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  • Lightning send series back to Tampa, beat Maple Leafs 4-2

    Lightning send series back to Tampa, beat Maple Leafs 4-2

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    TORONTO — Michael Eyssimont had a goal and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Thursday night to force Game 6 in their first-round playoff series.

    Anthony Cirelli also had a goal and an assist, Nicholas Paul scored and Alex Killorn got an empty net goal for Tampa. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

    Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, which got 34 stops from Ilya Samsonov. John Tavares had two assists.

    The Leafs still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2.

    Game 6 will be Saturday in Tampa. Game 7, if necessary, would be Monday back at Scotiabank Arena.

    “It’s a game of inches this time of year,” said Rielly, who scored five minutes into the first period to give the Leafs an early lead.

    Toronto, which has failed to advance in the post-season since 2004 and was eliminated by the Lightning in seven games in the first round last year, is now 0-10 since 2018 with a chance to eliminate a post-season opponent.

    “Didn’t get the result,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “But I don’t think it has anything to do with the moment or anything like that. It’s a good hockey team we’re playing.

    “They played as perfect a road game as you could probably ask.”

    Tied at 1 after a spirited first period, the Lightning pushed ahead at 4:23 of the second when Eyssimont beat Samsonov through the pads from a tough angle for his first goal of the series.

    “He’s almost one-on-one with me,” Samsonov said. “Good shot … good goal.”

    The period ended in controversy when Pat Maroon crushed Toronto defenseman Mark Giordano from behind into the boards. The initial play went uncalled, but the bruising Tampa winger was assessed a roughing penalty for the ensuing scrum.

    Giordano rejoined his teammates on the bench shortly after the restart after getting looked at by the trainer.

    Paul made it 3-1 at 11:53 of the third with his first after the Leafs goaltender got bumped by teammate David Kampf.

    The home side pulled within one with 3:34 left in regulation when Matthews banged home a loose puck for his fourth, and third in the last two games, with Samsonov on the bench for an extra attacker.

    The Leafs continued to press desperately looking for the tie and send the teams to a third straight overtime before Killorn sealed it with five seconds left.

    “Don’t bet against the guys — not that group,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I’m not saying we’ve won the series. We’ve won one game and still have so far to go.

    “They dug their heels in tonight. And who really dug his heels in tonight was the goalie.”

    Toronto, which has lost six straight series since 2017, opened the scoring at 4:46 of the first when Rielly — the longest-serving Leaf — scored his third of the series from the slot after Tavares beat three Lightning players to the puck to ignite the towel-waving crowd inside a frothing Scotiabank Arena.

    Coming off Stanley Cup triumphs in 2020 and 2021 before falling in last year’s final to the Colorado Avalanche, and looking to keep their season alive, the Lightning responded just 26 seconds later when Cirelli scored his third off a scramble.

    EYSSIMONT RETURNS

    The Lightning forward suited up for the first time since getting knocked out of Game 1 on a hard hit by Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe. Eyssimont’s inclusion meant Tanner Jeannot watched from the press box.

    BUNTING SITS

    The gritty Toronto native was eligible to return to the lineup after serving his three-game ban, but Keefe elected to go with the same lineup for the fourth straight game. Michael Bunting registered 23 goals and 49 points in the regular season.

    ___

    AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Oilers beat Kings to take 3-2 lead in playoff series

    Oilers beat Kings to take 3-2 lead in playoff series

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    EDMONTON, Alberta — Nick Bjugstad scored twice as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 6-3 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.

    The Oilers are a win away from advancing to the second round. Game 6 is Saturday in Los Angeles. Game 7, if necessary, would be Monday in Edmonton.

    Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Brett Kulak also scored for Edmonton. Connor McDavid and defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse had two assists apiece.

    Hyman’s goal came when he was hit in the face on a shot by Evan Bouchard and the puck deflected past the Kings’ Pheonix Copley for the Oilers’ fifth goal of the game. Hyman stayed in the game.

    Stuart Skinner was back in the net for Edmonton’s after he was swapped out for Jack Campbell one period into the Oilers’ Game 4 overtime win Sunday. The 24-year-old Skinner made 25 saves.

    “It feels nice being able to go back in, kind of try to redeem myself,” Skinner said. “But I still think I have a lot to give the team here.”

    Kings goalie Joonas Korpisalo was pulled for Copley in the second period after Edmonton’s fourth goal. Korpisalo stopped 15 of 19 shots before giving way to Copley, who had six saves.

    Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo scored for the Kings.

    “We have to try and stay out of the box as much as we can,” Kempe said. “It’s a big factor, and they got two tonight on the power play. We’ve got to clean up some stuff. Our play in our own zone was not really good from the start.”

    When the clubs clashed in the first round last year, the Kings claimed Game 5 to take the series lead to Los Angeles, where the Oilers won consecutive games. Edmonton now has the chance in this series to close it out on the road.

    The Oilers killed off their one penalty and scored on two of three power-play chances Tuesday. Edmonton is 8 for 14 with a man-advantage in the series.

    Bjugstad scored his second of the game at 4:26 of the third period. His floating backhand toward the net went off the skate of Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson and across the goal line.

    Byfield scored the Kings’ third goal at 6:33, scoring high over Skinner from close range.

    Game 4 overtime hero Hyman scored Edmonton’s fifth goal with his face. at 15:47 of the second period, when just 10 seconds remained in Kevin Fiala’s tripping penalty.

    Bjugstad tipped in Cody Ceci’s shot from the blue line at 11:49 for a 4-2 lead.

    “The fourth one really hurt us,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “From there, there was no catching up. That’s not close to good enough. That doesn’t get you a win in game two of the regular season.”

    As they did in the first two games of this series at Rogers Place, the Oilers took an early 2-0 lead and were ahead 3-2 after the opening period.

    Kempe chipped the puck over Skinner at 17:35 to pull the the Kings within a goal.

    Ryan McLeod whipped the puck cross-ice in front of Korpisalo as Kulak got by Byfield and beat Korpisalo at 14:12.

    A minute earlier, Iafallo scored L.A.‘s second of the game, chopping a rebound off a Kempe spin-around attempt past Skinner.

    Draisaitl made it 2-0 for the Oilers at 10:40 on McDavid’s feed from behind the goal line.

    Draisaitl was going down as he was shoved by Byfield, but got a shot away to beat Korpisalo for his NHL-leading sixth playoff goal.

    With Carl Grundstrom in the box for hooking McDavid, Kane scored off the far post at 8:08, with just four seconds left in the penalty.

    The Kings were without forward Blake Lizotte (lower-body) for a third straight game. Edmonton was without forward Mattias Janmark a fourth game after he blocked a shot with his foot in Game 1.

    NOTES

    The Oilers’ Bouchard extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists). It is the longest point streak in the playoffs for an Edmonton blue-liner since Charlie Huddy’s two goals and three assists in four games in 1988. … The Kings’ power play is 5 for 18 in the series.

    ___

    AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Avs’ Makar suspended for game vs. Kraken; Bruins can advance

    Avs’ Makar suspended for game vs. Kraken; Bruins can advance

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    Colorado Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar was suspended one game by the NHL on Tuesday for his hit on Seattle’s Jared McCann early in a Game 4 loss to the Kraken.

    Makar, last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, will be a spectator for Game 5 on Wednesday night with the series tied 2-2. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced the suspension after a hearing with Makar.

    “Disappointing, but I really don’t have any thoughts on it besides that,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after the team arrived in Denver.

    Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said after the Kraken’s 3-2 overtime win Monday night that McCann would miss Game 5 and likely be out longer. He did not specify McCann’s injury.

    In a video announcing the suspension, the league called it an improper “body check to a vulnerable player.”

