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  • Beyond Kane, much uncertainty ahead of NHL trade deadline

    Beyond Kane, much uncertainty ahead of NHL trade deadline

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    The NHL’s top contenders did not wait until the last minute to do their shopping before the trade deadline.

    League-leading Boston got bigger and tougher by adding Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway. Toronto got defensive by trading for Ryan O’Reilly. The Rangers answered their New York-rival Islanders’ move for Bo Horvat by acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko — and they’re not done yet.

    A handful of big moves already have been made around the league, including a few Sunday, and more are expected before the trade deadline Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern. Patrick Kane going from Chicago to the Rangers is the most highly anticipated deal on the docket, and yet plenty of uncertainty remains about what else will shake out.

    “I am certainly not going to predict where the market goes next,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said last week after making what could be his first big trade or his only big one. “That’s for all teams, all 32 teams, to continue to discuss and those discussions will continue.”

    Discussions led to a flurry of trades Sunday.

    San Jose traded winger Timo Meier to New Jersey, Tampa Bay gave Nashville a boatload for forward Tanner Jeannot, Stanley Cup champion Colorado reacquired veteran defenseman Jack Johnson in a trade with Chicago in exchange for Andreas Englund, St. Louis sent forward Ivan Barbashev to Vegas for 20-year-old prospect Zach Dean, and Dallas got 20-goal-scorer Evgenii Dadnov from Montreal for Denis Gurianov.

    More are ongoing around Kane, San Jose’s Erik Karlsson, Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun, Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk and Washington’s handful of pending free agents after the perennially contending Capitals went from buyers to sellers.

    Prices have been high on a lot of players, most notably Chychrun, who is the top player left to change places by the deadline.

    “I can see the marketplace taking towards the end of the week to sort out for some teams,” said Hart Levine of PuckPedia, a website that tracks the salary cap and player movement.

    WHAT ALREADY HAS HAPPENED

    The Islanders made their splash in late January, getting Horvat, a 30-goal scorer, from Vancouver and signing him to an eight-year extension. The Rangers, after the All-Star break in early February, got Tarasenko and big defenseman Niko Mikkola from St. Louis to start loading up to try to repeat or improve on their trip to the Eastern Conference final.

    “You want to win, and you want to be a part of good hockey teams who can win,” Mikkola said. “The whole team is good, and we can go deep. We all know that.”

    The Maple Leafs want to go deep, but they haven’t won a playoff series since 2004 — before the NHL had a salary cap. Acquiring O’Reilly, a playoff MVP in 2019 when the Blues won the Stanley Cup, and tough depth forward Noel Acciari sets them up better for that pursuit, if their goaltending holds up.

    WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN

    The worst-kept secret in the sport is Kane’s connection to the Rangers.

    After New York got Tarasenko, thinking the price for Meier or Kane would be too high, Kane said: “If things were going to happen … that was a team that I was definitely looking at.”

    Not much of a poker face, but Kane has a full no-movement clause, meaning the three-time Cup champion who was league MVP in 2015-16 can choose where he wants to go. Rangers GM Chris Drury took care of his end of the money aspect Saturday by trading Vitali Kravtsov to Vancouver and waiving Jake Leschyshyn.

    And while Kane’s name isn’t being uttered around the Rangers, there’s an uneasiness around them as the buzz seeps into the locker room.

    “It always does at this time of the year,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “It’s tough on some players. But at the end of the day, you’re trying to make your team better every day and that’s what management does.”

    Chychrun has been on the trade block since before last season, and the 24-year-old defenseman with two seasons left on his contract after this one figures to finally get dealt.

    WHAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAPPEN

    Sellers also are buying while still selling — mass hysteria. Well, not quite hysteria, but it’s not as simple as the haves and the have-nots at this deadline.

    St. Louis, even after trading Tarasenko, Mikkola, O’Reilly, Acciari and Barbashev, could also be in the market for Chychrun or other players signed beyond this season. Same goes for Washington, which won the Cup in 2018 and has made the playoffs every year since 2014, but has been beset by injuries and other events that could end the streak.

