NHL Metropolitan

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby and defenseman Brian Dumoulin tested positive for COVID-19.

The team announced the news Wednesday, noting that Crosby has mild symptoms and Dumoulin is asymptomatic so far:

Crosby's status coming into the season was in flux after the Penguins announced in September he underwent wrist surgery and would miss the start of training camp. He made his season debut on Oct. 30, playing 19 minutes in Pittsburgh's loss to the New Jersey Devils.

The 34-year-old is one of the best players in NHL history. He is a three-time Stanley Cup winner and has a resume that includes two Hart Memorial Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, three Ted Lindsay Awards, two Maurice Richard Trophies and two Conn Smythe Trophies.

Crosby is an elite goal scorer who can also set up his teammates with opportunities.

He led the league in points twice and isn't far removed from his 100-point season in 2018-19. Because of the wrist surgery, he has made just one appearance so far in 2021-22 and failed to register a point.

Dumoulin is in his ninth season with the Penguins and has played 18-plus minutes in each of the team's eight games so far this season.

With Crosby sidelined, look for Jeff Carter and Teddy Blueger to see more time.

The New York Rangers are rewarding star defenseman Adam Fox with a seven-year contract extension, the team announced Monday.

Fox, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman, will reportedly receive an average annual value of $9.5 million, according to Rangers beat reporter Vince Z. Mercogliano.

Fox is the only player besides NHL legend Bobby Orr to win the Norris Trophy before his third season. He led New York with 42 assists last season and added five goals to rank fifth with 47 points.

Fox has picked up where he left off this season, leading the Rangers with nine points (two goals, seven assists) through the team's first nine games of the year. He scored the go-ahead goal in Sunday's 3-1 win over the Seattle Kraken as New York improved to 6-2-1.

A 23-year-old native of Jericho, New York, Fox was selected 66th overall in the 2016 NHL entry draft by the Calgary Flames. He opted to attend college at Harvard University, and his rights were traded to the Carolina Hurricanes before the Rangers acquired him in April 2019.

Fox left college a year early and made his Rangers debut in the 2019 season. He made an immediate impact, tying for second among all NHL rookie defensemen in goals and ranking third in assists and points.

The Rangers locking up Fox with a deal is the latest move to retain one of their big stars. Their 28-year-old center, Mika Zibanejad, was signed to an eight-year, $68 million contract extension prior to the start of this season.

New York has failed to qualify for the playoffs in three of the last four seasons and hopes to change that by keeping players like Fox long-term.

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will make his first appearance of the season Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.

Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed following the team's morning skate that Crosby is ready to go.

"Sid and [Jeff Carter] are both going to play tonight," he said. "And I think it goes without saying, they offer us so much on both sides of the puck. We're just a much better hockey team when they're in our lineup. So we're excited to have them back in the lineup."

The 34-year-old forward underwent wrist surgery in September, with the team setting six weeks as the minimum time he'd miss. His debut will come a little after the seven-week mark.

Sullivan said Wednesday that Crosby was "day-to-day" and "getting real close" to a return.

Despite not having the services of Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, who's recovering from offseason knee surgery, the Penguins are 3-2-2 and sitting fifth in the Metropolitan Division. Things could be a lot worse for the team, given who has been missing.

But Pittsburgh has dropped three of its last four games and scored two goals in those contests. The Pens' power-play percentage (16.0) also ranks 22nd in the NHL.

"It makes our power play more dangerous," Sullivan said of Crosby and Carter's combined presence, the latter of whom has been in the league's COVID-19 protocol for the last three games. "It makes matchups more difficult for our opponents. It has a ripple effect on our whole team. But these guys are real good players. It's nice to get some of these guys starting to come back into our lineup."

Crosby in particular could be the perfect tonic for the team's offensive woes of late.

Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby is nearing a return to the ice after undergoing surgery on his left wrist in September.

"His status right now is day-to-day," head coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday. "He participated out there [at practice] full capacity today. We will see how he responds... We think he's getting real close."