    “Makar finishes this hit well outside the allowable window to finish a check,” the league said. “In addition, it is clear that Makar knows McCann is not in possession of the puck when he decides to deliver this hit.”

    The suspension is another blow for the Avalanche, who played the past two games without forward Valeri Nichushkin for personal reasons and have been beset by key injuries for much of the season.

    Makar has led Colorado in ice time in the series, averaging 25 minutes, 15 seconds per game and he played nearly 27 minutes Monday night. He has one goal and two assists through the first four games.

    Makar has no history of being fined or suspended since making his NHL debut in 2019.

    “Just other guys stepping up. We’ve done it all year with different injuries and guys in and out of the lineup. Lots of roster fluctuations. Just got to move on,” Bednar said. “You’ve got to set your game plan and other guys will have to step up and play well. Obviously what he does has to be covered by committee, all six guys on the back end, just move forward, keep pushing forward.”

    The hit happened midway through the first period as McCann had a short-handed breakaway attempt. His shot was saved by Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev with the puck going over the glass into the netting.

    McCann appeared unprepared for the hit from Makar, which left Seattle’s leading scorer from the regular season on the ice for several minutes and needed help to get to the bench.

    Makar said he was unaware where the puck was when he made the hit. He was originally given a 5-minute major penalty but it was reduce to a 2-minute minor for interference after a review.

    “It’s unfortunate. I never want to injure guys. Hopefully he’s all right,” Makar said after the game. “I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard, but I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing. I’m not trying to hurt anybody.”

    It is the second suspension of the 2023 playoffs. Toronto’s Michael Bunting was given three games for an illegal check to the head of Tampa Bay’s Erik Cernak in the teams’ series opener. Cernak remains out for Game 5 on Thursday night, while Bunting is eligible to return.

    PANTHERS at BRUINS, Boston leads 3-1 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

    The Bruins are getting stronger as they try to eliminate the Panthers on Wednesday night.

    Captain Patrice Bergeron returned to practice Tuesday after missing the first four games of the series with an unspecified upper body injury. The Bruins will likely still be waiting for forward David Krejci. Coach Jim Montgomery said Krejci might be ready to come back for Game 6.

    The Panthers are also getting healthy. Coach Paul Maurice said defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who left Friday’s game with an unspecified injury and missed Sunday’s, will be back. Forward Anthony Duclair, who missed Game 4 as well, is also expected to return as Florida tries to stay alive.

    ___

    AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Sports Writers Pat Graham and Jimmy Golen contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Moore’s OT power-play goal gives Kings 3-2 win over Oilers

    Moore’s OT power-play goal gives Kings 3-2 win over Oilers

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    LOS ANGELES — Trevor Moore scored a power-play goal at 3:24 of overtime to give the Los Angeles Kings a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

    After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for high sticking at 1:44, Moore, who grew up in nearby Thousand Oaks, California, took Gabriel Villardi’s pass from behind the net and put it between the legs of Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner to give the Kings their second OT victory of the series.

    The Kings have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 on Sunday night in Los Angeles.

    Alex Iafallo and Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 38 shots. The Kings had a pair of power-play goals and are 4 for 15 in the series.

    Edmonton’s Connor McDavid had the second multi-goal playoff game of his career. Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists, and Skinner made 28 saves.

    Iafallo scored his second goal of the series with 33 seconds left in the first period when he knocked in a rebound after Skinner saved Matt Roy’s shot from the point.

    It was Los Angeles’ third goal in the final minute of a regulation period during the series.

    McDavid then broke out of his scoring slump with a pair of power-play goals in a 100-second span on wrist shots from the left faceoff circle.

    The Oilers captain tied it at 1 with a shot that went over Korpisalo’s glove at 7:42.

    McDavid then scored another one from the left faceoff circle with the man advantage, with a wrist shot to the short side at 9:22.

    Edmonton’s advantage lasted only 18 seconds. The Kings went on the power play when Draisaitl was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after McDavid’s second goal. Los Angeles quickly converted when Kempe put in a one-timer off the boards after Viktor Arvidsson’s entry pass into the Edmonton zone.

    The Oilers, who led the league with a 32.4% conversion rate on the power play during the regular season, are 4 for 8 with the man advantage in the series.

    SCARY MOMENT

    Arvidsson went airborne for a couple seconds and hit the ice hard after being tripped up by Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse at 5:52 of the first period.

    The Kings’ right wing was down for a couple minutes before being helped off the ice. He was in the locker room for a couple minutes before returning to the game.

    Nurse was originally called for a five-minute major before it was reviewed and downgraded to a minor. It was a four-on-four situation because Arvidsson was called for playing with a broken stick before his incident with Nurse.

    ROAD WARRIOR

    Leon Draisaitl became the fourth player in NHL history to have 30 road points in 20 or fewer playoff games when he had the second assist on McDavid’s second goal. Draisaitl has 10 goals and 20 assists in the postseason, including six points through three games of this series (three goals, three assists).

    Wayne Gretzky (13 games), Mario Lemieux (16) and Peter Stastny (19) reached 30 points on the road in fewer games.

    NOTES: Los Angeles forward Blake Lizotte did not play due to a lower-body injury. Zack MacEwen took his place on the fourth line.

    ___

    AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Kreider scores 2 more, Rangers open 2-0 lead on Devils

    Kreider scores 2 more, Rangers open 2-0 lead on Devils

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    NEWARK, N.J. — The New York Rangers and Chris Kreider certainly picked the right time to get their power play in high gear.

    Kreider scored two more power-play goals in a three-goal second period and the Rangers stunned the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Thursday night to a take a 2-0 lead on the road in their first-round playoff series.

    The series has revolved around the power play. The Rangers are 4 of 10 on their chances with the extra skater, with Kreider tipping in all four goals. The Devils are 1 for 8, so they are not scoring — and are giving up goals when defending.

    “He’s one of the best, not only in the league, just that I have ever seen,” said Patrick Kane, who had a goal and the two primary assists on Kreider’s goals. “He’s able to get his stick on everything. In practice, we do a lot of drills where shots are coming from the point and he just tips everything.”

    And they go in the net.

    Rangers center Vincent Trocheck said while it might look as though the Devils are leaving Kreider alone in front of the net, New York has Kane, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin and Kreider on the ice for their power plays.

    “I don’t think it’s necessarily leaving him alone. I mean, it’s a 5-on-4,” Trocheck said. “ You got Panarin, Kane, Mika, Fox, Kreider out there. You’re going to take away four of them, but you don’t want to leave any of them open.”

    Vladimir Tarasenko and Kaapo Kakko also scored and Fox added two more assists to give him six in two games. Igor Shesterkin had a relatively easy night, making 21 saves.

    “Their power play has been dangerous,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “That has been the biggest difference”

    Erik Haula scored for New Jersey, which has been outscored 10-2 after going 3-0-1 in the regular season against New York. Vitek Vanecek finished with 26 saves in a game that got one-sided and chippy late.

    Referee Wes McCauley and Frederick L’Ecuyer sent five players from each team to the locker room with 6:40 left.

    The best-of-seven series shifts across the Hudson River to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

    “No one’s over the moon. There’s a long way to go,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said.

    Haula put New Jersey on the board first with a rebound in the crease in the waning seconds of a power play.

    Tarasenko got the Rangers going 5:53 into the second period, taking a pass from Fox and beating Vanecek with a shot from the top of the circles.

    A little more than four minutes later, Kreider tipped a slap shot from Kane past the Devils goalie. He stretched the lead to 3-1, using great hand-eye coordination to pop a soft pass by Kane over Vanecek’s shoulder into the net.

    Kane scored on a breakaway at 6:34 of the third period after sustained Devils pressure. Kakko scored in close shortly after a New Jersey penalty ended.

