Beyond that, it’s all a matter of who you believe.

There is a report Tanev is out until after the Olympic break with a broken thumb. That report is not coming from the Canucks, who have him listed as “day-to-day” with the fairly common “upper-body injury”.

While that seems like a massive gulf in estimates, it really isn’t. Yes, the Canucks have six games, including the Chicago contest, between now and the break. But that last game is on Feb. 8 — just a week and a half away. Vancouver’s first game after the break ends is on Feb. 26.

The 24-year-old Tanev has scored five goals and assisted on nine others and is plus-8 over 54 games this year. According to the Canucks' website, Yannick Weber will replace him on the blue line.

Regardless of whether he’s out for a game or six, it’s another blow for the Canucks, who have been a mediocre 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and have suffered losses to the lowly Oilers and Flames over that span. Vancouver is without Henrik Sedin (ribs) and, of course, coach John Tortorella is currently suspended for his behavior during the Flames-Canucks contest on Jan. 18.


SCRIVENS' RECORD NIGHT


When the Oilers traded for goalie Ben Scrivens on Jan. 15, they hoped he would help bring some consistency to the position.

The never expected a performance like the one he gave Wednesday night.

Scrivens stopped 59 shots, an NHL regular-season record for saves in a shutout, leading the Oilers to a 3-0 victory over the Sharks.

"Hats off to the goaltender, he was tremendous," said San Jose coach Todd McLellan. "Heck of a performance. In all my years in the league I don't think I've seen that. We attempted 100 shots on goal, that doesn't happen very often."

Scrivens topped the previous mark set by Phoenix's Mike Smith, who stopped 54 shots in a 2-0 victory over Columbus on April 3, 2012.

Scrivens stopped 20 shots in the first, 22 in the second and 17 in the third.

"I had an awful, awful warmup, it was an inauspicious start to it," he said. "It's one of those things where you try not to look at the forest while you're in the trees. You try to focus on the process and give yourself a chance to make that save and when the puck drops again, you try to focus on the next one and don't try to get too far ahead of yourself."

Scrivens made his fourth start for the Oilers after being acquired from the Kings and won his second game. He went into the game with an 8-7-4 record overall, a 2.03 goals-against average and .930 save percentage.

"I was seeing the puck well," he said. "We got extremely lucky with a couple of posts in the second."


THANKS, GLENDALE


Really, it was the least they could do: The Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday announced that they're changing their name to the Arizona Coyotes at the start of the 2014-15 season.

We're assuming "Glendale Taxpayers" wasn't a viable option. That's a tough logo to design.

“Becoming the Arizona Coyotes makes sense for us since we play our games in Glendale and the city is such a great partner of ours," team president Anthony LeBlanc said. "We also want to be recognized as not just the hockey team for Glendale or Phoenix, but the team for the entire state of Arizona and the Southwest. We hope that the name ‘Arizona’ will encourage more fans from all over the state, not just the valley, to embrace and support our team.”

This is all a byproduct of the endless, contentious, still-controversial sale of the team and subsequent arena deal, which was finalized in July after Glendale, despite serious financial problems of its own, approved a $15 million annual payment to the new owners for managing Jobing.com Arena. The approval was as much about the arena district as the team itself.

In the months since, IceArizona, the new ownership group, has made serious efforts to market the franchise and has downplayed an out clause that would allow it to move the team after five years if it loses more than $50 million. That'd necessitate another name change, unless Seattle has coyotes, too.


STEEN 'BETTER AND BETTER'


Alexander Steen's production is back, even though he's not close to 100 percent from a concussion complicated by a lower-body injury that's kept him from practicing lately with the Blues.

"I'm trying to do what I can to stay in it," Steen said. "It's not the first time with an injury and you learn from experience. I'm starting to feel better and better."

Getting their star back has been a big plus for the Blues. They are out of a lull and again among the NHL's best teams, dueling the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks for the Central Division lead. After Tuesday's games, St. Louis and Chicago were tied for first in the division and for second overall in the NHL with 77 points apiece.

The point total is a franchise best through 52 games for a team known for grinding down opponents with four relentless lines, stingy defense and strong goaltending.

The Blues have won three in a row since an embarrassing 7-1 loss at New Jersey. They rid that bad taste Tuesday with a 3-0 win over the Devils, with Steen getting the scoring started and Jaroslav Halak taking it from there with his fourth shutout of the season.

Steen was the NHL's No. 2 goal-scorer before missing 11 games with a concussion in late December. He's been back for six games and has a point in the last five with three goals and four assists to regain the team scoring lead. But there's no sense of satisfaction from a player who was the Blues' best two-way forward before he developed his scoring touch.

"To be honest, I'm expecting more of myself," Steen said. "I think there's a few notches left to get to where I was. I just feel there's more to my game than what I'm doing right now."


QUICK'S RESPONSE 


Ryan Miller's mask for the Olympics is awesome. This has been established. His competition's isn't bad either.

Jonathan Quick's mask for the 2014 Sochi Games is a spin on the knight motif he typically uses with the Team USA shield in front. Eye Candy Air, the mask's designer, released a sneak peek on Tuesday night. 	 



(H/T Eyecandyair) 

Needs more bald eagles.

As for who actually plays: Miller has a .924 save percentage in eight January starts. Quick is at .934 through his first 12 appearances since missing nearly two months with a groin injury.

Contributors: Sean Gentille, The Associated Press