from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Monday night on the east coast of this successful hockey state, the Panthers slayed the dragon by dispatching their cross-state rivals in a playoff series for the first time in franchise history.

The Panthers were Eastern Conference champions for the second time in franchise history last year, but even captain Aleksander Barkov and sidekick Matthew Tkachuk couldn’t recall their arena on the edge of the Everglades louder and more electric than it was during the final five minutes of Monday night’s 6-1, Game 5 victory.

Panthers fans, who until two years ago had to wait 26 years between series victories all the while watching Lightning fans fill the Ice Palace and celebrate their favorite team’s success over and over and over, understood the magnitude of ending the season for Kucherov, Hedman, Brayden Point, Andrei Vasilevskiy and perhaps the Lightning career of Stamkos.

This win, one that was so much tighter than the score would indicate until Barkov’s second goal of the game gave Florida a 3-1 lead at the 11:06 mark of the third period, was symbolic in so many ways. Remember, it was the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers’ loss to the Lightning in the second round in 2022 that kickstarted the change to bring in Paul Maurice and acquire stars like Tkachuk....

“Tons of respect for what they’ve done and for all the players in the team that have won there and have had success,” Tkachuk said. “Just to be in a playoff series against your biggest rival is so cool and so much fun to begin with and then to come out on top and be a part of the team that was able to do that for the first time, it just makes it that much more special.”

Let’s be honest, as good as the Rangers have been by finishing with the best record in the NHL, as loaded up as the Hurricanes made themselves at the deadline, Florida may be the best team in the East.

First of all, they have last year’s experience of making it to the Final Two to always draw upon the rest of this postseason. That was obvious Monday when they took a 2-1 lead into the third period and were anything but tight under the most extreme pressure.

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* Aleksander Barkov scored the series-clinching goal shorthanded to help the Panthers advance to the Second Round for the third straight postseason.

* Twenty-year-old Wyatt Johnston continued his scoring ways and helped the Stars even their First Round series at two games apiece, ensuring their series against the reigning Stanley Cup champions will require at least six games.

* A quartet of Game 5s will see the Bruins, Hurricanes, Avalanche and Canucks each with the opportunity to advance to the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Florida Panthers beat The Tampa Bay Lightning 6-1 tonight to take the series 4-1.

Highlights are below.

Your comments are always welcomed.

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Is Alex Lyon capable of handling a heavy workload as a starter or is he better suited as a backup?

Can James Reimer, if re-signed, provide quality starts as a backup or No. 3 goalie?

And the biggest question: Can Ville Husso recover from health issues and be the solid, dependable workhorse he was the first three-quarters of the 2022-23 season?...

“It was a really tough year, injury-wise,” Husso said following the season. “At the end even mentally, too, it was hard not to play. We were trying everything to come back a little earlier than supposed to but unfortunately, it didn’t work. I’ll be healthy for next year and I don’t think I’ll need any surgeries or anything like that.”

Husso posted a shutout on Jan. 26 in his first conditioning stint with Grand Rapids. He was scheduled for another start with the Griffins on April 12 but left the ice during warmups.

“A little setback,” Husso said. “And then it wasn’t just me saying I’m not going to play it was the team’s decision as well.”

Husso, 29, said he is confident he can return healthy.

“I love the game, so I just want to get out there and enjoy playing again,” he said. “Watching these last couple home games and how crazy the building was and seeing fans, how into it they are, and I’m not able to help the team, I think that was on my head. I just need to get healthy now and get ready for next year.”

He believes he’ll be mentally tougher after this season.

read on

SEATTLE, Wash. — April 29, 2024 — Today, the Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) announced that they have relieved head coach Dave Hakstol of his duties.

“I thank Dave for his hard work and dedication to the Kraken franchise,” said Kraken General Manager Ron Francis. “Following our end-of-the-season review, we have decided to make a change at our head coach position. These decisions are never easy, but we feel this is a necessary step to help ensure our team continues to improve and evolve. Dave is a good coach and a terrific person. We wish him and his family all the best. We will begin our search for the Kraken’s next head coach immediately.”

