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NHL notebook: Blackhawks acquire F Sekac from Ducks
By The Sports Xchange

The Chicago Blackhawks acquired forward Jiri Sekac from the Anaheim Ducks for forward Ryan Garbutt.
The 23-year-old Sekac had three points (two assists) in 22 games with Anaheim in 2015-16, his second season in the National Hockey League.
Sekac split the 2014-15 campaign with the Ducks and Montreal Canadiens, collecting 14 assists, 23 points and 22 penalty minutes in 69 regular-season contests. He also appeared in seven 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs games with Anaheim.
Garbutt, 30, has collected six points (two goals, four assists) in 43 games with Chicago this season after being acquired from Dallas on July 10, 2015. He has notched 76 points - 32 goals - over 241 career games with Chicago and Dallas (2011-15).

---The Boston Bruins will have forward David Krejci back on the ice after activating him from injured reserve.
The Bruins also assigned forward Frank Vatrano to Providence of the American Hockey League before Boston's game against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Krejci has missed the past three weeks with an upper-body injury suffered in a game against the Ottawa Senators. The Bruins have gone 5-4-1 in the 10 games that Krejci missed.

---The New York Rangers signed veteran free-agent forward Daniel Paille on Thursday, the club announced.
The 31-year-old Paille received a one-year contract. Paille has been playing with the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League this season.
Paille has 85 goals and 87 assists in 570 NHL games over 10 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins. He played for Boston last season and had six goals and seven assists.

---The Philadelphia Flyers recalled center Sam Gagner from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Thursday before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Gagner was loaned to the Phantoms on Dec. 30 after he was waived by the Flyers. The 26-year-old has appeared in 18 games for the Flyers this season, logging two goals and three assists.

---The Minnesota Wild recalled forward Jordan Schroeder from the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League, the club announced.
Schroeder, 25, had one goal in 11 games with Minnesota earlier this season. He has 10 goals and 14 assists in 92 games with the Vancouver Canucks and Wild.

Preview: Ducks (18-18) at Capitals (33-8)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

Bruce Boudreau's propensity for sticking with the hot goaltender allowed 21-year-old rookie Braden Holtby to prove why the Washington Capitals viewed him as their goaltender of the future nearly five years ago.

Now Boudreau gets a chance to see from the other bench how Holtby has blossomed into one of the NHL's best netminders.

Holtby looks to help Washington match a franchise record with a 13th consecutive home victory when he faces Boudreau's Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.

Holtby went 8-0-1 with a 1.01 goals-against average in eight starts and a relief appearance in a pair of call-ups from Jan. 20-March 26, 2011, under Boudreau, who was fired 22 games into the following season.

Although Boudreau has faced Washington four times since then - going 1-3-0 - Holtby hasn't been in net for any of them and has never faced the Ducks (20-18-7).

After winning 41 games in 2014-15, Holtby has helped the Capitals (35-8-3) surge to the top of the NHL standings by going 30-5-2 with a 2.01 GAA, including making 32 saves in Tuesday's 6-3 win at Columbus.

The Capitals were outshot 10-1 to start the game, but Holtby held strong until Nicklas Backstrom scored twice and Alex Ovechkin added a power-play goal.

'That's why we have probably the best goalie in the league right now," Ovechkin said. "He's going to keep us in the game and give us a chance to bounce back.'

Holtby is 13-0-0 with a 1.81 GAA in 14 starts at home since Oct. 30, helping the Capitals to the verge of matching the club-record winning streak set Jan. 5-March 6, 2010, under Boudreau. He's gotten plenty of help lately from Evgeny Kuznetsov, who had three assists in Sunday's home win over the New York Rangers and a career-high four Tuesday.

Kuznetsov is the first Capital since Backstrom in 2007-08 to have back-to-back games of at least three assists.

'Right now it feels like we have good balance in the group,' Backstrom said. 'We're working hard, all four lines.'

Boudreau won his first trip back to Washington on Dec. 23, 2013, but has lost the last three matchups since, including when Ovechkin had two goals and two assists in the Capitals' 5-3 victory Feb. 15.

Anaheim is the league's lowest-scoring team - and the Capitals are giving up an NHL-low 2.15 goals per game - but it has scored at least three in five of its last eight and has won three of four after beating Minnesota 3-1 on Wednesday.

