NHL Evening Skate for December 20

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Thu, Dec 20, 2018

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Heading into this evening's action, here are the day's top NHL storylines:

Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin get a little heated

Although it would have been something to see Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby and Washington's Alex Ovechkin throw hands, things didn't escalate to that level on Wednesday night. But, it looked like things were headed in that direction. [Watch what happened]

Lamp-lighters

A vain attempt at reviewing Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner's ballet debut

On Wednesday night, two of the Toronto Maple Leafs' biggest stars broadened their horizons by making their ballet debuts. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner appeared in "The Nutcracker" as Cannon Dolls — a role pioneered for hockey players by Mats Sundin more than a decade ago. [Watch]

Domi's been electric since trade, but don't give up on Galchenyuk

The Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes are set to play at Gila River Arena on Thursday, making it only natural to rehash the still-fascinating Max Domi – Alex Galchenyuk trade. There's no denying that the immediate returns have been drastically one-sided. While Galchenyuk's been a mixture of injured and inconsistent (three goals and 11 points, limited to 23 games played), Domi's defied all but the wildest expectations in scoring almost a point per game (33 in 35). Yet, even some of the warmer takes still acknowledge that the differences are probably exaggerated. [Here's why]

Klingberg return could be boost Stars need to make playoffs

The Dallas Stars – for all of their stumbles – hadn't really dealt with the absence of near-Norris-level defenseman John Klingberg very often until 2018-19. With that in mind, it's not surprising that Klingberg is pumped to play against the Blackhawks on Thursday, representing his first bit of action since Nov. 8. "It can't get any worse or re-injured by playing," he said. [More]

Mailbag: Evaluating the Carter Hart call up

Joanna asks: "Does it really make sense to bring up Carter Hart this season instead of letting him develop more in the AHL?"

The idea here, I guess, is that Hart wouldn't be able to develop in the NHL, practicing every day against top talent and facing the best teams in the world on a nightly basis. The idea probably also includes that there's less of a learning curve for a 20-year-old goaltender in the AHL. Which, yeah that's true, but Hart struggled early in the AHL (call it growing pains) before turning into an elite goaltender at that level in relatively short order. [Full mailbag]

Fantasy Forecheck

The Great Rasmus Debate

The Buffalo Sabres have two Rasmuses on their blueline and each of them can help you in fantasy – but which one is the best option? [Find out here]

Game of the night

Tampa Bay Lightning at Calgary Flames

The Lightning had an eight-point advantage over four teams including the Flames entering play Wednesday night. Tampa Bay is coming off a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in a testy affair on Tuesday while the Flames were blanked 2-0 by the Stars in Dallas the same night. Calgary's vaunted offense will give the Lightning a test as well. Tampa gave up 40 shots in Winnipeg and 38 in Vancouver. Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will be trying to stop a Flames offense that has four players with 17-plus goals each – Sean Monahan (20), Elias Lindholm (17) and Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk 15 each after 35 games of the regular season. [Full preview] [Follow on Yahoo Sports]

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