Down the Frozen River

Tag: Montréal Canadiens

  • 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Benchmarks

    Friday night was rambunctious night in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs as chaos was abound.

    The Montréal Canadiens bested the Washington Capitals, 6-3, to force at least a Game 5 in their series with Capitals now leading 2-1 in their best-of-seven matchup.

    The offensive outburst for the Habs wasn’t the only outburst that the Bell Centre crowd witnessed as both teams nearly squared off with their entire rosters heading into the second intermission. More on that in just a bit.

    The Carolina Hurricanes paid a visit to Prudential Center as the New Jersey Devils hosted Game 3 of their series and if you thought this one would be over in regulation, well, you were wrong. Šimon Nemec was the hero in double overtime for the home team Devils as New Jersey won, 3-2.

    Carolina maintains the series lead 2-1, but will host a Game 5 on Tuesday, April 29th regardless of the results of Game 4 on Sunday.

    Finally, Friday night’s late game (for the East Coast, anyway) featured 11 goals between the two teams, rapid momentum shifts and one confusing as hell decision by Los Angeles Kings head coach, Jim Hiller.

    In the end, the Edmonton Oilers emerged victorious, 7-4, on home ice at Rogers Place to take Game 3 and trail the Kings 2-1 in the series.

    Did someone invite the Nordiques?

    Won’t somebody please think of the children?

    Sure thing Mrs. Lovejoy, right after we get back from watching comparisons between warmups and in-game scrums back when the Québec Nordiques and Montréal Canadiens went at it to present-day Arber Xhekaj shenanigans and Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson’s visit to the Capitals bench.

    If you haven’t seen what went down in Game 3 in Montréal: This happened.

    So, yeah, Tom Wilson and Josh Anderson ended up being fined $5,000 each– the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement– for unsportsmanlike conduct in Friday’s night game. Turns out you can’t fight on the bench.

    In the meantime, Connor McMichael scored first on a tip-in 3:20 into the first period to give Washington a, 1-0, lead on the road. But late in the opening frame, Montréal tied it, 1-1, when Alexandre Carrier wired a wrist shot from the point in the last minute of the period.

    Midway through the second period, both teams swapped goals as Nick Suzuki gave the Canadiens a, 2-1, lead off of an offensive zone faceoff thanks to a turnover from Capitals defender, John Carlson, that ended up right on Suzuki’s stick for backhand shot at 8:37.

    Jakob Chychrun, however, caught a pass from Andrew Mangiapane in the offensive zone, corralled the puck and rocketed a slap shot past Sam Montembeault to tie things up, 2-2, about two minutes after Suzuki’s goal.

    But once again, Washington allowed a goal against in the final minute of a period as Lane Hutson picked off a pass intended for Alex Ovechkin in the Capitals’ own zone and fed Cole Caufield a one-timer through the slot to put the Habs on top, 3-2, heading into the second intermission.

    Then chaos erupted at the horn when– after replacing Montembeault due to a lower body injury– Jakub Dobeš exchanged words with some Capitals on their way across the ice to exit the playing surface.

    Everyone partnered up to square dance while Wilson and Anderson tried to throw each other out of the saloon in the meantime.

    When the dust settled, the officials handed out 28 minutes in penalties between the two teams.

    Xhekaj and Lars Eller each had two minutes for roughing each other, while Wilson and Anderson picked up two minutes for roughing and ten-minute misconducts.

    Ahead of the final frame, Montréal announced that Montembeault would not return to the night’s action.

    Then Ovechkin scored on an early rush and a pass from Dylan Strome to Ovechkin on the far side after Anthony Beauvillier got the play started. The Caps tied the game, 3-3, at 2:39 of the third period, but the Canadiens started to pull away from Washington shortly thereafter.

    Christian Dvorak made it, 4-3, on a shot that ricocheted off of Brandon Duhaime’s own stick past his teammate, Logan Thompson, and into the twine, then Juraj Slafkovský played a game catch with Caufield as they entered the zone.

    Caufield dished the puck back to Slafkovský as the young Slovak forward crashed the slot and beat Thompson as the Washington netminder struggled to catch up on the play before being trucked by his own teammate in a collision with Strome.

    Slafkovský’s goal made it, 5-3, Montréal at 13:23 of the third period, while Thompson was slow to get up, then stumbled as he tried to shake it off and was helped off the ice.

    Both starting goaltenders were replaced by their backups due to injury and their statuses entering Game 4 are questionable.

    Alex Newhook added the final goal of the night with 2:25 remaining in the action on Charlie Lindgren’s glove side to secure the, 6-3, win for the Habs.

    Washington needs to tighten up their play if they want to take a commanding 3-1 series lead back home for Game 5. The Canadiens are skating stride-for-stride with the Capitals and haven’t really been out of a game yet this series by any means. It’s too close for comfort if you’re a longtime Caps fan.

    Meanwhile, Montréal just wants to keep riding the momentum they’ve generated. They’re only down 2-1 in the series and they have another home game before having to go back to Washington.

    The Bell Centre crowd lives and breathes the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They expect to be in the building through May every year, whether the Canadiens are rebuilding or not. It’s a religion and they won’t take “maybe next year” for an answer.

    They also won’t take lightly to Wilson and his new meme that he generated as a result of his “crybaby” gestures.

    The torch and LED flames may be a symbol held near and dear to the organization from John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields”, but to opponents the flames that are shown across all LED signage before the Canadiens are introduced might as well represent Hell.

    Habs fans are praying to the Hockey Gods and they hope their opponents are smote off the face of the Earth.

    It’s different in Montréal this time of year.

    Nemec gives Devils life in 2OT

    Hey, speaking of Hell, the New Jersey Devils!

    They’re right back in their series with the Carolina Hurricanes after Šimon Nemec scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal early in double overtime to lift New Jersey over the Canes, 3-2.

    The Hurricanes now have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Sunday in New Jersey and will host a Game 5 Tuesday, April 29th back at Lenovo Center.

    Late in the first period Friday, however, Timo Meier dished a pass to Nico Hischier while the Devils’ captain crashed the net while being chased by Carolina defender, Sean Walker.

    Hischier sold an intentionally mishandled puck and watched as it strolled past Frederik Andersen on the far side as the Hurricanes netminder dropped into a hybrid stance.

    New Jersey held the, 1-0, lead entering the first intermission and neither team managed to score until the third period.

    Jesper Bratt skated down the boards and cut from the corner to the front of the net mimicking a wraparound without even having to go through the trapezoid and out the other side around the goal frame.

    Andersen fell forward to snag the puck, but Bratt bested the Carolina goaltender as the puck slid to the side of the net.

    Andersen’s momentum carried the Hurricanes goalie out of the familiar blue paint of the crease while Dawson Mercer scooped and curled the loose puck– guiding the rubber biscuit over the goal line for a, 2-0, lead 1:18 into the final frame of regulation.

    About five minutes later, though, Carolina started to swing momentum in their direction while on the power play. Shayne Gostisbehere worked the puck to Seth Jarvis through the neutral zone as Jarvis gave the puck to Sebastian Aho before receiving the give-and-go in return and wiring a shot past Jacob Markström.

    Jarvis cut the lead in half with the power-play goal, while Aho later tied the game, 2-2, with a power-play goal of his own– snapping a shot from the bumper at 12:20 of the third period.

    Nobody else could score thereafter and one overtime wasn’t enough, so a second overtime period was in order.

    This time it didn’t take long for Nemec to retrieve a puck from the neutral zone and skate into the attacking zone before releasing a shot from the faceoff circle that deflected off of the Carolina goaltender and in to give Nemec his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal and the game-winner in the process.

    The Devils won, 3-2, as Nemec became the youngest overtime goal scorer in franchise history– beating Adam Henrique’s 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal game-winner in the process. Nemec is only 21, whereas Henrique was 22 at the time.

    Friday night was a huge moment for New Jersey’s 2nd overall pick in 2022, as the defender has had stints in the American Hockey League while coming into his own game between NHL appearances.

    New Jersey can even the series Sunday afternoon and make things really interesting heading back to Carolina for Game 5 afterwards.

    Then again, the Hurricanes can shake off their Game 3 loss– that’s been a trend in recent years for them in every playoff series it seems– and get right back to dominating possession and the scoreboard for a commanding 3-1 series lead with a Game 4 victory.

    “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN VIDEO?”

    It’s a question everyone in a remote production truck has heard at one point or another, but in this case it applies to the Los Angeles Kings’ coaching staff and their decision to challenge Evander Kane’s goal for goaltender interference after an already lengthy officials’ review.

    In the meantime, now we’ve got a series.

    The Edmonton Oilers beat the Kings, 7-4, after Jim Hiller’s questionable decision to challenge what everyone but someone in Los Angeles’ coaching staff saw, apparently.

    Here’s a little secret for those of you that don’t already know how writing works in the world of game recaps and more: You start writing a lede where one team wins and another lede where the other team wins. Prior to Kane’s goal I started setting the scene for a Los Angeles 3-0 series lead.

    The Connor McDaivd-Leon Draisaitl era Edmonton Oilers have been here before. They trailed 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final just last year to the Florida Panthers before generating momentum with a blowout win in Game 4, another win in Game 5 and a third-consecutive win in Game 6.

    They were looking to become the first team since the Los Angeles Kings came back from a 3-0 series deficit to eliminate the San Jose Sharks in seven games in the 2014 First Round.

    Then Edmonton lost in another Game 7 on the road in the Stanley Cup Final. Just like they did in 2006, in Carolina– only this time it was after nearly pulling off the highly improbable. There was no reverse sweep for McDavid’s postseason MVP-winning glory.

    Instead, only the inevitable. Just delayed by a few.

    Think about how great that would’ve looked here, Mr. Hiller.

    Instead, only the inevitable. Edmonton forces their way back into the series and upsets Los Angeles for the fourth-straight year.

    Now, I’m getting ahead of myself, but that’s what we could end up looking at here, folks.

    No matter how hot Adrian Kempe is right now– McDavid and Draisaitl are worth at least five of him. And with Evan Bouchard warming up? There’s circles to be skated ’round and ’round.

    You were already playing “catch-up hockey” all night, then you go and do that. How the hell are any of the Kings players supposed to keep their poise and confidence going into Game 4 while still in Edmonton?

    The Kings had a good story going in Game 3 as it was after trailing, 2-0. Kempe made it a one-goal game before heading into the first intermission.

    Kevin Fiala tied it early in the middle frame with a power-play goal and Drew Doughty added another about ten minutes later to give Los Angeles their first lead of the night.

