With Patrik Laine shelved and teammate Auston Matthews cooling, Mitch Marner has his nose out front in the rookie scoring race.

Marner scored his 11th of the season, and later added his 28th assist on Nazem Kadri's 20th goal, leapfrogging Matthews to take top spot in team and rookie scoring in Monday's 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames.

With 39 points through 45 games, Marner is on pace for 71 in his freshman campaign - which has been about a top-15 finish in the NHL scoring races over the past few seasons.

Marner is still outside the top 20 in league scoring, but with a lighter, more sheltered workload, he continues to creep up into elite company in terms of all-situations points rate.

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He is becoming the definition of an elite defenseman.

San Jose Sharks blue-liner Brent Burns is having a career year and was back at it again on Monday, collecting his 20th goal of the season.

Burns beat Colorado Avalanche netminder Spencer Martin to hit the mark for the second straight year and the third time overall. He now has a comfortable nine-goal cushion on the next highest scoring defender and is well on his way to hitting the 30-goal plateau.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Still just two points left on the table now in the space of 14 games for the Washington Capitals.

The NHL's hottest team pushed its point streak to 14 with a 6-1 thrashing of the Carolina Hurricanes Monday, matching the second-longest mark in franchise history.

Washington has out-scored its opponents 65-27 over that span, scoring at least four goals in eight consecutive games. And if you discard their outlying 8-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, the Capitals are averaging three goals for each one they have pulled out of their own net since Dec. 29.

Contributions are coming from up and down the lineup, but T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams, the two pending unrestricted free agents, have been particularly hot. Oshie has goals in four straight, and eight of the last 12 games, while Williams has scored nine goals and 15 points on this 14-game run.

Carolina has now lost four in a row, each to Metropolitan Division giants, keeping idle Philadelphia in postseason position.

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Calgary Flames superstar Johnny Gaudreau exited Monday's game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs briefly when he was leveled along the boards with a hard, but seemingly clean hit from Leo Komarov.

This wasn't a blindside hit by its strict definition. But because the shorter, defenseless Gaudreau was caught watching his pass, and never braced for the high contact from Komarov, the end result of the hit shared elements of what's typical from an illegal blow.

Gaudreau went to the room to undergo concussion protocol, and returned to the game after just a few minutes.

Komarov was not penalized for the hit, but received a roughing minor when Mark Giordano challenged him to a fight.

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Schoolyard.

With Auston Matthews' diving clearance and a soft one-handed scoop at center from William Nylander, Nazem Kadri broke into the attacking zone in transition, and scored the 100th goal of his career with a blistering shot over the shoulder of Brian Elliott on Monday in Toronto.

Kadri's the 56th player in 100 seasons of the Maple Leafs to score 100 goals, according to Sportsnet Stats.

His milestone was met aptly:

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Mitch Marner is back in the goal column.

The Toronto Maple Leafs rookie broke a seven-game goalless skid on Monday night, redirecting a Nikita Zaitsev point shot past Brian Elliott late in the the first period to give the club a 1-0 lead over the Calgary Flames.

The goal was Marner's 11th of the season and creates a three-way log jam with Auston Matthews and James van Riemsdyk for the team lead in points with 38.

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Word spread last week, but the NHL officially unveiled its replacement for the Breakaway Challenge at the All-Star SuperSkills Competition on Monday, detailing the "Four Line Challenge."

The premise is simple - players shoot pucks from varying distances on the ice at targets of assorted value. And yet, the task appears anything but. Each participant will have two attempts from their respective distances - the closest being from just outside the blue line (64 feet).

It's anyone's guess how this will play out, but it seems as though this could get stale quick if organizers have overestimated the players' accuracy from long range. Especially off the bench cold.

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The Ottawa Senators have locked up Zack Smith, signing the forward to a four-year, $13-million contract extension, the club announced Monday.

Smith, who was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, will earn $3.25 million in annual salary for the next four seasons. It's a healthy pay bump from the $1.88 million he's earned annually on his current deal - also a four-year pact.

Smith will have some protection with a limited no-trade clause, ESPN's Pierre LeBrun reports.

Coming off his career-best 25-goal season last year, Smith, 28, has hit double-digit totals in goals and assists through 43 games this season, scoring 11 times and racking up 22 points.

A middle-six contributor, Smith has had a reasonably effective impact on total shot attempts throughout his last four seasons in Ottawa, as he's toggled between functions.

In a conference call shortly after the announcement, Smith said the Senators' direction was one of the greater selling points.

"I'm very happy to get this done, and I'm looking forward to the future here in Ottawa," he said.

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The Ottawa Senators have locked up Zack Smith, signing the forward to a four-year, $13-million contract extension, the club announced Monday.

Smith, who was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, will earn $3.25 million in annual salary for the next four seasons. It's a healthy pay bump from the $1.88 million he's earned annually on his current deal - also a four-year pact.

Smith will have some protection with a limited no-trade clause, ESPN's Pierre LeBrun reports.

Coming off his career-best 25-goal season last year, Smith, 28, has hit double-digit totals in goals and assists through 43 games this season, scoring 11 times and racking up 22 points.

A middle-six contributor, Smith has had a reasonably effective impact on total shot attempts throughout his last four seasons in Ottawa, as he's toggled between functions.

In a conference call shortly after the announcement, Smith said the Senators' direction was one of the greater selling points.

"I'm very happy to get this done, and I'm looking forward to the future here in Ottawa," he said.

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The St. Louis Blues are giving Jake Allen a few more days off from game action.

The Penguins and Wild are tough opponents for any goalie, and head coach Ken Hitchcock - who didn't bring the struggling netminder on a weekend road trip to Winnipeg - wants Allen to have more time to work on his focus, giving him the latter start.

Related: Brodeur maintains faith in Blues' Allen

Allen has spent the past few days working out and with family, and feels he's in a better place mentally, thanks to the support of management and players.

"I'm doing everything I possibly can right now away from the game times, and I feel like I'm doing them well," he said Monday, according to Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "If I wasn't, I'd be even more upset with myself because you're not giving yourself the best opportunity to be ready for the games.

"I feel like I'm preparing really well. If that was an excuse, that's unacceptable. But that's not the case. I've got to get back in there, whenever that may be, if it's this week, next week, or two weeks, and just find a way to get it done."

Allen has posted a 17-12-3 record this season, but with a dismal save percentage of .897 after weeks of subpar starts.

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