Chris Stewart had a goal and Rickard Rakell had the go-ahead tally in the third period before Jakob Silfverberg added an empty netter.

'When we've been playing our best this year, it's because we've been controlling the neutral zone defensively,' Boudreau said. 'If you're not going to score a lot of goals, there are so many teams with such good speed in this league now that you have to slow them down between the blue lines.'

As good as Holtby has been, John Gibson leads the league with a 1.86 GAA after making 25 saves Wednesday, albeit in only 18 starts and two relief appearances.

Gibson has made his last six starts at home after posting back-to-back shutouts at Calgary on Dec. 29 and at Edmonton on Dec. 31. He lost the last meeting with the Capitals.

The Ducks acquired forward Ryan Garbutt from Chicago on Thursday in exchange for Jiri Sekac. It's unclear if Garbutt will join the team for this game.

Preview: Red Wings (22-15) at Sabres (18-24)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

One of the rare occasions over the last three-plus weeks that the Detroit Red Wings didn't have trouble scoring came against the Buffalo Sabres.

That's usually the case when these teams meet, and the Red Wings will try to break out of their latest offensive funk Friday night in western New York.

Among the Eastern Conference's lowest-scoring teams at 2.41 goals per game, Detroit (23-15-8) has totaled 20 in its last 11. The Red Wings, though, are 5-5-1 in that span partly because they've yielded 11 non-shootout goals over the last seven contests.

"You can't feel sorry for yourself," said veteran forward Brad Richards, who has gone six games without a point. "It's hard to score in this league right now ... you keep plugging and believe it will go our way and stay our way if we keep doing the right things."

Detroit is coming off consecutive 2-1 home losses - to Philadelphia in a shootout Sunday and three days later to St. Louis - but first-year Detroit coach Jeff Blashill felt his team made strides by recording 30 shots in each. It hadn't done that in the previous six games.

"We don't have to make vast changes to the way we play,' Blashill said. "You have to take the emotion out of it - it is frustrating when you don't score, but our processes are fine.'

His club has scored more than two goals twice in the last 11 games, highlighted by a 4-3 win at Buffalo on Jan. 2 which made the Red Wings 6-0-1 in its last seven visits.

Detroit has scored nine regulation goals while going 2-1-0 against the Sabres this season. The Red Wings have averaged 3.6 goals while winning 28 times in the past 34 meetings, earning at least one point in all but three.

Tomas Tatar has seven goals and two assists in the last seven games against Buffalo (19-24-4), but it's uncertain if he'll be available after being scratched Wednesday because of the flu. Detroit also announced veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall, a key figure on the power play, could miss up to a month after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

The Sabres fell 2-1 at Colorado on Wednesday, their second defeat in six games since losing a season-high six in a row. Buffalo has scored 23 times in that 12-game span - nine on the power play - and rank near the bottom of the league with an average of 2.28 goals.

Evander Kane scored with the man advantage, but the Avalanche rallied for two goals in the third period.

"We have to win those games," Kane told the Sabres' official website. "Those are big points we just lost. That's unfortunate but now we have to look ahead and look forward to Detroit."

Kane has five points during the current 4-2-0 stretch after having none during the six-game skid. He scored twice in a 5-4 shootout loss at Detroit on Dec. 1, but hasn't recorded a point in the two meetings since.

Buffalo has killed all 15 penalties in the last five contests but has let Detroit go 9 for 20 on the power play in the past six meetings.

Detroit's Petr Mrazek has made three straight starts and owns a 1.15 goals-against average in his last six. He's posted a 2.96 GAA while starting all three against the Sabres this season.

Preview: Rangers (23-16) at Hurricanes (21-19)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

Struggles on special teams have the New York Rangers in search of answers, and they're finding very few on the road.

Daniel Paille's possible debut combined with a meeting with the Carolina Hurricanes could solve those problems.

The Rangers attempt to invigorate their special teams as they look to continue their dominance of the Hurricanes on Friday night.

New York (25-16-5) has lost 11 of its last 13 games on the road, allowing opponents to go 16 for 43 on the power play while converting just 5 of 42 of its own chances.

