The Devils lost half the lights at their arena, then lost to the Lightning two days later.The Devils lost half the lights at their arena, then lost to the Lightning two days later. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

A full moon isn't due in these parts for another few days, but you'd never know it if you were watching the NHL over the weekend.

From 10-minute power plays to power outages, we saw some of the strangest hockey incidents in recent memory in the past 48 hours or so.

Here's a recap of the wild and wacky weekend, just in case you missed it.

Saturday: Penguins vs. Leafs

Alternate Title: Your DeLorean is broken

Those of you watching Hockey Night in Canada saw this strange situation on Saturday. At 14:44 of the second period, a very exciting sequence of play during the Leafs-Penguins game looked like it was going to be punctuated by a penalty shot.

After Pittsburgh defenceman Sergei Gonchar hit the crossbar at one end of the ice, Toronto's Alexei Ponikarovsky picked up the puck and streaked in alone on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, only to be hauled down by the aforementioned Gonchar and awarded the one-on-one chance.

The Toronto crowd was buzzing, but the refs said, "Wait!" because Gonchar actually scored on his shot, and video review confirmed that the puck in fact hit the inner crossbar of the Toronto goal.

As per NHL rules, all play occurring after the goal was scored is deemed null and void, so the game clock was turned back in time like nothing ever happened.

Here's where it gets confusing. The same rulebook says Gonchar is still penalized, because any penalties that happened in what I will now title the "alternate future" still count. So Gonchar went to the penalty box.

Wait, what? He went to the penalty box!? Wasn't it a penalty shot?

Apparently no, because NHL rules say you can't have two goals happen during one stoppage of play — because it would (I'm pretty sure) cause a rupture in the space-time continuum so great that it would destroy the universe. Or something like that. Oh, and Gonchar scored again when he got out of the box.

Where are Doc Brown and Marty McFly when you need them?

Saturday: Blues vs. Kings

Alternate title: The Switch

The game couldn't have started out any better for the Blues. Carlo Colaiacovo's shot caromed into the net off teammate Brad Winchester just 14 seconds in to give the team a 1-0 lead, and both players were soon congratulated by David Perron and their fellow teammates on the ice.

This wouldn't normally be cause for concern, except that Perron wasn't supposed to be on the ice at all for the opening puck drop.

New Blues head coach Davis Payne submitted the wrong starting lineup to the refs before the game, listing Brad Boyes instead of Perron at left wing for the puck drop.

What could've been a very embarrassing situation was averted because the goal still counted, since Perron didn't get a point on the decisive play. But he did have a hand in it, landing a big hit to start a forecheck that led to Colaiacavo's shot.

The Blues ended up needing that goal, as they beat L.A. 4-3, cementing Payne's first win behind the St. Louis bench in NHL trivia books everywhere.

Saturday: Coyotes vs. Islanders

Title: That nagging feeling…

If a penalty is called, but there's nobody in the box to serve it, does it ever end?

Um, no.

Just ask the Phoenix players who were trying to kill off a five-minute major that went on, and on. And on. And on. For nearly 10 minutes.

Yep. You read that right. Ten minutes.

At the end of the first period, Coyotes defenceman Ed Jovanovski was slapped with a five-minute major and kicked out of the game for elbowing. Phoenix sent Peter Mueller into the box to wait out the 17 seconds before the frame ended.

The players stepped back on the ice for the second period, the ref dropped the puck and play began again.

But now there wasn't anybody in the Coyotes box serving the major. The Phoenix coaching staff forgot to send someone back to the sin bin when the period started.

So the Coyotes were stuck with four on the ice until they could get a stoppage in play, which would allow them to legally add another guy.

It didn't happen until 9:04 of the frame — 9:21 after Jovo took the major, when the Coyotes finally managed to get a whistle. By taking another penalty. And then soon after, they were down two men. Two goals later it was 4-1 New York.

Phoenix managed to salvage a point by massing a furious rally late, but the 'Yotes might have had the full two if coach Dave Tippett and his staff caught the mistake.

Friday, Sunday: Lightning vs. Devils

Alternate title: Shooting the lights out. With actual lightning.

On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning were up 3-0 on the New Jersey Devils halfway through the second period.

On Sunday, they won the game 4-2.

Giving a new meaning to the phrase "prolonging the agony," midway through the second period of Friday's game, half the lights went out in New Jersey's three-year-old Prudential Center.

Insert generic "Lighting strike/power outage" pun here. Everyone else has (didn't you see the title?).

After two hours of waiting, the league decided to suspend the contest midway though the second frame. It was decided that the game would resume Sunday, forcing the Devils and Tampa to play on back-to-back-to-back nights, normally reserved for junior hockey and pee wee holiday tournaments.

All fans at the game Friday were allowed to come Sunday, provided they had their ticket stub, but nobody was sure how many people would show up on a Sunday for half a game with the home side already down 3-0.

The answer: 3,000. This included NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who was probably impressed with the strong, Phoenix-like turnout.

Brandon Hicks is a senior writer for CBCSports.ca, and he takes every opportunity he can to insert "Back to the Future" references in his articles. On an unrelated note, if any of you happen to stumble upon a sports almanac that claims to be from 2050, it's not. Don't even look at it, just mail it back to CBC.