Montreal Canadiens forward Ryan White has joined Patrick Kaleta of the Buffalo Sabres as owners of the longest suspensions for the 2013 NHL season. White was given a 5-game ban Wednesday afternoon after his hit to the head of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kent Huskins:

Along with a fighting major, White was given a match penalty for illegal check to the head, which was originally announced as a major for elbowing. He later accepted an invitation for an in-person hearing at the NHL offices, typically meaning at least a 5-game suspension.

From the NHL:

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and based on his average annual salary, White will forfeit $18,581.10. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Huskins suffered a concussion on the play and it appears his season is over with.

As Shanny notes, this wasn't your typical bodycheck. The angle White takes isn't that of one going to lead to a heavy hit; instead it's one that will cause Huskins' head to get clipped by the Habs forward's shoulder.

White's ban will begin tonight against Pittsburgh. He'll be eligible to return for the regular season finale on April 27 against Toronto.

Changing behavior has been the goal of the Department of Player Safety. Five games is a significant punishment. Next time Ryan White attempts to make this type of body check, he'll be sure he's on the proper angle to deliver a clean blow.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Getty ImagesNo. 1 Star: Andrew Ladd, Winnipeg Jets

Ladd notched his 17th and 18th goals of the season land then tallied the shootout-deciding goal as the Jets survived a Tampa Bay comeback for a 4-3 win. The Jets captain also added an assist on Blake Wheeler's 16th goal. Wheeler would record two assists to join Ladd with a 3-point night. The win tied Winnipeg with the New York Rangers on 46 points for the final spot in the Eastern Conference. With Washington's win, the Jets remained four points out of first in the Southeast Division.

No. 2 Star: Michael Grabner, New York Islanders

The Islanders continued their playoff push with a 5-2 dumping of the Florida Panthers. Grabner scored twice, once on the power play and later finishing off a breakaway, while Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves. The Islanders have now won nine of their last 12 games and have taken 31 out of 41 points since March 1.

No. 3 Star: Kyle Brodziak, Minnesota Wild

Brodziak's seventh and eighth goals of the season powered the Wild to a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Minnesota has taken five of six points in their last three games to give them a bit of cushion at the bottom of the Western Conference's top eight teams. Clayton Stoner and Jason Pominville each had two assists and Mikko Koivu was a dynamo in the faceoff circle winning 15 of 20 draws.

Getty ImagesIf you're not a fan of outdoor hockey, then you will not like the NHL's plans for next season. Beginning with the 2013-14 season, the outdoor game concept the League has cashed in on will expand dramatically.

During TSN's "Insider Trading" segment Tuesday, Darren Dreger reported that the league will begin a stadium series next season featuring six outdoor games, starting with the Jan. 1, 2014, Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium. The other five match-ups will be:

• Ducks vs. Kings at Dodger Stadium, Jan. 25
• Devils vs. Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan. 26
• Islanders vs. Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan 29
• Penguins at Blackhawks, Soldier Field, March 1
• Senators at Canucks, BC Place, March 2

Contracts are to be finalized, according to ESPN's Katie Strang, but that's just a matter of paperwork.

Yes, the New York Rangers will be in not only one, but two outdoor games in the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII, which will be held Feb. 2 at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey.

With all 30 teams clamoring to host or be part of a Winter Classic, creating these other dates on the NHL calendar allows the "Teams Not Regularly Featured on NBC" to get in a game over time. Beyond next season, expect to see places like Minnesota, Colorado and St. Louis play host. Everyone gets involved, the NHL keeps teams happy and keeps growing revenues from an event rakes in so much money.

But will this kill the novelty of what the Winter Classic has provided? Considering every level of hockey has done such an event, with the number of these growing annually since the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres played in the very first Winter Classic in 2008, the novelty might have already worn off.

We just hope the NHL's ice guru, Dan Craig, will get a few extra weeks vacation for this new workload.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

More NHL news from Yahoo! Sports:

Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

Getty ImagesPreview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Washington Capitals, 7 p.m. ET It's been almost a decade since the Maple Leafs made the playoffs and with a win tonight and a regulation loss by the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto will find itself playing postseason hockey. They'll look to do so against tough company as the Capitals enter Tuesday night winners of seven straight, having scored 27 goals over that stretch.

Preview: Vancouver Canucks at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. ET The Canucks and Blues could meet in the playoffs or St. Louis could find themselves on the outside looking in at this point. Looking to avoid their third loss in a row, the Blues are fighting for their playoff lives sitting in seventh with Detroit and Columbus right behind them.

Preview: Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. ET According to the AP, the Kings have not lost four in a row away from Staples Center since 2009 and they'll attempt to avoid matching that feat against Antti Niemi, who this seasons 13-1-4 at HP Pavilion.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• Martin Richard, the 8-year old who was one of three people to die in the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, was a Bruins fan. [Boston Globe]

• The NHL has rescheduled the postponed Bruins/Ottawa Senators game from Monday night to Sunday, April 28, the day after the regular season was originally going to end. [NHL]

• What could the Penguins signing of Quinnipiac goaltender Eric Hartzell mean for their future in goal? [Colligan]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: "Rafter" on what the Devils need to do to end their 10-game losing streak:

"I think we all know what must be done. We must sacrifice Chico to appease the dark lord..."