The woes are evident regardless of venue - the Rangers are just 1 for 27 on the man advantage while splitting the last 10 games, but 10 of the 29 goals surrendered over that stretch have come during 28 power-play opportunities.

Signing Paille on Thursday addressed the poor penalty-killing unit. The forward helped Boston to a Stanley Cup in 2011 and a return to the Final two years later.

He was released in training camp by Chicago and played 31 games for Rockford of the AHL.

"Now, we've got a guy that's got established presence and knowledge of penalty killing," coach Alain Vigneault said. "If anybody has followed us lately, our penalty killing - especially on the road - needs some help. Hopefully, he'll be able to come in and help us."

The schedule may be providing the Rangers some relief, too. They've won 18 of the past 19 meetings with Carolina (21-19-8), including eight of nine at Raleigh.

New York scored twice on the power play in the opening period en route to a 4-3 win over the Hurricanes on Nov. 3, its eighth straight victory in the series.

The Rangers have killed off 28 of 29 penalties over the last 10 meetings.

They enter this matchup after J.T. Miller scored with 1:06 left in overtime of Tuesday's 3-2 win over Vancouver.

"I think the consistency is coming back a bit," forward Rick Nash said. "This is going to be a huge test for us these last three games (before the All-Star break), but I thought our last game was a good start to get that momentum going in the right direction."

Nash has four assists in the last three games, but he's failed to score in eight straight - his longest drought since March. He hasn't gone longer than that without a goal since an 11-game stretch with Columbus from Feb. 25-March 17, 2011.

Nash has no points in his last three visits to Carolina.

The Hurricanes are 5-1-1 in seven games after Jordan Staal scored in OT of a 1-0 road victory at Toronto on Thursday. Eddie Lack made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season.

Lack likely will start on back-to-back days for the second time this season since Cam Ward has a concussion. Lack beat Anaheim and Arizona on the road in December in his last set on consecutive nights. He's got a 3.06 goals-against average while losing his only decision in two games against New York.

If the Hurricanes decide to rest Lack, they would likely turn to Daniel Altshuller for his NHL debut. Altshuller was 9-1-1 with a 1.71 GAA in 11 games for Charlotte of the AHL.

Jeff Skinner has no points and a minus-4 rating over the last three games. His next goal will match his total of 18 from all of last season, but he's failed to score during his past five games against the Rangers.

Preview: Blackhawks (31-14) at Panthers (21-15)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:30 PM EDT

The Chicago Blackhawks couldn't surpass the Florida Panthers for the NHL's longest win streak this season but have been victorious in recent matchups between the teams.

The Blackhawks will try to bounce back from the end to their franchise-best run Friday night by claiming a ninth consecutive win over the Panthers, who have cooled off since their lengthy streak.

Chicago (32-14-4) generated a season-low 18 shots - including a combined nine in the first two periods - as their 12-game win streak ended Thursday in Tampa Bay.

The Lightning had 33 shots and totaled 23 in the first two periods in a 2-1 victory. Artem Anisimov scored the Blackhawks' lone goal in the opening minute.

"Tonight, they were definitely the better team," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We didn't generate much. We didn't get much traffic or pucks to the net. We didn't get the offensive zone time we would have liked.

"I really like what we did (during the 12-game win streak) but we've got to keep pushing."

Chicago will try to shake off that defeat by matching its longest active win streak versus one opponent. The Blackhawks have won nine in a row over Buffalo.

They beat Florida 3-2 in Chicago on Oct. 22, with Patrick Kane scoring a key power-play goal in the opening minute of the third period and assisting on the first two scores.

The league leader with 72 points, Kane has six goals and 11 assists in his last 10 games versus the Panthers (26-15-5).

Seeking a career-high 31st goal, Kane faces a Florida team that's been outscored 16-5 over an 0-3-1 stretch since its franchise-best 12-game winning streak concluded. Monday's 4-2 loss to Edmonton ended a team-record seven-game home win streak.

The Panthers trailed 3-0 after two periods before pulling within one less than six minutes into the third. The Oilers sealed the win by scoring with 1:28 remaining.

"The work ethic is lacking for sure, whether they're tired or whatever it is," coach Gerard Gallant said. "I'm not happy with the way we played the last number of games. Hopefully we get back at it and play our game again."

