DENVER — For Gabriel Landeskog, it wasn’t so much relief over ending a regular-season goal-scoring drought that had stretched to 1,347 days.

It was more about the excitement for the Colorado Avalanche captain of getting to tell his biggest fan. Only, he had to wait to deliver the news since his young son, Luke, was sleeping after dad knocked one in.

Landeskog’s second-period goal in a 4-1 win over Anaheim on Tuesday night was his first score in the regular season since March 5, 2022. He missed the last three regular seasons due to a knee injury before making his return in the playoffs in April. He scored a goal in the Dallas series.

“My son will be happy (Wednesday) when he wakes up,” Landeskog, who turns 33 on Nov. 23, said after the game. “He keeps asking me (about scoring) and I’m like, ‘No, not yet.’”

There have been plenty of close calls, though. He’s had two goals overturned this season after challenges by opposing teams. It’s become such a thing he almost was anticipating a Ducks challenge.

“I thought my stick maybe caught the goalie’s stick — goaltender interference or something,” the left wing cracked. “I got back to the bench and obviously nothing to argue there. Felt good.”

So did the cheers from the capacity crowd after he lined in a rebound off a shot from Valeri Nichushkin. That goal, those cheers, were of course worth the long, arduous journey to get back.

Before his return seven months ago in the playoffs, Landeskog’s last NHL appearance was June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to capture the Stanley Cup. He’s dealt with a chronically injured right knee, which led to cartilage transplant surgery on May 10, 2023.

Now, the Avalanche have their captain back in full capacity. He’s led the Avalanche to an NHL-best 11-1-5 (27 points) start.

“He’s just the voice of reason,” goaltender Scott Wedgewood said of Landeskog, who’s in his 14th season as captain. “He’s just a calm, collected human being. ... We all know the story and what he’s gone through. It radiates off him.”

Landeskog is steadily working his way back into the form that made him an All-Star in 2018-19. He’s playing on the third line and averaging 13 minutes, 43 seconds of ice time per game. (He’s averaged 19:18 over his career since being selected No. 2 overall in 2011.)

As for how he’s feeling, he said it’s, “not perfect. I don’t think anybody’s perfect during the season. You’ve got bumps and bruises along the way. Going into training camp is probably as good as you’re going to feel all year.”

He added that, “bad days aren’t bad at all anymore. There are things I have to do on a day-to-day basis to make sure I feel good and feel good enough to play. You’re never going to be 100%. I don’t think many guys are. No different with me.

“But I would say the difference between the good and the bad days are smaller now than they have been in years past, for sure.”

The goal-scoring slump weighed on him a little bit, he acknowledged. But he found other ways to contribute, including a fight with Tampa Bay’s Charle-Edouard D’Astous in a 3-2 win over the Lightning last week. Landeskog has four assists this season.

“I try not to focus on the outcome, just kind of surrender that and focus on what I can do,” said Landeskog, who plans to play for Sweden at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February. “Having said that, you like to go home and know that you at least got one on the scoresheet.”

Notes: Nichushkin suffered a lower-body injury Tuesday that will cause him to miss some time, coach Jared Bednar said before an optional practice Wednesday. “I just don’t know how much.” ... Mackenzie Blackwood is slated to start in goal Thursday against Buffalo.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes rookie defenseman Charles Alexis Legault had surgery to repair multiple torn extensor tendons in his right hand after getting cut by a skate blade during a game in Toronto.

General manager Eric Tulsky announced the operation was completed by Dr. Harrison Tuttle at Raleigh Orthopaedic.

Legault’s hand was sliced by one of Nick Robertson’s skates during a scrum at the end of the first period, while the Maple Leafs forward was prone on the ice following a hit.

The team put Legault on injured reserve and said he was expected to miss 3-4 months. The Hurricanes in a statement thanked the Leafs’ medical staff for swift and decisive assistance in triage care of the injury.

Legault, 22, played in his first eight NHL games this season as injuries piled up on the blue line for Carolina.

TORONTO — Joe Thornton always did things his way.

Larger than life on the ice and away from the rink, the big forward with a radiating personality, elite vision, soft hands and a sparkling smile has been unapologetically unique ever since stepping into the NHL spotlight at age 18.

Now the man affectionately known as “Jumbo Joe” is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Thornton was inducted alongside fellow 2025 class members Zdeno Chara, Duncan Keith, Alexander Mogilny, Jennifer Botterill and Brianna Decker in the player category.

Jack Parker and Danièle Sauvageau were enshrined as builders.

Selected first overall at the 1997 draft by the Boston Bruins, Thornton’s trajectory really took off after a trade to the San Jose Sharks. He spent 14 seasons in California, winning the scoring title and Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2005-06, and was just the third player all-time to lead the NHL in assists three straight seasons.

“As long as I can remember, my year consisted of going from road hockey right to the backyard rink,” Thornton said of his childhood in a tear-filled speech. “There was only one season for me — it was hockey season.”

Thornton topped San Jose in scoring eight times, including five straight seasons, and helped the Sharks make the 2016 Stanley Cup final.

The 46-year-old, who played 24 NHL seasons and won Olympic gold with Canada in 2010, put up 1,539 points in 1,714 regular-season games in a career that ended with pit stops with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. He finished 12th all-time in scoring, seventh in assists and sixth in games played.

“Winning the gold medal in Vancouver in 2010 was truly electric,” Thornton said. “I remember leaving the arena and I looked to my left, and I saw a naked woman on the back of a motorcycle waving a Canadian flag.

“I looked to my pregnant wife, and I said, ‘I am so proud to be Canadian.’”

Chara, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1996 and traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2001 before signing with the Boston Bruins.

The six-foot-nine blueliner played 14 seasons in Beantown — all as captain — from 2006 through 2020. Boston won the Cup in 2011 and made the final two other times.

The second European captain to hoist hockey’s holy grail, Chara competed at three Olympics and seven world championships. He captured the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2009, and finished his career with the Washington Capitals before returning to the Islanders.

“Growing up in small town in Slovakia — Trencin — you don’t dream about nights like this,” Chara said. “You dream about a patch of ice that doesn’t melt before we finish practice. You dream about finding a stick that’s not broken or skates that can still fit for a couple of years.”

Keith played 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, winning the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015. The 42-year-old won Olympic gold for Canada in 2010 before topping the podium again in 2014, twice claimed the Norris Trophy and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2015. Keith played one campaign with the Edmonton Oilers before retiring in 2022.

“You can’t chase a dream alone,” he said. “And you can never lift the Cup or wear a gold medal on your own. You lift it with everybody that ever lifted you.”

Botterill played for Canada at four Olympics, winning three gold medals and a silver. She was part of five championship performances and three second-place finishes at the worlds, including taking MVP honors in 2001.

“My parents said they always knew that the sport of hockey was something special,” said the 46-year-old broadcaster. “Every time I was on the ice playing, they said they could see my smile through the cage. I carried that very same smile throughout my entire career.”

Decker won gold at the 2018 Olympics with the U.S. and owns two silver medals. The 34-year-old forward from Dousman, Wisconsin, also won the worlds six times along with a couple second-place finishes.

“Hockey has given me so much,” Decker said. “It’s given me lifelong friendships, unforgettable memories, and now this incredible honor.”

The 63-year-old Sauvageau has taken part in six Olympics either behind the bench or in management for Canada, including the country’s 2002 run to gold as head coach. The Montreal-born trailblazer — the hall’s first woman builder — currently is general manager of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Victoire in her hometown.

“I dreamt of a life that did not exist,” she said. “And I have lived a life that I could not imagine.”

Parker, 80, led Boston University’s men’s program from 1973 through 2013, winning three national championships. He was also named NCAA coach of the year three times.

Mogilny, who skipped the week of celebrations, defected from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1989. He set career-highs with 76 goals and 127 points with the 1992-1993 Buffalo Sabres — the most ever by a Soviet/Russian player.

The 56-year-old hoisted the Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000 in a career that included stints with the Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, finishing with 1,032 points in 990 regular-season games.

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude,” Mogilny said in a recorded message. “Not just for this honor, but for the incredible journey that brought me here.”

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres forward Jiri Kulich is out indefinitely because of a blood clot, coach Lindy Ruff announced following practice on Monday.

Ruff didn’t provide any further details except to say it’s “pretty serious,” and that the second-year player will miss “significant time.” The coach said the team will have a better idea on Kulich’s status within three to four weeks.

Kulich had already missed three games with what the Sabres described as an illness.

The 21-year-old has three goals and five points in 12 games for Buffalo this season, and coming off a rookie campaign in which he had 15 goals and 24 points in 62 outings. He’s from the Czech Republic and was selected by Buffalo in the first round of the 2022 draft.

The Sabres are 1-2-4 in their past seven and travel to play at Utah on Wednesday.

Mel Bridgman, the rugged former NHL forward who was drafted first overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1975 and was the Ottawa Senators’ first general manager, has died. He was 70.

The NHL Alumni Association announced the death Saturday. It didn't give a cause of death.

“A prototypical power forward who exemplified Flyers style-hockey," the Flyers said on social media.

A strong checker and dependable scorer and fighter, Bridgman first starred in junior for the Victoria Cougars in the Western Canada Hockey League. In 1974-75 in his last season for the Cougars, he had 66 goals, 91 assists and 175 penalty minutes in 66 regular-season games.

He went straight to Philadelphia - coming off its second straight title - as a rookie and had 23 regular-season goals and six more in a postseason run that ended with a loss to Montreal in the Stanley Cup final.

Bridgman was Philadelphia's captain during its record 35-game unbeaten run in 1979-80 in another season that ended with a loss in the Cup final, this time to the New York Islanders, and also wore the “C” for New Jersey. He was traded from Philadelphia to Calgary early in the 1981-82 season and went on to have career highs with 33 goals and 54 assists.

Known for his thick mustache, Bridgman also played for Detroit and Vancouver, finishing his 14-year NHL career with 252 goals, 449 assists and 1,625 penalty minutes in 977 regular-season games. In 125 playoff games, he had 28 goals and 39 assists.

After earning an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Bridgman took over the expansion Senators in 1991 at age 36. He was general manager through their inaugural season of 1992-93 and later worked as a player agent.

“The Ottawa Senators organization sends its deepest sympathies to Mel’s loved ones at this difficult time,” the Senators said on social media.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The injury-ravaged Carolina Hurricanes found new sources of offense from two rookie defensemen, and the pair made team history in the process.

Charles Alexis Legault and Joel Nystrom picked up their first NHL points in Saturday night’s 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Their performance marked the first time in the Hurricanes’ team history that two defensemen posted their first points in the same game. And, it was the fourth time in Carolina history — since the relocation from Hartford — that any two players recorded their first points in a game.

Legault had an assist and an empty-net goal, and Nystrom assisted on a goal early in the third period as Carolina extended its winning streak to three games.

“We don’t judge their game based on that,” Hurricanes coach Rod’Brind’Amour said. “But those are nice little bonuses for them. Both guys have been solid. We ask a lot of them.”

Legault scored by sending the puck nearly the length of the ice into the unattended net with 1:28 remaining in the game. But, his first point came when he assisted on Eric Robinson’s goal 29 seconds into the third period.

“You dream of scoring one since you’ve been a kid, so being able to get one tonight is a great feeling,” Legault said.

Nystrom’s assist came on Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s score 29 seconds into the third that extended Carolina’s lead to 3-1.

“Today I got my first point and I’m real happy for that,” Nystrom said. “… (Kotkaniemi) he did a really good shot. I have to thank him, too.”

In franchise history combining Hartford and Carolina, Mark Howe and Charles Luksa were the last defensive pair to get their first career points in the same game, in October 1979.

Legault and Nystrom have been living together since their somewhat unexpected additions to the NHL team this fall.

“We spent a lot of time together the last couple of weeks,” Nystrom said.

Carolina played without defenseman Jalen Chatfield for the first time this season. He left Thursday night’s game with an upper-body injury after a blow to the head from Minnesota’s Tyler Pitlick, who was assessed a match penalty.

The Hurricanes have been without defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere for more than a week. That twosome, plus Chatfield, all played in 70 or more games last season.

The Hurricanes also recalled defenseman Gavin Bayreuther from Chicago of the AHL earlier Saturday, but he was a healthy scratch.

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby has been doing this for longer than Ben Kindel has been alive. Alex Ovechkin has, too, for that matter.

So yeah, it was maybe a little surreal for the Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward, all of 18, to be on the ice Thursday night alongside the two players who have defined their franchises and in many ways the NHL for two decades and counting.

The calendar says it’s 2025. Yet watching the 39-year-old Crosby score two goals to boost his season total to an NHL-leading 11 and have the 40-year-old Ovechkin collect two assists to fuel a second-period Washington rally in what eventually became a 5-3 Penguins victory, it was hard to tell.

“Kind of like the old Sid and Ovi rivalry there,” Kindel said after picking up the first two assists of his still very young career. “It was great to see and unreal to watch.”

That Crosby and Ovechkin found a way to summon a little something special during their 99th all-time meeting (playoffs included) is hardly surprising. The two future Hall of Famers have long had a habit of bringing out the best in each other.

What is surprising, however, is that for the first time in what seems like a long time — by the Penguins’ standards at least — the game felt like it carried actual stakes.

