VANCOUVER -- The Nashville Predators announced Thursday that assistant coach Lane Lambert didn't accompany the team on its four-game road trip through Western Canada so he could stay in Nashville with his wife, Andi, while she undergoes chemotherapy treatment.

"If you know anything about Lane, you know he is a fantastic young coach, very detailed, passionate, and I am going to miss him on the bench," coach Barry Trotz said. "His wife and him have been absolute rocks with the stuff they have been going through."

Trotz said it was his decision to leave Lambert home.

"He would be here and his wife would want him here," Trotz said. "I made the decision more than him."

VANCOUVER -- The last-second trip to the left coast was a hectic one for new Nashville Predators defenseman Michael Del Zotto, but the move back to the left side made all the scrambling worthwhile.

Del Zotto was still a bit out of sorts after taking to the ice with his new team Thursday morning to prepare for a game against the Vancouver Canucks, but not as out of sorts as he was trying to play the right side as a left-shot defenseman for the New York Rangers this season. Getting the offensively gifted defenseman back on his natural left side was a big part of the trade for the Predators, who sent one of their excess right-shot defensemen, Kevin Klein, back to the Rangers.

"For sure, some guys enjoy playing the opposite side, but it's a very different game and for me, I've played left side my whole career and it was a bit of an adjustment," said Del Zotto, who will start with the Predators on the left side of impressive rookie Seth Jones.

ANAHEIM -- The Anaheim Ducks aren't lacking for big power forwards in their lineup but it certainly helps that Patrick Maroon is grabbing a hold of his role in time to play the Los Angeles Kings.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Maroon brings a wrecking-ball presence, along with a scoring touch, and it will be needed when Anaheim hosts the Kings at Honda Center on Thursday (10 p.m. ET, NHLN-US), the last time they'll meet until their game Saturday at Dodger Stadium in the opener of the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series.

Maroon has played with Mathieu Perreault and Teemu Selanne and also taken turns on the Ducks' top line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

"He's been doing a real good job," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I have to say in the last four or five games he might be our best forward."

NEW YORK -- Defenseman Kevin Klein was about 15 minutes away from leaving home to accompany the Nashville Predators on a flight to Vancouver on Wednesday when he received a phone call from Predators general manager David Poile to let him know he had been traded. He just didn't say where.

Within minutes Klein learned through social media that he was the newest member of the New York Rangers, a fact that was confirmed by another call from Poile.

Klein was selected by the Predators in the second round of the 2003 NHL Draft (No. 37) and came up through the organization with many of Nashville's top players, including fellow defenseman and captain Shea Weber and goaltender Pekka Rinne. Leaving that group was tough for Klein, who was sent to the Rangers in exchange for defenseman Michael Del Zotto. But he said Thursday he's excited to start a new chapter in his career.

"I didn't see it [the trade] coming," Klein said. "But I heard it was the New York Rangers and I was pretty excited to start that chapter, for sure. I was there for 10 years in that [Nashville] organization, drafted there and everything. That's all I know. So it's a sad day. But at the same time it's going to be nice to see another organization and play in a big hockey market. I know three or four of the guys, which is nice. Makes it easier to transition."

DALLAS -- After shutting out the Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Tuesday to earn their second win of 2014, the Dallas Stars hope to build on that strong effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who will hit the ice Thursday at American Airlines Center sporting a six-game winning streak.

"[They are a] real good transition team, real good speed up front," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said of Toronto. "Three or four of their guys can kill you on transition. Real good team at creating odd-numbered chances with their speed. Their power play is clicking. I think their goaltending right now has been as good as I've seen it in a while."

Ruff is keeping his lines intact from the win against Minnesota with one minor change to his fourth line. Rich Peverley, who centered that line Tuesday, will switch spots with left wing Shawn Horcoff.

Kari Lehtonen will start his sixth straight game in net for Dallas.

TAMPA -- Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will be back in the lineup Thursday as the Lightning host the Ottawa Senators at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

Hedman missed one game when he was hit in the leg with a puck during the Lightning's game Jan. 18 against the San Jose Sharks. That was one game too many for Lightning coach Jon Cooper.

"You miss a 24-minute [of ice time per game] defenseman that plays the whole 200 feet," Cooper said. "You take arguably the best defenseman off any team and it will leave a hole. When he is on the ice it is harder for teams to get into our zone. Just the way he can cut the ice down on teams and not give them space just because of his speed, and then we usually have the puck a lot more when he is on the ice, just in the sense that he retrieves it quicker and he's got that ability to jump into plays.

"He plays all situations for us, power plays and penalty kill, so it's tough when you miss guys like that."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise will return to the lineup Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks after missing 14 games with a fractured left foot.

Parise, who has been skating with teammates for several days, on Wednesday completed his second full-contact practice, a key step in getting back to the lineup. Wild coach Mike Yeo said then it would be up to Parise after the morning skate Thursday to decide whether he'd play against Chicago.

"Felt good again this morning so I think we're going to give it a shot," Parise said. "It's tough when you're watching games from the press box so I'm looking forward to it."

"We had a pretty good feeling he would be [back in the lineup] yesterday as long as he felt good again this morning," Yeo said. "Obviously we're very excited to have him back."

The New York Islanders are on a tear and the Pittsburgh Penguins will turn to rookie goaltender Jeff Zatkoff in an attempt to stop them Thursday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2).

Though the Penguins and Islanders reside at opposite ends of the Metropolitan Division standings -- 23 points separates first-place Pittsburgh from eighth-place New York -- a run of 10 wins in 13 games has pulled the Islanders to within five points of the Columbus Blue Jackets for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth.

These teams met in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, with the Islanders taking the Penguins to overtime of Game 6 before they were eliminated on a Brooks Orpik goal. New York won the opener of the 2013-14 season series before Pittsburgh came back to take the next two, including the previous game at the Coliseum on Dec. 3, 3-2 on an overtime goal by Sidney Crosby.

COLUMBUS -- Unless the teams meet in the playoffs, Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason will have to wait until next season for his first start in Nationwide Arena against his former team.

Mason, traded to the Flyers in April after five seasons with Columbus Blue Jackets, was a victim of the heavy snowfall Tuesday in Philadelphia that forced the postponement of the game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

He was in goal for the rescheduled game Wednesday and lost 3-2. Since Flyers coach Craig Berube has been pretty consistent in not playing his goalies on consecutive nights he opted to go with Ray Emery on Thursday against the Blue Jackets.

"It's the way the weather situation worked out," Mason said. "Had it not snowed I was going to be starting here. The way this year has gone with back-to-backs, and [Emery] has been playing well lately, there's plenty more opportunities for me."

Forward Philip Varone was called up from the American Hockey League on Wednesday and will make his NHL debut Thursday.

"I don't think words can describe it," Varone said. "Extremely humbled, extremely excited, nervous. I mean, it's been a long time coming. I've worked my whole life for it. When it finally comes you don't expect it."

Varone was a 2009 fifth-round pick (No. 147) of the San Jose Sharks but never signed with the team. He's spent the past two seasons in the AHL with the Rochester Americans. He'll play Thursday on the third line with Marcus Foligno and Brian Flynn.