The Blackhawks, who also had a six-game road win streak snapped Thursday, have prevailed in each of their last three visits to Florida with Corey Crawford posting a 3-0 victory in the latest Feb. 26.

In the second of back-to-back games, Chicago might turn to Scott Darling, who has a 1.64 goals-against average in winning his last three starts. He earned a shootout win in his only matchup against Florida on Feb. 24, making 34 saves.

The Blackhawks could help whoever is in net by extending the Panthers' power-play woes. Florida is 0 for 22 with a man advantage in the past eight games but has gone 28 for 30 on the penalty kill in its last nine.

The Panthers are expected to get one of their top defensemen, Aaron Ekblad, back after a four-game absence due to an upper-body injury.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, could have forward Jiri Sekac on the ice after he was acquired from Anaheim on Thursday for Ryan Garbutt.

Chicago captain Jonathan Toews has five goals and five assists in his team's win streak against Florida.

Preview: Islanders (21-15) at Senators (18-19)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:30 PM EDT

The New York Islanders are showing signs of turning around a sluggish stretch. The Ottawa Senators aren't, and a lousy first period their last time out only solidified that.

The Islanders may have a chance to move into second place in the Metropolitan Division as they try to beat the Senators for the fourth time in five tries on the road Friday night.

New York (24-15-6) is one point back of the Rangers for second place in the division despite going 6-7-1 following an 8-0-2 stretch.

The Islanders, though, have momentum following a 2-0-1 homestand. Ryan Strome scored with 51 seconds left in regulation Sunday, forcing overtime only for New York to fall 2-1 in a shootout to Vancouver. The point provided some solace.

"It's a little disheartening, but we just have to keep going," right wing Kyle Okposo told the team's official website. "Five points out of six (this week). We came from behind in a couple of them. We can't be too upset. ... We played pretty well."

John Tavares is having a tough time getting on the score sheet lately. The center has failed to score in a season-high six straight games, chipping in just two assists with a minus-4 rating over that stretch.

Tavares has four points in 10 visits to Ottawa, none in the last four overall matchups.

The Islanders might have defenseman Travis Hamonic (lower body) in the lineup for the first time in five games.

"If he feels that he can go, there's no reason I'm not going to put him in the lineup," coach Jack Capuano said.

Hamonic's return will force Capuano to decide if he's going to continue using Calvin de Haan and Nick Leddy together as his top defensive pairing. De Haan was filling in for Hamonic in that spot.

"It's the best hockey he's played," Capuano said of de Haan. "He's a top-pairing defenseman for our hockey team right now. He's earned the minutes that he's getting. He's taking advantage of those minutes. He's the reason that we're having some success right now with his play on the back end."

New York is looking for a better defensive effort in this visit to Ottawa (22-19-6). The Islanders gave up three unanswered goals, including Erik Karlsson's winner in a 3-2 overtime loss Dec. 5 to end its three-game winning streak in the Canadian capital.

The Senators are three points behind Boston and New Jersey in the race for the two wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. They're not doing themselves any favors, losing seven of their last 11 games while giving up an average of 3.81 goals.

Ottawa was hammered for five first-period tallies of Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Devils. It was the most goals the Senators have allowed in an opening period since giving up the same amount in a defeat to the Quebec Nordiques on March 26, 1995.

"We obviously can't start a game like that," defenseman Cody Ceci said. "We dug ourselves a huge hole. We tried to play catch up the whole game, everyone's down. We can't do that again. The league's too good for that."

Mike Hoffman had a goal Thursday, giving him a team-leading 21 on the season. The left wing scored with 37 seconds left in regulation to force overtime against the Islanders last month.

Karlsson assisted on the other two goals in that victory. The two-time Norris Trophy winner has 14 points over his past 10 meetings with New York.

Preview: Blues (25-15) at Avalanche (24-21)

Date: January 22, 2016 9:00 PM EDT

Jake Allen's injury came at the tail end of St. Louis' worst stretch of the season and has kept the Blues' No. 1 goaltender out ever since.

Brian Elliott has been a solid replacement during the club's resurgence.

The Blues can win a season high-tying fourth straight game by beating the host Colorado Avalanche for the first time in three meetings Friday night.