    After setting franchise record for wins (52) and points (112) in one of the biggest turnaround seasons in league history, the Devils are suddenly faced with seeing their season in jeopardy.

    “This is what we worked for all year,” forward Timo Meier said. “We’re staying positive, we’re going to move on and obviously look and correct some things. But now it’s go time and go win the next game.”

    Devils young superstar Jack Hughes acknowledged it’s frustrating not being able to play as well as they did in the regular season.

    “They’re a good team, so we’re just not playing to our standard,” he said, “and it’s biting us in the (butt) right now.”

    NOTES: With the Rangers cruising late, fourth-line center Michael McLeod and New York defenseman Braden Schneider had a big fight with both landing haymakers. … New York’s two wins by four goals each marks the first time they have done that in the opening two games of a series since 1994, the year they won the Stanley Cup. … The Rangers didn’t make any lineup changes. … The Devils benched D Jonas Siegenthaler and F Jesper Boqvist and dressed veteran D Brendan Smith and F Yegor Sharangovich. Coach Lindy Ruff also changed some of his lines, with the most notable being moving Meier to the top line with Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer.

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  • Oilers beat Kings 4-2 in Game 2 to tie first-round series

    Oilers beat Kings 4-2 in Game 2 to tie first-round series

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    EDMONTON, Alberta — Klim Kostin broke a tie at 2:20 of the third period and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to tie the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

    Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists to help Edmonton rebound from a 4-3 overtime loss in the opener. Derek Ryan and Evander Kane — into an empty net — also scored for the Oilers.

    “Both games, I thought we controlled the bulk of the play,” said Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft “In both games, we had a couple of minutes we’d like to have back.”

    NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid had an assist and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves in his first NHL playoff victory.

    Joonas Korpisalo stopped 33 shots for Los Angeles. Gabriel Vilardi and Philip Danault scored for the Kings. Vilardi returned after missing the last nine games of the regular season and first game of the series because of a lower-body injury.

    Game 3 is Friday night in Los Angeles.

    The Kings have been outplayed for significant stretches of both games, and have been awful in first periods. On Wednesday, they managed just three shots on goal in the opening frame.

    “The first 20 (minutes), not good. The next 40 was pretty good,” said Danault. “Actually, we played pretty good hockey and it seemed like the play was more slowed down. It was a good overall 40 minutes, but we’ve got to play 60.”

    On the go-ahead goal, Draisaitl’s neutral-zone check on Arthur Kaliyev along the boards forced a turnover for Kostin to skate the puck into the zone and wire a shot to the far side on Korpisalo.

    Edmonton took a 2-0 lead in first period and Los Angeles struck twice in the second.

    “We came out flat in the first period, but we made a game of it,” said Vilardi. “Obviously, Korpi was a big factor in that. But we’ve got to put together a solid 60 minutes. We haven’t played great for the majority of the game.”

    The focus for the Kings is to be good right from Game 3’s opening faceoff. They can’t afford to fall behind 2-0 again. They can’t just hope for their netminder to hold them in the game.

    “We need a better start, but the character was there,” said Danault. “We came back again. We proved we can do that. Now, we have to go the other way.

    “We can do better than that. We can take the lead, maybe. We don’t always have to catch somebody.”

    ___

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  • Lowry scores 2 as Jets beat Golden Knights 5-1 in Game 1

    Lowry scores 2 as Jets beat Golden Knights 5-1 in Game 1

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    LAS VEGAS — Winnipeg set the tone early Tuesday night by dominating the neutral zone, and by the third period, the Jets had suffocated the Vegas Golden Knights.

    The Jets allowed only two shots on goal in the final period, punctuating the defensive performance that was buttressed by Adam Lowry’s two goals and Blake Wheeler’s three points in Winnipeg’s 5-1 victory in Game 1 of the first-round series.

    The Jets allowed only 17 shots on goal for the game, the fewest the Knights have had all season.

    “A big part of our game is pressuring the puck carrier and not give them a whole lot of time to make plays,” Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. “They’re a very good team on the rush. They look for that second wave, so I thought our forwards did a great job back-tracking and taking away those guys.”

    Wheeler had a goal and two assists for the Jets, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal an assist, Kyle Connor also scored, and Nino Niederreiter had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck made 16 saves.

    William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, who suffered their first regulation loss in nine games. It also was the first regulation loss for Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit, who went 7-0-3 in the regular season. He stopped 26 shots.

    “The thing we need to address is it’s playoff hockey,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You needed an intensity level that was greater than the one we had. … But I’ll say this, I don’t think they were doing anything special, either. They get full value for the win, don’t get me wrong. They deserved to win and they did, but some of it was self-inflicted.”

    Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.

    Vegas entered the game as the top seed in the Western Conference, and the Jets were the last team in the conference to get in the playoffs. But Winnipeg is 6-2 in its past eight games and continued the momentum into Tuesday.

    The Jets had 14 shots on goal in the first period, but failed to get anything past Brossoit even with back-to-back power plays at one point. Vegas, which blocked 13 shots, also survived a big scramble in the crease in which Mason Appleton could’ve poked the puck into the open net, but couldn’t get his stick on it.

    Teammate Morgan Barron took a skate to his face from Brossoit on the play as the bodies piled up in pursuit of the puck. He went to the locker room and received more than 75 stitches before returning in the second period wearing a full cage on his head.

    The Jets broke through with goals from Connor and Dubois 1:02 apart early in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. Both goals came from the Jets’ first line, and Bowness said he likes to have the scoring line quickly go back out there.

    “I think as soon as you get off, you’ve got to be ready to go back there whether it’s 45 seconds later of five minutes later,” Dubois said. “We know we have to keep the momentum on our side.”

    Karlsson put the Knights on the scoreboard with 4:11 left, but Wheeler made it a two-goal lead again 3:53 into the third period.

    Lowry scored twice in the final 1:21, one on an empty-netter.

    EHLERS HELD OUT

    Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who has an upper-body injury, did not play. Ehlers said Saturday he would be ready and on Monday reiterated he felt “very good,” though Bowness had maintained he was day to day.

    “There wasn’t necessarily a setback, but nor was the progress that we had hoped,” Bowness said. “We’re not going to put a player on the ice that isn’t close to 100% and put him in a vulnerable position where he could have a setback.”

    Bowness said Ehlers will be re-evaluated before Game 2.

    STONE RUSTY IN RETURN

    This was Knights captain Mark Stone’s first game since injuring his back Jan. 12. He underwent surgery Jan. 31 and was cleared to play Monday.

    Stone was minus-3 in 21 minutes.

    “He looked rusty,” Cassidy said. “We expected that. … It’s going to take Mark some time to get going and his linemates are going to have to kind of pull through for him a little bit until he finds his timing. We knew that, so I’m not going to judge Stoney other than he’s healthy and ready to play.”

    ___

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  • Capitals, coach Laviolette part ways after missing playoffs

    Capitals, coach Laviolette part ways after missing playoffs

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    The Washington Capitals and coach Peter Laviolette have decided to part ways after the team missed the playoffs

    BySTEPHEN WHYNO AP Hockey Writer

    The Washington Capitals and coach Peter Laviolette have decided to part ways after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.

    General manager Brian MacLellan announced the decision, which he described as mutual, on Friday, less than 24 hours after the Capitals’ season ended. Laviolette’s contract was set to expire.

    “We are grateful for Peter’s leadership and dedication to our organization for the last three seasons,” MacLellan said in a statement. “Peter is a first-class individual who has represented our club with integrity and guided our team through many difficult circumstances in his tenure as our head coach. We wish him all the best moving forward.”

    Laviolette, 58, coached the Capitals for the past three seasons, making the playoffs in each of the first two to extend the organization’s postseason streak to eight years. They lost in the first round each time and have not won a series since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2018 under Barry Trotz.