    Then Connor Brown continued a bonkers run of goals– tying the game, 3-3, on a redirection at 17:19 of the second period before Trevor Moore one-handed an accident through Calvin Pickard’s legs to make it, 4-3, on the ensuing faceoff from Brown’s goal. The game had been tied for nine seconds.

    Oh, yeah, Pickard got the start for the Oilers, by the way, over Stuart Skinner.

    And then a few minutes past the midpoint of the third period, Kane and the Oilers thought they scored, but the call on the ice was initially “no goal” due to a perceived distinct kicking motion from Kane.

    An official review determined that Kane had, in fact, kicked the puck from his skate to his stick in a wise move to ensure no issues with the kick in the first place and to corral possession and just tap it in over the goal line with the blade.

    It was a good goal and Kane’s first in his second game back from an injury that somehow kept him out all season (the NHL isn’t thrilled about some of the long-term injured reserve use this year, apparently).

    Then Hiller used his coach’s challenge and, predictably, lost. If Kane had made contact with the blade of his stick touching Darcy Kuemper’s pads, it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.

    The call on the ice– which, by now, was a “good goal”– stood. Los Angeles was assessed a bench minor for delay of game.

    Bouchard scored his second power-play goal of the game off the ensuing faceoff– 10 seconds after Kane’s goal, to be exact. The tally also rendered Bouchard as the first Oilers defender in franchise history to

    Now Edmonton was ahead, 5-4, and the Kings were forced to pull Kuemper for an extra attacker with all of the momentum fully swung in the Oilers’ favor.

    Doughty got crushed on a hit, lost the puck and McDavid ended up with possession on a short pass to go end-to-end from Zach Hyman to Edmonton’s captain for an empty-net goal to make it, 6-4, with 1:40 remaining in the action.

    Brown beat what would have otherwise been an icing about 90 seconds later and collected his second goal of the game– Edmonton’s second empty netter– to secure the, 7-4, victory.

    The Kings now lead the series 2-1, but the Oilers have home ice for Game 4 Sunday. It’s going to be a tough mountain to climb for Los Angeles to head back home with a commanding 3-1 series lead.

  • 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Fifth night takeaways

    Wednesday night featured a lighter schedule with only three games on the docket as Logan Thompson stood on his head– in the third period especially– in Washington, D.C., Gabriel Landeskog played his first National Hockey League game in 1,032 days and everyone’s favorite harmonica group returned for Game 2 in Los Angeles.

    The Washington Capitals took a 2-0 series lead over the Montréal Canadiens with a 3-1 victory in Game 2 at Capital One Arena.

    Tyler Seguin scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 on the road at Ball Arena as the Dallas Stars won back-to-back games in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead over the Colorado Avalanche.

    And Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe each had four points in a, 6-2, blowout victory for the Los Angeles Kings in Game 2 of their series with the Edmonton Oilers to take a 2-0 lead on home ice.

    Shots shots shots shots shots (everybody)

    Despite outshooting Montréal, 32-26, in Game 2, everyone was talking about Thompson’s performance after Wednesday night’s, 3-1, win for Washington.

    Thompson made 25 saves and recorded a .962 save percentage in the victory and now has a 1.47 goals-against average and a .951 SV% thus far in the postseason.

    The Capitals held the Canadiens to 12 shots on goal through 40 minutes Wednesday– outshooting the Habs, 9-4, in the first period and, 18-8, in the second period alone for a, 27-12, advantage entering the final frame.

    That means Thompson faced a barrage of 14 shots against in the third period itself as Montréal mustered every effort to tie the game and force overtime for a second game in-a-row in the series.

    Despite the loss, Sam Montembeault still had 29 saves on 31 shots faced for a .935 SV% in Game 2 for Montréal and has a respectable 2.49 GAA and .921 SV% through two games in the series.

    That stat line would be fantastic in just about any other playoff series normally.

    The only problem is that the Canadiens have allowed six goals against thus far to their three goals for while Thompson has put up even better numbers than Montembeault as a result.

    Christian Dvorak slid a rebound under Thompson’s legs to give the Habs a, 1-0, lead 1:16 into the first period. Despite the fast start for the Canadiens, they weren’t able to get anything else past the Washington netminder.

    In fact, Montréal couldn’t hold the lead for long before the Capitals evened things up, 1-1, at 3:47 courtesy of a backhand goal from Connor McMichael.

    Then Washington’s leading scorer in the regular season, Dylan Strome, shoveled his own rebound past Montembeault for a, 2-1, lead a minute after McMichael had tied the game.

    The shift in momentum rendered a raucous crowd inside Capital One Arena as Strome put the home team ahead.

    Both teams settled in thereafter and McMichael wouldn’t add his second goal of the night until he hit the back of an empty net in the final seconds of the action to make it, 3-1, Washington.

    The series shifts to Montréal for Games 3 and 4 and the Habs can get back into it by just a few lucky bounces in front of their home crowd.

    Gabriel Landeskog returns! (for real this time)

    But Dallas ruined the party!

    Landeskog’s first game in almost three years featured six hits, one blocked shot, one giveaway and one takeaway to go along with a 50% draw on the faceoff dot.

    The first hit in his return? Delivered to former Avs teammate turned current Star by way of the Carolina Hurricanes, Mikko Rantanen.

    Almost halfway through the opening frame, the two teams were skating at 4-on-4 and Valeri Nichushkin made Matt Duchene look silly– shaking off the Stars forward with a quick cut and circle in the attacking zone before deking Jake Oettinger out of his mind to give Colorado a, 1-0, lead.

    Unfortunately for Avalanche fans in attendance, the 8:09 mark of the first period was also the last time they would experience joy for the rest of the evening as only anguish and dread was afoot.

    Posts were ringing, possession was to be had and play spent much of the time in Colorado’s own zone.

    Dallas outshot Colorado, 14-5, after one period and held onto an, 18-13, advantage through 40 minutes despite the Avalanche holding an, 8-4, shot advantage in the middle frame alone.

    Mackenzie Blackwood was the only reason why the Avs held their lead most of the night and finished with 26 saves on 28 shots against for a .929 SV%.

    Through three games this postseason, Blackwood has a 2.07 GAA and a .923 SV% for Colorado. Oettinger has a 2.37 GAA and a .910 SV% for Dallas. The Stars lead the series 2-1, however.

    Shortly after killing off a minor infraction, the Avs found themselves shorthanded once again when Nathan MacKinnon took what some experts are calling “a stupid penalty.”

    MacKinnon tried to be sneaky as he just happened to plant his stick on the ice while Colin Blackwell’s was heading backwards to defend his own end– catching the Stars forward’s skates in the process and sending Blackwell flying.

    The Stars were clicking on the power play opportunity just prior, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

    This time, Dallas did not miss.

    Jamie Benn tipped a shot from Thomas Harley just under the bar to tie the game, 1-1, nine seconds into the skater advantage at 9:18 of the third period.

    Duchene cut a rut to the sin bin and presented the Avalanche with a chance to take momentum and the lead back into their own hands.

    No dice.

    Instead, Dallas had a tremendous shorthanded opportunity and sent Colorado’s power play units into disarray.

    Just as everyone settled in for overtime, Rantanen bounced a lead pass off the boards for Mason Marchment to rush into the attacking zone and drop a pass back to Seguin as No. 91 in his road white jersey with the familiar Dallas green yoke crashed the net.

    Seguin wristed a shot past Blackwood to secure the, 2-1, overtime victory and give Rantanen his first point of the series in the process as No. 96 for the Stars had the secondary assist on the game-winning goal.

    The Stars improved to 42-49 in overtime all-time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 25-22 record in the extra frame on the road in that span.

    The Avs fell to 47-37 in postseason overtimes and are now 20-21 on home ice in that span.

    In all, Dallas has led for just 72 seconds three games into the series. The Stars have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4 on the road Saturday night.

    Martin Nečas is not living up to his full potential.

    The regular season doesn’t have the same kind of pressure the postseason has. Whereas the expectations of the ebbs and flows of the regular season are predicated upon playing the right game to peak at the right time (now through June), you cannot have an “off” night in the playoffs.

    Nečas is clearly a talented player in his own right and now receives the benefit of playing on a line alongside MacKinnon– picking up additional points he could have only previously dreamed of in Carolina.

    But there’s an element of his game that he brought with him from the Hurricanes to the Avalanche that he hasn’t been able to shake off just yet.

    His failure to elevate his game from that regular season routine to the postseason grind.

    The Stars are doing enough to quell MacKinnon and Nečas. They’ve clearly done something to get under MacKinnon’s skin– just enough to annoy him and throw him off of his game.

    Remember after Game 1 when I said:

    “The bad news? Game 1 isn’t Dallas’ thing.

    The good news? History is on their side.

    The Stars dropped Game 1 against the Avalanche, 4-3, in overtime last year on home ice in their 2024 Second Round matchup. They went on to win the next three games before losing Game 5, but won Game 6, 2-1, in double overtime on the road in Denver– courtesy of former Colorado forward, Matt Duchene’s game-winner.

    Dallas also holds the 4-2 series advantage against the Avalanche in their lifetime….”

    Yeah, about that. The Stars still have history on their side– and not only that, they have a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4. They are trying to go from being 4-2 to being 5-2 against Colorado in all-time playoff series matchups.

    Last year, when these two teams met I wasn’t enthused about the Avs’ odds. This year, that doubt has only grown further and further.

    It’s always the Stars or the Minnesota Wild when you think you “deserve” it more than the other team. They’re inevitable.

    Kopitar still has it, but Kempe has arrived too

    Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe each had four points on Tuesday night and that’s awesome and all, but you know what’s pretty cool too? Quinton Byfield keeps scoring.

    While Los Angeles’ certified stars in Kopitar and Kempe are doing their thing (as they should), Byfield has quietly been having a breakout of his own this series.

    Two games into it and Byfield has two goals and one assist– good enough for three points while centering the second line for the Kings.

    Kempe, meanwhile, has seven points (three goals, four assists) in two games. He’s already one point away from matching his previous postseason-high of eight points in six games in 2023.

    And Kopitar? Well, he’s having a better playoff run through two games this year than he did in five games last year against the Oilers.

    Kopitar has 1-4–5 totals in 2025, compared to his 1-2–3 totals in 2024 (five games played).

    And the Kings have a 2-0 series lead heading up to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4. Los Angeles has the Oilers right where they want them.

    All they have to do is win at least one of the next two games.

    That might be pretty easy to do if Stuart Skinner is still in net for Game 3.

    The Kings chased Skinner after he allowed five goals, but it’s not like the Oilers were completely out of the game– until they were really out of it.

