This just in: the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks don't like each other very much.

The bad blood between the Pacific Division rivals was on full display in the third period of Sunday's preseason finale, with the two sides engaging in numerous scrums.

The first incident started when Sharks goalie Aaron Dell gave Mark Stone an elbow as he skated by.

It led to this scuffle:

Shortly after, Evander Kane was ejected for abusing an official after a mix-up with Deryk Engelland. As the official worked to separate the two players, Kane's stick made contact as he shoved the ref.

Overall, Sunday's contest featured 114 penalty minutes.

Animosity may have carried over from last season's first-round playoff series, which infamously ended in Game 7 thanks to an unfathomable Sharks comeback that featured four goals on a power play that never should have been awarded.

It won't be long before the Sharks and Golden Knights renew hostilities, with the two club's facing off twice in the opening week of the regular season.

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Corey Perry will wait a bit longer to make his Dallas Stars debut.

The veteran winger will be out for two more weeks, Stars head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters on Sunday, according to Mike Heika of the team's website.

On Sept. 13, Montgomery said Perry suffered a small foot fracture and the forward would be re-evaluated in two weeks.

At that time, Perry said he planned to be ready for the season opener against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 3. However, missing an additional two weeks pushes his return closer to mid-October.

Perry signed a one-year, $1.5-million contract with the Stars as a free agent on July 1 after the Anaheim Ducks bought him out. He spent all 14 of his previous NHL seasons with the Ducks.

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A Canadian team hasn't hoisted the Stanley Cup since 1993, but a few clubs north of the border have serious chances to end the drought in 2019-20.

No season comes without its obstacles, however, and each Canadian team enters the campaign facing a unique challenge it must overcome to maximize its potential.

Flames: Establish reliable goaltending

The Flames are strong in nearly every area of the ice. The only real question mark is between the pipes.

Is David Rittich ready to take the reigns as a full-time starter? Can Cam Talbot bounce back and become a reliable option after consecutive down seasons? Calgary needs answers as quickly as possible.

Rittich was satisfactory last season, but the Czech puck-stopper's numbers waned in the latter half as a knee injury plagued him from the start of 2019 onward:

Come playoff time, veteran Mike Smith stole the show and Rittich didn't play a minute of action. It remains to be seen if he can shoulder a starter's workload over the course of a full campaign.

Talbot, meanwhile, finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting after a sensational 2016-17 campaign but hasn't looked anything like a starting netminder since then: The 31-year-old has a 3.15 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage over his last 102 appearances.

The Flames have serious Stanley Cup aspirations, but the quality and consistency of their goaltending will define their ceiling.

Oilers: Live up to playoff pressure

Few teams face more pressure to make the playoffs this season than the Oilers, who will have to adjust to a new regime as quickly as possible.

Connor McDavid looks healthy after a scary leg injury sustained in Edmonton's final game of 2018-19 kept him off the ice for most of the summer. Having the league's top talent miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five campaigns would be nothing short of a disaster, but the Oilers didn't add much on the ice this offseason to move the needle.

A new and experienced voice behind the bench in head coach Dave Tippett should benefit the club. But with the team pressed against the cap, general manager Ken Holland may have to wait until next summer to really put his stamp on the roster.

The Oilers will be hard-pressed to compete for a divisional playoff seed in the top-heavy Pacific, but a wild-card berth is certainly attainable if they can get off to a strong start.

Canadiens: Keep pace in tough Atlantic

The Canadiens have too much skill not to compete for a playoff spot, but their talent runs thin compared to the juggernauts atop the Atlantic Division.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Boston Bruins are practically locks to make the postseason, while the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres both made improvements this summer. An all-world season from Carey Price will go a long way, but the offense needs to be firing on all cylinders if the Habs are to stay competitive.

Montreal will need more from its top offensive talents - especially with the man advantage. Last season, the Canadiens' power play posted the league's 30th-ranked percentage (13.2%) while scoring the fewest total goals (31). Defenseman Shea Weber, who missed 24 contests due to injury, led the club with five power-play markers.

Several young talents including Nick Suzuki, Ryan Poehling, and Jake Evans could all force their way into Montreal's lineup at some point this season. If a playoff berth is firmly out of reach come February, the Habs will be faced with a decision: Run it back again in 2020-21, or enter a slight rebuild to give their younger talent more exposure.

Senators: Instill winning habits

It's highly unlikely the Senators shock the hockey world and step into playoff contention this season, and that's just fine. The club's focus for 2019-20 should be giving its promising young talent as much NHL exposure as possible.

D.J. Smith, a rookie himself as a first-time NHL head coach, will play a key role in this team's development. Ottawa may lose more often than not, but Smith understands a strong work ethic is paramount in building a winner.

"Instil the mentality that we won't be outworked," Smith said in an August interview with Sportsnet's Wayne Scanlan. "We're just not going to be easy to play against. We're not going to win every game, but it can't be easy to come here and get two points. When you play Ottawa, people need to know we're coming to play."

Defenseman Thomas Chabot and forwards Brady Tkachuk and Colin White represent a bright future for the Senators. If that trio can take some major steps in this season, consider it a productive campaign in Ottawa.

