The 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation host committee announced Monday the preliminary-round schedule for the 2014 World Junior Championship, slated for Malmo, Sweden.

The United States, which won gold at the 2013 WJC in Russia, will be in Group A, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany, and play its preliminary-round games at Isstadion Arena. Host Sweden, which won the silver medal after a 3-1 loss to the United States in the 2013 WJC title game, will play in Group B, along with Finland, Russia, Switzerland and Norway. Their preliminary-round games will be played at Malmo Arena

The highlight games of the preliminary round will be New Year's Eve, when the United States plays Canada and Sweden battles Russia.

The Minnesota Wild and New York Rangers are off to starts that aren't up to their lofty expectations. On Monday, they completed a trade in an effort to shake out of those doldrums.

The Wild sent forward Darroll Powe and minor-league forward Nick Palmieri to the Rangers in exchange for forward Michael Rupp.

The deal comes hours after the Wild recalled top prospect Charlie Coyle, who will make his NHL debut Monday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Wild coach Mike Yeo has expressed disappointment in his club, which has dropped four of six after winning its first two games of the season. Forward Devin Setoguchi hasn't scored a goal in eight games after posting a career-low 19 goals last season, and has found himself on the fourth line at recent Wild practices.

Yeo didn't want to single out Setoguchi, but said he's willing to try anything to get his team going.

For the most part, the best teams in the National Hockey League through one week are still the best teams in the League as we head into the third week of the season.

The Chicago Blackhawks are excelling on the road as Disney on Ice occupies the United Center through next week; the San Jose Sharks are making the most of their home games to start the season, while the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins combined to go 8-3-0 over the past seven days.

Who are the rest of this week's Super 16? Let's take a look:

NEW YORK -- Buffalo Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek, Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Chris Kunitz and Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending Feb. 3.

FIRST STAR -- THOMAS VANEK, LW, BUFFALO SABRES

Vanek climbed to first place in the NHL scoring race by posting a League-best 10 points (five goals, five assists) in four games last week. Vanek recorded points on 71% of the Sabres' goals, starting with one assist in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Jan. 29. He notched his second five-point game of the season (three goals, two assists) in a 7-4 victory over the Boston Bruins Jan. 31, becoming the first Sabres player in 20 years to record multiple five-point games in a season. Buffalo's Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny had six and three, respectively, in 1992-93. Vanek tallied Buffalo's only goal in a 6-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens Feb. 2 and tallied a goal and two assists in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers Feb. 3. The 29-year-old native of Vienna, Austria is in his eighth NHL season, all with the Sabres after being chosen fifth overall by Buffalo in the 2003 NHL Draft.

NEW YORK -- St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko, who led all rookies in scoring with nine points (five goals, four assists) in seven games, has been named the NHL Rookie of the Month for January.

Tarasenko edged Tampa Bay Lightning center Cory Conacher (3-6--9 in six games), Edmonton Oilers center Nail Yakupov (4-1--5 in seven games), Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz (2-3--5 in seven games) and Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (1-4--5 in six games).

Every Monday during the season, NHL.com fantasy hockey contributor Matt Sitkoff will provide you with fantasy hockey advice in his weekly segment: "Fantasy All-Access." From the waiver wire watch to roster trends and prospect rumblings, Sitkoff is here to help you all season long.

We celebrated Groundhog Day this past week, and our favorite woodchuck Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring. Some players need to wake up from their hibernation, or it will be an early spring for their owners' fantasy teams.

Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel is near the top of the National Hockey League in shots on goal (36) but has yet to score his first goal. I predict an early spring for him, as he will not wake up from his hibernation in the wake of losing his linemate Joffrey Lupul, while others (James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Matt Frattin) have taken scoring opportunities away from the four-time 30-goal scorer.

The first outdoor hockey game pitting teams from the United States Hockey League will highlight the Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice doubleheader on Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

The anticipated contest, which could establish a USHL single game attendance record, will feature the Omaha Lancers against the Lincoln Stars at 1:30 p.m. ET. That game will be followed by a college hockey matchup between the University of Nebraska-Omaha and the University of North Dakota, scheduled 45 minutes after the conclusion of the USHL contest.

The USHL single-game attendance record is 14,892 fans -- set by the Indiana Ice on Feb. 12, 2005, during their annual “Pack the House” night played at the Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis. The TD Ameritrade Park seats 24,000.

The only thing that's been able to slow down Thomas Vanek is injury. Opposing checkers haven't figured out a way to cool him off.

Vanek begins the third full week of the NHL season on top of the League scoring race with 19 points -- 10 of them in Buffalo's four games last week. There have been three five-point games in the NHL this season and Vanek has two of them -- the second one came Thursday night when he had a hat trick and added a pair of assists in a 7-4 win at Boston.

Vanek's big week came after he was forced to sit out last Sunday's game at Washington with a lower-body injury. He has points in all eight games he's played in, and he's on a pace that would put him well over 100 points in this season's abbreviated 48-game schedule.

Just weeks before his death in an auto accident, Brendan Burke, the student manager for the Miami University hockey team and son of long-time NHL general manager Brian Burke, had made the brave decision to speak out against homophobia in sports. Following his brother's passing, Philadelphia Flyers scout Patrick Burke decided to take Brendan's cause even further.

The result of Patrick Burke's relentless work is the You Can Play Project, one of the fastest-growing volunteer initiatives in sports. Burke co-founded the project in 2011 along with marketing expert Brian Kitts and Glenn Witman, the founder of GForce Sports, a sports organization that advocates on behalf of gay and lesbian athletes.

"In the wake of my brother's accident, I decided I'm doing something," Patrick Burke, who got to know Kitts and Witman while participating in a public forum at Denver University, said. "I moderated this forum at Denver University. At the end of it I turned to Glenn and I said, 'I don't care if you like me or not, you guys are stuck with me now.'"

Almost immediately, Burke began reaching out to his friends in the hockey community, including his father and NHL players Andy Miele and Tommy Wingels, both of whom had befriended Brendan Burke while playing at Miami. With their signature message informing all athletes that "if you can play, you can play," the program made its mark with a video in which many of the NHL's top players voiced their support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) athletes.

MONTREAL – Max Pacioretty returned to the Montreal Canadiens lineup against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday afternoon, eight days after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

With the Canadiens coming off a 6-1 win on Saturday and no real reason to tinker with the lineup, Pacioretty was pretty happy they came up with 2-1 a win.

"It was tough for him [Canadiens coach Michel Therrien] to put me in the lineup after a 6-1 win, especially with a lot of guys stepping up and scoring goals," Pacioretty said. "I’m thankful I got the opportunity and I knew we had to get two points or else it would look bad on me."

Pacioretty had an assist on his first shift and played just over 16 minutes, finishing the day with a plus-2 rating and three hits.

"We decided to take a game time decision," Therrien said. "I'm glad I took that decision because he had an impact on the game."