    See, Los Angeles’ power play is cooking and, well, L.A. only had a, 3-0, lead by the midpoint of the middle frame. We saw in Game 1 how Edmonton isn’t out of a game by any means until the final horn sometimes.

    So Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the scoreboard. Then Viktor Arvidsson scored against his most recent former team on a tip-in early in the third period to bring Edmonton within one, 3-2.

    The Kings watched as their three-goal lead was suddenly back down to a one-goal lead.

    But a little over two and a half minutes after Arvidsson scored, Kempe answered. There would not be a weird (almost) comeback in Game 2.

    Kopitar notched his first goal of the postseason on the power play at 9:07 of the third period to extend Los Angeles’ lead to three goals once more, 5-2.

    Naturally, after Skinner was replaced by Calvin Pickard after a media timeout, Kempe scored on the first shot that Pickard faced to make it, 6-2, Los Angeles.

    If Kris Knoblauch decides to give Skinner another start in Game 3, there’s a very real chance we end up seeing Skinner join the revolving door of goaltenders in Edmonton’s recent history (yes, even before and after Ken Holland insisted that Mike Smith was the one, then tried to convince Jimmy Howard to come out of retirement).

    It’s insane, right?

    Skinner and the Oilers were just in the Stanley Cup Final last year because of, well, Skinner– oh, and some guy named “Connor McDavid” (plus Draisaitl– can’t forget him too).

    Yet, here we are.

    Through two games this postseason, Skinner has an 0-2 record with a 6.11 GAA and an .810 SV%. Sure, that save percentage might be half decent in, like, the 1980s (fitting for the greatest team of the 1980s, to be fair), but yikes. That’s no bueno.

    In his Stanley Cup Playoffs career (37 games played), Skinner has a 3.00 GAA and an .889 SV%.

    Now hear this– Pickard has a 2.48 GAA and a .903 SV% in four career Stanley Cup Playoff games (all with the Oilers and including his relief appearance on Wednesday).

    In Pickard’s two starts last spring, he went 1-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a .915 SV%.

    The Oilers clearly rallied around their goaltender when faced with the realization that Pickard of all people would be thrust into a position he once was expected to live up to when he was drafted 49th overall by Colorado in 2010, but hadn’t yet.

    So, riddle me this, why not see if the magic can work itself out again?

    Goaltenders are weird in more ways than one– personality, style and sometimes postseason runs.

    Is it time to consider Pickard the unlikely savior and turn to him when you need him most?

    By the way, Los Angeles has not won a playoff series since they won the Cup back in 2014. In case Edmonton needed more fuel for their manifestations or whatever.

  • 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Third night’s a charm

    The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs continued Monday night with a pair of ones and twos– as in “Game 1s and 2s.”

    First, the Montréal Canadiens paid a visit to the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of their First Round series from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

    The St. Louis Blues took on the Winnipeg Jets in Game 2 of their series from Canada Life Centre.

    Later on, the Colorado Avalanche visited the Dallas Stars for Game 2 of their series at American Airlines Center before the Edmonton Oilers opened up their First Round matchup with the Los Angeles Kings on the road at crypto.com Arena.

    Shoutout to Dave Goucher, by the way.

    The play-by-play voice of the Vegas Golden Knights took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend the good, hard-working people of regional sports networks not just for his own Scripps Sports crew, but across the entire National Hockey League in the face of some remarks from ESPN’s John Buccigross.

    History doesn’t repeat itself

    In 2010, Tomáš Plekanec was the overtime hero for Montréal in Game 1 as the eighth seed Habs beat the first seed Capitals and later toppled Washington in a seven-game series upset.

    In 2025, none of the Canadiens skaters could be like Plekanec and recreate the magic as the second wild card in the Eastern Conference in overtime in Game 1 against the Caps.

    Instead, Alex Ovechkin added to his storied career with his first-ever game-winning goal in overtime in a Stanley Cup Playoff game.

    That’s right, folks, the National Hockey League’s all-time regular season goal scoring leader hadn’t scored an overtime-winner in the postseason before Monday night.

    The ESPN broadcast had just finished highlighting a shot of Ovechkin on screen before the face off prior to his game-winning goal because of course that would happen.

    It was written and produced by the Hockey Gods. Absolute cinema.

    It only took 45 postseason overtime games, but Ovechkin finally has what has eluded him longer than getting a Stanley Cup ring and surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s 894 goal mark.

    Ovechkin also kicked off the night’s scoring late in the first period with a power-play goal to put Washington ahead, 1-0, at 18:34.

    Midway through the second period, Anthony Beauvillier– a clutch playoff performer reminiscent of the likes of Michael Ryder, Joonas Donskoi and my other personal favorite “glue guys” that always seemed to show up when it mattered most– made it a, 2-0, lead for the Capitals at 12:09 of the middle frame.

    Dylan Strome was off to a hot start with two assists and would finish the night with three assists– playing a helping hand in all three Washington goals and becoming the 19th player in Capitals history to record three assists in a playoff game (with John Carlson having been the most recent Capital to do so on April 11, 2019).

    Washington and Montréal were pretty evenly matched despite the Caps’ two-goal lead through 40 minutes.

    The Capitals led in shots on goal 23-21 entering the final frame, then pretty much forgot that there’s three periods in hockey.

    The Canadiens outshot the Capitals 14-7 in the third period alone and with it scored a pair of goals about five minutes apart from one another.

    Cole Caufield put the Habs on the scoreboard thanks to some good puck luck that bounced his way for an easy tally.

    Then Montréal’s other longtime veteran– a relative term for such a young team– Nick Suzuki pounced on a loose puck amidst a mad scramble with bodies all over the ice and Washington goaltender, Logan Thompson, wildly out of position– far from the familiar blue paint of the crease.

    Suzuki tied the game, 2-2, as the Canadiens had the Capitals holding on for dear life through the end of regulation.

    And then it happened.

    Just 2:26 into the extra frame after a 15-minute overtime intermission, Ovechkin sent the Washington fans home happy– especially since there was plenty of time to catch the Metro.

    If you subtract Nicklas Bäckström and T.J. Oshie’s postseason experience, Washington entered the First Round with 776 games of playoff experience under their belt across the entire roster.

    Montréal only had 385 games of playoff experience with none of those games stemming from a single goaltender entering Monday.

    But neither of these teams have really meshed in a playoff environment like this.

    The Capitals significantly overhauled their roster between their four-game exit in the 2024 First Round to the New York Rangers and the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    The Canadiens have been working towards getting back into the postseason, though might have been ahead of schedule in their arrival this spring.

    Despite attaining the best record in the Eastern Conference, Washington hasn’t faced the adversity of being a Stanley Cup favorite and thus forced to defend their honor in a while.

    Did this season pry the Cup window back open in Ovechkin’s twilight– well, biologically speaking, anyway– or are we witnessing a happy accident in the making?

    Both teams will progress further going into next year from having attained a playoff berth and gaining the experience from this matchup, regardless of who wins.

    More first line heroics for Winnipeg

    While depth scoring is paramount, sometimes all you really need to win a playoff game is more goals than the other team and doing so thanks to your best players.

    Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves on 22 shots faced for a .955 save percentage in the, 2-1, win in Game 2 for Winnipeg, while Mark Scheifele continued to cement his status as a Jets legend and Kyle Connor added the game-winner early in the final frame.

    Scheifele notched his 23rd career Stanley Cup Playoff goal– the most in Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise history– and gave the Jets a, 1-0, lead late in the first period.

    The Jets defenders came to play in Game 2 with some dominant shifts and big hits as Logan Stanley imprinted his opponents along the glass and Dylan Samberg cleared the slot to bail out Hellebuyck when it mattered most.

    Blues forward, Jimmy Snuggerud, tied the action, 1-1, on a power-play goal in the last second of the opening frame– beating Hellebucyk’s blocker side in the process for his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal, but that was all the offense that St. Louis would get Monday night.

    Luke Schenn led Winnipeg’s defenders in hits with seven, while Stanley amassed three, Neal Pionk and Samberg each had two and Josh Morrissey had one.

    Only Dylan DeMelo failed to record a hit from the Jets’ blue line, while David Gustafsson, Scheifele, Nino Niederreiter and Connor were the only forwards without a hit in the action.

    Snuggerud and Jordan Kyrou were the only Blues forwards without a hit, while Tyler Tucker and Justin Faulk were the only St. Louis defenders to record at least one hit (Tucker had four).

    Winnipeg led the physical aspect of the game in the first period, but St. Louis responded with vengeance in the middle period as Brayden Schenn and Jake Neighbours led the charge with five hits each by the end of the night.

    If Game 1 was more speed and skill based, then Game 2 was more of a calculated response with a booming physical presence crunching both Jets and Blues players in the process.

    Hellebuyck and Jordan Binnington both locked in, which is good news if you like low scoring goalie battles in postseason action.

    Early in the final frame, Scheifele worked the puck low from the trapezoid to Cole Perfetti, who promptly setup Connor for the one-timer in the slot to give the Jets the, 2-1, lead 1:43 into the third period.

    Winnipeg takes a 2-0 series lead heading back to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4 and is doing everything they need to be doing so far: (1) ensure your star players are performing, (2) get some depth scoring, (3) Hellebuyck dials in and (4) don’t let up the pressure, like, at all.

    St. Louis is doing… …whatever Jim Montgomery is doing while singing along with “Your Love” on the bench (love that for him, though– we could all use a little more fun in the midst of our workdays).

    There’s no Point in warmup, but there was Landeskog

    Famously, Brayden Point plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning and I’m referencing Elliotte Friedman’s tweet from back in the day, but Gabriel Landeskog did take part in warmup for the Colorado Avalanche for the first time since June 26, 2022.

    Landeskog did not, however, dress for Game 2 Monday night in Dallas.

    Instead, Ross Colton wasn’t good to go and Miles Wood drew into the lineup for the Avs, while Landeskog’s return will have to wait for Game 3 in Denver at the earliest.

    Nathan MacKinnon grabbed a quick, 1-0, lead for Colorado with a power-play goal before Tyler Seguin tied the game, 1-1, with a power-play goal of his own for the Stars in the last minute of the opening frame.

    Thomas Harley fanned on a shot attempt while traffic blocked Mackenzie Blackwood’s sight lines on Harley’s recuperated effort and the Dallas defender scored on the far, glove side– giving the Stars a, 2-1, lead.

    But the Avalanche continued to get the most out of their depth as Jack Drury tied things up 62 seconds after Harley’s goal.

    A couple of huge penalty kills led to a shift in momentum for Colorado and Logan O’Connor sent a backhand top shelf while falling to give the Avs a, 3-2, lead with 32.1 seconds left in the middle frame.