Allen has 18 wins and a 2.17 goals-against average in 33 games, but he suffered a knee injury in the second period of a 4-3 shootout loss at Anaheim on Jan. 8 that capped an 0-2-3 stretch for the Blues (28-15-7).

In his previous start two days earlier, Allen came way out of his crease and failed to intercept a long outlet pass in overtime at Colorado, leaving John Mitchell to find Gabriel Landeskog in front of the empty net to give the Avalanche a 4-3 victory.

Allen could miss at least another week, but Elliott has been steady in six starts since Allen went down. He's 5-1-0 with a 2.03 GAA in that span after making 29 saves in Wednesday's 2-1 win over Detroit.

Ty Rattie and Dmitrij Jaskin scored for St. Louis, which is on the verge of winning four straight for the first time since Oct. 13-18.

'We're playing well, even if we're giving up a lot of shots,' Elliott said. 'When someone makes a big block, that makes a huge difference.'

St. Louis has allowed 117 shots during the three-game win streak while managing 67 itself.

The Blues' run has come despite some uncertainty on defense. Carl Gunnarsson has been dealing with an upper-body injury and was expected to return against the Red Wings after missing the previous four, but it was determined shortly before faceoff that he wouldn't be able to go.

Colton Parayko was scratched because of an illness, leaving St. Louis with five defensemen. Both of their statuses are unclear for Friday.

'We had to change our defensive structure,' coach Ken Hitchcock said. 'We've done it three times in the last couple weeks, so we know how to adjust.'

Allen was also in net when the Avalanche (24-21-3) beat the Blues 3-1 on Dec. 13. Elliott, though, is 5-1-0 with a 1.74 GAA in his last six against Colorado, which heads into this matchup having won three of its last four.

The Avalanche have won back-to-back 2-1 games, beating Winnipeg on Monday before Francois Beauchemin's deflected goal with 31.7 seconds remaining defeated Buffalo on Wednesday.

Alex Tanguay's goal tied it earlier in the third period to end a 26-game drought.

"It's been a tough year for me getting points, but I want to help this team make the playoffs and I know I've got better," Tanguay said. "We'll certainly take the points and get ready for Friday. We all see the standings. We all see where we stand. We all know how important the two points are."

Semyon Varlamov has done his part in the last two, stopping 63 of 65 shots after posting a 3.88 GAA while splitting his previous four starts. He's been in net for both meetings with the Blues this season, making 42 saves in the first and 35 in the second.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored in each matchup.

Grand Salami - January

The Grand Salami in pro hockey is decided by adding up all the goals scored in every game scheduled for that particular day. You can wager on 'over' or 'under' the Grand Salami total. The total is set by adding up all listed 'over/under' odds for each game on that particular day.

Note: The Grand Salami will have no action if any game is suspended or cancelled before the regulation time of three twenty minute periods. Also, regardless of the number of goals scored during the shoot out portion of the overtime, the final scored recorded for the game will give the winning team on more goal than its opponent based on the score at the end of regulation time.

*The majority of sportsbooks do not put out a total on the Grand Salami when there is only one game on the card. For tracking purposes, we will continue to show the 'over/under' for goals and combined goals scored on days with just one game.

NHL GRAND SALAMI
Date No. of Games Total Goals Combined Goals Scored Result
1/1 2 10.5 9 UNDER
1/2 12 61.5 63 OVER
1/3 4 21 22 OVER
1/4 5 27 17 UNDER
1/5 8 43.5 46 OVER
1/6 5 26.5 23 UNDER
1/7 7 38.5 29 UNDER
1/8 6 31.5 34 OVER
1/9 10 53 47 UNDER
1/10 6 30 32 OVER
1/11 4 20.5 22 OVER
1/12 8 42.5 45 OVER
1/13 4 21.5 20 UNDER
1/14 8 42.5 37 UNDER
1/15 6 31 31 PUSH
1/16 10 52 48 UNDER
1/17 7 35 34 UNDER
1/18 5 26.5 26 UNDER
1/19 8 42.5 50 OVER
1/20 3 15.5 10 UNDER
1/21 10 53.5 49 UNDER
1/22 6 - - -
1/23 11 - - -
1/24 5 - - -
1/25 6 - - -
1/26 9 - - -
1/27 4 - - -
1/28 No games scheduled - - -
1/29 No games scheduled - - -
1/30 No games scheduled - - -
1/31 No games scheduled - - -

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews

Count me among the many who expected the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks to take a step back this season. Sure, they'd still make the playoffs because that's not all that tough in the NHL, especially in the Western Conference where there are two fewer teams than in the East. But I certainly didn't expect the Hawks to be one of the league's best regular-season teams and a top Stanley Cup contender again after losing the likes of Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp, among others, off last year's team for salary-cap reasons.