If everything were perfect, the Leafs might be perfect too. Which makes them a delicate butterfly hoping to operate in conditions where beetles thrive.

-Justin Bourne on the Leafs. Bourne has much more at Sportsnet.

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

In a must-win game, Ovechkin was dislodged from the top line, played on a seldomly deployed line at even strength with Sonny Milano and Hendrix Lapierre, and logged the sixth-lowest ice time (15:26) of his 151-game playoff career.

He finished a playoff series with zero points for the first time in his career and only had six shots.

Why was he almost forgotten in Game 4 during the biggest moments?

The 38-year-old was tired, coach Spencer Carbery alluded, after a torrid second-half pace in which he scored 23 goals and 36 points in the final 36 games to help the Caps make the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

“He could speak to this, but I think that this year and leaning on him down the stretch the second half of the year, he did an incredible job of finding his game,” Carbery said after Sunday’s 4-2 season-ending loss. “And also not just his game, but we were so scoring-challenged all season long. So the second half of the year, we even become more (feeble offensively). We (trade) Anthony Mantha, (Evgeny Kuznetsov) is out. And then you’ve got (T.J. Oshie) out for a while. So you’ve got all these different factors, right, that make it even more of a challenge for you to produce offensively.

“So he comes in post-February … and so our season is hanging in the balance. … Point I’m getting at is if he doesn’t go on that scoring run … we’re not even sitting up here, right? He was scoring consistently every single night. So what I’m getting at is that was a lot: the second half of the year and especially the last, call it, two weeks, where every game felt like life or death for our team. And again, he could answer that more accurately, but I feel like that took a lot out of him physically and mentally.”

read on ($)

via Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

At the risk of sounding like an old man screaming at the clouds, remember the days when the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs would produce some of the most exciting, compelling and dynamic hockey of the season? Well, it sure isn’t happening this year, at least not yet.

With the exception of the Dallas-Vegas series, which goes to Game 4 Monday night, none of the series has even been very competitive. All other seven series were either a four-game sweep or are at 3-1 entering Game 5.

If you’re a fan of either of the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes or Florida Panthers, you’re probably thrilled at the moment. But if you have no dog in the fight and you’re just looking for some exciting hockey, you’re probably looking forward to Round 2.

Less than 6 minutes to watch.

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NEW YORK (April 29, 2024) – Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers, Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets are the three finalists for the 2023-24 Vezina Trophy, awarded “to the goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position,” the National Hockey League announced today.

NHL general managers submitted ballots for the Vezina Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists.

Following are the finalists for the Vezina Trophy, in alphabetical order:

via Mark Kiszla of the Denver Gazette,

When Cale Makar mines Orr, we all strike gold.

Watching Makar do Bobby Orr things, as the 25-year-old Avs defenseman skated coast to coast with the puck velcroed to his stick, weaving through not one, not two, not three, but four Jets as if they were standing still and scoring a goal so sweet it deserved to be all 10 of ESPN’s top plays on this Sunday, the jaw dropped in disbelief.

Not my jaw, mind you. I was too busy slapping my forehead, trying to make sense of Makar’s magic.

I’m talking about the jaw of poor Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck. After he scraped his mandible off the ice of Ball Arena with the crowd going wild for Makar’s goal, this best-of-seven NHL playoff series was over.

Next!

Bring on Dallas or Las Vegas. Although the Jets remained one game from elimination after Colorado’s 5-1 victory, they’re already packed and ready for vacation in Cancun.

Asked to describe his score that drove a stake through Winnipeg’s heart, Makar went 100% hockey humble, insisting: “It was a little bit of a lucky one.”

Au contraire, young Mr. Makar. We’re the lucky ones.

Although I could sit mesmerized in my chair and watch Makar score the Avalanche’s third goal of Game 4 on a continuous loop all day, until I fell asleep and dreamed about it all night, let’s step back and take a look at the big picture, shall we?...