    The Capitals sent Orlov and Hathaway to the Bruins and still could trade forwards Lars Eller, Conor Sheary and Marcus Johansson and defenseman Nick Jensen, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Erik Gustafsson, all of whom are pending free agents.

    “It’s a little bit emotional, and it’s not fun,” said Eller, who scored the Cup-clinching goal five years ago. “Just try to stay in the moment, stay in the present.”

    Washington GM Brian MacLellan is certainly doing that. With Alex Ovechkin in pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record, the Capitals aren’t going into a rebuild any time soon, and MacLellan already has foreshadowed taking the picks acquired and flipping them to win again as soon as next year.

    “While this season has proven challenging with injuries to our significant players, we are in a position to use some of our current assets to retool our club and build a competitive team moving forward,” he said.

    That could even start before the deadline.

    ___

    AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen in Boston and Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Barzal, Pageau send Islanders to 6-2 win over Canucks

    Barzal, Pageau send Islanders to 6-2 win over Canucks

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists as the New York Islanders beat the struggling Vancouver Canucks 6-2 on Tuesday night.

    Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored twice — once on a power play and then shorthanded late into an empty net. Aatu Raty, Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas also had goals for the Islanders. Barzal has scored in four straight games.

    “He’s skating, he’s making the right decision and he’s shooting the puck more,” Pageau said. “He’s got a great shot. When he’s playing with confidence like that, he’s a player that can make a difference. He’s a key player for us and we’re lucky to have him.”

    Ilya Sorokin stopped 24 shots in his 14th win.

    The Canucks got a pair of goals from Bo Horvat as they dropped their third game in a row. Vancouver’s captain is tied with Alex Ovechkin for third in the NHL with 28 goals.

    “We want to make the playoffs and we want to be in contention and obviously I’m trying to do whatever I can to help make that happen,” Horvat said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not good enough.”

    Defensive mistakes have plagued the Canucks all season, and this marked the 16th time in 37 games that they’ve given up at least five goals.

    Spencer Martin made 23 saves for Vancouver.

    Boos rained down as the final horn sounded and the Canucks fell to 7-10-1 at home.

    “It’s kind of been a similar story for too long now,” defenseman Tyler Myers said. “We talk about our consistency — we had a really good first period and then we came off the gas a bit to start the second. We’ve got to find a way.”

    Cizikas made it 5-2 with his third goal of the season 9:44 into the third period, sending a wrist shot over Martin’s glove from the faceoff dot.

    Islanders rookie Parker Wotherspoon, who grew up a Canucks fan in British Columbia, assisted on the play for his first NHL point.

    New York regained a two-goal cushion 1:46 into the third after Vancouver’s Ethan Bear turned over the puck deep in the Canucks zone.

    Brock Nelson picked it up, spun to keep it on his stick and then sent it to Lee, who put a wrist shot past Martin to make it 4-2 with his 14th goal of the season.

    Vancouver cut its deficit to one late in the second with a power-play goal after Matt Martin was called for hooking.

    Seconds into the man advantage, J.T. Miller sent a pass to Horvat in the slot and he fired a shot past Sorokin to make it 3-2 with his 28th goal.

    Another ugly giveaway quickly turned into an Islanders goal earlier in the second.

    Myers coughed up the puck in the corner and Barzal took advantage, sailing a shot into the top corner to make it 3-1 at the 16:28 mark.

    Barzal has 10 goals this season and five in his last four games.

    Pageau gave New York the lead with a power-play goal 12:56 into the second after Myers was sent to the box for slashing.

    “It’s like as soon as something bad happens to this team, the adversity, we cannot handle it. And it seems like, ‘Oh, here we go.’ And then that’s it,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “As long as we’ve got the lead, we’re fine. But when we get behind, it’s not a good thing. It just seems like the wind goes out of everybody’s sails.”

