ARLINGTON, Va. -- Youth and inexperience have been served on the Washington Capitals' blue line.

Ahead of their game against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, the Capitals recalled defensemen Julien Brouillette and Patrick Wey from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League.

Brouillette, who will make his NHL debut (the fourth Capitals defenseman to do so this season), and Wey, who made his on Dec. 7, will form Washington's third pairing with a combined one game of experience in the League.

"[The recall] was definitely special," said Brouillette, who has nine goals and 14 points in 29 games with Hershey this season. "Offensively has been good this year for me. Hopefully I can bring that, but more importantly, just more steady defense. You know what you get out of me every night, and hopefully same thing [Thursday]."

SAN JOSE -- San Jose Sharks forward Adam Burish will make his season debut Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars after missing the first 57 games with a herniated disk in his back that required surgery.

The slumping Sharks have lost four of their past five games and are coming off one of their worst performances of the season, a lackluster 5-2 loss Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Burish is known for his passion and intensity on the ice, two ingredients that were missing against Philadelphia. He said he'll try to give the Sharks what he's given teams throughout his NHL career, which included stints with the Chicago Blackhawks and the Stars.

ANAHEIM -- Welcome back, Emerson Etem. Now go play the Chicago Blackhawks.

Etem was recalled in time to join the Anaheim Ducks for a game against Chicago on Wednesday at Honda Center. It will be his first NHL game since Dec. 9. Etem was re-assigned after that partly because the Ducks wanted to see more consistency and partly because their lineup is difficult to crack.

"I think as a young guy you just need to understand the situation," Etem said. "We got a lot of depth up here. I think that all the guys that are regulars on this roster deserve to be here. For me, being a young guy I just try to keep my mouth shut, bury my head and work hard. Whatever they tell me to do I'm willing to do. I take pride in being a hometown guy and putting on the Ducks sweater every time I get the opportunity. It's a huge opportunity for me [Wednesday]."

BUFFALO -- The Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres may be without key players when they face each other at First Niagara Center on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2, RDS2).

Penguins forward Chris Kunitz and defenseman Matt Niskanen each missed the morning skate and will be game-time decisions.

"They will just hopefully [be out for] maintenance and will be on the ice [Wednesday]," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "The rest of our lineup will be game-time [decisions]."

NEW YORK -- Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche entered Tuesday night leading all NHL rookies with 20 goals and 41 points. He has eight points during a five-game point streak and 12 points in his last eight games.

That kind of production by an 18-year-old, even one who was talented enough to be taken with the first pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, has caught many people off-guard -- including MacKinnon's own coach.

"He's putting up more points than I thought he was going to," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said prior to Colorado's game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. "Right now he's playing with a lot of confidence. I'm trying to push him a little more. What impresses me most is the consistency he's capable of every night."

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It's been nearly two years since the Dallas Stars traded Mike Ribeiro to the Washington Capitals, signaling a youth movement in Texas and giving Alex Ovechkin a set-up man in D.C.

Riberio and the Stars haven't seen each other since. Dallas and Washington didn't play in the shortened 2012-13 season. Riberio signed with the Phoenix Coyotes as a free agent in the summer of 2013, but the Stars moved out of the Pacific Division and the number of games between the teams was reduced to three.

The first encounter comes Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena, and there is a lot more than a reunion to talk about.

ST. LOUIS -- When the St. Louis Blues played the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 16 it was the start of what eventually turn out to be an 11-game absence for Alexander Steen.

The Blues' leading scorer would play in two more games following the Senators' 3-2 overtime victory, but it was a hit 24 seconds into the game by Ottawa center Zack Smith that ultimately led to Steen's concussion, an injury that sidelined the Blues left wing for nearly a month. Smith was penalized two minutes for an illegal check to the head but no further discipline was handed down by the NHL.

That incident is a distant memory for the Blues.

"I think if it was a Western Conference opponent we might look at it differently but these are two games ... we might never see these guys again," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Points matter more than anything right now. That's our focus right now. We're not prepared to be distracted by that right now."

The Minnesota Wild will get an important member of their defense corps back Tuesday as Jared Spurgeon will be in the lineup for the first time since sustaining a broken foot Jan. 2 against the Buffalo Sabres.

Spurgeon, who will pair with Marco Scandella, was plus-3 and played more than 27 minutes against the Sabres despite the injury.

"We're anxious to see where his game's at," Wild coach Mike Yeo told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "If he can step in and be close to the level that he was at before he got hurt, we're a lot stronger for it."

MONTREAL -- There will be two rather different homecomings for the Calgary Flames when they face the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday.

On the one hand is a more traditional homecoming for Flames coach Bob Hartley, whose hometown of Hawkesbury, Ontario is about an hour outside Montreal. He also will face his former assistant coach from his days with the Laval Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien.

"It's fun," Hartley said. "I grew up in this area. There are lots of minor hockey friends, lots of school friends. But more importantly we have a big game [Tuesday]. I'm coaching against one of my best buddies, coaching against a former partner of mine. That makes it even more special."

On the other hand there will be a very different kind of homecoming for Flames forward Mike Cammalleri.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Between suspensions and injuries, David Clarkson's first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs has been something of a nightmare. He's hoping things finally start heading in a positive direction when he returns to the lineup Tuesday against the Florida Panthers.

Clarkson, who signed a seven-year contract with the Maple Leafs during the summer after spending his first seven seasons with the New Jersey Devils, missed the past eight games because of an elbow injury. He missed the first 10 games of the regular season after being suspended for his part in a preseason altercation involving the Buffalo Sabres, later had a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka and missed another game because of a foot injury.

Clarkson said after the morning skate Tuesday he was hoping to be able to hit the reset button on his season.