    Washington went 220-115-78 in the regular season under Laviolette, who coached Carolina to the Cup in 2006 and also took two other teams to the final: Philadelphia in 2010 and Nashville in 2017.

    MacLellan, president Dick Patrick and owner Ted Leonsis will now begin the search for the eighth coach of Alex Ovechkin’s NHL career.

    Ovechkin is 73 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career record. He turns 38 in September and has three years remaining on his contract.

    Leonsis has told Ovechkin he would not rebuild while the longtime Russian captain is chasing Gretzky’s record. Laviolette’s replacement will be tasked with keeping the Capitals winning — and scoring goals — with an aging roster and limited chance for major change because of lengthy contracts and the salary cap only getting another modest increase for 2023-24.

    If the front office opts for a first-time NHL head coach, former Washington assistant Spencer Carbery, who’s now with Toronto, and former captain Jeff Halpern — a two-time Cup winner on Jon Cooper’s staff with Tampa Bay — are considered two of the top candidates.

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  • Kempe’s hat trick sends 3rd-place Kings past NHL-worst Ducks

    Kempe’s hat trick sends 3rd-place Kings past NHL-worst Ducks

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    ANAHEIM, Calif. — Adrian Kempe had three goals and an assist and the Los Angeles Kings clinched third place in the Pacific Division on Thursday night with a 5-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks, who will have the best odds in the draft lottery after finishing with the NHL’s worst record.

    Captain Anze Kopitar scored a first-period goal that made him Los Angeles’ leading scorer for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons, while Kempe and Trevor Moore scored 49 seconds apart in the second period of the 159th regular-season edition of the Freeway Faceoff.

    Kempe completed his fourth career hat trick on an empty-net goal with 1:39 to play, and dozens of visiting Kings fans littered the ice in celebration. Roughly 40 minutes after leaving the ice, the Kings learned they’ll face Edmonton in the first round for the second consecutive season.

    Shaking off a 2-5-0 skid that scuttled their chances at the division title, the Kings won their final two games to finish with 104 points, the second-most in franchise history behind the 1974-75 squad (105).

    “It’s nice to have the feeling of positive morale, positive momentum going into (the playoffs),” Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “We’ve found some ways to score goals and had a couple of physical games as well, so that’s all been good for us.”

    Troy Terry, Max Jones and Trevor Zegras scored for the Ducks, who wrapped up one of the worst NHL seasons of the 21st century on a 13-game winless streak. Coach Dallas Eakins’ contract is finished after his fourth consecutive losing season, but the rebuilding Ducks have made no announcement about his future.

    “There’s a number of things that we’re very proud of,” Eakins said. “I am proud that in a game like this where it’s our last game, we know it’s totally over, that they still had some rage in them. I thought they went out and battled hard and really kept the love of the rivalry between us and the Kings.”

    Anaheim’s silver lining on its NHL-low 58 points is the best chance in next month’s draft lottery to win the right to select Connor Bedard, the Regina Pats center considered the most tantalizing prospect in hockey since Connor McDavid.

    Anaheim will have only a 25.5% chance of securing its first-ever No. 1 pick in the NHL draft. But the Ducks can fall no lower than third in the lottery, which means they will get a premium prospect in a top-heavy field headlined by forwards Bedard, Adam Fantilli and Matvei Michkov.

    Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves for the Kings, and John Gibson stopped 31 shots for Anaheim.

    “It’s never easy losing games like that,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. “We’re all competitive people and want to do well, but I think I’m proud of the way we stuck together. We never cracked as a team and continued to support one another.”

    Anaheim missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, extending the longest drought in history for a team that had never missed more than three straight postseasons. The Ducks had a pathetic season by nearly every measure, ranking last in the NHL in goal differential (minus-129) and goals allowed while ranking 31st in goals scored (209).

    Statistically, the Ducks were the worst defensive team of the past quarter-century. Their 338 goals allowed were the most by any NHL team in the past 26 seasons since the 1995-96 San Jose Sharks gave up 357, while their goal differential was the NHL’s worst since the 1999-2000 Atlanta Thrashers (minus-143).

    The Ducks’ players have been justifiably uninterested in their team’s draft lottery status as their season limped on, and Terry underlined that stance by scoring just 2:44 into the season finale.

    But Los Angeles evened it late in the first period when Kopitar knocked down a high puck from Kempe and scored his 28th goal of the season. In the second, Kempe got a delayed goal after video review, and Moore scored moments later on a 2-on-0 rush.

    Zegras scored his 23rd goal with 5:09 to play, trimming Los Angeles’ lead to 4-3. After a lengthy brawl, Kempe finished off the victory.

    Kevin Fiala missed his sixth consecutive game for the Kings with a lower-body injury. The playoff availability of Los Angeles’ high-scoring Swiss forward is unclear, but Kopitar used the final game to break his tie with Fiala atop the team’s scoring leaderboard.

    Defenseman Alexander Edler and forward Gabe Vilardi also remained out of the Los Angeles lineup with significant injuries.

    Mason McTavish sat out for Anaheim with an upper-body injury, finishing his rookie season with 43 points in 80 games.

    UP NEXT

    Kings: Vs. Edmonton in first-round of playoffs.

    Ducks: The draft lottery on May 8, when they’ll hope to land a franchise-altering talent.

    ___

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  • Zadorov has hat trick, Flames beat Sharks 3-1 in finale

    Zadorov has hat trick, Flames beat Sharks 3-1 in finale

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    CALGARY, Alberta — Defenseman Nikita Zadorov had his first career hat trick and the Calgary Flames ended a disappointing season with a 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.

    Calgary finished fifth in the Pacific at 38-27-17 and 93 points, a year after winning the division with 111. The Flames have missed the playoffs in nine of their last 14 seasons and made the postseason in consecutive years just once in that span.

    “Definitely was hard to find emotions to play that game, for sure,” Zadorov said. “It’s normal when you miss the playoffs.”

    Dustin Wolf made 23 saves for the Flames in his NHL debut. From Gilroy, California, the 21-year-old Wolf was recalled from the Calgary Wranglers, where he leads the American Hockey League with 41 victories.

    “It’s rewarding. You put the work in each and every day and you dream about that as a kid,” said Wolf. “To get that first game and first win, it feels really awesome and obviously leaves you wanting more.”

    Noah Gregor scored for San Jose and Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 46 shots. The Sharks will miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season.

    Zadorov gave the Flames the lead at 4:01 of the third, taking a pass from defense partner MacKenzie Weegar and snapping a shot from the blue line into the top corner. Zadorov’s third goal came into an empty net with a minute left.

    “I blacked out, not gonna lie,” said Zadorov with a chuckle. “(Rasmus Andersson) told me on the bench just go for it, so first time I hit the D-man and the second time just closed my eyes, feel where the net was, got a lucky bounce. It was nice fade six-iron there. It worked.”

    Zadorov finishes the year with 14 goals, doubling his previous career high of seven.

    “The Russian Rocket,” said Flames coach Darryl Sutter, cracking a rare smile. “Saved it for the last game, should have done it in October.”

    Zadorov laughed when told what the coach called him.

    “Wasn’t that Pavel Bure’s nickname? I’m far away from that,” Zadorov said.

    Forward Matt Coronato also made his NHL debut for the Flames. The 20-year-old selected in the first round of the 2021 draft signed with Calgary on March 26 after his college season with Harvard ended.

    Coronato played on a line with fellow rookie Jakob Pelletier and Nazem Kadri, and showed his offensive instincts throughout the night, generating a few scoring chances and finishing with four shots on goal.

    “I know they were really disappointed probably the way they were bumped out of the playoffs. I liked their game,” Sharks coach David Quinn said of the Flames.

    “They were really on their toes. I thought we had spurts where we were pretty competitive and did some good things but just thought they were the better team tonight.”