    HOMETOWN FEAST

    Barzal, from the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam, has hit the scoresheet in all 10 career matchups against his hometown team, amassing 12 points (two goals, 10 assists).

    MILESTONE

    Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn played in his 900th regular-season NHL game.

    UP NEXT

    Islanders: Continue a four-game trip Thursday at Edmonton.

    Canucks: Host the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

    ———

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Horvat has 2 goals and 2 assists, Canucks beat Sharks 6-2

    Horvat has 2 goals and 2 assists, Canucks beat Sharks 6-2

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Bo Horvat had two goals and two assists, Spencer Martin stopped 24 shots and the Vancouver Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks 6-2 on Tuesday night for their third straight victory.

    Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and three assists, and Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes, with his first of the season, also scored for the Canucks. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, with all three losses at home, and 16-15-3 overall.

    “I feel like we’ve been playing the right way,” Boeser said. “We’re kind of getting that swagger back. That’s a big part of our team. When we don’t have that swagger, sometimes (things) get kind of dead. We’ve just got to keep playing the right way.”

    Coach Bruce Boudreau hesitated when asked about the Canucks’ swagger.

    “I don’t like that word,” he said. “I think the team is starting to believe in themselves a little bit and I think that’s important.”

    Horvat has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in his last 10 games.

    “It’s awesome,” Boeser said about Horvat. “It’s really fun to watch.”

    Timo Meir scored twice for San Jose and James Reimer made 19 saves. Reimer is a victory short of 200 in his NHL career.

    “I thought we had chances to climb back in,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I don’t like what went on in our own end. We’ve got to fix that in practice and get back to playing good structural defence.”

    Vancouver took control of the game with goals from Mikheyev and Hughes 1:40 apart in the second period.

    Mikheyev gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead just seconds after the Sharks killed a Vancouver power play. He scored his 12th of the season at 4:36, taking a pass from Andrei Kuzmenko and putting it over Reimer’s shoulder. Hughes scored at 6:16 with a shot from the faceoff circle that found the top of the net.

    UP NEXT

    Sharks: Host Philadelphia on Thursday night.

    Canucks: At Winnipeg on Thursday night.

    ———

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Kuzmenko scores in SO to give Canucks 4-3 win over Flames

    Kuzmenko scores in SO to give Canucks 4-3 win over Flames

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    CALGARY, Alberta — Andrei Kuzmenko scored the only goal of the shootout and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 Wednesday night for their sixth straight road win.

    Bo Horvat, Conor Garland and Sheldon Dries scored in regulation for the Canucks who gave up an early two-goal lead and had to come back to tie the score. Nils Hoglander had two assists and Spencer Martin stopped 35 shots to improve to 9-3-1.

    “I was proud of the way we played tonight,” Horvat said. “It’s a tough building to come into, they got a good team over there. Obviously, I’d like to not give up a two-goal lead but at the same time we didn’t panic. In previous games or early in the year, we might have a little panic in our game, Dries scored a big goal and I thought we did a good job after that, kind of limiting their Grade-As. Overall, it was a great game and Marty was fantastic.”

    Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane and Trevor Lewis scored for Calgary, which lost its fourth straight overall — third straight beyond regulation — and fell to 6-1-1 in its last eight at home. Dillon Dube had two assists and Jacob Markstrom finished with 24 saves.

    “Big point for us,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “A little bad luck early. I thought we had a really good start and they scored a deflection goal and a lost-coverage goal quick. I thought we were pretty resilient and battled back.”

    Kuzmenko scored on the Canucks’ first attempt of the tiebreaker, firing a shot over Markstrom’s glove. Dube and Backlund both missed on Flames’ final two attempts to give Vancouver the win.

    “Just trying to time it depth-wise and meet them at their decision point and let them make a move and hold my edges,” Martin said of Calgary’s three tries in the shootout.

