Saturday night will be a memorable one for both John Tavares and Lou Lamoriello.
For Tavares, it will mark the first game against his former club, the Islanders, since he elected to fulfill a childhood fantasy and sign with the Maple Leafs on July 1. As for Lamoriello, Saturday's visit to Scotiabank Arena will be his first since he stepped down as Toronto general manager and joined New York.
While Lamoriello's return is certainly a captivating story, it won't quite match the emotions that players on both teams are sure to feel as Tavares suits up against the club that drafted him first overall in 2009 and helped develop him into the superstar he is today.
For many Islanders fans and possibly a few former teammates, there is likely to be some bitterness toward Tavares' decision to seemingly jump ship, but Lamoriello contests that the five-time All-Star had every right to sign elsewhere.
"First of all, I knew him as a player by seeing my teams play against him," Lamoriello told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "I got to know him as a person and got to spend time with he and his wife; he's as great a person as he is a player. It's unfair for any criticism that he has received because he had every right to make that decision. He gave everything he had when he was here. He had a right to do it. So I don't think anybody should begrudge him for any decision that he made because that was his right."
What should make burying the hatchet easier is that both clubs have been able to find success in the early going. The Maple Leafs sit second overall in the Eastern Conference behind the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders, meanwhile, are just two points out of the final wild-card spot in the East with games in hand on nearly all the teams ahead of them.
As for Tavares, he's thrived with the blue and white, sitting tied for second in the league with 26 goals to go along with 18 assists in 38 games.
Andersen has gone 3-0-1 in his last four games. He currently sits second in the league with 20 wins and ranks seventh in both goals-against average and save percentage among goalies who have played at least 15 contests.
Kaskisuo has gone 3-5-0 in 11 games this season for the AHL's Toronto Marlies, compiling a 4.12 goals-against average and a .866 save percentage.
Boucher added the Sens' top blue-liner is not dealing with a head injury, and a timetable for his return is unknown.
Frustration boiled over during the contest's dying seconds. The teams combined for 38 penalty minutes with less than a minute on the clock, which included a fight between Martin and Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki.
The collision occurred during the third period of the Devils' 5-2 road win.
Backes - considered a repeat offender by the league - also received a minor penalty on the play for an illegal check to the head. He will miss the 2019 Winter Classic between the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks at Notre Dame Stadium on New Year's Day.
Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites is far from impressed with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn this season, and went on the record Friday with a profanity-laced rant to describe their recent performances.
“They are fucking horseshit, I don’t know how else to put it,” Lites said, according to The Athletic's Sean Shapiro. “The team was OK. But Seguin and Benn were terrible.”
Surprisingly, the comments came after the Stars beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 on Thursday, a game in which Benn and Seguin were held pointless for the second straight night.
“We are a stars-driven league, and our stars aren’t getting it done,” Lites added, urging Shapiro to publish his comments. “It’s embarrassing, and no one writes it. Write it!”
Frustration within the organization first boiled over Thursday morning when head coach Jim Montgomery described the team's first skate back after the Christmas break as "fucking embarrassing."
“These guys are not good enough. They’re not good enough for me, they’re not good enough for the owner, and they’re certainly not good enough for the general manager," Lites continued.
"These guys were signed to big contracts because they were the third- and sixth-leading scorers in the National Hockey League over the past five years. They get their money, we expect them to not be outplayed every game we play in."
Seguin leads the Stars with 32 points in 38 games and has an eight-year, $78.8-millon contract that kicks in next year.
Benn has the fourth-highest salary in the NHL at $13 million (cap hit of $9.5 million) and has 30 points this season.
Nathan Oystrick will no longer serve behind the bench or in the front office for the Humboldt Broncos.
I have stepped away from the Humboldt Broncos. Despite the extreme stress and constant pressure of working with the organization, I gave them everything I possibly could and am proud of their performance, and mine, this season. I will issue a proper statement shortly.
Oystrick was hired as head coach and general manager in early July, taking over for the late Darcy Haugan, who was killed along with 15 other members of the Broncos organization in the April bus crash that took place near Armley, Saskatchewan.
The club confirmed later Friday afternoon that Scott Barney will replace him on an interim basis for the rest of the 2018-19 season, according to The Canadian Press.
Oystrick led the Broncos to a 21-13-2-1 record, the second-best mark in their division and fourth-best in the SJHL so far this season.
With 2018 winding down, theScore looked back at the previous 12 months and voted on the top 25 sportspeople of the year. Here's the second instalment, highlighting Nos. 20-16.
Already the winningest cross-country skier in history entering PyeongChang, Marit Bjoergen's GOAT status in her sport wasn't in doubt. But she sought a greater level of achievement, and, after claiming two golds, a silver, and two bronzes in South Korea to bring her career Olympic medal total to 15, she wrestled the crown of most decorated Winter Olympian away from fellow Norwegian legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Bjoergen's dominance boosted Norway, a nation with about as many citizens as Greater Boston, to the top of the medal table. Michael Phelps of the snow? Maybe he's the Bjoergen of the water. - David P. Woods
19. Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints
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Although Drew Brees will likely be denied an MVP award once again, this time by Patrick Mahomes, that oversight does nothing to diminish what the future Hall of Famer has accomplished, and still can accomplish, in his age-39 season. The longtime Saints superstar earned his most prestigious personal record yet back in Week 5 when he surpassed Peyton Manning to become the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards, and it's been Brees' elite play over the course of the season, arguably the most efficient of his 18-year career, that's led the Saints to the NFC's No. 1 seed. A second Super Bowl ring is well within reach, and, if his continued dominance is any indication, perhaps Brees has his eyes on several more Lombardi Trophies before he calls it a career. - Dan Wilkins
18. Daniel Cormier, UFC
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC / UFC / Getty
2018 was the year Daniel Cormier finally emerged from the shadow of his longtime rival Jon Jones. Once cast as a villain, DC flipped that narrative and became the UFC's second-ever double champion with an astounding first-round knockout of heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic in July. He also added two dominant title defenses against Volkan Oezdemir, at light heavyweight, and Derrick Lewis, at heavyweight, in January and November, respectively, to seal his place as an all-time MMA great. His retirement in March is fast approaching, but with a farewell fight against Brock Lesnar or perhaps even Jones in the cards, DC could leave the Octagon on a legacy-altering streak like few before him. - Jack Browne
17. Arike Ogunbowale, G, Notre Dame
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It often takes something special to topple the giant that UConn is in women's college basketball, and Arike Ogunbowale delivered just that during March Madness. The Notre Dame star was a force all night in the national semifinal between the two programs but saved her best moment for overtime. With the score tied as the seconds ticked away, Ogunbowale drilled a deep jumper with one tick left, sealing the upset win for the Fighting Irish.
That bucket would be the pinnacle of most athlete's careers, but Ogunbowale wasn't done there, ending the ensuing national championship in the most dramatic way possible, forever etching her name into basketball lore. - Dane Belbeck
Novak Djokovic began the year in the deepest funk of his career, losing six of his first 12 matches and failing to even reach a quarterfinal until May, tumbling out of the top 20 in the process.
And then, in what felt like a blink, everything clicked back into place. A stirring five-set win over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon semis propelled Djokovic to his first major title in over two years. Then, he became the first player to win all nine Masters events by capturing his first-ever title in Cincinnati. Then, he captured his third US Open, and another Masters crown in Shanghai, and, by year's end, he'd reclaimed his long-lost status as the best in the world: No. 1, with a bullet. - Joe Wolfond
The Boston Bruins winger faces a hearing on Friday after catching the New Jersey Devils center with a shoulder to the head late in the third period of Thursday's game.
