NHL Saturday: Oilers collapse late in Toronto

Three unbeaten teams entered on Saturday, and all three came out unscathed.

These three teams are playing an a whole ‘nother level right now, and the league is just trying to keep pace.

The Canadiens sent the puck down the ice, successfully killing off a penalty, and the Canucks gave chase. While Canadiens made wholesale line changes, the Canucks skated into the corner to reset. And then all of their brains went to screensaver mode or something.

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?

• Ben Bishop day-to-day for Lightning

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?

• Ben Bishop day-to-day for Lightning

No doubt there will be plenty more goals from that kid in the next few years. The Avalanche cashed in twice more in the third period and will be 5-0-0 if they hold off Washington.

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?

I believe the technical term for what he did to Carl Alzner there is “undress.” The Avalanche are up 2-0 after one period, well on their way to a 5-0-0 record.

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?

It’s Yakupov’s first scratch in the NHL after playing in all 48 games for Edmonton last year in his rookie season. The young Russian led the team with 17 goals and caused a stir with his wild goal celebrations early in the year.

But the Oilers are off to a disappointing 1-3 start in 2013-14 and Yakupov’s struggles have played a role in that. Yakupov has zero points and is a minus-3 so far, and the benching seems to have been coming for a while now. Yakupov played only 12 shifts in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to Montreal. Afterwards, coach Dallas Eakins said his star winger “was out of sorts all night.“ Eakins seems to be setting a precedent for his young team: earn your playing time, whether you’re a star player or not. Yakupov wasn’t doing that, and so he’ll watch from the press box on Saturday.

Gionta spent last weekend dealing with a “family emergency” before meeting up with his teammate on Tuesday in Calgary. He then played in Montreal’s 4-1 win over Edmonton on Thursday before this latest departure. Canadiens coach Michel Therrien didn’t give a timetable for his return.

Montreal finishes up their current four-game West Coast road trip in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Depending on how long Lehtonen is out, this injury could be bad news for the Stars. Lehtonen has been one of the better goaltenders in the NHL when he’s been healthy, posting a 2.51 goals against average and a .917 save percentage over the last three seasons in Dallas while enduring some of the highest shots against totals in the league.

• Should you ever choose to be 3-on-5?