• After there were no in-season firings of coaches last season in the NHL, the third and fourth dismissals arrived while the calendar is still in November. The Blues parted ways with Mike Yeo Monday night, and the Oilers cut ties with Todd McLellan on Tuesday morning — this after Joel Quenneville departed the Blackhawks and John Stevens was let go by the Kings earlier this month. What's been unique about the turnover is no one has scooped up a recently unemployed candidate; all four teams have either opted for an internal option or an outside hire who wasn't behind an NHL bench to start the season.

• Thanksgiving is an important date on the NHL schedule because teams who are in a playoff position at this juncture usually stay in one the rest of the way. But perhaps this is the season where there's more fluctuation. Only seven points separate the last-place Penguins in the Eastern Conference from the final playoff spot, and the distance between the sixth seed in the Western Conference and No. 13 is five points.

• Buffalo didn't slow down after rallying against the Wild last Saturday. Instead, it won its sixth in a row Monday against Pittsburgh — an impressive run that seems to suggest progress in Western New York. "They're playing a good style of hockey," Wild winger Zach Parise said. "I thought they made some good moves in the summer to get some depth up front. I think they're doing pretty well in the standings, as well. They're going in the right direction."