New faces, new energy

The team considered a long shot to reach the playoffs when the season began — only woeful Chicago and San Jose faced slimmer odds of hoisting the Stanley Cup than Pittsburgh — finds itself tied with New Jersey for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division a month in.

Yes, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. And yes, the injuries are starting to pile up, from veteran forward Rickard Rakell to 6-foot-6 “power” forward Justin Brazeau, from goaltender Tristan Jarry to center Filip Hallander, who the team announced Friday is out at least three months because of a blood clot in his leg.

Still, the Penguins have been one of the NHL’s most pleasant early surprises.

A massive influx of fresh faces and fresh blood has brought an energy that was lacking as the team’s run of three championships in nine years became an increasingly distant memory.

The arrival of first-year coach Dan Muse and his high-energy approach has provided a jolt. So has the emergence of teenagers Kindel and 19-year-old defenseman Harrison Brunicke, who has shown promise during an extended look before he likely returns to his junior team for a little more seasoning.

“They always give us juice,” said Penguins forward Bryan Rust, who at 33 is the fourth-longest tenured player on the team behind Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. “Obviously, they’re so excited to come in the rink and they’re having fun. They always got a smile on their face and they are also really, really good players. So I think that combination can really help a few of us older guys that have a little bit more fun, too.”

The organizational overhaul general manager Kyle Dubas began in earnest when he traded away popular two-time Stanley Cup winner Jake Guentzel at the deadline in the spring of 2024 is starting to bear fruit.

Pittsburgh’s prospect pool is far deeper than when Dubas arrived in 2023, and one of them seems to have bypassed the “pool” entirely.

Kindel, taken with the 11th overall pick in this year’s draft, made the club coming out of training camp and has five goals and two assists in 13 games. On Thursday night, he found himself on the first line with Rust and Crosby and earned a promotion to the top power play unit, where he held his own in a group featuring a a handful of players bound for the Hall of Fame.

“You can see he’s comfortable out there,” Muse said.

There’s a lot of that going around. The Penguins have the league’s second-ranked power play unit and have been buoyed by Jarry’s apparent return to form after the two-time All-Star was demoted to the minors. While Jarry is out for at least three weeks with a lower-body injury, his absence will give the club a chance to see how close 21-year-old phenom Sergei Murashov is to being NHL-ready on a full-time basis.

While Kyle has pathologically avoided putting any sort of timetable on when the rebuild (a term he has never used) is complete, he did say at the start of training camp in September that he believes the Penguins can return to contender status while Crosby remains on the roster.

A good team?

There’s a chance it might happen with Malkin, 39 and in the final year of his current contract with no sign of an extension on the horizon, still around, too.

The Russian star is tied for third in the NHL in points with 20, including 17 assists. His pretty cross-ice feed to Rust that Rust converted into the go-ahead goal midway through the third period against Washington helped Pittsburgh avoid a second straight late collapse.

On Monday night in Toronto, the Penguins dominated play for 40 minutes only to crumble in the final period as the Maple Leafs ripped off four straight goals to pull out a 4-3 win.

When Washington’s Tom Wilson beat Arturs Silovs from his knees to tie it at 3 late in the second period on Thursday, it seemed the feel-good vibes the Penguins have been generating throughout the past month were on the verge of disappearing.

“It would have been really easy for this group to cave,” Muse said. “It would have been really easy for this group to play back on their heels, play worried.”

They didn’t. They fended off a couple of Washington power plays, then pounced when Rust redirected Malkin’s tape-to-tape pass and didn’t let up the rest of the way.

Sure, it’s still just early November. Yet for a team that looked lifeless for long stretches over the last couple of years of former head coach Mike Sullivan’s otherwise highly successful tenure as the roster churned and the play of its stars (Crosby aside) sagged, it’s a start.

“We’re finding ways to win games in a lot of different ways,” Rust said, later adding, “I think being able to win in all sorts of ways, I think, is a sign of a good team.”

Or at the very least, an interesting one.

NEW YORK (AP) — Matthew Schaefer added another milestone to his fast start with the New York Islanders on Sunday.

Schaefer had two goals in a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Schaefer, who turned 18 on Sept. 5, became the youngest defenseman in NHL history with a multigoal game, moving in front of Hall of Famer Bobby Orr (18 years, 248 days on Nov. 23, 1966).

Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NHL draft, has five goals and five assists in his first 12 games with New York.

“It has been fun to watch. He’s great skater. He’s super poised,’’ Islanders teammate Simon Holmstrom said. “He was able to score two big goals for us tonight.”