    UP NEXT

    Sharks: At Edmonton on Thursday night in season finale.

    Flames: End of season.

    ___

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  • Evan Bouchard scores OT winner, Oilers beat Avalanche 2-1

    Evan Bouchard scores OT winner, Oilers beat Avalanche 2-1

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    DENVER — Evan Bouchard scored a power-play goal 1:50 into overtime, Stuart Skinner stopped 28 shots and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night for their eighth straight win.

    Bouchard lined a shot past Alexandar Georgiev to set off a celebration. Moments earlier, Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram drew a penalty for hooking Connor McDavid as the Oilers center powered toward the goal.

    McDavid assisted on the OT winner to extend his points streak to 15 games. He’s the first player in NHL history to have three different points streaks of 15 or more games in the same season. He’s only had seven games where he didn’t register a point.

    Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Oilers, who remain in the chase for the Pacific Division title with one game remaining. They also extended their points streak to 14 straight games.

    A contest featuring two high scoring teams turned into a defensive showdown. It was no surprise, though, this game went into an extra period. Colorado won the previous two meetings this season in overtime.

    Ben Meyers scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped.

    Georgiev made 38 saves, including one on a breakaway by McDavid in the second period. Colorado remains in the driver’s seat for the Central Division crown with two games to go. With a point Tuesday, the Avalanche also wrapped up home ice in the first round courtesy of Minnesota’s loss to Winnipeg earlier in the night.

    The Avalanche weathered a four-minute penalty in the second period when Devon Toews’ stick caught Zach Hyman in the mouth and drew blood.

    The game featured five 100-point scorers, marking the first time that’s happened in 37 years, according to NHL Stats.

    It was Meyers kicking off the scoring early in the first period when he was credited for a goal that went in off a skate. Just 36 seconds later, Ekholm tied the game off a pass from Ryan McLeod, who was activated from the injured list before the game.

    It was McLeod’s first game since March 14.

    QUITE A SEASON

    McDavid is attempting to become the first outright leader in goals, assists and points since Wayne Gretzky in 1986-87. Only eight times has the same player finished as the league’s outright leader in goals, assists and scoring — Gretzky (five times), Phil Esposito, Gordie Howe and Howie Morenz.

    Count Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen as impressed by McDavid’s offensive exploits.

    “What he’s able to do, never seen anything like it,” Rantanen said. “I feel like he’s getting better, too. I don’t know if that’s possible, but I feel like he is.”

    AROUND THE RINK

    Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 800th NHL game. He became the fifth player in Oilers history to reach the mark for the franchise. … Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar missed his fifth straight game with a lower body injury.

    UP NEXT

    Oilers: Finish the regular season Thursday by hosting San Jose.

    Avalanche: Host Winnipeg on Thursday before closing out the regular season Friday at Nashville.

    ___

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  • Johansson helps Wild rally for 4-2 victory over Blackhawks

    Johansson helps Wild rally for 4-2 victory over Blackhawks

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    CHICAGO — Marcus Johansson scored two goals late in the third period, and the short-handed Minnesota Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Monday night.

    Matt Boldy and Gustav Nyquist also scored for Minnesota in its second consecutive win. Filip Gustavsson made 39 saves in his second straight start.

    Johansson’s 18th goal — a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 with 6 minutes left — tied it at 2. It was the Wild’s 14th short-handed goal of the season, breaking the franchise record.

    Johansson then put Minnesota in front when he got a nice pass from Boldy and beat Alex Stalock on the glove side with 3:13 left.

    Nyquist closed it out with an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.

    Anders Bjork and Joey Anderson scored for Chicago, which has dropped 11 of 12. The Blackhawks (25-49-6) are in the mix with Columbus, Anaheim and San Jose for the worst record in the NHL this season.

    With Minnesota most likely headed for a third-place finish in the Central Division, Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin stayed home, and Matt Dumba also got the night off.

    Minnesota (46-24-10) hosts Winnipeg on Tuesday night, and Wild coach Dean Evason said the players could return to the lineup against the Jets.

    Defenseman Brock Faber made his NHL debut, and forwards Marco Rossi and Nic Petan played after they were recalled from the minors on Sunday. Faber helped the University of Minnesota reach the Frozen Four and then signed with the Wild after the Golden Gophers lost to Quinnipiac in the NCAA championship on Saturday night.

    The 20-year-old Faber was paired with 37-year-old Alex Goligoski, another former University of Minnesota star, for his first game.

    The Wild jumped in front when Boldy knocked home his own rebound 12:32 into the first period. It was Boldy’s 12th goal in his last 11 games and No. 31 in his second NHL season.

    The Blackhawks tied it when Anderson jumped on a loose puck in front of Gustavsson with 1:49 left in the first. It was Anderson’s fourth goal in 22 games since he was acquired in a trade with Toronto in February.

    Bjork then put Chicago in front with his first goal of the season 2:23 into the second. Buddy Robinson’s shot was stopped by Gustavsson, but the rebound went right to Bjork and the winger got just enough of the puck to score, despite largely whiffing on the shot.

    Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews skated for 18 minutes in what could be one of his last home games with his only NHL team. The three-time Stanley Cup champion received a loud ovation when he was introduced with the starting lineup.

    It looked as if the center had scored during a delayed penalty in the third, but the goal was waved off when the officials ruled Minnesota had controlled the puck before Toews put it in.

    Toews, who turns 35 on April 29, is eligible for free agency after this season, and he isn’t sure of his plans after missing much of this year because of health issues.

    “I don’t really have an answer right now,” he said. “I’m just trying to enjoy the last few days of the season here with this group and not thinking that far ahead.”

    HONORED

    Stalock and Wild forward Mason Shaw were nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy, which is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and presented to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

    MAKING MOVES

    The Blackhawks assigned forward Lukas Reichel and defenseman Alex Vlasic to Rockford to help the IceHogs’ push for an AHL playoff spot. Forward Buddy Robinson was recalled from Rockford.

    UP NEXT

    Wild: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

    Blackhawks: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

    ___

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    ___

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  • Kuzmenko lifts Canucks to 3-2 win over Flames in SO

    Kuzmenko lifts Canucks to 3-2 win over Flames in SO

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Andrei Kuzmenko scored in the shootout and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Saturday night.

    Elias Pettersson and Cole McWard — with his first NHL point — scored for the Canucks, who won after giving up a 2-0 lead in the third period. Thatcher Demko made 41 saves.

    “When Calgary put some pushes on us, I just saw some backups,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “We got to get that out of here. You got to lock it down, you can’t just rely on (Demko). He played great tonight. … Good teams lock it down and we got to get that mentality around here.”

    Elias Lindholm and Nazem Kadri scored in the third period for the Flames to force extra time. Jacob Markstrom stopped 31 shots.

    Calgary outshot Vancouver 30-16 over the second and third periods.

    “Tough first period, and last two periods we were dominating,” Lindholm said. “Had a lot of chances to score some more goals and I think we could have put this game away earlier than what happened out there and the shootout, and they won. … Tough loss, we just got to regroup and focus on Monday.”

    Calgary pulled one point behind Winnipeg for the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Flames have two games left on their regular-season schedule while the Jets have three.

    In the tiebreaker, Kuzmenko skated wide of the Flames’ net, then fired a shot up into the top corner to secure the win.

    McWard, who made his NHL debut Thursday after signing a two-year, entry-level deal with Vancouver on Tuesday after completing his second season at Ohio State University, scored his first NHL goal 9:03 into the game.

    “It’s been a quick turnaround,” McWard said. “It’s been an awesome experience so far. Really excited for the rest of the year and trying to continue whatever’s going on. … My parents got to watch this game so that was awesome they got to see that one. Definitely happy I got to score in front of them.”

