NHL general managers will recommend a rule change on blindside hits to the head, looking to protect players and punish those responsible in a game that has become faster and rougher. The unanimous decision Wednesday came at the end of three days of meetings in which player head injuries was the predominant issue.

A state appeals court has upheld a $26 million award in a fraud lawsuit against the owner of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and a company he founded. The court in Los Angeles on Tuesday affirmed previous jury verdicts against Tom Golisano, Rapid Payroll Inc. and others. Rapid licensed software to payroll processing businesses.

The Atlanta Thrashers have a newcomer in 48-year-old defenseman Chris Chelios, an 11-time All-Star. Chelios has played in more games than any other American-born NHL player, and he joins the Thrashers after getting five goals and 17 assists in 46 games with Chicago of the AHL. The team recalled Chelios on Wednesday.

Sidney Crosby’s missing Olympic stick and glove have been found. Hockey Canada said Wednesday that Crosby’s missing equipment was misplaced rather than stolen after the frenzy following Crosby’s overtime goal against the United States in the gold-medal game on Feb. 28. Crosby’s stick was located in Toronto as part of a shipment heading to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall…

The Columbus Blue Jackets have known for quite some time that they likely won’t return to the playoffs. The Anaheim Ducks are starting to realize a similar predicament. Jakub Voracek scored the first of Columbus’ three power-play goals and had two assists, leading the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the fading Ducks on Tuesday night.

The Ottawa Senators’ post-Olympic misery is over. Chris Kelly had a goal and an assist, and Matt Cullen, Milan Michalek and Mike Fisher also scored for the Senators, who snapped a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. The Senators scored three times in the third period, matching their total during their post-Olympics skid.

Jannik Hansen put his body into his winning goal and was thankful for a couple of fortunate bounces. After all, the puck rattled around and glanced off him and the goalie before finally going into the net for the decisive score in the Vancouver Canucks’ 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

After one period, the Minnesota Wild appeared to be on the way to another easy win over the Florida Panthers. Then they turned in one of the worst offensive performances in franchise history. Cory Stillman scored the winning shootout goal and the Panthers held the Wild to a franchise-tying low 11 shots in a 3-2 win on Tuesday night.

Simon Gagne fired a pass toward Mike Richards, but New York Islanders defensemen Mark Streit’s stick got in the way. The lucky deflection sent the puck past goalie Dwyane Roloson with 6:06 left to play, and completed a Philadelphia Flyers rally for a 3-2 win Tuesday night. Philadelphia beat the Islanders for the 15th straight time, the NHL’s longest current run by one team over another.

Luca Caputi had to share the spotlight during his big homecoming after Nikolai Kulemin stole the show with an overtime goal. Kulemin scored 4:11 into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. While Kulemin was the star with the winning goal, it was also a big night for Caputi.