But clearly GM Stan Bowman knows what he's doing (other than giving Bryan Brickell a big extension a couple of years ago). In the trade for Saad, Bowman landed gifted second-line center Artem Anisimov. He has solidified that position, which has been a weak spot on the Hawks for years. Anisimov has 15 goals and 10 assists and has helped second-line right wing Patrick Kane get off to the best start of his career. The Hart Trophy favorite leads the NHL with 29 goals and 69 points. Bowman also got Russian KHL player Artemi Panarin on a low-cost, low-risk two-way contract, and he's your Calder Trophy favorite with 43 points (16 goals).

Last week, Bowman made sure to keep his incredibly successful head coach happy by signing Joel Quenneville to a three-year extension. He deserved a monster raise with those three Cups, and the $50 million deal that Mike Babcock got from the Maple Leafs this past offseason changed the financial landscape for coaches across the NHL.

The Hawks enter Tuesday's game at Nashville on an 11-game winning streak, which has tied the 2012-13 team for the longest in franchise history. They haven't lost since a 2-1 defeat at home to Carolina on Dec. 27 that dropped Chicago to 20-13-4. The Hawks were 13 points behind Central Division-leading Dallas then. Now Chicago has a three-point cushion atop the division and leads the West with 66 points. If you are wondering, the NHL record winning streak is 17 games, set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins.

Chicago is back up to the second-favorite to win the Stanley Cup at +500, behind only Eastern Conference-leading Washington (+400). The Hawks are now +300 favorites to win the West. The team has quality wins over Pittsburgh (twice) and Montreal (twice) during the streak. But Chicago has had a fairly beneficial schedule. The Blackhawks are just -110 favorites for Tuesday's game at Nashville. They are 2-1 vs. the Preds this season but lost the only meeting in Tennessee, 5-1 on Dec. 10. It should be said that No. 1 goaltender Corey Crawford, having his best season, got that night off.

The schedule gets much tougher for Chicago after Tuesday. It visits Tampa Bay on Thursday night in a Stanley Cup Finals rematch; the Hawks beat the visiting Lightning 1-0 in overtime on Oct. 24. The next night, Chicago goes to Atlantic Division-leading Florida; Chicago beat the visiting Panthers 4-3 on Oct. 22. And then St. Louis visits the Windy City in an NBC national TV game on Sunday night. I don't expect Chicago gets through that Florida Swing with the winning streak intact, however.

Here are some other games to watch this week:

Anaheim at Washington, Friday: The Ducks continue to limp around near the bottom of the Pacific Division and on the fringes of the playoff race but still haven't made a major shakeup of the vastly disappointing team. There has been some talk the team was looking to acquire young Jonathan Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in 2013, from Tampa Bay as Drouin has requested a trade and is currently in the AHL. Anaheim was involved in a trade with Pittsburgh over weekend, but I don't think it solves the team's offensive problems. The Ducks got forward David Perron and defenseman Adam Clendening for forward Carl Hagelin. Perron scored in his Duck debut Sunday, a 3-2 loss to the Kings. The Capitals might clinch the Metropolitan Division by mid-February as they have a 17-point lead entering the week. They are going to be the East's top seed barring an epic collapse. The Caps could get back defenseman John Carlson here. He has missed 11 games with a lower-body injury. Carlson had six goals and 27 points in 34 games prior to the injury.

NHL

Hot teams
-- Washington won seven of last eight games. Anaheim won three of its last four games.
-- Red Wings won four of their last six games.
-- Carolina won five of its last seven games.
-- Chicago had its 12-game win streak ended last night.
-- Blues won five of their last six games. Colorado won three of its last four.