    Pettersson scored his 38th of the season on a short-handed breakaway a little more than four minutes later to put the Canucks up 2-0.

    Vancouver now has 15 short-handed goals this season, including 13 since Rick Tocchet took over as head coach on Jan. 22.

    “I think we came out flying in the first period. I thought we played a decent period. The shortie could have killed us, a soft play,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “And I think we slowly took over in a lot of areas. And then we couldn’t solve Demko. We fought back. Can’t ask much more than that.”

    Lindholm got the Flames on the scoreboard 38 seconds into the third with his 22nd, and Kadri beat Demko for his 24th at 6:07 to tie the score.

    “We know where they are (in the standings), so we know they were going to come out hard and we wanted to match that,” Pettersson said. “And I think we did a really good job. They scored two quick on us. I think we let our foot off the gas but other than that I’m happy with our team.”

    UP NEXT

    Flames: Host Nashville on Monday night to open a season-ending two-game homestand.

    Canucks: At Los Angeles on Monday night to open a season-ending three-game trip.

    ___

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  • Wild beat Blues 5-3 to keep pace in Central Division

    Wild beat Blues 5-3 to keep pace in Central Division

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    ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Hartman and Sam Steel scored short-handed goals 20 seconds apart in the first period and the Minnesota Wild earned two key late-season points by beating the St. Louis Blues 5-3 on Saturday night.

    Freddy Gaudreau, Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin also scored to help the Wild end a three-game skid, its longest in two months. Filip Gustavsson made 37 saves. Back after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury, Minnesota All-Star Kirill Kaprizov was kept off the score sheet, but still leads the team with 39 goals and 72 points.

    With 100 points, Minnesota pulled into a tie with Colorado, two points behind Central Division-leading Dallas. However, the Avalanche have five games left, including at Los Angeles later Saturday, while the Stars and Wild each have three left.

    “You want to be rolling going into playoffs. We didn’t love our performance the last couple games,” Steel said. “I thought we played really good for the most part. We had a couple lapses, but the two points is the most important thing.”

    Pavel Buchnevich, Sammy Blais and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues, and Justin Faulk had two assists. Jordan Binnington finished with 24 saves. St. Louis, out of playoff contention, is 6-3-1 in its past 10 games.

    Down 4-1 entering the third period, Neighbours and Buchnevich got the Blues within one with 12 minutes to play, but Brodin added an empty-net goal for Minnesota to seal the win.

    On March 15, Binnington was ejected and later suspended for two games without pay for hitting Hartman in the face with his blocker following Hartman’s goal. Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury skated down to fight Binnington but was held back by an official.

    Down 1-0 midway through the first period, Hartman quickly energized the crowd. Forcing a turnover in the neutral zone, the Wild center chased the loose puck across the St. Louis blue line. Binnington raced out and made a belly slide to get to the puck first, but Hartman was a split-second quicker poking the puck to the left of the goalie, chasing it down and scoring into an open net. He then gave a finger wag toward the crowd.

    “We were down a goal, so it was nice to get a quick jumpstart. I wasn’t thinking about anything besides trying to win a game,” Hartman said.

    “What we’ve liked about Hartzy for a while now is his ability to get up the ice,” Wild coach Dean Evason said. “He’s skating extremely well. Shows obviously on the two shorthanded goals how he separated. He moves his feet like he’s a very good player. Hard to handle.”

    Twenty seconds later, Hartman laid a big hit on Kasperi Kapanen, corralled a loose puck and fed Steel in the slot for a quick backhand-to-forehand move and a 2-1 lead. Hartman’s two short-handed points in 20 seconds or fewer was last done by Colorado’s Peter Forsberg — 11 seconds on Dec. 3, 1995.

    The two short-handed goals — quickest in the league since Boston scored twice in 15 seconds on April 10, 2010 — pushed the Wild season total to 13, tying the franchise record set in 2000-01. Only Edmonton (17) and Vancouver (14) have more this season.

    “Obviously, can’t be giving up two on one power play and expect to win a hockey game, said St. Louis center Brayden Schenn.

    Gaudreau made it 3-1 with a second-period power-play goal and Spurgeon scored with 34.5 seconds left in the middle frame.

    ROSTER UPDATES

    Acquired from Columbus on Feb. 28, LW Gustav Nyquist (shoulder) had two assists in his Wild debut. … Wild C Oskar Sundqvist did not play after leaving Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury. … St. Louis C Robert Thomas was back after missing five games with an upper-body injury. … Wild C Mason Shaw, who tore his right ACL for the second time April 1, said he’ll have reconstructive surgery next week. He’s also torn his left ACL twice.

    UP NEXT

    Blues: Home to Dallas on Wednesday night.

    Wild: At Chicago on Monday night.

    ___

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  • Devils sign Jack Hughes’ brother Luke to 3-year contract

    Devils sign Jack Hughes’ brother Luke to 3-year contract

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    The New Jersey Devils have signed defenseman Luke Hughes — the younger brother of star center Jack Hughes — to a three-year, entry-level contract starting this season

    NEWARK, N.J. — The New Jersey Devils signed defenseman Luke Hughes — the younger brother of star center Jack Hughes — to a three-year, entry-level contract starting this season.

    Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald announced the deal on Saturday, two days after Luke Hughes’ Michigan team’s season ended in a Frozen Four loss to Quinnipiac.

    Having the deal start this season will allow Luke Hughes to reach free agency a year sooner. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed.

    Luke Hughes was the fourth overall selection in the 2021 NHL draft. He has been assigned jersey No. 43, but Devils coach Lindy Ruff said he won’t be in the lineup Saturday night when New Jersey faces the Bruins in Boston.

    The 19-year-old Hughes was an assistant captain for the Wolverines as a sophomore and ranked ranked second in scoring with nine goals and 33 assists. His point total ranked second for all NCAA defensemen this season.

    Jack Hughes, 21, was the first overall selection in the 2019 NHL draft. He leads the Devils in scoring this season and has been an All-Star the past two seasons.

    Luke’s eldest brother, Quinn, was selected by Vancouver with the seventh overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft. Luke and Jack will mark the third set of brothers to play for the franchise simultaneously. Patrik and Peter Sundstrom played for New Jersey in 1989-90. Bob and Paul Miller played for Colorado in 1981-82, the final season the Rockies played in Denver before moving to New Jersey and becoming the Devils.

    ___

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  • Robertson scores 2, Stars keep pace with 4-1 win over Flyers

    Robertson scores 2, Stars keep pace with 4-1 win over Flyers

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    DALLAS — Jason Robertson beat the first-period buzzer while scoring twice and the Dallas Stars kept pace in the tight Central Division playoff race with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

    Joe Pavelski had a goal and two assists to get to 999 career points and Colin Miller scored as the Stars reached 100 points after starting the night with the same total atop the Central as defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado and Minnesota.

    The Wild lost 4-1 at Pittsburgh to stay at 98 points, and Colorado was at San Jose later. The Avalanche have a game in hand on the Stars and Wild, but Dallas owns the tiebreaker against both teams with more regulation wins.

    “You work all year to try to get the best seeding possible,” Pavelski said. “It’s tight right now, so you’re still going. It gives us something to play for and stay sharp. All those things hopefully can help us build to being ready.”

    Kevin Hayes prevented Jake Oettinger’s fifth shutout of the season with his 18th goal in the second period. The Dallas goalie had 24 saves in the Flyers’ fourth consecutive regulation loss.

    The Stars, 6-2-1 in their past nine games, were in control by early in the second period despite being without their second-leading goal-scorer in Roope Hintz, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

    In his first game since becoming the first Dallas player with 100 points in a season, Robertson pushed his goal total to 45. The 23-year-old All-Star is up to 103 points.