    In overtime, Markstrom denied Ilya Mikheyev on a breakaway with a minute remaining to keep it tied.

    Horvat and Garland scored 34 seconds apart to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead less than 2 minutes into the game. Horvat deflected a Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the left point past Markstrom at 1:14 for his 21st to get the Canucks on the board. Garland got the puck near the left corner and beat Markstrom from the left circle for his fifth at 1:48.

    With the Flames on the power play, Backlund redirected a feed from Dube at 9:40 for his sixth to make it 2-1.

    Mangiapane tied it with 3:51 remaining in the first as he quickly scored from the left circle off a pass from Nazem Kadri from behind the goal. It was Mangiapane’s seventh.

    “Obviously not ideal to be down 2-0 right away,” Markstrom said. “Leaving the first period tied hockey game was a great effort by us and unfortunately we can’t get the win.”

    Lewis put the Flames ahead 3-2 at 3:51 of the second as he banked his own rebound from a sharp angle off Martin’s glove and in for his sixth.

    Dries tied it from the left circle on a Canucks rush off a pass from Hoglander to tie it at 5:31 of the middle period with his third.

    PENALTY PARADE

    After a road trip in which Calgary was short-handed 20 times in three games, the parade to the penalty box continued in the first period. The Canucks went on the power play twice. The Flames have been short-handed 115 times, tied for second-most behind Edmonton (116). St. Louis has been short-handed the fewest times at 65.

    LINEUP SHUFFLES

    Flames D MacKenzie Weegar (non-COVID illness) returned after missing one game while D Chris Tanev (upper body) sat out after taking a shot to the side of the head in Montreal on Monday. Calgary also got C Elias Lindholm (upper body) back after a one-game absence and inserted RW Brett Ritchie for rookie forward Matthew Phillips. … For the Canucks, F Brock Boeser (non-COVID illness) did not play, which opened up a spot for Dries’ return.

    UP NEXT

    Canucks: Host Winnipeg on Saturday night to open a three-game homestand.

    Flames: Host St. Louis on Friday night to wrap up a two-game homestand.

    ———

    AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://www.twitter.com/AP—NHL

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  • Hughes and Sharangovich help Devils beat Canucks 5-2

    Hughes and Sharangovich help Devils beat Canucks 5-2

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Yegor Sharangovich and Jack Hughes each scored and had an assist to help the New Jersey Devils beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday night.

    Nico Hischier, Michael McLeod and Dawson Mercer also had goals for the Devils (7-3-0), who won their fourth game in a row for the first time since October 2018.

    Bo Horvat replied for the Canucks (2-6-2) with a pair of power-play goals. J.T. Miller assisted on both.

    New Jersey netminder Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves and improved his career record against Vancouver to 5-0-0.

    “I think we’ve been doing a good job of capitalizing on our chances as of late and really limiting stuff that the other team was getting in our end,” Blackwood said. “Tonight we did a good job of burying chances.”

    Jesper Bratt had an assist on Hischier’s fifth goal, extending his season-opening point streak to 10 games (four goals, 12 assists), which equaled a franchise record.

    “I think (Bratt’s) playing a team game and he’s getting rewarded,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said.

    “He’s taking advantage of the opportunities and he’s finding a way every night to get on the board.”

    Thatcher Demko stopped 32 of 36 shots for Vancouver.

    The defeat snapped a two-game win streak for the Canucks, who lost seven in a row to start the season.

    “We need our veteran guys and our better players to be better players consistently, every day, not just one good game here and one good game there,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “And that goes not only for (defensemen) but it goes for the forwards as well and the goaltending as well.”

    Boudreau pulled his goalie with less than two minutes left and Hughes scored into the empty net.

    Vancouver made a late push, pulling Demko in favor of an extra attacker after New Jersey’s Ryan Graves was called for holding with 3:34 left on the clock.

    The move paid off when Horvat buried his second of the night with a one-timer from the high hash marks at the 17:12 mark, cutting the deficit to 4-2.

    “Obviously, the puck’s going in right now. But I’d rather be getting wins than scoring goals right now. I’d rather have none and be 9-0-0,” Horvat said. “But it’s not the way it’s going right now. And we’ve got to put this one in the past and keep plugging away here.”

    NEW FACES

    Canucks defenseman Ethan Bear and center Jack Studnicka made their debuts for Vancouver after being acquired in separate trades last week. Star blueliner Quinn Hughes returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury.

    NEW THREADS

    The Canucks wore their new navy blue “Johnny Canuck” reverse retro jerseys. The sweaters pay homage to the team’s namesake, a lumberjack-looking character called Johnny Canuck, which served as the team’s logo when it entered the Western Hockey League in 1945.

    UP NEXT

    New Jersey: At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

    Vancouver: Hosts the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

    ———

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Canucks top Penguins 5-1 for 2nd straight after opening skid

    Canucks top Penguins 5-1 for 2nd straight after opening skid

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Bo Horvat scored twice, Andrei Kuzmenko had a goal and an assist and the Vancouver Canucks won their second straight after a season-opening skid, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Friday night.

    Tanner Pearson and J.T. Miller also scored, Ilya Mikheyev had two assists and Spencer Martin made 34 saves. On Thursday night in Seattle, the Canucks beat the Kraken 5-4 to end their season-opening losing streak at a franchise-record seven games.

    “Obviously there’s a lot more energy, obviously the smiles on our faces,” Horvat said. “But I mean, we’ve got to dig ourselves out of the hole here. Obviously, we put ourselves in this situation. Just because we won two games, you can’t be satisfied. We’ve got to keep going here.”

    Rickard Rakell scored for Pittsburgh and Tristan Jarry made 24 saves. The Penguins have lost three straight in regulation to fall to 4-3-1.

    “I just don’t think we’re putting a 60-minute effort together, and it’s hard to win in this league when you don’t,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

    Weariness appeared to creep into the home side’s game, with the Penguins outshooting the Canucks 30-19 across the second and third periods, but Martin held fast for the victory. The 24-year-old goalie is 4-0-4 with Vancouver.

    “Eight games now and he’s gotten points in eight straight, so I haven’t seen him do anything negative,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “And that’s great when you can have your other goaltender doing that, that makes an inner competition a little bit.”

    The Canucks took a 2-1 lead into the third period and struggled in the opening minutes, fighting mightily to get out of their own zone.

    Martin said he wasn’t concerned.

    “Honestly, I don’t think they had much,” he said. “We did a fantastic job, obviously. They have a lot of firepower there. They did a good job getting behind the net, I thought, but we kept them to the perimeter. So it was a good game.”

    After the barrage, Vancouver erupted with three goals in just over seven minutes.

    Kuzmenko tipped in a long shot from defenseman Luke Schenn and Horvat scored on a power-play before Miller added an empty-netter with 2:10 remaining.

    Third-period collapses have become a trend for the Canucks this season, and Boudreau said his group appeared as if “the weight of the world was lifted off (their) shoulders” after weathering the adversity.

    “Every other third period has been like ‘Oh, what’s gonna happen that’s negative?’” Boudreau said. “And I think once we got through the first three minutes, and it was like, ‘OK, let’s go.’ And everybody just played. … And I thought it was really good.”

    TRADE ADDITIONS

    Vancouver acquired defenseman Ethan Bear and forward Lane Pederson from Carolina a few hours before the game for a fifth-round draft pick. The 25-year-old Bear has not played this season after finishing with five goals and nine assists in 58 games for the Hurricanes last season. Carolina will retain $400,000 of Bear’s $2.2 million contact. Pederson, also 25, is scoreless in four games this season for the Chicago Wolves in the American Hockey League.

    UP NEXT

    Penguins: At Seattle on Saturday night.

    Canucks: Host New Jersey on Tuesday night.

    ———

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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