Coyotes forward Raffi Torres is being criticized for wearing blackface while dressed as rapper Jay-Z at a Halloween party. Fans and some media started criticizing Torres and his wife, Gianna, after teammate Paul Bissonnette posted a photo on Twitter of the couple at a team Halloween party Sunday night. Torres wore a New York Yankees hat, black sunglasses and a white T-shirt as part of his costume, while his wife wore a sparkly dress with a "baby bump" underneath, a nod to Knowles' revelation that she was pregnant at the MTV Video Music Awards in August.

The NHL All-Star Game is getting a title sponsor. The league says its showcase game on Jan. 29 in Ottawa will be known as the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game. Horton co-founded the Tim Hortons doughnut shop, the Canadian mainstay that is one of the largest fast-food chains in North America.

The Kings have activated defensemen Drew Doughty from the injured reserve list and have re-assigned defenseman Slava Voynov to the AHL's Manchester Monarchs, Kings President/GM Dean Lombardi announced today. Doughty has missed the last five games after suffering an upper body injury in the Kings-Flyers game in Philadelphia on Oct. 15. In four games this season he has one point (an assist) and two penalty minutes. Doughty was signed to an eight-year contract (longest in club history) on Sept. 30. Voynov, has played in five games with the Kings (first five career NHL games) recording three points, zero penalty minutes and a plus-3 rating. Voynov collected all three of those points, including the game-winning goal, Thursday in the Kings' victory at Dallas. Voynov was selected by the Kings in the second-round (32nd overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

The Jets and Flyers combined for 17 goals in a game that was so unusual that even victorious Winnipeg was left shaking their heads. Andrew Ladd scored the game-winner with 1:06 remaining on a one-timer from close range to lift Winnipeg to a wild 9-8 victory over the Flyers on Thursday night. "It's the strangest game I've been a part of, it was like an NFL game," Jets coach Claude Noel said. "We can't make a lot of logic out of what we did there." "I thought to myself, 'Self, you're a sick man trying to make logic of this,'" Noel added. "I had the rosary out, I had everything going tonight." Fifteen players scored in the wide-open game in which both clubs set season highs for goals scored and goals allowed, and the Jets tied a franchise record for goals in a game.

Bruins forward Tyler Seguin shaping up to have a breakout season, but looming in the background is a question about his long-term health. Seguin has a congenital hip condition that makes him more susceptible to a hip injury, according to league and team sources. The condition could lead to an injury that requires surgery and potentially shortens his career, the sources said, but is not a concern for the short-term, nor is it affecting him presently.

Arguably, no NHL franchise has been more positively impacted by the draft than the Penguins. Official word came on Thursday that for the second time, the team will host it. Less than 10 months after the city served as the site of the annual Winter Classic outdoor game, commissioner Gary Bettman was in Pittsburgh to confirm the Consol Energy Center will host the next draft in June.

The standoff between Kyle Turris and the Coyotes was taken up a notch Thursday. Kurt Overhardt, the agent for the unsigned center, confirmed that Turris has asked the Coyotes for a trade. "This has never been about money, we've been upfront with the club from Day 1," Overhardt told ESPN.com Thursday. "We've respectfully requested that the player had the opportunity to move forward in his career by having a fresh start." Coyotes GM Don Maloney's stance has been that he wouldn't trade Turris. And that hasn't changed.

The Senators sent first-round draft pick Mika Zibanejad back to Swedish club team Djurgardens on Wednesday rather than burn the first year of his entry-level contract. Zibanejad appeared in nine games for the Senators this season, with one assist and a minus-3 rating. A 10th game with Ottawa would have meant the 18-year-old was sticking in the NHL.

The Canadiens fired assistant coach Perry Pearn before Wednesday night's game against the Flyers, according to an ESPN.com report. Pearn had begun his third season with Montreal, rejoining head coach Jacques Martin when he was hired by the Canadiens heading into the 2009-10 season.

For the first time this season, the Rangers got a glimpse of their new digs at the renovated Madison Square Garden. The arena's facelift, the first phase of a three-year process projected to cost $850M, includes a completely redone lower bowl, wider concourses and gleaming new, state-of-the-art dressing rooms. The 3-2-2 squad hopes they can christen it properly Thursday in their home opener against the Maple Leafs. "We love coming in here today, we love what we see as far as the transformation that has gone on, but you need to win," coach John Tortorella said. "That's what makes the building good -- winning in it. So that's our main focus."