    The goal was O’Connor’s first goal in 22 postseason games and his second career Stanley Cup Playoff goal in the process.

    In the playoffs, it’s important for your top six forwards to do their job and maximize depth scoring as much as possible when you can take it.

    Outside of MacKinnon’s goal, Colorado’s top six forwards weren’t doing enough to maximize their depth contributions and get the desired results of a team looking to sap the Stars of their home ice advantage.

    Just past the midpoint of the final frame, Evgenii Dadonov reminded everyone that age is just a number as the 36-year-old Russian forward collected a garbage goal– pocketing a rebound to tie the game, 3-3, with 9:47 remaining in regulation.

    Both goaltenders faced a barrage of shots Monday as Blackwood turned aside 35 out of 39 shots faced in the overtime loss– good enough for an .897 save percentage– while Jake Oettinger made 34 saves on 37 shots against for a .919 SV% in the win.

    Blackwood made a hell of a save on Mason Marchment early in the extra frame, but it wasn’t enough to rally his teammates as the Stars continued to surge as the game progressed.

    Colin Blackwell– inserted into Dallas’ lineup for Game 2 in place of Mavrik Bourque– pounced on a loose puck before roofing it short side over Blackwood’s glove and under the bar after Sam Steel screened the Colorado goaltender and the Avs defenders were out of position.

    Clearly, if Avalanche head coach, Jared Bednar, utilizes Landeskog in his lineup for Game 3, Colorado can continue the trend of “guys who just made their debut this postseason scoring the game-winning goal” in this series.

    The Stars dictated the pace of Game 2 more than they did in Game 1, which if they’re able to do in Game 3 on Wednesday (9:30p ET on ESPN, SN360, TVAS2, Victory+, ALT) in front of a raucous crowd in enemy territory could be a good sign moving forward.

    Dallas can’t get caught up in the emotion of the game, but rather needs to stay focused on the unfinished task at hand– getting back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2020, and winning it for the first time since 1999.

    Colorado, meanwhile, could use a tremendous boost from the potential return of Landeskog in front of their home crowd and what Avs fan wouldn’t want to see him score in his first game back since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final? Especially if it plays a pivotal role of taking command of a 2-1 series lead.

    Phillip Danault is probably a little tired of the Oilers

    For a guy that alleged the Edmonton Oilers were trying to hurt the Los Angeles Kings in their final meeting in the regular season to disrupt Los Angeles’ chances of (a) getting home ice in their divisional matchup and (b) potential long-term success in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Phillip Danault sure played like a guy that was pissed.

    And it’s not like you can blame him when the Oilers have had the Kings’ number eight times in their 10 previous postseason series’– let alone for the last three years in the First Round in progressively fewer games each time.

    Edmonton eliminated Los Angeles in seven games in 2022, six games in 2023, and five games in 2024, and each time it seemed like the Kings lost their footing more and more– even on their own ice.

    But not Monday.

    “Not one more day.” — Phillip Danault, probably

    The Kings had a, 4-0, lead late in the second period. Danault had his first goal of the game at 17:43 of the middle frame, mind you, to give Los Angeles and all but in the bag effort for the night.

    Then it looked like Kings head coach, Jim Hiller, might need to utilize a bag skate for his players to shake off whatever colossal collapse of Maple Leaf-sized proportions they were about to encounter.

    Leon Draisaitl planted the seeds of doubt when he scored at 19:54 of the second period to get the Oilers on the scoreboard, 4-1.

    Mattias Janmark scored at 2:19 of the third period to pull Edmonton to within two. How’s that for a wake up call?

    “No worries, Kevin Fiala’s got this.” — Kings fans everywhere, probably after Fiala scored a little more than two minutes after Janmark’s tally

    BUT THEN

    Corey Perry notched his 55th career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal to pull Edmonton back to within two goals of tying the game at 7:43.

    Maybe start to panic a little? But then again, there was still plenty of time left on the clock for Kris Knoblauch to pull Stuart Skinner for an extra skater and, well, Los Angeles would surely put it away by then, right? Right!?

    Zach Hyman made it a one-goal game, 5-4, at 17:56. Connor McDavid once again put his team on his back and tied the game, 5-5, less than a minute later in the chaos.

    Uh oh. The Kings were on their backs again at the hands of the Oilers. Surely the inevitable was looming.

    Nope.

    Trevor Moore rushed into the attacking zone on a lead pass from Vladislav Gavrikov and dropped the puck back to Danault.

    Danault fluttered a knucklepuck shot past Skinner 46 seconds after McDavid knotted things up.

    Danault’s goal at 19:18 of the third period was the latest that anyone in Kings history has scored a game-winning goal in the postseason.

    Los Angeles had done it. They had one, 6-5.

    But it’s only Game 1. The recent trend would’ve indicated that the Oilers were going to pull of the sweep this year, but it’s at least going to take five games now. A gentleman’s sweep.

    Unless the Kings have anything to say about it.

    They just might– especially if Andrei Kuzmenko, Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe, Danault and Fiala keep scoring. They also might want a little more effort from their defenders in Game 2 (I’m sure Darcy Kuemper would appreciate that as well).

    Oh, but shoutout to Oilers forward, Jeff Skinner, by the way for making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut after playing in 1,078 regular season games before doing so. That ended the longest active postseason appearance drought.

    The Kings still took Game 1, though.

  • 2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    Round 1 of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft was held Thursday night at Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec marking the first time since the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver that the selections were made in person in front of a live audience as the 2020 and 2021 editions of the draft were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Coverage of this year’s first round began Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+ in the United States, as well as on SN and TVAS in Canada.

    Rounds 2-7 will be televised on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the U.S., while viewers in Canada can tune to SN or TVAS starting at 11 a.m. ET Friday morning.

    Here’s a quick recap of the First Round in case you had other things going on Thursday night.

    2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1

    1. Montréal Canadiens – LW Juraj Slafkovsky, TPS (Liiga)
    2. New Jersey Devils – D Simon Nemec, Nitra (Slovakia)
    3. Arizona Coyotes – C Logan Cooley, USA U-18 (USHL)
    4. Seattle Kraken – C Shane Wright, Kingston (OHL)
    5. Philadelphia Flyers – C/LW Cutter Gauthier, USA U-18 (USHL)
    6. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago) – D David Jiricek, Plzen (Extraliga)
    7. Chicago (from Ottawa Senators) – D Kevin Korchinski, Seattle (WHL)
    8. Detroit Red Wings – C Marco Kasper, Rögle BK (SHL)
    9. Buffalo Sabres – C Matthew Savoie, Winnipeg (WHL)
    10. Anaheim Ducks – D Pavel Mintyukov, Saginaw (OHL)
    11. Arizona Coyotes (from San Jose Sharks) – C Conor Geekie, Winnipeg (WHL)
    12. Columbus Blue Jackets – D Denton Mateychuk, Moose Jaw (WHL)
    13. Chicago (from New York Islanders via Montréal Canadiens) – C Frank Nazar, USA-U18 (USHL)
    14. Winnipeg Jets – RW Rutger McGroarty, USA U-18 (USHL)
    15. Vancouver Canucks – RW Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    16. Buffalo Sabres (from Vegas Golden Knights) – C Noah Ostlund, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    17. Nashville Predators – RW Joakim Kemell, JYP (Liiga)
    18. Dallas Stars – D Lian Bichsel, Leksands IF (SHL)
    19. Minnesota Wild (from Los Angeles Kings) – LW Liam Ohgren, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    20. Washington Capitals – RW Ivan Miroshnichenko, Omsk Krylia (Russia)
    21. Pittsburgh Penguins – D Owen Pickering, Swift Current (WHL)
    22. Anaheim Ducks (from Boston Bruins) – C Nathan Gaucher, Québec (QMJHL)
    23. St. Louis Blues – RW Jimmy Snuggerud, USA U-18 (USHL)
    24. Minnesota Wild – RW Danila Yurov, Magnitogorsk (Russia)
    25. Chicago (from Toronto Maple Leafs) – D Sam Rinzel, Chaska (High School- Minnesota)
    26. Montréal Canadiens (from Calgary Flames) – RW Filip Mesar, Poprad (Slovakia)
    27. San Jose Sharks (from Carolina Hurricanes via Montréal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes) – C Filip Bystedt, Linköping HC (SHL)
    28. Buffalo Sabres (from Florida Panthers) – C Jiri Kulich, Karlovy Vary (Extraliga)
    29. Arizona Coyotes (from Edmonton Oilers) – D Maveric Lamoureux, Drummondville (QMJHL)
    30. Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers) – C Brad Lambert, Pelicans (Liiga)
    31. Tampa Bay Lightning – LW Isaac Howard, USA U-18 (USHL)
    32. Edmonton Oilers (from Colorado Avalanche via Arizona Coyotes) – LW Reid Schaefer, Seattle (WHL)

    Trades made during the first round of the draft:

    • The Montréal Canadiens trade D Alexander Romanov and the 98th overall pick to the New York Islanders for a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall).
    • Montréal traded a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall, originally belonging to the New York Islanders) and a 2022 3rd round pick (66th overall) Chicago for D Kirby Dach.
    • The San Jose Sharks traded a 2022 1st round pick (11th overall) to the Arizona Coyotes for a 2022 1st round pick (27th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (34th overall) and a 2022 2nd round pick (45th overall).
    • Chicago acquired G Petr Mrázek and a 2022 1st round pick (25th overall) from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2022 2nd round pick (38th overall).
    • The Arizona Coyotes acquired F Zack Kassian, a 2022 1st round pick (29th overall), a 2024 3rd round pick and a 2025 2nd round pick from the Edmonton Oilers for a 2022 1st round pick (32nd overall).

    Trades made earlier in the day prior to the first round of the draft:

    • The Colorado Avalanche acquired G Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2022 3rd round pick, a 2022 5th round pick and a 2023 3rd round pick.
    • The Ottawa Senators traded a 2022 1st round pick (7th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (39th overall) and a 2024 3rd round pick to Chicago for F Alex DeBrincat.
  • Bruins force Game 7 with commanding, 5-2, victory at home

    Bruins force Game 7 with commanding, 5-2, victory at home

    For the 29th time in franchise history (a National Hockey League leading postseason stat), the Boston Bruins are going to a Game 7 in a best-of-seven series after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2, Thursday night at TD Garden.

    Whereas recent memory conjures images of Boston’s 2019 Stanley Cup Final Game 7 loss on home ice to the visiting St. Louis Blues, this time around the Bruins will look to be a spoiler on the road in Raleigh, North Carolina and become the first wild card team since the NHL adopted its current playoff format in 2014, to usurp a division winner in their non-traditional division.