Just make sure he gets a good last meal!

Bold prediction: Leafs fans start their playoff parties tonight. 3-2 OT win over the Caps coupled with a 4-1 Tampa win over the Jets.

Getty ImagesWho the heck are these Dallas Stars?

Do you remember just a short two weeks ago when the towel was thrown in on their season and as the April 3 NHL trade deadline passed, Jaromir Jagr, Derek Roy and captain Brenden Morrow had new homes? The Stars had lost four of five, head coach Glen Gulutzan's seat was getting hotter than it already was and while the team was only three points out of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, eyes were beginning to drift toward the NHL Draft.

Despite those losses on the roster, it's been nothing but wins since. The Stars enter tonight's game at United Center against the Chicago Blackhawks winners of five in a row, which has allowed them to stay in the playoff hunt (they're two points out of eighth) and revived the playoff hopes of the Dallas faithful. Even their chances of playing beyond April 27 have improved from 21.7-percent to 37.2, according to Sports Club Stats, and that's just since Friday.

The streak even has the venerable Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News talking about Disney movies and fairytales.

So what's been the biggest change? Keeping it simple.

Getty ImagesNo. 1 Star: Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

Goals by Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa ended Brian Elliott's three-game shutout streak and it was Crawford who was the one on Sunday doing the blanking. Crawford recorded his third shutout after making 30 saves as the Blackhawks shutout the St. Louis Blues 2-0. Hossa's goal was the insurance marker, coming shorthanded right off an offensive zone faceoff:

No. 2 Star: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

Howard earned his third shutout of the season with a 22-save performance as the Red Wings blanked the Nashville Predators 3-0. The win moves Detroit ahead of the Dallas Stars and into eighth place in the Western Conference. Henrik Zetterberg scored his ninth of the season in second period and would later assist on Justin Abdelkader's empty-netter. Dan DeKeyser recorded his first NHL point with an assist on Zetterberg's goal, which came after a nice bounce off the boards behind Pekka Rinne:

No. 3 Star: Jhonas Enroth, Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres netminder made 32 saves as the Sabres remained in the hunt for the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Goals from Tyler Ennis, Jochen Hecht and Kevin Porter helped moved Buffalo four within a playoff spot with five games to go. Ennis' power play goal opened the scoring for the Sabres thanks to a lovely behind-the-back pass from Thomas Vanek:

APPITTSBURGH -- The three losses to Quinnipiac during the season didn't mean anything to Yale and its players. After getting into the NCAA tournament on the final day thanks to a loss by Michigan, the Bulldogs were given a clean slate, a new life. They took advantage of that opportunity and picked off the country's top teams one-by-one, capping a remarkable season with their first national championship by blanking top-ranked Quinnipiac on Saturday night, 4-0.

Quinnipiac goaltender and Hobey Baker Award finalist Eric Hartzell was great all season, which is why Yale grabbing the lead early was vital. The Bulldogs killed off a second period 5-on-3 while the game was still scoreless, giving them momentum leading to the game's opening goal.

Given the way he's dominated play of late, it would take a fortunate bounce to beat Hartzell, and that's what happened when Clint Bourbonais deflected Gus Young's shot from the point with 3.5 seconds left in the second period to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

A lead they would not relinquish.

It's been almost two years since the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games to win the 2011 Stanley Cup. It was an intense series and the feelings from British Columbia toward their New England counterparts have not really subsided.

Take for example what happened on Wednesday night. New Jersey Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov hit Brad Marchand of the Bruins in the head with an elbow. Marchand would suffer what the team is calling a "mild" concussion, while Volchenkov was given a 4-game suspension by the NHL.

Not long after Volchenkov laid the hit on Marchand, the Northlands Golf Course Twitter account, apparently pleased with what had just occurred in New Jersey, sent out a Tweet offering the Devils defenseman free golf for the rest of the year as a reward for injuring the Bruins forward.

We don't know how avid a golf Volchenkov is, but at $50-$55 for adult green fees, plus $20-$25 for a cart rental at Northlands, that's a good offer.

Of course, on Friday, the people at Northlands realized the Tweet was in very poor taste and apologized:

Apologies to those offended by our previous Tweet. It was meant to be tongue in cheek however we recognize it was done in poor taste...

— Northlands GC (@NorthlandsGC) April 12, 2013

(Cont)...we wish Brad Marchand a speedy recovery.

— Northlands GC (@NorthlandsGC) April 12, 2013

Given their marketing strategy, we assume Aaron Rome has free golf for life at Northlands.

Stick-tap PGA.com and NESN

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy