Morning Skate: Recapping a crazy NHL day of trades, blowout wins and offensive gestures

A lot of things happened on Tuesday.

Feb 10, 2016, 2:14 PM UTC

Claus Andersen/Getty Images

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Lace ‘em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

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HAPPY RETURNS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY

At least, it was a happy return for Milan Lucic. The big, bruising winger who once helped lead the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup in 2011 returned to Beantown for the first time as a visiting player on Tuesday. There were three happy moments for Bruins fans. The tribute video. The final salute.

And the merciful end of the game.

Los Angeles blitzed the Bruins and scored nine goals on the 50th anniversary of the birth of the NHL’s expansion era. It was the first time a team scored nine goals in over two years. It doesn’t happen that often. We’re still not sure the Bruins know how it happened.

All we know is that this was a bizarre sight.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT:

It wasn’t the only 50th birthday last night. It was somewhat fitting that the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild faced off last night, since the Minnesota North Stars were a part of the expansion half a decade ago. It was also fitting that the Stars won, since they won Minnesota’s franchise away back in 1993. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)
The Flames made an interesting decision, benching their two best players in Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau to send a message about bad practice efforts. I’m all for coaches doing that to their best players, especially at a young, teachable age. And it didn’t hurt Calgary, who scored four goals and won anyways.
Martin Brodeur became immortalized in New Jersey on Tuesday during a fantastic ceremony that retired his jersey AND unveiled a statue in his honor.
The other “Second Six” teams that played on Tuesday didn’t fare as well as the Stars. Philadelphia’s playoff hopes began to fade with a blowout loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues only managed one measly goal against the Winnipeg Jets. Who, you know, are one of the three worst teams in the league this year.
The Chicago Blackhawks are so fed up with losing coach challenges that Joel Quenneville stormed out of his postgame press conference.