Practice ended with leading goal-scorer Paul Cotter leading the stretch in a circle at centre ice. That drew a round of stick taps from his teammates.

Filip Chyitl, who suffered an injured shoulder in the preseason, continues to recover. He has not yet returned to practice and will not travel with the team on this six-game road trip.

Manny Malhotra on getting his guys on the ice early before the team flight to Raleigh: “Looking at the schedule there are very few opportunities to get practices in. So it would have been easy to say ‘hey we’ve got a long flight, we’ll get there early and have a nice dinner’ but these are the days we have to take advantage of to get the (puck) touches we need.”

Paul Cotter on being named third star of the week by the NHL on Monday: “Obviously I put a lot of work in over the summer. I think everyone wants the start to go like that and get some confidence early. You can’t expect it. But it’s a nice start for sure.”

Jake DeBrusk on a frustrating start to season with just one point and missing the past two games due to illness: “Well, I don’t think I’ve started my year yet. I’m still excited to play. Obviously, watching the guys battle for the last two games is tough. It’s the first time in my career I’ve missed games because of illness. I’m starting off at zero. The last few days I’ve been kind of doing nothing, but being able to skate today, see the guys, it gives you energy. You feed off of them, everyone’s in a good mood and it’s nice to be back in the room”