    See, the B’s belong to the league’s Atlantic Division, while the Canes exist in the Metropolitan Division.

    Carolina, meanwhile, will have home ice in their first Game 7 against Boston since the Hurricanes upset the Bruins in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinal.

    It will also be Carolina’s first Game 7 appearance since they beat the Washington Capitals on the road in their 2019 First Round matchup.

    The last Game 7 victory on home ice for the Hurricanes was, of course, the 2006 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

    Jeremy Swayman (3-1, 2.51 goals-against average, .913 save percentage in four games played) made 23 saves on 25 shots against in the win for Boston Thursday night.

    Meanwhile, Hurricanes goaltender, Antti Raanta (2-2, 2.46 goals-against average, .926 save percentage in five games played), turned aside 29 out of 33 shots faced in the loss.

    Once more, the Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) Thursday night, while Hampus Lindholm returned to the lineup after missing the last few games with an upper body injury.

    Down 3-2 in the series entering Thursday and with Lindholm’s return to action, Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, restructured his lines and defensive pairings to a more familiar look around the trade deadline when the B’s were surging in the regular season.

    Jake DeBrusk went back to the first line right wing with Patrice Bergeron at center and Brad Marchand on left wing, while David Pastrnak was reunited with Taylor Hall and Erik Haula on the second line.

    Trent Frederic returned to the lineup on the third line with Charlie Coyle at center– flanked by Frederic and Craig Smith on his wings.

    Meanwhile, Nick Foligno, Tomáš Nosek and Curtis Lazar returned to their usual roles on the fourth line with Chris Wagner joining the short list of healthy scratches in the press box at TD Garden for Game 6.

    On defense, Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy were reunited, while Mike Reilly suited up alongside Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton’s third pairing went unchanged.

    Wagner and Matt Grzelcyk joined Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin, Steven Fogarty, Troy Grosenick, Josh Brown, Joona Koppanen, Cameron Hughes, Jack Ahcan, Tyler Lewington, Oskar Steen, Nick Wolff, Anton Blidh, Kyle Keyser and Jakub Lauko as Boston’s healthy scratches on Thursday.

    Sebastian Aho kicked things off with a hooking infraction at 12:44 of the first period, but the Bruins couldn’t muster anything on the skater advantage.

    Neither team could score, nor did either club score a goal in the opening frame, rendering it, 0-0, entering the first intermission despite Carolina holding an, 11-8, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston led in blocked shots (6-3), giveaways (4-0) and faceoff win percentage (62-39), while the Hurricanes held the advantage in hits (22-11).

    Both teams had three takeaways each and had yet to see time on the power play entering the middle frame.

    It didn’t take long for the B’s to jump out ahead first as Marchand (4) received a pass and entered the attacking zone along his off wing before sending a wrist shot high on the short side over Raanta’s glove and under the bar to give the Bruins a, 1-0, lead 46 seconds into the second period.

    Clifton (1) and Coyle (4) notched the assists as Boston scored the game’s first goal for the first time in the series.

    Less than a few minutes later, however, Clifton kicked off a string of penalties for the Bruins when he was assessed a holding minor at 3:23, but Boston made the kill.

    Carolina got a second chance on the power play at 9:08, however, when Frederic tripped Brett Pesce and even had 54 seconds on a 5-on-3 advantage when McAvoy cut a rut to the sin bin hooking Vincent Trocheck at 10:15 of the second period.

    The Canes, however, failed to convert on the two power plays.

    Haula caught Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a high stick at 13:36 of the second period and presented another power play opportunity that went by the wayside for Carolina.

    At 16:58, Pesce was assessed a holding minor and yielded Boston their second power play of the night.

    Late in the ensuing skater advantage, the B’s worked the puck around the zone enough before Marchand dished a pass back to Pastrnak for a shot attempt from the point that was blocked by a Hurricane before rebounding to Coyle (2) in the slot for the doorstep goal on the forehand.

    Pastrnak (3) and Marchand (7) tallied the assists on Coyle’s power-play goal at 18:04 of the second period and the Bruins had a, 2-0, lead as a result.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the B’s held a two-goal lead going into the second intermission and led, 19-17, in shots on goal, including an, 11-6, advantage in shots in the middle frame alone.

    Boston also dominated in blocked shots (15-9), takeaways (6-3) and faceoff win% (53-47), while Carolina led in giveaways (5-4) and hits (27-21).

    The Hurricanes were 0-for-4 and the Bruins were 1-for-2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Carolina struck first in the final frame as Seth Jarvis setup Andrei Svechnikov (2) for a catch and release goal high on the short side past Swayman’s blocker to cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1.

    Jarvis (2) had the only assist on Svechnikov’s first goal of the game at 3:24 of the third period.

    Less than four minutes later, however, the Bruins responded and re-extended their lead to two-goals after Haula (1) redirected a shot pass into the far corner of the net behind Raanta for a, 3-1, lead at 7:08 of the third period.

    McAvoy (3) had the only assist on Haula’s first goal of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Midway through the third period, Forbort (1) flung a shot from the point with eyes that may have tipped off of a Canes skaters’ stick under Raanta’s blocker side while the Carolina netminder was temporarily without a stick– having dropped it seconds prior.

    Nosek (1) had the only assist on Forbort’s first goal– regular season or playoffs– since Nov. 20th and the Bruins had a, 4-1, lead as a result at 10:43.

    Jaccob Slavin sent an errant puck over the glass and out of play at 12:01, but the B’s failed to capitalize on their last power play opportunity of the night.

    With 4:33 remaining in the action, Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker, but it wasn’t long before Lazar (1) floated a shot from the red line into the empty twine to give Boston a, 5-1, advantage.

    Foligno (1) and Nosek (2) tallied the assists on Lazar’s empty net goal at 15:43 of the third period.

    Less than a minute later, Marchand was assessed a four-minute double-minor penalty for spearing Kotkaniemi while skating past the Carolina forward at 16:20.

    The Hurricanes made relatively quick work of the first power play as Slavin sent the puck to Martin Nečas, who fed Svechnikov (3) for another one-timer goal– this time cutting the deficit from four goals to three.

    Nečas (3) and Slavin (4) had the assists on Svechnikov’s power-play goal– his second goal of the game– at 17:30 of the third period.

    The Bruins killed off the rest of Marchand’s penalty and went on to win, 5-2, at the final horn.

    At the end of the night, Boston left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 34-25, including a, 15-8, advantage in the third period alone, while Carolina dominated in everything else, including blocked shots (18-12), giveaways (10-5), hits (42-34) and faceoff win% (52-48).

    The Hurricanes finished the night 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Bruins went 1-for-3 on the skater advantage.

    The B’s are now 13-14 all time in a Game 6 when trailing in a series 3-2 and are looking to win a best-of-seven series for just the third time in 29 instances of at one point trailing 2-0 in the series heading into Game 3.

    Game 7 is back at PNC Arena in Raleigh Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET with the winner clinching the series 4-3 and advancing to the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Viewers in the United States can tune to ESPN, while those in Canada can catch the action on SN360, SNE, SNW, SNP and TVAS.

    Local markets can also watch the game on their corresponding regional networks if so desired.

    Boston will be making their 29th appearance in a Game 7 and enters Saturday with a 15-13 record in 28 prior Game 7 efforts, having most recently lost in a Game 7 on home ice to the St. Louis Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

    The Bruins lead in Game 7 appearances (28) and are tied with the Montréal Canadiens for the most wins (15), as well as with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the most losses (13).

    Carolina is entering their eighth appearance in a Game 7 Saturday afternoon with a 5-3 record in seven prior instances of a Game 7, having most recently beaten the Washington Capitals on the road in Game 7 of their 2019 First Round series in double overtime.

    The Hurricanes last hosted a Game 7 on home ice in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final when they defeated the Edmonton Oilers to clinch the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship.

    The Canes are 5-0 in a Game 7 since relocating from Hartford and previously defeated the Bruins on the road in Game 7 of their 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinal series in overtime.

    Coincidentally, that game was also held on May 14th.

  • Boston takes Game 3 with, 4-2, victory on home ice

    Boston takes Game 3 with, 4-2, victory on home ice

    Four different players scored for the Boston Bruins in their, 4-2, win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of their 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round matchup Friday night at TD Garden.

    Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall each had a goal for Boston in their first victory against Carolina since Dec. 3, 2019 (regular season and postseason).

    Jeremy Swayman (1-0, 2.00 goals-against average, .926 save percentage in one game played) made his first postseason start and picked up the win with a 25-save effort on 27 shots faced.

    Swayman became the fourth Bruins rookie goaltender to make their first career playoff start on home ice and win, joining Tiny Thompson (Game 1 of the 1929 Semifinal against Montréal), Mike Moffat (Game 1 of the 1982 Adams Division Semifinal against Buffalo) and Andrew Raycroft (Game 1 of the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against Montréal) in the process.

    Hurricanes goaltender, Pyotr Kochetkov (1-1, 3.30 goals-against average, .900 save percentage in two games played), made 24 saves on 28 shots against in the loss.

    The Bruins trail in the series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Sunday afternoon in Boston.

    The B’s were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Jesper Frödén (lower body) and Hampus Lindholm (upper body) on Friday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup.

    First, Cassidy reunited Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak on the first line, while moving Jake DeBrusk to the second line right wing with Hall at left wing and Erik Haula at center.

    Tomáš Nosek was promoted to the third line left wing with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith in their usual roles, while Nick Foligno, Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner made up the fourth line.

    On defense, Mike Reilly went in for Lindholm alongside Charlie McAvoy while Lindholm was out due to injury.

    Trent Frederic joined Josh Brown, Anton Blidh and Kyle Keyser among Boston’s healthy scratches for Game 3.

    Jordan Martinook caught Hall with a high stick at 4:47 of the first period, but the Bruins weren’t able to convert on their first power play of the night.

    Less than five minutes later, Brendan Smith kept the puck in the attacking zone and threw a shot towards the net before Vincent Trocheck (2) corralled the puck and wrapped it around Swayman with a change of pace.

    Smith (1) had the only assist on Trocheck’s goal and the Hurricanes took a, 1-0, lead at 9:17 of the first period as a result.

    Moments later, Martinook cut a rut back to the sin bin for hooking Lazar at 13:10.

    Once more, however, Boston wasn’t able to muster anything on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Instead, the B’s presented Carolina with their first power play of the night at 16:07 of the first period after Haula hauled down Jesper Fast with a trip.

