SAN JOSE -- San Jose Sharks forward Brent Burns was activated from injured reserve and is expected to be in the lineup Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at SAP Center in San Jose.

"He's going to come off of IR, so there's a real good chance that he will play," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said after the morning skate. "We'll see how he is when he comes to the rink, but he's telling me now that he's ready. He looks ready, and right now he is."

Burns has missed 13 games with an unspecified facial injury and hasn't played since Oct. 19 against the Calgary Flames. He took a high-stick in the mouth on Oct. 12 from Ottawa Senators goaltender Robyn Lehner, but played three more games before missing more than a month of action.

The Sharks started 7-0-1 with Burns in the lineup and averaged 4.88 goals per game. Without him, they've gone 6-3-4 and averaged 2.5 goals per game.

Eight days after being hired as interim coach of the Buffalo Sabres, Ted Nolan is starting to put his imprint on the team, which has gone 1-2-0 since he took over.

Buffalo's roster shakeup started in earnest Tuesday when rookies Rasmus Ristolainen and Johan Larsson were assigned to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League and Nikita Zadorov was returned to his junior team, the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

The Sabres planned to send Mikhail Grigorenko to the AHL for a conditioning assignment, but it was rejected by the NHL so Grigorenko will be back in the lineup Thursday as the Sabres take on the Philadelphia Flyers.

He'll be joined by Luke Adam and Brayden McNabb, both of whom have previous NHL experience but will be making their season debuts for Buffalo on Thursday. Adam made his mark with the Sabres in 2011-12 when he had 10 goals and 20 points in 52 games, but played four games last season.

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers each will be vying for a third consecutive win when they meet Thursday at Rexall Place.

"It is three wins if we can get it [Thursday], but it's just another game that we have to concentrate on getting points," Oilers captain Andrew Ference said. "We dug ourselves into a hole and we want to get points to try and get out of it.

"We want to continue playing the game the right way and get into better habits. We've done a good job of that in our last game. It was a very solid game systems-wise and defensive-wise. But we can’t be overly excited about getting all those goals in our last game, really, we just have to return to the solid play that got us them."

The Oilers go into their game Thursday coming off a 7-0 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. It was Edmonton's best game of the season as they limited Columbus to 14 shots.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Drew Doughty didn't have to think long to pinpoint when and where he really got motivated him to elevate his game.

Amped up for a matchup against Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 15, Doughty was a minus-4 in a 5-1 loss that night.

"My last bad game I can recall was Tampa Bay in Tampa Bay," Doughty said Thursday before his Los Angeles Kings played the New Jersey Devils at Staples Center.

"I was really [upset] at myself. That was a big game for me: me against Stamkos. I wanted to shut him down and not let him get anything, and then he lit me up. I really made sure that after that game I was going to do something about it, and I think I've played at both ends of the ice."

Honda, the official U.S. vehicle of the NHL, is a leader in the development of cutting-edge technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Today, the Honda Accord was named Green Car of the Year in an award ceremony at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The Accord win marks the second time in three years Honda captured the annual award.

According to Paul A. Eisenstein of NBC NEWS:

The 2014 Honda Accord was named “Green Car of the Year” at the L.A. Auto Show on Thursday morning, with jurors — who include "Tonight Show" host and car fanatic Jay Leno — hailing the sedan for bringing an assortment of environmentally friendly technologies into the mainstream.

The Accord, which Honda bills as the model with the highest retail sales volume in the U.S., is currently offered with a variety of different powertrain options, including a new 50 mpg hybrid and a plug-in hybrid with a 115 MPGe (miles per gallon gasoline equivalent) rating.

The award “says we’re moving in the right direction,” said Mike Accavitti, American Honda Motors’ marketing chief, as he stood by an Accord Hybrid. Equally important, he said the award will win recognition for Honda’s expanded green car effort, which includes an assortment of new gas-electric drive systems such as the two-motor hybrid in the Accord. “This will help us sell more cars.”

The Green Car of the Year program was established by the Green Car Journal to both honor the best in clean, fuel-efficient technology and also gain more widespread awareness among consumers, organizers said.

The crop of defensemen on the fantasy waiver wire is pretty barren these days.

However, if you're searching for an efficient blueliner with a power-play presence, New Jersey Devils defenseman Eric Gelinas is as promising an option as you'll find.

And the best part is he remains vastly overlooked in fantasy leagues, owned in only two percent of Yahoo leagues.

Gelinas notched his first career multi-point game Wednesday against the Anaheim Ducks in arguably the Devils' most impressive victory of the season. Each of his points came during a power play after Anaheim was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking penalty in the first period.

WINNIPEG -- A pair of Central Division teams looking to find their games will meet Thursday when the Winnipeg Jets host the Chicago Blackhawks.

A rare slump accompanies the Blackhawks, who have lost two of their past three games, into MTS Centre. Opponents have outscored the Blackhawks 12-3 in those two losses, and Chicago is on a season-high seven-game road trip that began with a 5-1 loss Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche.

"[We are forgetting] about it," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said of the Blackhawks' recent struggles. "We're looking at the [past] two road games. We weren't so hot obviously. We've given up quite a few goals.

"But I think the [cause of those problems] is pretty clear. We've just got to be a little smart defensively, a little bit more committed to what we have to do in our own zone. We'll be looking to bounce back. We want to start this road trip the right way so we need to make up for what we didn't accomplish in the [past game]."

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes enjoyed a much-needed, four-day break to heal bumps and bruises and recharge batteries tested by a difficult early schedule.

But the rest of the potent Western Conference, boasting teams that have compiled the top eight point totals in the NHL, has been working while Phoenix sat on the sidelines. To keep pace, the Coyotes need to hit the ground running when they face off against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

The Coyotes (31 points) and Avalanche (30) are part of the eight-team logjam that is separated by three points in the standings. Colorado lost three straight before rebounding with a 5-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

The Boston Bruins host the St. Louis Blues on Thursday in a big Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference matchup on NHL Network at 7 p.m. ET, and NHL Live will get you ready for that puck drop and the other games scheduled, at 5 p.m. ET on NHL Network. We'll also fire up our Arena Cam in Winnipeg and talk to Eddie Olczyk about the Chicago Blackhawks' seven-city, 13-day circus trip, which continues against the Winnipeg Jets.

Tickets are on sale now for the Coors Light Stadium Series games at Yankees Stadium involving the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, and we'll talk to Islanders captain John Tavares about this great event. We'll also get NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes, who played for all three teams, about what to expect for a goalie playing outdoors.

Remember to submit your #AskEJ questions through Twitter via @NHLNetwork or @EJHradek_NHL, and join the conversation on Twitter as we ask you to pick the game of the night.

TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs will have Nazem Kadri back in their lineup Thursday against the Nashville Predators.

After serving a three-game suspension for an illegal hit on Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, Kadri will play on the top line with James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel.

"It's a little bit tough when guys keep going down. Lines are always changing," Kadri said. "It's not like you can play with the same guys consistently over a few weeks. It seems like we're together for a couple of games, something happens and you've got to mix it up."

In 18 games Kadri has five goals and 14 points, putting him fifth on the team. He joins the team's top two scorers on the first line.