Cold teams
-- Detroit lost three of its last four games.
-- Rangers are 0-4 in game following their last four wins.
-- Florida lost its last four games, outscored 16-5.
-- Islanders, Senators are both 3-4 in their last seven games.

Series records
-- Ducks lost five of last six games with Washington.
-- Sabres lost eight of last ten games with Detroit.
-- Rangers won their last eight games with Carolina.
-- Panthers lost their last eight games with Chicago.
-- Islanders won three of last four visits to Ottawa.
-- Colorado won last two games with St Louis, 3-1/4-3OT.

Totals
-- Over is 4-0-2 in last six Washington games.
-- Over is 5-2-1 in last eight Detroit-Buffalo games.
-- Under is 4-1-4 in last nine Ranger-Hurricane games.
-- Under is 7-1-2 in last ten Chicago-Florida games.
-- Last six Islander-Ottawa games stayed under.
-- Under is 8-1-1 in last ten St Louis-Colorado games.

Back-to-backs
-- Carolina is 5-3 if it played night before; teams are 3-4 the night after playing Toronto.
-- Chicago is 1-4 on road if it played night before; teams are 2-6 the night after playing Tampa Bay. .
-- Ottawa is 2-5 if it played night before; teams are 3-7 the night after playing the Devils.

NBA notebook: Kidd close to returning to Bucks
By The Sports Xchange

Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd is expected to return to the bench next week sufficiently recovered from hip surgery.
Kidd has missed four weeks and will rejoin the team following its current road trip ending Saturday, ESPN reported Thursday.
Joe Prunty served as head coach in Kidd's absence and had a record of 8-7 entering Friday's game at Houston.
The Bucks made the playoffs last season, Kidd's first in Milwaukee, but at 19-25 entered Thursday 3.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

---Former NBA player and Connecticut standout Tate George was sentenced to nine years in prison by a federal judge in Trenton, N.J., for running a $2 million Ponzi scheme.
George, who played for the New Jersey Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, was convicted in 2013 on four wire fraud counts. Among his victims were past and present NBA players and celebrities, including Charlie Villanueva, Brevin Knight and "The Apprentice" winner Randal Pinkett.
The 47-year-old George, who has been in jail since his conviction, argued for more than 1 1/2 hours in court for leniency while maintaining his innocence.
Prosecutors argued that George used money from individuals who invested in his company to pay off earlier investors. He was ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.

---The Memphis Grizzlies signed center Ryan Hollins to a 10-day contract.
Hollins begins his third stint with the Grizzlies this season. He was waived in training camp and again on Jan. 7.

---The Phoenix Suns signed forward Cory Jefferson to a 10-day contract, the team announced.
Jefferson was with the Suns earlier this season and averaged 2.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in six games. He was waived on Jan. 7.

---The Charlotte Hornets assigned guard Aaron Harrison to the Oklahoma City Blue of the D-League, the team announced.
Harrison has played in nine games for the Hornets and is averaging 0.8 points and 0.9 rebounds.

Preview: Hornets (19-23) at Magic (20-21)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:00 PM EDT

The Orlando Magic have nobody but themselves to blame for their poor play this month.

They must dig deep to avoid a season-high fifth consecutive defeat Friday night against the banged-up Charlotte Hornets, who look to snap a 10-game road skid that began in Orlando.

Sitting 19-13 at the end of December, Orlando (20-21) had reason to feel good heading into the new year. However, all the confidence the Magic had has likely vanished since the calendar flipped to 2016.

After averaging 104 points and shooting 51 percent to win seven of the final nine in 2015, Orlando has scored 88.7 per contest and shot 42.2 percent while going 1-8 in January.

"We've got to figure this out,' forward Aaron Gordon told the Magic's official website. "It has to come from within us. It's not going to come from anything outside."

Orlando might have bottomed out Wednesday while blowing an early 10-point lead and trailing by as many as 14 in a 96-87 loss to Philadelphia. Magic opponents are hitting 48.8 percent of their shots - 45.9 from 3-point range - in the last four games.

'Our lack of competitiveness is frightening, really,' said coach Scott Skiles, whose team is below .500 for the first time since Nov. 25 and 0-3 at the Amway Center in 2016. "Our goal right now should be just simply to win a game.'