The Penguins said at the time of his procedure that Crosby would need at least six weeks to recuperate. Oct. 20 represented the six-week mark, so the eight-time All-Star should be healthy again soon as long as he didn't experience any setbacks in his recovery.

Crosby isn't the only notable goal scorer who has been absent from Pittsburgh's forward line to open the season. Evgeni Malkin remains unavailable because of offseason right knee surgery, with general manager Ron Hextall confirming in September he was likely to miss the first two months.

Despite not having Crosby and Malkin, the Penguins have eight points (3-1-2) through six games and sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division.

Sullivan was enthusiastic about Crosby's impact on the team at practice:

In terms of pure scoring, Pittsburgh hasn't missed the 34-year-old too much. The team is averaging four goals per game, tied for seventh-best in the league. Once Crosby is back in the lineup, he should help improve a power-play unit that's tied for a more modest 18th in conversion rate (19.1 percent).

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins said a Dallas Stars fan taunted him about the death of Matiss Kivlenieks prior to Columbus' 4-1 victory.

"I was expecting a shutout, because I believe in karma," Merzlikins told reporters. "There are some stupid people in this world. It was really bad what happened in the tunnel when I was walking out. There was a fan from Dallas who (provoked) me about Matiss."

According to The Athletic's Aaron Portzline, the Blue Jackets are attempting to identify the fan involved in the situation.

Kivlenieks died in July following a fireworks accident in Michigan.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan wrote about the friendship between Merzlikins and Kivlenieks. Merzlikins and his wife, Aleksandra, welcomed Kivlenieks into their home when he was getting accustomed to life in the NHL.

"We didn't just become best friends," Merzlikins said to Kaplan. "He was really my little brother."

Elvis and Aleksandra named their first child Knox Matiss in honor of Kivlenieks, and they had hoped he would be the child's godfather.

The Blue Jackets honored Kivlenieks ahead of their opener, an 8-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes.

On Monday, Merzlikins stopped 31 of the Stars' 32 shots. Dallas had three shots hit off the post in the first period, which the netminder chalked up to "karma."

"I saw that (Matiss) was really there," he said.

The unlikely rivalry between the Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes took an interesting turn Thursday. 

Per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, the Hurricanes set up a website with the address DidTheHabsLose.com, and they directed their fans to it via social media after Thursday's 4-1 win over the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.

Unfortunately, there was a moment Friday morning when the site was hacked and turned into an anti-Carolina webpage. 

According to Wyshynski, the original site "featured a banner photo with the word 'YES' in bold letters." The website also went beyond bragging about the victory and trolled the organization:

Underneath were two links to buy two Hurricanes player T-shirts: One for center Sebastian Aho, whom the Canadiens unsuccessfully attempted to sign away from Carolina with a free-agent offer sheet in 2019; and one for forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, whom the Hurricanes poached from Montreal via an offer sheet last offseason. The shirts were on sale for $20—which is Aho's number and Kotkaniemi's signing bonus - for anyone using the promo code 'oui.'"  

Thomas Williams of Yahoo Sports noted the website no longer exists, but it is still accessible through a web archive if any Hurricanes fans want to remember the moment. 

While not exactly a full-fledged rivalry, like the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Habs and Hurricanes could turn into a fun one to watch. Former Canadiens player Jesperi Kotkaniemi joined Carolina in the offseason after Montreal declined to match an offer sheet in restricted free agency. 

Based on how they reacted to Kotkaniemi on Thursday, fans are holding a grudge against him for leaving.

The 21-year-old got the last laugh during the game by scoring a goal in his return to Montreal. 

Some hacker got the ultimate measure of revenge on the Hurricanes, though it's unclear if that person is a Canadiens fan. 

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said Friday he has no target date to return to the Pittsburgh lineup after undergoing wrist surgery on Sept. 8, per The Athletic's Rob Rossi. 

Crosby has undergone two wrist surgeries in about a year to correct a left wrist injury that he says has bothered him since 2014.

The 34-year-old also told reporters Friday that surgery was more of a last resort. 