    The Stars were on a power play in the final seconds of a scoreless first period when Robertson ended up with the puck 1-on-2 on a broken play. His first shot to beat the clock ricocheted off Nick Seeler’s skate right back to him, and the second got past Seeler and goalie Carter Hart with 1.3 seconds left.

    “Played a good first period, got really unlucky at the end,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “Kept playing. That is the No. 1 priority no matter what the score is because I want our team to keep playing, and we did.”

    Pavelski’s 26th came on another power play 64 seconds into the second period when Miro Heiskanen’s shot clipped the blades of both Jamie Benn and Pavelski. Heiskanen’s 58th assist of the season was his 200th career point.

    Miller scored from the high slot, and Robertson’s 45th capped Dallas’ three-goal second period for a 4-0 lead when Pavelski stole the puck behind the net and fed it to Robertson in front.

    “We took care of business,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I didn’t like our start, but I thought we kind of reset, came out the second period, took control of the game. It was an important two points.”

    1,000-POINT WATCH

    Pavelski seemed to prefer to wait until he actually reached 1,000 points before talking about it, and also thought he might have gotten credit for a phantom assist. There was a scoring change during the first-period intermission on Robertson’s first goal, and the 38-year-old joined Tyler Seguin with assists on the tally.

    “I’ve still got to get there. Still got to get there,” said Pavelski, who is on a season-high five-game goal streak and has 49 assists. “You don’t think about those things early on. Even after you do establish yourself, you’re still trying to build your game.”

    For his career, Pavelski is at 447 goals and 552 assists.

    UP NEXT

    Flyers: A four-game trip ends Saturday at the New York Islanders.

    Stars: West-leading Vegas visits Saturday.

    ___

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  • Flames beat Jets 3-1 to keep playoff hopes alive

    Flames beat Jets 3-1 to keep playoff hopes alive

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    Andrew Mangiapane and Nikita Zadorov each had a goal and assist and the Calgary Flames beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Wednesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive

    WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Andrew Mangiapane and Nikita Zadorov each had a goal and assist and the Calgary Flames beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Wednesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive.

    The Flames (37-27-15) and Jets (43-32-3) each have 89 points, but Winnipeg maintained its hold on the second Western Conference wild-card spot based on winning percentage. The Jets have four games remaining, one more than the Flames.

    Walker Duehr also scored for the Flames, who lost to Chicago the night before, but are 5-1-0 in their past six games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 33 shots.

    Kyle Connor scored for the Jets and Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves.

    The Jets play another crucial game Saturday when they host the Nashville Predators, who have 86 points and five games remaining.

    Mangiapane gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 6:06 of the second with his 17th of the season.

    Zadorov sealed the victory when Hellebuyck couldn’t grab a high shot with 9:20 left in the third.

    UP NEXT

    Flames: At Vancouver on Saturday night.

    Jets: Host Nashville on Saturday night.

    ___

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  • Eberle has goal, assist as Kraken rally to beat Canucks 5-2

    Eberle has goal, assist as Kraken rally to beat Canucks 5-2

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    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Jordan Eberle had a goal and an assist as the Seattle Kraken rallied from two goals down to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Tuesday night.

    Yanni Gourde, Brandon Tanev, Jayden Schwartz and Matty Beniers also scored for the Kraken, who have consecutive wins for the first time since March 7. Martin Jones made 14 saves as the Canucks registered a season-low 16 shots.

    “That’s a character win down the stretch here when there’s not many games left and two points mean that much more,” Tanev said.

    Elias Pettersson and Anthony Beauvillier scored for the Canucks, who lost their fourth straight. Collin Delia stopped 23 shots.

    Coach Rick Tocchet believes, with the team out of playoff contention, some players may be viewing the final games of the season as meaningless.

    “Some guys are maybe getting tired. … A lot of people in and out of the lineup. Maybe that’s it, I don’t know,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is you can’t think that way. We have to be strong mentally.”

    The Canucks took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but managed just nine shots over the final 40 minutes.

    “At the end of the first, we kind of just let up the play, let them take over,” Pettersson said. “The power play wasn’t good again. We’ve got to, first off, bury the chances we create. But just be more disciplined or just work harder.”

    A mystifying goal from Pettersson opened the scoring 4:31 into the game. Andrei Kuzmenko put the puck on Pettersson’s stick in the Kraken crease and the Swedish center pulled it behind his back before tipping it into the net for his 37th goal of the season.

    Vancouver took a two-goal cushion with 6:51 left in the first first when Jones slid across his crease to cover Conor Garland as he drove the net. The Canucks’ forward appeared poised to launch a slap shot, but instead sliced a no-look pass across the slot to Beauvillier, who fired the puck behind the out-of-position goalie for his 18th.

    Gourde got Seattle on the scoreboard as his shot sailed through the legs of Vancouver center Nils Aman and past Delia stick side with 3:02 remaining in the opening period.

    An ugly second period proved to be Vancouver’s undoing.

    The Canucks had a prime opportunity to add to their tally early in the period with 55 seconds of 5-on-3 play, but struggled to get a shot off.

    Instead, Tanev whipped a wrist shot past Delia off a short-handed 2-on-1 5:07 into the period, tying the score 2-2.

    “That was definitely a momentum swing for us,” Eberle said. “Our kill has been doing a really good job and then chipping in offensively too, which you don’t expect. Those are key moments in games where you’re able to swing the momentum of the game and we’ve been able to do that.”

    The Kraken took the lead with 9:20 left in the middle period after the Canucks coughed up the puck at the goal line. Eberle picked it up and blasted a quick shot in off the crossbar for his 18th.

    A power-play tally boosted Seattle’s advantage to 4-2 after Pettersson was called for interference. Daniel Sprong sent a shot through traffic from the top of the slot and Eberle got a piece of it before Schwartz tipped it in past Delia for his 20th with 3:46 left in the second.

    Beniers capped the scoring with one minute left in the third, sending a shot into the empty net from deep in Kraken territory.

    SPLITTING THE SERIES

    Each side took two wins in the four-game season series between the two squads, with Vancouver earning a 5-4 victory in Seattle on Oct. 27 and a 6-5 shootout win on home ice on Dec. 22. The Kraken topped the Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena on Jan. 25, marking the franchise’s first ever win over the Canucks.

    KUZMENKO’S ELITE COMPANY

    With an assist on Pettersson’s goal, Kuzmenko hit 70 points (37 goals, 33 assists) on the season, joining Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane as just the third player to hit the mark in the first year of his NHL career.

    UP NEXT

    Kraken: Host Arizona on Thursday night.

    Canucks: Host Chicago on Thursday night.

    ___

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

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  • NHL’s Pride nights collide with LGBTQ+ political climate

    NHL’s Pride nights collide with LGBTQ+ political climate

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    Sports leagues and teams often use Pride nights to raise the visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people — as well as sell them tickets — and the NHL has been a leader. They can include special jerseys designed by LGBTQ+ artists, performances, information tables, even drag performances. And they’re largely a hit.

    But six NHL players recently opted out of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys on their teams’ Pride nights for the first time, leading the league’s commissioner to say it is weighing the future of the events.

    That worries some fans and LGBTQ+ supporters, who say it’s a sign that a political climate that has led to restrictions on expression, health care and transgender sports participation both in the U.S. and internationally is now threatening events that are meant to be fun and affirming.

    “It’s definitely fair to say that this political landscape is helping to sort of normalize people for opting out of the optional ways that they have been asked to show support for marginalized members of society,” said Hudson Taylor, executive director and founder of Athlete Ally, an organization that works with teams and leagues to push for LGBTQ+ inclusivity.

    Pro sports has been here before. In June, five pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys, and a U.S. women’s national soccer player skipped an overseas trip in 2017 when the team wore Pride jerseys and also didn’t play in an NWSL game last year for the same reason.

