the Department of Player Safety announced.

Here's the play:

Namestnikov stayed in the game, while Johnson received a slashing minor, a five-minute major for boarding, and a game misconduct on the play. He'll be eligible to return Dec. 23 versus Arizona.

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Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson will have a hearing Sunday for boarding Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced.

Johnson slashed and shoved Namestnikov into the end boards late in the second period Saturday, just after Namestnikov was turned away by Jonathan Bernier on an odd-man rush.

Johnson received a slashing minor, a five-minute major for boarding, and a game misconduct on the play.

Namestnikov was able to stay in the game, finishing with the third-most ice-time among Lightning forwards, logging 18:05.

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Josh Mahura's world juniors dream isn't dead yet.

The Anaheim Ducks prospect has rejoined Canada and will continue to practice and play with the club while defenseman Dante Fabbro deals with a lower-body injury, Hockey Canada announced Sunday.

"We are thankful to Josh for agreeing to return to the team for the pre-tournament phase in our preparations," said Joël Bouchard of the Program of Excellence Management Group. "We also want to thank the Regina Pats, the Western Hockey League and the Canadian Hockey League for their support through this process."

Fabbro missed the first two games of the team's development camp and left midway through the third period of Canada's exhibition game against Denmark Friday in a move head coach Dominique Ducharme called precautionary, according to TSN's Mark Masters.

Mahura was among Canada's final cuts Friday, but for now he will stick with the team while Fabbro receives treatment with the hope he will be fit to play in the tournament.

Canada will play two pre-tournament games this week on Wednesday and Friday against the Czech Republic and Switzerland respectively.

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