The grades are in.

Speaking with Sportsnet's Tim & Sid on Tuesday, Brian Burke offered up a report card of the Calgary Flames goaltenders.

It's good news for Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson.

"There were stretches where each of the two goaltenders has been excellent for us," said Burke, president of hockey operations for the Flames. "We think we're set in goal going forward, that's our plan. If you give your report card to the goaltenders for the year, and to us for being satisfied with what we had going into the year, you probably give us a 'B' on that."

The Flames finished with the worst goaltending a year ago, when Karri Ramo, Jonas Hiller, and Joni Ortio shared crease time. Over the summer, Calgary brought in two new faces, signing Johnson in free agency and acquiring Elliott from the St. Louis Blues after the team walked away from talks to acquire Ben Bishop from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With Johnson and Elliott in tow, the Flames have seen a slight uptick, with the team's save rate coming in at .901, but still ranking 24th league-wide and last in the Pacific.

It's been a tale of two seasons in the Calgary crease, with Johnson starting strong and tapering off, and Elliott coming on in the season's later months.

Both Johnson and Elliott are unrestricted at season's end.

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In vintage form, Patrik Laine has matched the Jets/Thrashers franchise rookie record.

With yet another rocket of a one-timer, Laine picked up his 29th goal of the season, tying Ilya Kovalchuck for the most in a single season by a first-year player in franchise history.

Kovalchuck finished with 29 goals and 51 points in 65 games with the Atlanta Thrashers back during the 2001-02 season.

With the goal, Laine also knotted the game up with the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-1.

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Change is a good thing.

New York Islanders forward Ryan Strome has been on a torrid pace since a change behind the bench Jan. 17, when the team replaced coach Jack Capuano with Doug Weight.

In 16 games under his new boss, Strome has tallied five goals and six assists, good for a 0.69 points per game pace, virtually double the 0.36 he had under Capuano.

Scoring just 14 points in 39 games to start the season, Strome was an early season scratch by Capuano, leaving the young winger at a loss for words. It was a repeat of the playoffs, when Strome was benched for three of New York's 11 postseason contests.

The Islanders wanted more from the former fifth overall pick, but despite his slide to 28 points last season after scoring 50 the previous year, the team agreed to a two-year extension with Strome in the offseason.

Fortunately, Strome's scoring touch is once again at the forefront. The Islanders will need that pace to keep up, with the team set to begin a nine-game road trip that will have them away from Brooklyn until March 13.

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The NHL has heard the complaints and plans to tweak how bye weeks are incorporated into next season's schedule.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly was on TSN 1040 radio in Vancouver on Tuesday and revealed that changes to how the bye weeks are implemented will be made in 2017-18, since clubs coming off their breaks this year have been, for the most part, dismal. He called this season's schedule a "learning process."

This season, bye weeks - a five-day break for each club - were instituted for January and February, and began on Jan. 1. Daly said next season the league will try to fit each team's time off in a two-week block.

"We're going to try and find two dedicated weeks and perhaps split the clubs up almost on a 50-50 basis, so that each group of clubs will be having their bye weeks at the same time," Daly said. "And then perhaps we can schedule a little bit better out of those bye weeks, in terms of clubs who've had rest versus clubs who haven't had rest and the like."

Teams are 4-12-4 coming off their bye, as opponents not on their break have for the most part feasted on teams that have been off.

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Now may be the time to snag tickets to this weekend’s Stadium Series game at Heinz Field.

The Penguins and Flyers take it outside for the first time in the rivalry’s history on Saturday, and it won’t cost an arm and a leg to be on hand. On TicketIQ, a search engine that pools ticket data from over 90 percent of the resale market, Penguins tickets against the Flyers are the second cheapest in Stadium Series history.

With the two teams meeting in the sole Stadium Series game this season, the average resale price for tickets is now $178. That makes slightly more expensive than a 2016 game between the Wild and Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where tickets owned a record low $160 average.

For fans with interest in just getting past the gates at Heinz Field, the cheapest available tickets are currently fetching for $91 each in Section 507. The priciest tickets clock at $706 each in Section 211.

