The Toronto Maple Leafs announced a two-year extension Thursday for defenseman Conor Timmins.

The average annual value of the contract is $1.1 million.

Timmins, 24, has one goal and 11 assists in 18 games with the Maple Leafs this season.

The Ontario native has 19 points in 59 games with the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes and Maple Leafs.

–Field Level Media

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar will sit out the final two games of the team’s road trip due to a head injury, coach Jared Bednar announced Thursday.

Makar, 24, will miss Thursday’s Stanley Cup Final rematch against the host Tampa Bay Lightning and Saturday’s clash versus the Florida Panthers.

The reigning Norris and Conn Smythe Trophy recipient, Makar was injured after he was hit by Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter during the third period of the Avalanche’s 2-1 overtime loss on Tuesday.

“Pretty blindside,” Makar said of the hit. “The ref said apparently we ran into each other, but I don’t know how that’s possible. He was coming down the ice.”

Makar has 45 points (13 goals, 32 assists) in 45 games this season.

He has 225 points (61 goals, 164 assists) in 223 career games since being selected by the Avalanche with the fourth overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft.

–Field Level Media

New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes will sit out Thursday’s game against the visiting Seattle Kraken and is considered week-to-week with an upper-body injury, coach Lindy Ruff announced.

Hughes collected two goals and an assist in New Jersey’s 5-4 overtime victory versus the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. He did not finish practice on Wednesday due to the injury.

“Jack is going to be week-to-week with an upper-body injury,” Ruff said Thursday morning. “He’s a young guy, that will help him. I think it’s going to be on the shorter end of it.”

Hughes, 21, boasts club-best totals in goals (35) and points (67). His 32 assists trail only defenseman Dougie Hamilton for the team lead.

He has 175 points (79 goals, 96 assists) in 216 career games since being selected by the Devils with the top overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft.

–Field Level Media

The Florida Panthers ruled out their captain, Aleksander Barkov, for Thursday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks.

Barkov was injured in Monday night’s 7-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning after blocking a shot, then exited the game.

The forward is tied for second in points on the Panthers, tallying 47 (14 goals, 33 assists) in 43 games.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice also announced that Sergei Bobrovsky will be in net against the Sharks.

–Field Level Media

Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson was released from a Detroit-area hospital after being struck by a car Wednesday evening.

The team said he had a “full battery of tests” before his release.

“Andersson is doing well, and he will remain with the team. He is listed as day-to-day,” the Flames said Thursday morning.

The Flames recalled blueliner Dennis Gilbert from their AHL club, the Calgary Wranglers, to suit up against the Red Wings in Andersson’s place.

The Flames were in Detroit, a day ahead of Thursday night’s game with the Red Wings. On an off night, Andersson, 26, was riding a scooter to dinner at approximately 6 p.m. local time when a vehicle struck him, the Flames said.

“He won’t play (Thursday night) and we’ll take this real slow,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said. “Not anything that we’re overly concerned about. But he got hit, so we’re going to see how things go over the next 24 hours and go from there.”

Andersson has seven goals and 34 points in 51 games this season. His 27 assists rank second on the team behind Elias Lindholm’s 31.

The Flames selected the Swede in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft. In 349 career games, he has 146 points (23 goals, 123 assists).

–Field Level Media

After sputtering into their bye week and the All-Star break, the Vegas Golden Knights pulled out their secret weapon.

Their dads.

The Knights, who had lost four in a row on the road and seven of their eight previous games, returned from their nine-day break with a 5-1 victory at Nashville on Tuesday in the first half of their two-game dads trip.

The Golden Knights, who moved back into first place in the tightly bunched Pacific Division with the victory while also improving to 6-0-1 all-time in dads trip games, will try to keep that point streak in front of their fathers alive when they face the Minnesota Wild on Thursday in Saint Paul, Minn.

“It’s big,” forward William Carrier, who had a goal and an assist in the win over the Predators, said of having the fathers along on the trip. “It’s great to have them around. It just makes the energy level go high. It’s great to have them here, especially this road trip. Nashville and Minnesota are tough barns.”

Vegas dominated the win over the Predators, holding Nashville to just six shots on goal in the first 49 minutes, including only two in the second period. Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill ended up with 16 saves.

“I liked where our mindset was,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I thought all our lines were ready to go. Our (defense) was engaged. They were holding their gaps.”