"It was something I was able to manage [for years]," Crosby said, per the Associated Press. "There were points where it bugged me more than others. You just get used to it. ... It became more and more of a factor last year and then into the summer. Just had to take care of it."

Crosby's initial recovery timeline was a minimum of six weeks. That six-week mark was Wednesday, but the star forward still isn't ready to return. 

Crosby practiced Friday but did not take faceoffs or contact, something he said he will need to show he can do comfortably before making his 2021-22 season debut, per Rossi. 

The veteran has been a staple in Pittsburgh's lineup since being drafted first overall in 2005. In 16 seasons, he has tallied 1,325 points (486 goals, 839 assists) in 1,039 games and has won three Stanley Cups, two Hart trophies, two Rocket Richard trophies, two Conn Smythe trophies and two Art Ross trophies. 

In addition to Crosby, the Penguins are also dealing with injuries and ailments to other key players, including Evgeni Malkin, who is recovering from knee surgery, Bryan Rust, who has a lower-body injury and Jeff Carter, who recently tested positive for COVID-19. 

Those issues don't seem to have been too costly for Pittsburgh so far. The Pens are 2-0-2 on the season entering Saturday's matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

If the Penguins can stay afloat with Crosby and Co. sidelined, they could become one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL once they return. 

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter has tested positive for the coronavirus, while goaltender Tristan Jarry was placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protocols, head coach Mike Sullivan announced Thursday, per team reporter Michelle Crechiolo.

Both players are asymptomatic and will be unavailable for Pittsburgh's next game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

As of Sept. 27, the Penguins were waiting on one player to get his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to reach 100 percent vaccination, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It's unclear if that player has since received the second shot. 

Per NHL protocols, players must remain isolated for 10 days after testing positive for the coronavirus. A player can be released from isolation if they are asymptomatic, are vaccinated and test negative twice on two straight days within those 10 days. 

Carter and Jarry are the third and fourth Penguins to enter COVID-19 protocols this season. Forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Jake Guentzel tested positive for the virus during training camp. 

Carter had been filling in as Pittsburgh's top-line center with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin sidelined. Crosby underwent surgery on his left wrist in September, and Malkin is out with a knee injury. 

Crosby was expected to miss a minimum of six weeks, while Malkin isn't likely to return until late November. 

In four games this season, Carter has one goal and three assists. It's his first full season in Pittsburgh after being traded to the franchise by the Los Angeles Kings during the 2020-21 campaign. 

With Carter sidelined, Evan Rodrigues could see time as the Pens' No. 1 center. The 28-year-old has two goals and an assist in four games this season.

Teddy Blueger and Brian Boyle may also get bumped up to the second and third line, respectively, while Dominik Simon could shift from the right wing to center on the fourth line. That would allow someone like Sam Lafferty to slot in as the fourth-line right wing. 

Jarry, meanwhile, serves as Pittsburgh's No. 1 goaltender. He is 2-0-1 in three starts this season with a 1.62 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. 

With Jarry out, Casey DeSmith figures to start for the Penguins. The 30-year-old is in his fourth season with Pittsburgh and is 0-0-1 this season with a 4.92 GAA and .872 SV%

Louis Domingue could be recalled from the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to back up DeSmith. 

Pittsburgh is 2-0-2 on the season and first in the Metropolitan Division with six points. After facing the Maple Leafs on Saturday, the Pens will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.  

Washington Capitals captain and left wing Alexander Ovechkin continued his climb up the NHL's career goal lists on Saturday.

Ovechkin's second-period goal in his team's 2-1 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals gave him 804 (including playoffs), putting him alone in fifth on the NHL's all-time goalscoring list.

He surpassed former Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers great Mark Messier, who has 803 lifetime.

Ovechkin also scored twice in his team's 5-1 season-opening win over the New York Rangers to give him 732 regular-season goals. That put him fifth on the regular-season list, one ahead of Los Angeles Kings legend Marcel Dionne (731).

Fourth is also in sight, per the Capitals' public relations department:

The 36-year-old Ovechkin, who has played for the Caps since 2005, will look to continue his torrid goalscoring start when Washington hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET from Capital One Arena.