NHL: Avs’ Landeskog hit with two-game ban

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has been suspended for two games by the NHL for an illegal check on Boston forward Brad Marchand.

The Avalanche forward hit Marchand in the head in the second period Thursday, resulting in a game penalty. Landeskog will lose $59,908 (U.S.) in salary for those two games, the league announced Friday.

Marchand slumped over on the ice for a few seconds after the hit. He then stood up, skated over to Landeskog and punched him in the face. Marchand was fined $5,000 by the league for roughing.

In addition, Red Wings forward Teemu Pulkkinen drew a $2,000 fine for diving in two games. He was issued a warning on Oct. 24 at Vancouver and his second citation on Nov. 8 vs. Dallas prompted the fine.

The Blues have placed forward Martin Havlat on unconditional waivers. According to general manager Doug Armstrong, Havlat asked to leave the team for personal reasons and the request was granted.

Havlat, 34, joined the Blues just last week, signing a one-year, two-way contract after going through a 10-day tryout as the team looked for players to fill in their injury depleted forward ranks.

He scored the game-winning goal for the Blues in his first game, on Tuesday against New Jersey, and played 14 minutes. He played just seven minutes in Thursday’s loss to the New York Rangers.

Red Wings star centre Pavel Datsyuk made his season debut Friday night against the San Jose Sharks after recovering from off-season ankle surgery.

Datsyuk received a standing ovation when he came on the ice for his first shift, 22 seconds into the game.

The 37-year-old missed the first 15 games. Last season, he had 26 goals and 39 assists in 63 games, and is two goals short of 300 for his career.