    This season, three NHL teams — the Chicago Blackhawks, the New York Rangers and the Minnesota Wild — that previously wore rainbow warmups decided not to. The Rangers and Wild changed course after initially planning for players to wear rainbow-themed warmup jerseys but did not specifically say why.

    Between the players opting out and the team decisions, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league will “evaluate” in the offseason how it handles Pride nights moving forward, calling the refusals a distraction from “the substance of our what our teams and we have been doing and stand for.” Yet he also noted that the NHL, teams and players “overwhelmingly” support Pride nights.

    The NHL has partnered for a decade with You Can Play Project, which advocates for LGBTQ+ participation in sports. No NHL players had previously opted out of Pride nights.

    The changes come as Republican lawmakers across the U.S. pursue several hundred proposals this year to push back on LGBTQ+, and particularly transgender, rights. At the same time, international sports-governing bodies are instituting policies that ban all trans athletes from competing in track and field and effectively ban trans women from swimming events.

    Internationally, a Russian law that restricts “propaganda” about LGBTQ+ people, including in advertising, media and the arts, has led at least one Russian NHL player to decline participation in Pride night. And Ugandan lawmakers recently passed a bill prescribing jail terms for offenses related to same-sex relations.

    It’s all connected, said Evan Brody, an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky whose media studies research often focuses on LGBTQ+ spaces in sports.

    “The laws that are being passed, the players not participating, all exist within the same kind of ecosphere,” Brody said. “They all exist within this larger anti-LGBTQ discourse, which I think we are often very quick to point out about other countries and maybe less so to think about how that’s affecting things in the United States.”

    In the NHL, many Pride nights are more about selling tickets, Taylor said. But because the league has been such a leader among men’s sports in how to do Pride nights well, he said, it’s “conspicuous” to see players and teams “roll back the ways in which they have historically shown support for and given visibility to the LGBTQ community.”

    Russian Ivan Provorov and Canadians James Reimer and brothers Eric and Marc Staal all cited religious beliefs for refusing to take part in warmups in rainbow-colored jerseys. Ilya Lyubushkin said he would not participate because of the law in Russia, where he was born. And Andrei Kuzmenko, another Russian player, decided not to wear the special uniform after discussions with his family.

    “Some players choose to make choices that they are free to make,” Bettman said Thursday night at a news conference in Seattle. “That doesn’t mean they don’t respect other people and their beliefs and their lifestyles and who they are. It just means they don’t want to endorse it by wearing uniforms that they are not comfortable wearing.”

    Taylor noted that the fear of Russian retribution could be “very real” for a player like Lyubushkin, who has family in Moscow and visits often.

    “I don’t think the LGBTQ community should feel that NHL hockey players are turning their back on that community,” new NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh said. “A supermajority of players have worn the jersey.”

    The Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association took part in the Minnesota Wild’s Pride night this season, with two teenage LGBTQ+ members of the association sitting on the bench during warmups, among other things.

    Bennett-Danek, who cofounded the association with her wife in early 2022, said the Wild have “been nothing but supportive” of their organization and the community at large.

    “Yes, canceling wearing the jerseys was wrong, but they did not cancel any other part of Pride night and they continue to support our group, even today,” Bennett-Danek said. “They are also handing over the Pride jerseys with signatures for auction to further help support our LGBTQIA community here in the Twin Cities. … So, in our mind they have righted the wrong. They have promised us that Pride next year will not be canceled.”

    The NHL hasn’t given out a penalty or fine for anti-LGBTQ+ language since 2017, though the American Hockey League suspended a player in April 2022 for eight games for using homophobic language. And the vast majority of NHL players are participating in pregame Pride skates, which Edmonton’s Zach Hyman said is “an obvious no-brainer.”

    “It doesn’t go against any of my beliefs,” Hyman said. “On the contrary, I think it’s extremely important to be open and welcoming to that greater community just because they’re a minority and they’ve faced a lot of persecution over the years. And to show that we care and that we’re willing and ready to include them in our game and our sport is extremely important to me.”

    ___

    Contributing to this report were AP Sports Writers Stephen Whyno in Washington and John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, and AP freelance writer Mark Moschetti in Seattle.

    ___

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

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  • Lucic, Stone score in 3rd to rally Flames past Ducks 5-4

    Lucic, Stone score in 3rd to rally Flames past Ducks 5-4

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    CALGARY, Alberta — Milan Lucic and Michael Stone scored in the third period and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-4 on Sunday.

    Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist, and Andrew Mangiapane and Nikita Zadorov also to help Calgary win a season-high fourth straight game. Tyler Toffoli had two assists.

    Calgary remained two points behind Winnipeg for the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Jets beat New Jersey 6-1 earlier Sunday.

    “Winnipeg won, so we needed to do our part,” Lucic said. “Five games left, we’re probably going to have to win all of them.”

    The Flames were winless when trailing after two periods through their first 75 games. They’ve now won back-to-back down after 40 minutes following Friday’s 5-4 overtime win at Vancouver.

    “It’s the right time of year to do it,” Stone said. “It would be better if we were in a different position, but it’s good we’re stringing some wins together.”

    Lucic tied the score 4-4 at 6:26 of the third. After defenseman MacKenzie Weegar blocked a shot in the defensive zone, Blake Coleman fed Lucic to score far side off the rush for his seventh of the season.

    Stone, playing his first game for the Flames since Feb. 18 because of a lower-back injury, let loose a slap shot from the point that beat goalie Lukas Dostal for the go-ahead goal with 2:38 remaining. It was his sixth.

    Stone credited his teammates’ work in winning the offensive-zone draw to get him the puck.

    “I had a little bit of time to wind up,” Stone said.

    Jacob Markstrom gave up two goals on nine shots in the first period and was replaced by Dan Vladar, who stopped 11 shots over the final two periods to pick up the win.

    “Just trying to get a little more jump,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “If we don’t get points we’re out of it right? Trying to make every game meaningful.”

    Frank Vatrano had two goals and an assist, Max Comtois had a goal and an assist, and Scott Harrington also scored for Anaheim. Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists and Dostal made 36 saves.

    “I thought it was a really great effort by the group,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “Back-to-back games for us and just an absolutely desperate team over there fighting for a playoff spot — heartbreaker.”

    Vatrano gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 4:17 of the first with a rising shot that beat Markstrom’s glove. It marked the 10th time Calgary gave up a goal on an opponent’s first shot of the game — the ninth time against Markstrom.

    Markstrom stopped Max Jones on a breakaway with eight minutes remaining in the opening period.

    Comtois doubled the lead with 2:10 remaining in the opening period as he converted the rebound of Vatrano’s shot.

    The Flames scored the next three goals to take the lead.

    Mangiapane got Calgary on the scoreboard with a power-play goal 33 seconds into the second period. With Colton White serving a hooking penalty, Mangiapane wired a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle over Dostal’s stick for his 16th.

    Zadorov got a pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and rifled the puck far side over Dostal’s glove for his 10th at 7:12 of the middle period to tie the score.

    Ritchie put the Flames ahead 3-2 a little more than a minute later as he tipped Troy Stecher’s shot from the point past Dostal. It was his 13th.

    Vatrano’s second of the night and 20th of the season tied it at 9:16 as he knocked in a rebound over Vladar’s glove.

    Harrington put the Ducks ahead 4-3 with 7:04 left in the second as he beat Vladar with a point shot through traffic.

    NOTES Calgary went 8-5-2 in March. … The Flames took the season series over the Ducks 3-1-0. … Flames D Chris Tanev sat out a sixth straight game with an upper-body injury.

    UP NEXT

    Ducks: Host Edmonton on Wednesday night.

    Flames: Host Chicago on Tuesday night in the finale of a two-game homestand.

    ___

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

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