    The Canes didn’t convert on the power play and, worse, gave up a shorthanded goal against in the process.

    DeBrusk broke into the attacking zone and connected with Coyle (1) on a tape-to-tape pass that Coyle batted out of mid-air to beat Kochetkov to tie the game, 1-1, at 17:16.

    DeBrusk (1) had the only assist on Coyle’s shorthanded goal.

    Late in the period, Marchand slashed the Tony DeAngelo’s stick out of his hands and took a trip to the sin bin as a result at 19:25.

    Boston’s penalty kill would spill over into the middle frame unscathed, however.

    The score was tied, 1-1, after 20 minutes of action, with the Hurricanes leading the Bruins in shots on goal, 11-8.

    Carolina also dominated in blocked shots (7-3) and takeaways (7-0), while the B’s led in giveaways (3-2), hits (13-12) and faceoff win percentage (52-48).

    Both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Marchand (1) cut to the slot reminiscent of a prominent scoring move in EA Sports’ NHL 94, settled the puck and buried the rubber biscuit in the back of the twine to give Boston their first lead against Carolina all year (regular season and postseason combined) at 5:41 of the second period.

    Bergeron (1) had the only assist on Marchand’s tally as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead on the scoreboard.

    About a minute later, Connor Clifton cross checked Martinook and presented the Canes with a power play at 6:48, but Carolina couldn’t muster a goal on the resulting skater advantage.

    Less than a minute later, DeAngelo and Marchand exchanged pleasantries by the benches and received roughing and interference infractions, respectively, at 7:44.

    Shortly thereafter, Martinook tried to hit Hall in the neutral zone and ended up taking the worst of it– colliding and landing awkwardly, while sustaining a lower body injury in the process.

    Moments later, Ian Cole interfered with Lazar and yielded another power play to Boston at 12:36.

    It quickly became a two-skater advantage at 13:05, when Trocheck hooked Marchand and presented the Bruins with a 5-on-3 power play as a result for about 1:31.

    The Hurricanes killed Cole’s minor, but couldn’t keep Boston’s power play off the board as Pastrnak (1) snapped a shot from the right dot past Kochetkov’s short side to extend the lead to two-goals.

    Marchand (2) and Coyle (1) notched the assists on Pastrnak’s power-play goal and the B’s led, 3-1, at 14:53 of the second period.

    While the 17,850 in attendance celebrated the goal, however, a pane of glass came crashing down on timeout coordinator, Joe Foley, in Boston’s penalty box requiring medical assistance from both trainers and in-arena staff.

    Foley was stretchered off the ice and taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for observation and should be fine, NHL spokesperson, John Dellapina, told The Associated Press.

    After a seven-minute delay, play resumed and Clifton cut a rut to the box shortly thereafter for roughing, which was briefly reviewed by the on-ice officials as Brendan Smith’s visor cut the Hurricanes defender and drew blood at 15:41.

    The Bruins made the kill on Clifton’s infraction.

    Entering the second intermission, Boston led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 21-19, in shots on goal.

    The B’s had a, 13-8, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone and led in hits (21-19), blocked shots (19-8), as well as faceoff win% (56-44) after 40 minutes of play.

    Carolina held the advantage in takeaways (7-3) and giveaways (9-6), while the Hurricanes went 0-for-4 on the power play through two periods.

    Boston was 1-for-4 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

    Prior to the third period, the Canes tweeted that Martinook would not return to the night’s action with a lower body injury and head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, told reporters after the game that Martinook’s prognosis didn’t look good.

    Meanwhile, Trocheck tripped Nosek at 3:49 of the third period and yielded another power play to Boston.

    The Bruins made quick work of the resulting skater advantage with Hall (2) dishing a pass across the slot to Pastrnak before receiving a setup in return for a one-timer goal from the doorstep of the crease as Kochetkov fell behind going from right to left.

    Pastrnak (1) and Marchand (3) had the assists on Hall’s power-play goal and the B’s had a, 4-1, lead at 4:08 of the third period.

    Less than a minute later, Foligno was penalized for cross checking at 4:48, but Carolina couldn’t muster a power-play goal.

    Midway through the third, however, Jaccob Slavin (1) lobbed a shot from the point with eyes past Swayman on the glove side to make it a two-goal deficit.

    Slavin’s goal was unassisted as the Hurricanes trailed, 4-2, at 11:30 of the third period.

    With 2:42 remaining in regulation, Brind’Amour pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

    He later used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:36 left on the clock, but Boston stood tall and continued to block shots to the very end of the night with Derek Forbort tying a team-record for most blocked shots in a single postseason game (9), done twice before by Dennis Seidenberg in 2013, and the late Steve Montador in 2009.

    At the final horn, the Bruins had taken Game 3 by a final score of, 4-2, and cut the series lead down to 2-1 in favor of the Hurricanes.

    Boston left their own ice leading in shots on goal, 28-27, despite Carolina outshooting the Bruins, 8-7, in the third period alone.

    The B’s also wrapped up Friday night’s action leading in blocked shots (29-12) and faceoff win% (57-43), while the Canes left TD Garden leading in giveaways (12-7) and hits (40-33) after Game 3.

    The Hurricanes went 0-for-5 on the skater advantage, while Boston went 2-for-5 on the power play on Friday.

    The Bruins improved to 14-15 all time in Game 3s when trailing 2-0 in a best-of-seven series, as well as 1-1 when tied after the first period and 1-0 when leading after the second period this postseason.

    Carolina, meanwhile, fell to 1-1 when tied after one and 0-1 when trailing through two periods in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    With the loss in Game 3, the Hurricanes now lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

    Puck drop in Boston is set for 12:30 p.m. ET and viewers outside of the local markets can catch the action on ESPN in the United States, as well as SN and TVAS in Canada.

    Carolina can take a commanding 3-1 series lead heading back to Raleigh for Game 5 while the B’s could even the series 2-2 with another win in Game 4.

  • DTFR Podcast #248- 2022 First Round Preview In Progress (Part 1)

    DTFR Podcast #248- 2022 First Round Preview In Progress (Part 1)

    Nick and Sean tackle a few leftover news items from the last week of the regular season and preview the Eastern Conference matchups in the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music and/or Audible.

  • Bergeron passes Bourque in, 5-3, road victory against Canadiens

    Bergeron passes Bourque in, 5-3, road victory against Canadiens

    It was a historic night at Bell Centre Sunday night as the Montréal Canadiens and their fans honored the life and memory of the late Guy Lafleur with a tribute and a 10-minute standing ovation before the Patrice Bergeron and Erik Haula each scored a pair of goals in a, 5-3, win for the Boston Bruins.

    Bergeron surpassed Montréal native, Ray Bourque, for sole possession of the fourth-most goals in Bruins franchise history, while Haula scored the second penalty shot goal of the season in an unconventional fashion.

    Meanwhile, Charlie McAvoy’s late second period goal held up to be the game-winner for Boston as goaltender, Jeremy Swayman (23-13-3, 2.37 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in 40 games played), made 23 saves on 26 shots agaisnt in the win.

    Canadiens netminder, Sam Montembeault (7-18-6, 3.79 goals-against average, .892 save percentage in 37 games played), turned aside 37 out of 41 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 49-25-5 (103 points) overall and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    Montréal fell to 20-49-11 (51 points) on the season and stuck in 8th place in the Atlantic Division as Habs fans await the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery on May 10th.

    For the first time since the 2017-18 season, Boston swept Montréal in their regular season series, 4-0-0. The B’s also went 4-0-0 against the Habs in 2017-18, and did not face the Canadiens last season due to the temporarily realigned divisions and condensed 56-game schedule.

    Boston went 3-1-0 against Montréal in 2019-20.

    The Bruins were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) on Sunday, while David Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm joined Josh Brown and Anton Blidh on the list of healthy scratches against the Canadiens as expected.

    Bruce Cassidy promoted Tomáš Nosek from his usual fourth line center duties to that of the second line right wing role, while Curtis Lazar slid over on the fourth line to Nosek’s regular spot with Marc McLaughlin re-entering the lineup.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk was paired with McAvoy, while Mike Reilly and Brandon Carlo rounded out the top-four defenders.

    Linus Ullmark served as Swayman’s backup, while Pastrnak, Lindholm and Ullmark were all expected to be given the night off as Cassidy told reporters ahead of the game that he’d manage playing time with the playoffs in mind.

    A pair of milestones unrelated to performance were met on Sunday as Carlo suited up in his 400th career NHL game, while Charlie Coyle took part in his 700th career game.

    Joel Edmundson tripped Connor Clifton at 6:23 of the first period, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the resulting power play– their first and only skater advantage of the night.

    The Bruins matched their longest streak of games without a power play goal (10) for the first time since their inaugural season (1924-25).

    Midway through the opening frame, Josh Anderson and Derek Forbort each cut a rut to their respective sin bins for roughing at 10:55.

    After two minutes of 4-on-4 action, the two teams resumed 5-on-5 play without issue.

    Late in the period, Bergeron (21) gathered a loose puck on the doorstep and buried it into the open twine as Montembeault was caught behind the play after Jake DeBrusk fired the initial shot on net.

    DeBrusk (16) and Brad Marchand (44) tabbed the assists on Bergeron’s goal and the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead at 15:03 of the first period.

    Bergeron’s first goal of the game put him in sole possession of the fourth-most goals in club history for the B’s, surpassing Bourque in the process as Bergeron collected his 396th career goal (all with Boston).

    The goal also marked Boston’s 2,000th goal against Montréal in franchise history.

    A few minutes later, Mike Hoffman slashed Haula’s stick while skating alongside No. 56 in black and gold yielding– for some reason– a penalty shot for Haula at 18:03 as the on-ice officials determined that Hoffman’s infraction was enough to negate a scoring chance on a breakaway, apparently.

    Haula (16) skated past the puck on his initial entry on the penalty shot, but as he never touched the rubber biscuit with his blade– and therefore did not move it forward before going back to retrieve it– he kept his composure, collected the puck, approached Montembeault and wired a shot under the glove side to give Boston a two-goal lead, 2-0.

    For just the fourth time in franchise history, Haula joined Tim Taylor (April 15, 1998), Leo Boivin (Jan. 4, 1964) and Woody Dumart (Jan. 14, 1940) as the only Bruins to score a penalty-shot goal against the Canadiens.

    Less than a minute later, Marchand retaliated against Jeff Petry for a clean hit that Petry made on Bergeron.

    As a result, Marchand was sent to the box with a roughing infraction at 18:52 of the first period.

    The B’s would be down two skaters after the first intermission when Trent Frederic picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct minor at 20:00 of the first period after he tried to engage Petry after the opening frame came to an end.