Schaefer scored a power-play goal when he converted a booming shot 5:53 into the first period. He tied it at 2 with 1:07 left in the third, and Holmstrom tapped a loose puck past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins for the winning score with 38 seconds remaining.

“Oh wow, it’s fun hockey to play and fun hockey to watch,’’ Schaefer said after the victory. “A couple of big goals in the last minute.”

Schaefer once again heard his name chanted by the home crowd at UBS Arena. It was a similar scene when he scored his first NHL goal during the Islanders’ home opener on Oct. 11.

“That was a big shift. That’s what happens when you put pucks on net,” Schaefer said of his tying goal as Islanders captain Anders Lee screened Merzlikins. “A big grind out of the guys.”

Schaefer became the third-youngest player in the NHL’s expansion era, since the 1967-68 season, to record two goals in a game. Only Jordan Staal (18 years, 41 days on Oct. 21, 2006) and Pierre Turgeon (18 years, 54 days on Oct. 21, 1987) accomplished the feat at a younger age.

Schaefer played junior hockey last season for the Erie Otters. Now he is manning the point on New York’s power play, regularly logging major minutes and contributing well beyond the scoresheet.

He is quick to deflect praise, crediting Lee with successfully impeding the view of Merzlikins.

“Teammates, I just have to rely on them,’’ Schaefer said. “I don’t think that’s going in if Leezy is not there screening the goalie. I don’t think he really saw much.”

KLADNO, Czech Republic — At age 53, Jaromir Jagr began his 38th professional season by playing on the fourth line for his hometown Kladno Knights in a 3-1 victory over Vitkovice on Friday night in the Czech league.

The former NHL great logged 10:08 minutes ice time and joined the power play unit in a season debut that had been delayed because of a muscle problem.

It was Kladno’s 15th game of the season. Jagr was 53 years, 244 days old.

Jagr made his debut for Kladno at age 16 and returned to the club in 2018 when the Calgary Flames released him. Jagr remains second on the NHL’s all-time points list, only trailing Wayne Gretzky.

Jagr, whose 766 NHL goals rank him No. 4 all-time on that list, played 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

Jagr didn’t talk to media after his season’s debut Friday.

“He makes his presence felt in the locker room,” forward Jakub Konecny said. “We have a lot of fun with him.”

Until early this year, Jagr served in dual roles as Kladno player and owner, splitting his time between chasing sponsors and dealing with administrative duties and ice time.

Jagr acquired full ownership in 2017 and sold a majority stake in Kladno last January to boost the team financially.

Then, he said he would be happy to complete the season by trying to lead Kladno to the playoffs for the first time.

They didn’t reach the playoffs. So, he’s got another chance this season.

Goaltender Carter Hart has agreed to sign with the Vegas Golden Knights, becoming the first of the five 2018 Canada world junior hockey players to land an NHL contract since they were acquitted of sexual assault in a high-profile case.

Vegas announced an agreement with undisclosed terms for Hart on Thursday, the second day after the window opened for the players to sign.

Hart and the others are not eligible to play in games until Dec. 1 as part of the league’s reinstatement process for him, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton.

“The Golden Knights are aligned with the process and assessment the NHL and NHLPA made in their decision,” the team said in a statement. “We remain committed to the core values that have defined our organization from its inception and expect that our players will continue to meet these standards moving forward.”

McLeod, who was also found not guilty of an additional charge of being a party to the offense, signed a three-year contract in the Russia-based KHL. Formenton is playing in Switzerland, though it is unclear if he has an out clause to return to the NHL, which he has not played in since 2022 with Ottawa.

“Each team is going to have to make its own decision," Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday after the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in New York. “They know the rules. And it’s up to them to decide whether or not, subject to those rules, they want to move forward.”

Hart is resuming his career at the age of 27 with the Golden Knights after spending his first six seasons playing for Philadelphia. The Flyers last month ruled out bringing back Hart, whose camp communicated to general manager Daniel Briere that a fresh start was a better option.

The players were charged in 2024 in connection with an incident in London, Ontario, in 2018. The judge overseeing the trial said the prosecution could not meet the onus of proof to convict them and that complainant’s allegations lacked the credibility needed to justify the charges.

The league conducted its own investigation beginning in the spring of 2022 when the allegations came to light. When announcing the reinstatement timeline in September, the NHL called the events that transpired “deeply troubling and unacceptable” and that while they were not found to be criminal, said the players’ conduct did not meet the standard of moral integrity.

The NHLPA at the time said the players cooperated with every investigation and considers the matter closed.