Saturday’s game marks Pittsburgh’s first outdoor game 2011’s Winter Classic, which was also held at Heinz Field. That game owned a $489 ticket average and $238 get-in price on TicketIQ. The Capitals would go on to defeat the Penguins, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 68,000.

The Flyers are set to play in their first outdoor game since 2012's Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park. They were defeated by the Rangers, 3-2, in Philadelphia’s first-ever outdoor game. That year Winter Classic tickets owned a $504 average and $284 asking price.

For the best deals on NHL tickets this season, download the TicketIQ app. Offering fans 10 percent savings on all IQ Certified listings, the TicketIQ app is the most transparent ticket buying platform in the marketplace today. Download the TicketIQ app and start saving today!

TicketIQ is a leading event ticket search engine with one simple goal: providing consumers with the most transparent and affordable buying experience. We aggregate listings from hundreds of certified sellers across every major sporting, music, and theater event - including deals from Ticketmaster's Official Exchanges and our Low Price Guarantee listings. Start discovering and saving now.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Now may be the time to snag tickets to this weekend’s Stadium Series game at Heinz Field.

The Penguins and Flyers take it outside for the first time in the rivalry’s history on Saturday, and it won’t cost an arm and a leg to be on hand. On TicketIQ, a search engine that pools ticket data from over 90 percent of the resale market, Penguins tickets against the Flyers are the second cheapest in Stadium Series history.

With the two teams meeting in the sole Stadium Series game this season, the average resale price for tickets is now $178. That makes slightly more expensive than a 2016 game between the Wild and Blackhawks at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, where tickets owned a record low $160 average.

For fans with interest in just getting past the gates at Heinz Field, the cheapest available tickets are currently fetching for $91 each in Section 507. The priciest tickets clock at $706 each in Section 211.

Saturday’s game marks Pittsburgh’s first outdoor game 2011’s Winter Classic, which was also held at Heinz Field. That game owned a $489 ticket average and $238 get-in price on TicketIQ. The Capitals would go on to defeat the Penguins, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 68,000.

The Flyers are set to play in their first outdoor game since 2012's Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park. They were defeated by the Rangers, 3-2, in Philadelphia’s first-ever outdoor game. That year Winter Classic tickets owned a $504 average and $284 asking price.

For the best deals on NHL tickets this season, download the TicketIQ app. Offering fans 10 percent savings on all IQ Certified listings, the TicketIQ app is the most transparent ticket buying platform in the marketplace today. Download the TicketIQ app and start saving today!

TicketIQ is a leading event ticket search engine with one simple goal: providing consumers with the most transparent and affordable buying experience. We aggregate listings from hundreds of certified sellers across every major sporting, music, and theater event - including deals from Ticketmaster's Official Exchanges and our Low Price Guarantee listings. Start discovering and saving now.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

If you ask Patrik Laine, it isn't Laine versus Auston Matthews. It's the Winnipeg Jets versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Jets and Leafs tangle for the second time this season in Toronto Tuesday, with the two rookies set to face each other again, after being drafted one-two in the summer.

Laine was bludgeoned with talk of the rivalry ahead of the game, and you can tell the subject is getting tirefor the young Finn.

"Um, I think we're playing against Toronto, I'm not sure, but, yeah, I don't care," Laine said Tuesday when asked if he pays any extra attention to the matchup and rivalry. "I think the media is trying to make a bigger deal out of that. We're focused on playing against the Maple Leafs."

Laine had a hat trick - the first of his career - against Toronto the first time the teams met in October in Winnipeg, while Matthews had an assist and seven shots on goal. The Jets won 5-4 on overtime, Laine - obviously - scoring the winner.

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The Montreal Canadiens are willing to deal Greg Pateryn.

A couple general managers confirmed that a league-wide memo was sent out by the Canadiens noting that the 26-year-old is available, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels.

Pateryn has served as a scratch for much of the season, having dressed in only 22 games, while mounting just one goal and six points. With his name now on the trade block, Pateryn is scheduled to take the ice for the first time in 10 days Tuesday when the club visits the New York Rangers.

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Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler is unimpressed with the NHL's most recent designation of player discipline.

