NHL Thursday: Canadiens hold on to 1st place in Northeast

Elsewhere in the NHL, Martin Brodeur made a HUGE impact in his first game back from injury and Rick Nash made a HUGE impact on the back of a guy’s head. Read on for all the details!

Get caught up on Tuesday’s NHL scores with recaps from our network of SB Nation team blogs. Here’s a quick glance at the full night of action:

No penalty was called on the play, but since people out in the real world noticed it there’s a good chance Nash gets a phone call from the league about this one. This is a suspension-worthy hit, for sure. Nash jumped to deliver this hit. He jumped so high, in fact, that he actually had to lower his arms in order to connect with Kopecky’s head. If that’s not a suspension, then what are we even doing here?

• Martin Brodeur scores a goal!

Boy, is Steve Ott ever a punk.

Great work, Ott. You’re a real hero and an asset to your team.

Brodeur, as the last Devil on the ice to touch the puck, got credit for the goal. It was the third of his career.

In his first game back for New Jersey after a nagging injury, Brodeur has been the best Devil on the ice early on. He made nine saves in addition to his fluke goal in the first eight minutes of the game.

The Predators are struggling at the moment and will be looking to end a four-game slide on Thursday night. Having allowed at least three goals in each contest (outscored 20-12 over that span), the normally defensive Nashville has been anything but. The Flames have won two of their last three games, which includes a 6-3 victory over Nashville last Friday.

• Fire sale in Buffalo!

There are nine games scheduled in the NHL on Thursday night, with six games scheduled in the Eastern Conference and three games scheduled out West.

Regardless of result, it’s safe to say that the Northeast has surpassed the Atlantic as the most competitive division in the Eastern Conference, if not the entire league.