Seeing a Henrik Lundqvist jersey from the Swedish national team isn't uncommon at New York Rangers home games. But seeing 33 of them, seated together, at the Rangers' game against the Islanders on Thursday night? A little odd. Turns out the backstory was even odder: This was a group of window salespeople from Sweden who won a sales contest for their company; a contest whose bounty was an all-expenses-paid trip to New York, including seats in the 100s at Madison Square Garden. Their dream? That Lundqvist would notice them, potentially for a postgame photo-op with these window salespeople. You know, if it's not too much of a pane ... er, pain.

Greg Wyshynski, ESPN

Some brutal news for the Los Angeles Kings, who were flying high with a 5-0-1 start: Forward Jeff Carter is "out indefinitely" after suffering a cut to his left leg in Wednesday night's win over the Montreal Canadiens, following a hit from defenseman Jeff Petry in which Petry's skate sliced his left leg. GM Rob Blake said Carter had surgery to repair the injury, and that it didn't affect his Achilles. Blake declined to release a timetable for his return. Carter is an irreplaceable offensive weapon for the Kings, leading them with 32 goals and 34 assists in 82 games last season, and three assists in six games this season. His prolonged absence could derail the Kings' resurgence. After Carter and Anze Kopitar, there's a cliff-dive drop in quality at center.

Greg Wyshynski, ESPN

Through seven games, New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh has made some uncharacteristic and glaring errors. None have been more glaring than his turnover to Phil Kessel to set up Evgeni Malkin's overtime winner for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, which was a sprig of holly away from being perfectly giftwrapped. But coach Alain Vigneault says McDonagh, while pressing during the Rangers' underwhelming start (1-5-1), can turn it around. "Everyone looks at the last game, and what happened there, and you've gotta turn the page and move on and focus on tonight," he said ahead of Thursday night's home game against the Islanders. "Mac, like always, puts a lot on himself. There's probably a couple of decisions here and there that are not Mac-like. He's always been very dependable. Like some of our other guys, he's trying real hard to get this going in the right direction. But he's only one or two really solid plays away from being real good." For what it's worth, McDonagh is a minus-2 and doesn't have a point at even strength, but emphatically leads the team with a plus-32 in Corsi – over double that of Mika Zibanejad, who is second (plus-14). Which, again, might say more about the Rangers at this point than it does McDonagh.

Greg Wyshynski, ESPN

St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka has been fined $5,000 by the NHL for a high-sticking infraction on Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, for which he received a double-minor at 14:40 of the third period. That's the maximum amount he could be fined by the League. After the Blackhawks' 5-2 loss to the Blues, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said Sharp was "fine." He also said the Blackhawks were "brutal" in that loss, which is accurate.

Greg Wyshynski, ESPN

With a goal in Wednesday night's 6-3 win over Detroit, Toronto's Auston Matthews is the NHL's only player to score six times in his team's first seven games in each of the last two seasons. (Photo: Dan Hamilton/USA Today Sports)

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