    After one period of action, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and led in shots on goal, 17-8, as well as in blocked shots (4-2) and hits (14-11).

    The Canadiens held the advantage in giveaways (7-5), while both teams had two takeaways each and split faceoff win percentage, 50-50.

    Montréal and Boston were also 0-for-1 on the power play heading into the middle period.

    The B’s survived Marchand’s minor, but couldn’t survive Frederic’s infraction as the Canadiens continued to pressure in the attacking zone before Petry forged a pass via Brendan Gallagher to Anderson (19) for a power-play goal on a shot with eyes past Swayman.

    Gallagher (16) and Petry (19) had the assists on Anderson’s goal and the Habs trailed, 2-1, at 1:51 of the second period.

    Boston responded less than a few minutes later as Clifton sent a pass up to Nosek on a rush before Nosek setup Haula (17) with a tape-to-tape pass for the catch and release goal at 4:04 of the second period.

    Nosek (14) and Clifton (8) notched the assists and the Bruins went ahead by two goals once more, 3-1.

    About a minute later, Haula headed off to the box for interference– taking Jake Evans with him, though, as Evans was assessed an embellishment infraction to present some more 4-on-4 action at 5:16.

    Less than a minute later, however, Grzelcyk tripped Anderson and yielded an abbreviated 4-on-3 power play to the Canadiens at 5:47.

    Montréal could not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Moments later, Laurent Dauphin checked Taylor Hall along the boards leaving Hall out of breath, but the Bruins forward managed to skate off on his own after a stoppage and never went down the tunnel.

    Cassidy informed reporters that Hall must have simply “had the wind knocked out of him” and indicated that he didn’t expect the Boston forward to miss any time.

    Marchand and Anderson exchanged pleasantries late in the period yielding slashing and cross checking minors, respectively, at 16:12 and resulting in more 4-on-4 action for the two squads.

    On an attacking zone faceoff, the Bruins won the puck back to the point where McAvoy (10) snapped a shot past Montembeault’s blocker side to give Boston a three-goal lead.

    Bergeron (37) had the only assist on the goal as McAvoy made it, 4-1, at 18:09 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action Sunday night, the Bruins led, 4-1, on the scoreboard and held a, 31-16, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 14-8, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.

    Boston also led in hits (23-22), while Montréal led in takeaways (4-3), giveaways (13-9) and faceoff win% (51-49) after two periods.

    Both teams had eight blocked shots aside, while the Canadiens were 1-for-3 and the Bruins were 0-for-1 on the skater advantage.

    McLaughlin lifted the puck over the glass for an automatic delay of game infraction at 3:10 of the third period and the Habs didn’t take long to capitalize on the ensuing advantage.

    Montréal won a faceoff back to the point where Petry slid a pass across the ice to Hoffman (13) for a one-timer blast off the iron and in– bringing the Canadiens to within two goals at 3:13.

    Petry (20) and Christian Dvorak (19) had the assists on Hoffman’s power-play goal and the Habs trailed, 4-2.

    Almost midway through the final frame, Nick Suzuki (21) caught a pass and released a shot from the slot past Swayman after the Bruins failed to clear their own zone.

    Mathieu Perreault (4) and Michael Pezzetta (4) had the assists on Suzuki’s goal and the Canadiens trailed, 4-3, at 7:19 of the third period.

    With 2:20 remaining in the action, Montréal’s interim head coach, Martin St. Louis, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

    After Forbort’s shot attempt was knocked down by a high stick in Boston’s attacking zone, however, Montembeault had to return to the crease otherwise the Canadiens would’ve allowed a surefire empty net goal.

    With 51.8 seconds remaining, Montembeault vacated the net once more.

    After a stoppage with 26.2 seconds left, St. Louis used his timeout to rally his skaters for one last chance, but the Bruins wound up getting another rush in the dying seconds of the game after Nosek and Marchand won a battle along the boards.

    Marchand fed an indirect pass off the boards across the width of the ice for Bergeron (22) to retrieve and skate into the attacking zone mostly unguarded before burying the puck in the empty net for his second goal of the game and another two-goal advantage for Boston.

    Marchand (45) had the only assist on Bergeron’s empty net goal and the Bruins led, 5-3, at 19:53 of the third period.

    As a result of the goal, Bergeron now trails Rick Middleton by five goals for the third-most in franchise history, while Marchand is nine points away from reaching the 800-point plateau in his career.

    He’s also two points away (791) from tying Wayne Cashman (793) for the seventh-most points in Bruins franchise history.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 5-3, and left Bell Centre leading in shots on goal, 42-26, including an, 11-10, advantage in the third period alone.

    The Bruins also finished the night leading in giveaways (19-16) and hits (36-28), while the Canadiens exited their own ice with the advantage in blocked shots (17-10) and faceoff win% (52-48).

    Montréal went 2-for-4 on the power play on Sunday, while Boston went 0-for-1.

    Meanwhile, Swayman picked up his 23rd win of the season and moved into sole possession of the fourth-most wins by a rookie goaltender in B’s franchise history, trailing Frank Brimsek (33), Andrew Raycroft (29) and Tiny Thompson (26) as a result.

    Tuukka Rask, Marco Baron and Jack Gelineau are now tied for the fifth-most with 22.

    The Habs are now on a nine-game losing streak (all in regulation) and fell to 6-38-8 (3-21-3 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-32-8 (2-16-3 at home) when trailing after one period and 3-40-6 (1-22-2 at home) when losing after two periods in 2021-22.

    Boston improved to 36-9-2 (19-4-1 on the road) when scoring first, 28-5-1 (14-2-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 31-1-3 (17-0-2 on the road) when leading after the second period this season.

    The B’s have three games remaining in the regular season, while the Toronto Maple Leafs have two games and the Tampa Bay Lightning have three games left in their schedules.

    Toronto is 2nd in the Atlantic Division and can clinch home ice in the First Round with at least one point in their remaining games, while Tampa would need to win out their final three games and hope for the Maple Leafs to lose their last two games in regulation.

    Boston cannot finish higher than 3rd in the Atlantic and is not destined to have home ice in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs unless they meet another wild card in the later rounds.

    Entering Monday, the B’s would face the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2022 First Round, though if Boston falls behind the Washington Capitals (100 points) in the wild card standings, there’s always a chance they’ll face the Florida Panthers.

    In any case, Toronto would face Tampa if Boston is a wild card team.

    Otherwise, we could be looking at another Bruins vs. Leafs First Round series if Boston is able to overcome the Lightning in the division standings.

    The Bruins host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and Buffalo Sabres on Thursday before closing out the 2021-22 regular season Friday night on the road against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

  • Pastrnak reaches 500 career points in, 3-1, victory against Rangers

    Pastrnak reaches 500 career points in, 3-1, victory against Rangers

    David Pastrnak scored a goal and had an assist in his return to action after missing the last eight games due to injury as the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers, 3-1, Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

    Pastrnak became the third-fastest Bruin in franchise history to amass 500 points with 239 goals and 261 assists in 508 career games since making his National Hockey League debut in the 2014-15 season after Boston drafted him in the first round (25th overall) in 2014.

    Only Bobby Orr (500 points in 396 games) and Ray Bourque (500 points in 484 games) outpaced Pastrnak for the fastest to 500 career points (all with the Bruins).

    Meanwhile, Linus Ullmark (24-10-2, 2.52 goals-against average, .914 save percentage in 39 games played) made 30 saves on 31 shots against for a .968 save percentage and the win in his first game back from an undisclosed injury that caused him to miss the last three games.

    Rangers goaltender, Igor Shesterkin (36-12-4, 2.03 goals-against average, .936 save percentage in 52 games played), stopped 32 out of 35 shots faced in the loss.

    Boston improved to 48-25-5 (101 points) on the season and within a point of the Tampa Bay Lightning for 3rd in the Atlantic Division at the time of this writing.

    Despite being 4th in the Atlantic, the B’s hold the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    New York, meanwhile, fell to 51-22-6 (108 points) overall and stuck in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division.

    The Bruins finished their regular season series against the Rangers and went 1-1-1 across their three matchups.

    The B’s went 5-3-0 against the Broadway Blueshirts in 2020-21 and 3-0-0 in 2019-20.

    Hampus Lindholm, Pastrnak and Ullmark returned to the lineup for Boston, while Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) remained out against the Rangers on Saturday.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters prior to Saturday afternoon’s, 3-1, win that Pastrnak and Lindholm may not travel to Montréal as the Bruins visit the Canadiens Sunday night.

    Zboril, meanwhile, has reportedly begun contract extension negotiations with Boston, according to New England Hockey Journal and NHL.com contributor, Mark Divver.

    Jack Ahcan, Jack Studnicka and Troy Grosenick were all reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) prior to Saturday’s matchup against New York (Ahcan and Studnicka were technically reassigned on Thursday and Friday, respectively).

    With a trio of players returning to the lineup, Cassidy made changes accordingly– moving Curtis Lazar back to the fourth line as Pastrnak resumed his regular role on the second line right wing.

    Meanwhile, Lindholm suited up alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first defensive pairing with Matt Grzelcyk demoted to the second pairing next to Brandon Carlo and Mike Reilly joining Marc McLaughlin as the odd players out as a result of Pastrnak and Lindholm’s return.

    Reilly and McLaughlin were joined by Josh Brown and Anton Blidh on Boston’s list of healthy scratches on Saturday, while Lazar skated in his 400th career NHL game.

    Julien Gauthier cut a rut to the penalty box for tripping Lindholm at 7:47 of the first period, but the Bruins failed to capitalize on the resulting power play opportunity.

    A few minutes later, Jake DeBrusk caught Adam Fox with a high stick and presented the Rangers with their first power play of the afternoon at 10:01, but New York couldn’t score on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Boston got another chance on the power play at 12:26 of the first period when the Rangers were caught with too many skaters on the ice.

    Once more, however, the B’s let another power play go by the wayside.

    Late in the period Brad Marchand rushed the puck up the ice to McAvoy as Boston’s best defender pinched in from the point to the slot prior to sliding a pass through the slot to Pastrnak (39) for a one-timer goal on Shesterkin’s blocker side.

    McAvoy (45) and Marchand (43) tallied the assists as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead at 19:25.

    Heading into the first intermission, Boston had the advantage on the scoreboard, despite trailing New York in shots on goal, 12-10.

    The B’s led in blocked shots (9-5), giveaways (5-2) and faceoff win percentage (71-29), while the Rangers led in takeaways (3-2) and hits (11-7).