Vegas finished with 12 takeaways, 16 blocked shots and just four giveaways.

“We managed pucks well for most of the night,” Cassidy said. “Our giveaways were really low and our takeaways were high. Usually that means you are taking care of the puck in the neutral zone.”

Hill added, “I thought we had a great game. (On) plays where pucks were hitting bodies in front, we always got our stick there first. We always had the right body position in front of the net and our guys did a phenomenal job. We had a lot of blocked shots tonight, so that paid off.”

While the Golden Knights spent Wednesday holding a curling tournament with their fathers in Saint Paul, the Wild dropped their second road game in three nights, falling 4-1 to the Dallas Stars.

It was the fifth loss in the past seven games for Minnesota, which slipped out of third place in the Central Division and into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The good news for the Wild is they play their next seven games at the Xcel Energy Center, where they are 7-0-2 all-time against the Golden Knights, including a 3-0 win last season.

Minnesota, which blew a 2-1, third-period lead in a 3-2 loss at Arizona on Monday, fell behind 3-0 midway through the second period at Dallas before Joel Eriksson Ek scored a power-play goal with 1:44 to go in the middle frame. Roope Hintz sealed the win for the Stars, who got 38 saves from Jake Oettinger, with an empty-netter.

“We just didn’t find a way to score,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “We’re doing a lot of real good things. A lot of positives in this hockey game. We have to obviously stay as positive as we can. We play (Thursday) night.”

Minnesota defenseman Jake Middleton added, “We’re pissed. There’s really no other way to put it at this point. We know we’re not in that third spot anymore and the coming weeks are pretty important. We have to play desperate for the next stretch here.”

–Field Level Media

Bo Horvat and Anthony Beauvillier, the key figures in a Jan. 30 trade between the New York Islanders and the Vancouver Canucks, will face off against their former teams on Thursday in Elmont, N.Y.

The Islanders were off on Wednesday after earning their fourth straight win on Tuesday, a 4-0 victory over the visiting Seattle Kraken in which Horvat scored his first goal with his new team.

The Canucks will be completing a back-to-back road set after falling to the New York Rangers 4-3 on Wednesday night.

The game against familiar faces will cap a frenetic 11-day stretch for Horvat and Beauvillier. The deal sent Horvat to New York in exchange for Beauvillier, Aatu Raty and a protected 2023 first-round pick.

Horvat, who was named one of the Canucks’ representatives to the All-Star Game, was in Florida with his family and played for the Pacific Division in a 6-4 loss to the Central Division on Saturday.

“A little bit in shock and it’s been a big whirlwind for me right now and my family,” Horvat said Jan. 30. The center spent the first eight-plus years of his career with the Canucks, who named him captain in 2019.

Horvat, 27, joined the Islanders on Sunday and signed an eight-year extension worth a reported $68 million immediately after his first practice. He made his Islanders debut Monday, when he joined the top line and played 19:08 in a 2-1 win over the host Philadelphia Flyers.

On Tuesday night, Horvat was serenaded with chants of “HOR-VAT” upon scoring the Islanders’ final goal early in the second period. The four goals were the most amassed by New York since a 6-2 win over the Canucks on Jan. 3 — when Horvat scored both Vancouver goals.

“I think I took a deep breath after that one,” Horvat said. “It definitely felt good.”

Beauvillier was also on vacation when news of the trade broke. He cut the trip short to return to Long Island and pack up his belongings, but he ended up seeing a lot of ex-teammates at the Islanders’ practice facility.

“I thought it was going to be the right thing to do and it ended up being like a three-day goodbye,” Beauvillier told AM NY following the Canucks’ morning skate on Wednesday.

Like Horvat, Beauvillier — who is 25 years old but has 102 goals in 459 NHL games — immediately joined the first line with his new team, though he has yet to collect a point in two games for the retooling Canucks.

Vancouver, which returned from the All-Star break with a 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, went 4-11-0 in the final 15 games of the first half. On Jan. 22, the Canucks replaced head coach Bruce Boudreau with Rick Tocchet.

“A lot of nerves,” Beauvillier said, according to Newsday, following the Canucks’ practice on Tuesday. “I’m so happy I got my first game and first couple of practices out of the way. It feels like it was my first practice of my first NHL training camp.”

–Field Level Media