Maple Leafs: Keep Frederik Andersen fresh

The Maple Leafs enter 2019-20 boasting arguably their strongest roster of the millennium, but it may not matter come playoff time unless they lighten Frederik Andersen's workload.

Since joining the Leafs in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2016-17 campaign, no goalie has started more regular-season games (192) or played more minutes (11,198) than the 6-foot-4 Dane.

Comparing Andersen's playoff stats from his final two seasons in Anaheim - where he shared regular-season duties with John Gibson - to his postseason totals with the Leafs, the numbers speak for themselves:

It's essential the Leafs separate themselves from the pack as early as possible in order to afford Andersen more rest. Veteran netminder Michael Hutchinson looks poised to assume the backup role, but the 29-year-old has started just 12 NHL games over the past two seasons and it remains to be seen how much responsibility he can handle.

Canucks: Find depth scoring

Beyond Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Bo Horvat, the 2018-19 Canucks lacked serious scoring punch. The club ranked 25th offensively and didn't have a single player break 35 points besides those three talents. Vancouver's potential bottom-six forward group for 2019-20 contributed a combined 47 goals in 316 man-games played last season.

Loui Eriksson, the club's highest-paid forward, and 2014 first-round pick Jake Virtanen need to find the net at a more consistent rate. Swiss winger Sven Baertschi could also play a major role this season after an injury-riddled 2018-19 campaign. The 26-year-old has tallied four points in four preseason contests and will look to carry that momentum into October.

General manager Jim Benning attempted to address his team's offensive deficiencies this summer by bringing in forwards Micheal Ferland and J.T. Miller. The Canucks will also have Quinn Hughes in the fold for a full season, and the young blue-liner should be able to contribute right away. Will those additions be enough to help the Canucks establish some depth scoring and push themselves into the playoff picture?

Jets: Figure out the blue line

The Jets' main priority is getting restricted free-agent forward Kyle Connor signed to a new deal. Assuming they succeed at some point in the near future, they still face another significant challenge - keeping pucks out of the net.

Dustin Byfuglien's future remains up in the air, leaving the club's opening-night blue line looking something like this:

Winnipeg ranked 15th in goals against last season, and that was with Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, Ben Chiarot, and Byfuglien in the fold. The former three averaged a combined 61:50 of ice time per night, a number that jumps to 86:12 when Byfuglien's minutes are included. That's a remarkable amount of ice time to replace, especially considering this season's projected right-side trio has combined for just 156 career NHL games.

The 2018-19 Jets were slightly below average in terms of five-on-five possession (Corsi For 48.97%). Early in their careers, Neal Pionk and Sami Niku have been far below average when it comes to this metric, with respective Corsi For rates of 42.59% and 43.99%. Pionk played his first two NHL seasons with a weak New York Rangers team, though, so Winnipeg's elite forward group should help boost his number.

Winnipeg has $14.85 million in cap space without Connor signed, according to CapFriendly. If and when the Jets ink him to a new pact, they should still have some financial flexibility to explore bolstering the blue line.

(Analytics courtesy: Natural Stat Trick)

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Jordan Staal will wear the "C" for the Carolina Hurricanes this season, with Jaccob Slavin and Jordan Martinook serving as alternate captains, the club announced Sunday.

Staal succeeds Justin Williams, who won't be with the team to begin the season while taking a break from the NHL. Staal previously served as Hurricanes co-captain along with the recently traded Justin Faulk in 2017-18.

Staal was an alternate captain for Carolina from 2012-17 and then again in 2018-19. He also wore an "A" during his last four seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2008-12.

His older brother, Eric - now a member of the Minnesota Wild - wore the "C" for the Hurricanes for seven seasons prior to that, including one campaign as co-captain with current head coach Rod Brind'Amour in 2009-10.

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Sidney Crosby's injury doesn't appear to be serious.

The Pittsburgh Penguins superstar is day-to-day, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters on Sunday. The bench boss added that Crosby was held out from practice for precautionary reasons and "his status is encouraging."

Crosby skated briefly before practice, but he didn't take part in the session.

The Penguins captain left Saturday's preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres and didn't return after blocking a shot in the first period. He was spotted leaving the arena with a slight limp, but without a walking boot or crutches, according to the Tribune-Review's Seth Rorabaugh.

Pittsburgh opens its 2019-20 regular season on Thursday at home against the Sabres.

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Jack Johnson's days with the Pittsburgh Penguins appear to be numbered.

The veteran defenseman was told over the weekend that there are potential deals on the table, and Johnson is involved in the majority of them, sources told The Athletic's Josh Yohe.

While a trade isn't a certainty, Rutherford warned Johnson a deal within the next 48 hours is quite possible, and the GM wanted to keep the blue-liner aware of all possibilities, according to the report.

The Penguins may need to make a move to get under the salary cap ceiling before the season begins. Johnson carries a cap hit of $3.25 million and is on the books for the next four campaigns.

After trading defenseman Olli Maatta to the Chicago Blackhawks in June, Rutherford said he had planned to deal "either Johnson or Maatta."

Pittsburgh signed Johnson to a five-year, $16.25-million contract in free agency on July 1, 2018.

The 32-year-old played every regular-season game for the Penguins last season but managed only 13 points while averaging 19:17 in ice time.

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