That might remain difficult if Victor Oladipo misses a third straight game with a sprained knee. He averaged 20.4 points and went 18 of 27 from beyond the arc in his last five.

"We have to find a way as a team to sneak out a win, build some confidence and find some momentum," said forward Tobias Harris, who had 15 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday.

"Obviously, we're frustrated as a group, but we have to stay positive and be ready for the next one."

Harris was one of seven players to score in double figures as Orlando shot a season-high 55.8 percent in a 113-98 home win over the Hornets (19-23) on Dec. 16 to initiate their longest road slide since dropping the final 14 of 2012-13. Charlotte, which won five of six at Orlando prior to this season, has averaged 96.8 points, shot 41.4 percent and yielded 106 per contest during the skid.

The Hornets have dropped 16 of 25, but are 2 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Things could get even tougher if starters Nicolas Batum (toe) and Cody Zeller (shoulder) are unable to play after leaving Wednesday's 109-95 loss at Oklahoma City. Charlotte is still minus Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (shoulder), who could be nearing his season debut, and veteran Al Jefferson as he continues to recover from last month's knee surgery. Key reserve Jeremy Lamb could miss his fifth straight with a sprained toe.

"That's life in the NBA, every team goes through it," center Spencer Hawes said. "Unfortunately it's all kind of hit us here at once. Everybody has to be ready to contribute more when they're asked."

That already includes rookie forward Frank Kaminsky, who has averaged 15.5 points and 6 boards in the last four games.

Teammate Kemba Walker followed Monday's career-high 52-point effort in a double-overtime win over Utah with 21 against the Thunder. He was held to 12 but had nine assists at Orlando last month.

Preview: Jazz (18-24) at Nets (11-32)

Date: January 22, 2016 7:30 PM EDT

The Utah Jazz's four-game road trip has started off with a couple of overtime losses.

They might not have to worry about a similarly close result Friday night when they face the lowly Brooklyn Nets, who have hardly been competitive in January.

Two nights after a 124-119 double-OT defeat to Charlotte, the Jazz (18-24) lost 118-111 in OT to New York on Wednesday. Gordon Hayward drew a foul on Kristaps Porzingis while shooting a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds to go and hit all three free throws to tie the game at 99, but the Knicks dominated the extra period.

'I thought tonight we controlled and outplayed them the entire game and then in the last six minutes we kind of fell apart,' said Hayward, who scored 27 points. 'We're a young team. We need to learn from these and take positives from it, but it's definitely frustrating.'

Rodney Hood had 29 points, six rebounds and five assists for Utah, which led 48-37 after the first half. The Jazz, though, were outscored 50-35 in the fourth quarter and OT and allowed New York to shoot 52.2 percent for the game.

'We played a great first half and we talked about what the game would become in the second half,' coach Quin Snyder said. 'They were going to raise their physicality and they did. The game got very, very physical. We have to be tougher.'

After two straight games that went beyond regulation, Snyder's team should benefit from not having to leave the city for the next stop on its trip. The Jazz have won three of the last four road matchups with the Nets and swept the 2014-15 season series.

Utah has taken 10 of the past 13 meetings.

Brooklyn (11-32) hasn't come close to forcing overtime much recently. The Nets have lost nine of 10 and been outscored by an average of 102.1-86.8 in the defeats.

The latest one came Wednesday, 91-78 at home to Cleveland in a game in which LeBron James and Kevin Love didn't play in the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers led 73-55 after three.

'I don't think it was our best effort since I've taken over,' interim coach Tony Brown said. 'I don't know if it was just because it was Cleveland. I don't know. But we could do a lot better on both ends of the floor.'

Thaddeus Young, Brook Lopez and Donald Sloan totaled 42 points and shot 53.8 percent, but the rest of the team hit 31.1 percent.

"It was definitely a step back tonight all around," Lopez told the team's official website.

The Nets have lost 12 of their last 13 at Barclays Center and are 7-16 there. They are scoring 94.7 points per game at home, tied for last in the NBA, and 95.3 overall for the second-worst mark.

Brooklyn has also dropped five in a row against Western Conference opponents.

Hayward has scored 63 points in the past two games and averaged 25.1 in his last seven. He's scored at least 22 points in three of his past four games against the Nets and had 24 in both victories last season.