    New York was 0-for-1 and Boston was 0-for-2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Taylor Hall (18) received a breakaway pass from Erik Haula and sent a shot over the glove early in the second period to extend Boston’s lead to two-goals.

    Haula (26) and Pastrnak (34) notched the assists as the Bruins took a, 2-0, lead at 1:07 of the second period– courtesy of Hall’s goal and Pastrnak’s 500th career NHL point in the form of a secondary assist on the goal.

    Midway through the middle frame, McAvoy rocked Fox on a clean open ice hit in Boston’s own end– drawing the ire of Dryden Hunt and resulting in a bit of a fracas between McAvoy and Hunt that resulted in a pair of roughing infractions and 4-on-4 action at 9:27.

    The Bruins soon had an abbreviated 4-on-3 power play after Jacob Trouba tripped Pastrnak at 10:21 of the second period, but once again the B’s couldn’t muster anything on the power play– falling to 0-for-32 on their last 32 skater advantages as a result.

    Through 40 minutes of action, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and held a, 28-22, advantage in shots on goal, including an, 18-10, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston led in blocked shots (11-9), giveaways (9-8) and faceoff win% (68-32) after two periods, while New York held the advantage in takeaways (8-3) and hits (24-20).

    The Rangers were 0-for-1 and the Bruins were 0-for-3 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Ullmark sent the puck over the glass and out of play to kick off the third period with an automatic infraction at 1:42.

    Craig Smith served the minor and the Rangers took full advantage of the ensuing power play.

    Carlo lost his stick and was aiming to retrieve it while the puck was still in New York’s attacking zone– rendering the Bruins defender out of position as Mika Zibanejad stood on the doorstep and awaited a pass through the slot.

    Chris Kreider setup Zibanejad (29) for a one-timer goal as Ullmark made a desperation effort that came up a little bit short as Zibanejad’s power-play goal brought the Rangers to within one and put them on the scoreboard.

    Kreider (24) and Alexis Lafrenière (12) had the assists on the goal and New York trailed, 2-1, at 2:58 of the third period.

    Carlo also managed to hook Lafrenière before losing his stick– resulting in another power play for the Rangers at 2:58, though this time Boston was able to kill off the infraction.

    Midway through the third period, Connor Clifton dumped the puck off of Charlie Coyle (inadvertently) and into the attacking zone, where Smith retrieved the rubber biscuit by the goal lime and zipped a pass back to Trent Frederic (7) for the catch and release shot in the slot off of Shesterkin and into the twine.

    Smith (18) and Coyle (27) picked up the assists as the Bruins extended their lead back to two-goals, 3-1, at 9:37.

    With 3:49 remaining in the action, Rangers head coach, Gerard Gallant, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker before using his timeout 46 seconds later to draw up a plan to rally his skaters for a pair of goals to tie the game at the very least.

    Things did not go to plan.

    New York iced the puck with 40.1 seconds remaining after Marchand rang the outside of the iron on an empty net and Shesterkin went back into the crease.

    He wasn’t able to make his way back to the bench as Boston sustained enough offensive pressure to keep the Rangers from breaking through the neutral zone as time ticked down and the final horn eventually sounded.

    The Bruins had won, 3-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 35-31, despite being outshot by the Rangers, 9-7, in the third period alone.

    Boston exited their own building leading in blocked shots (17-11) and faceoff win% (62-38), while New York left TD Garden leading in hits (34-24).

    Both teams managed to amass nine giveaways each, while the Rangers went 1-for-3 on the power play and the B’s finished the afternoon 0-for-3 on the skater advantage.

    For the fourth time in the last five seasons, Boston passed the 100-point plateau in the standings.

    The Bruins have 25 seasons with 100 points or more in franchise history, which is also an NHL record.

    Having completed their final matinée game of the regular season, the B’s went 11-2-0 in 13 afternoon matchups in 2021-22, while improving to 35-9-2 (17-5-1 at home) when scoring first, 27-5-1 (14-3-0 at home) when leading after one and 30-1-3 (14-1-1 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    New York fell to 18-17-4 (11-11-0 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 11-12-4 (6-9-0 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 4-17-2 (1-12-0 on the road) when trailing after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins will pay a visit to the Montréal Canadiens on Sunday before hosting the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, prior to their regular season series finale on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

  • DeSmith sets franchise record in, 4-0, shutout victory for Penguins

    DeSmith sets franchise record in, 4-0, shutout victory for Penguins

    Casey DeSmith made 52 saves in a, 4-0, shutout for the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night against the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena– setting a pair of franchise records for each team in the process.

    DeSmith made the most saves in a shutout win in Penguins history, surpassing Jean-Sebastian Aubin’s 45-save effort in a, 4-0, win against the Dallas Stars on March 9, 2004, at Pittsburgh’s former home, Mellon Arena.

    Meanwhile, for the first time in Bruins history, Boston had 50 or more shots on net in a shutout loss.

    Also Jake Guentzel scored a hat trick to reach the 40-goal plateau for the second time in his career and first time since the 2018-19 season.

    Talk about burying the lede.

    DeSmith (9-5-5, 2.75 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in 23 games played) made 52 saves on 52 shots against in the shutout win for the Pens, while Jeremy Swayman (22-13-3, 2.35 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 39 games played) stopped 28 out of 31 shots faced in the loss for the B’s.

    The Penguins improved to 44-23-11 (99 points) overall and remain in command of 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division, while the Bruins fell to 47-25-5 (99 points) and remain stuck in 4th place in the Atlantic Division.

    Boston is still two points ahead of the Washington Capitals for the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with the second wild card going on to face the Florida Panthers in the 2022 First Round as a result of the Panthers clinching the number one seed in the Eastern Conference on Thursday night.

    The B’s went 1-2-0 in their regular season series against the Penguins after going 5-3-0 against Pittsburgh in 2020-21 and 2-1-0 in 2019-20.

    The Bruins remained without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), David Pastrnak (undisclosed), Hampus Lindholm (lower body), Linus Ullmark (undisclosed) and Jesper Frödén (lower body) on Thursday.

    Head coach, Bruce Cassidy, informed reporters prior to the matchup with the Penguins that Ullmark could be back on Saturday afternoon in Boston and made no changes to his lineup from Tuesday night’s, 3-2, overtime victory in St. Louis to Thursday night’s loss in Pittsburgh.

    Jack Studnicka, Josh Brown, Jack Ahcan and Anton Blidh made up the short list of healthy scratches for the B’s against the Pens.

    Rickard Rakell sent a pass to Sidney Crosby before Crosby bumped it over to Guentzel along the blue line as the Penguins entered the attacking zone almost midway through the opening frame.

    Guentzel (38) drove to the net as the Bruins botched a line change and buried a shot through Swayman’s five-hole to give Pittsburgh a, 1-0, lead at 7:49 of the first period.

    Crosby (52) and Rakell (20) tallied the assists on Guentzel’s first goal of the game.

    Moments later, Pittsburgh had the first power play of the night as a result of Taylor Hall’s slashing infraction at 11:48, but the Pens failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    After one period the Penguins led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 13-11, in shots on goal.

    Boston, meanwhile, held the advantage in giveaways (4-1), hits (15-7) and faceoff win% (59-41).

    Both teams had four blocked shots and five takeaways each heading into the middle period while Pittsburgh was 0-for-1 on the power play and the Bruins had yet to see any action on the skater advantage.

    Early in the middle frame, Boston’s defense erred once more as Jeff Carter sent fed Jason Zucker a lead pass into the attacking zone.

    Zucker (8) broke free behind Brandon Carlo and buried a shot in the top right corner as Carlo opted to cover Bryan Rust in the center of the ice.

    Carter (24) and John Marino (24) notched the assists as the Penguins took a, 2-0, lead at 6:10 of the second period.

    About ten minutes later, the Pens extended their lead to three goals when Carlo failed to clear the zone and ended up giving the puck away to the high slot whereby Pittsburgh kept it in the zone and worked it around before Kris Letang dished a pass through the slot to connect with Guentzel (39) on a one-timer goal.

    Letang (56) had the only assist as the Penguins made it, 3-0, at 16:12 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action, Pittsburgh led on the scoreboard, 3-0, despite trailing in shots on goal, 30-25.

    Boston even had a, 19-12, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone, while also maintaining control in takeaways (8-6), giveaways (6-3) and hits (29-19).

    The Penguins, on the other hand, led in blocked shots (7-6), while both teams managed to split faceoff win%, 50-50, after two periods.

    Only the Pens had seen any power play action heading into the second intermission and Pittsburgh was 0-for-1 as a result entering the final frame.

    Marcus Pettersson cut a rut to the penalty box for interference at 7:27 of the third period, but the Bruins weren’t able to convert on the resulting power play– falling to 0-for-28 on their last 28 power play opportunities as a result.

    The B’s had another chance on the skater advantage at 10:16 when Chad Ruhwedel was penalized for holding, but Boston ended up extending their power play drought to 0-for-29 on their last 29 power plays instead.

    With about four minutes left in the game, Cassidy pulled Swayman for an extra attacker.

    He’d end up yanking him again about a minute later after a stoppage in play resulted in a defensive zone faceoff, but Pittsburgh made quick work of the open net regardless.

    Guentzel (40) retrieved a loose puck in his own end and flung the rubber biscuit with enough velocity to reach the back of the empty twine across the rink– giving the Penguins a, 4-0, lead as a result at 17:55 of the third period.

    Hats rained down from the stands at PPG Paints Arena as Guentzel completed his hat trick with an unassisted empty net goal.

    At the final horn, Pittsburgh had won, 4-0, with DeSmith earning a shutout despite Boston exiting the ice with a, 52-32, advantage in shots on goal, including a, 22-7, advantage in shots on net in the third period alone.

    The Bruins exited PPG Paints Arena with the advantage in giveaways (6-5), hits (36-26) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the Penguins left their own ice leading in blocked shots (14-8).

    The Pens went 0-for-1 and the B’s went 0-for-2 on the power play on Thursday.

    Boston has now lost five out of their last eight games and dropped to 13-16-3 (6-8-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 6-14-2 (2-7-1 on the road) when trailing after one and 4-19-2 (1-8-1 on the road) when losing after two periods this season.

    Pittsburgh, meanwhile, improved to 33-5-3 (17-3-1 at home) when scoring first, 22-3-2 (13-2-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 30-1-2 (15-0-1 at home) when leading after two periods in 2021-22.

    The Bruins return home to host the New York Rangers Saturday afternoon at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for a little after 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

    Boston heads to Montréal on Sunday before hosting Florida and Buffalo next Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, prior to their regular season finale in Toronto next Friday.