Wheeler called out the Department of Player Safety for its inconsistency in doling out penalties on Tuesday, after seeing teammate Jacob Trouba handed a two-game suspension for a questionable hit on Ottawa Senators winger Mark Stone.

Wheeler was caught with a controversial hit from Pittsburgh Penguins pivot Evgeni Malkin last week, but the Russian star escaped major punishment, receiving only a minor penalty.

"Makes you wonder: If you sit out a couple days, does he get a phone call?" Wheeler said to Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "That leaves a lot of room for interpretation on my end. You just like to see consistency."

"From my perspective, you’d like to see the guy (Malkin) at least get a phone call. You don’t touch the puck. Leaves his feet. Hits you in the head. That’s the unfortunate part about it."

Wheeler wasn't done.

"Malkin’s a pretty good hockey player. I think he knows who has the puck and when they have the puck," Wheeler said. "His instincts are pretty good out there. I never had the puck. I never even saw him coming. He comes from the side of me. All I felt was my head snap back. Why is he hitting me at all? It has no impact on the play whatsoever."

Aside from expressing frustration over his own situation, Wheeler suggested the league's approach isn't helping players moving forward.

"You can live with (Trouba) getting two games as long as there’s consistency throughout," he said. "You like to feel protected out there. With what’s transpired in the last week, it raises a lot of questions."

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TORONTO - Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets and Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs will provide an interesting sub-plot when their teams meet Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre.

They are the two top rookie-of-the-year candidates and both are key players on their respective teams.

Adding to the intrigue is that Matthews was the first pick overall in the 2016 NHL draft and Laine was the second.

"I think they'll be writing about that for 20 years, won't they?" Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after a 4-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday, when asked if the two rookies will make the game that much more exciting.

"I think it's always good to compete. I think the competitive guys want to compete every night and want to compete against the best. Laine is a heck of a player and Winnipeg has got a real good team. It should be fun."

Laine leads rookie scoring with 28 goals and 24 assists in 54 games. Matthews, who scored a spectacular goal on Sunday, is next with 28 goals and 21 assists in 58 contests.

After having two assists in the 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators Sunday, Laine was named NHL's First Star of the Week the following day.

The 18-year-old scored five goals and added three assists to contribute to three wins and an overtime loss.

Toronto's Nazem Kadri was the NHL's Second Star with four goals and two assists.

Matthews, 19, scored two goals and had two assists last week.

"(Matthews is) just going to get better and better and better," Babcock said. "He has a chance to be a dominant player in this league. What I like is his 'drivetrain' is such that he wants to do that and he's a young kid getting better every day in a real hard league. He's an important player for us."

This will be the second game of the season between the teams. The Jets came back for a 5-4 overtime victory Oct. 20.

The Maple Leafs led 4-0 in the second period when Laine led the comeback with his first NHL hat trick, including the overtime winner, which followed Matthews' miss on a breakaway. Matthews had one assist in the game.

The Maple Leafs (27-20-11) are 4-5-2 over their past 11 games.

The Jets (28-29-5) are 5-4-1 over their past 10 despite a four-game losing streak Feb. 4-11.

"We're coming together pretty good here," Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. "We have four lines playing the same way, there seems to be different guys contributing every night and that's what you need to win games."

Jets center Mathieu Perreault said: "Two years ago, when we made the playoffs we were a physical team, and that's kind of how we got into the playoffs. If we want to have any chance we have to go back to that, and now it's working."

The Jets will be without defenseman Jacob Trouba for two games after the league suspended him Monday for an illegal hit to the head of Senators right winger Mark Stone during the third period.

Meanwhile, Maple Leafs rookie Mitch Marner, who has 15 goals and 33 assists in 56 games, is listed as day to day after missing the past two contests with an injured right shoulder.

The Jets are on the fringe of the playoffs, one point removed from a wild-card spot.

"We've got to string as many together as we can. It's not about how, it's about how many you can put together," Wheeler said. "We've found our game here. ...so we've got a huge one coming up in Toronto."

Said Matthews: "I think these games now heading into this part of the season are must-win. It's a tight race in our division and our conference. All of these games are very important."

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