The best three defensemen ever to wear NHL sweaters? That’s a loaded question. While placing Orr at No. 1 is a truth that’s self-evident, I invite argument by selecting six-time champion Doug Harvey of the Canadiens’ dynasty at No. 2 and picking Detroit legend Nicklas Lidstrom over Ray Bourque third.

But given time and health, Makar will crack that top three. And sooner rather than later.

Watch the goal below.

from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

Game 4 has been put to rest. The ugliness could live on.

It was late in the third period Saturday night and the Lightning were on a power play with a 5-3 lead. Nikita Kucherov and Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour were battling for the puck when Kucherov fell with Montour leaning on his back.

Nothing wrong with that. Just normal hockey aggression.

Except, on his way down, Montour very obviously shifted his stick, put all his weight on Kucherov with both skates off the ice and gave a cross check to the back of the neck that knocked Kucherov’s helmet off.

Two thoughts:

1. Remarkable that game officials decided it was merely a minor penalty.

2. Even more remarkable that the Lightning failed to address it in the final minutes.

Oh, Tampa Bay answered with a 5-on-3 goal that put the score out of reach. And Tanner Jeannot was inserted in the final 93 seconds and picked up two hits and a roughing penalty, but it’s not as if the Lightning sent a strong message warning the Panthers about cheap shots.

And the timing would have been perfect since there was little time remaining and a three-goal lead.

continued

Watch the incident below.

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

Fifty-four years without a Stanley Cup has made Vancouver Canucks fans a little skittish about success and conditioned for disappointment, which they expect in springtime the way they expect rain in January.

Nothing could have prepared them for what happened Sunday.

Outshot, outskated, outplayed and generally outclassed for 57 minutes, the Canucks scored twice in the last three minutes of regulation time with their goalie out — and that goalie was named Arturs Silovs — and won 4-3 in overtime on Elias Lindholm’s goal at 62 seconds as Vancouver stole Game 4 from the Nashville Predators to take a 3-1 series lead in the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs.

Each of Vancouver’s three wins has been with a different goaltender, as first Thatcher Demko and then Casey DeSmith were hurt. One injury is significant, the other not.

The Canucks have managed 71 shots on net. In the series! No team in NHL history has tested an opposing goalie less often through four games. Star defenceman Quinn Hughes is getting blasted by the Predators and star centre Elias Pettersson and his linemates have yet to make a dent.

No one on the Canucks, especially head coach Rick Tocchet, is arguing that Vancouver has been the better team so far, even if all three of their goalies have been better than the Predators ace Juuse Saros.

continued

Game highlights are below.

* The Rangers swept the Capitals and became the first team to advance to the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with the help of a series-clinching goal by Artemi Panarin.

* The Canucks took a 3-1 series lead and did so in dramatic fashion as they became the second team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to tie a contest in the final 10 seconds of regulation and score the winner in the opening two minutes of overtime.

* Connor McDavid hit the 10-point mark in a playoff series for the fifth time in his career – a feat only seven other players in NHL history have achieved – while Stuart Skinner stopped all 33 shots he faced to help the Oilers take a 3-1 lead.

* A two-game Monday in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs will see the Lightning attempt to stave off elimination again while the Stars aim to even their series against the Golden Knights at two apiece.

Sam Rosen with the call of the Rangers goals in the third period and the handshake line. Full highlights are below.

from Eric Engels of Sportsnet,

The Winnipeg Jets are down 3-1 in the playoffs, they’re facing elimination in five games, and it all feels so shockingly familiar.

They meekly tucked tail and bowed out without a fight against the Vegas Golden Knights a year ago, and they appear to be doing it again now against the Colorado Avalanche.

Last spring, the Jets lost in four straight after winning Game 1, leaving head coach Rick Bowness disgusted.

“We have to push back,” he said once the Jets were eliminated. “There has to be a push back. There has to be pride. You have to be able to push back when things aren’t going your way. We had no push back. Their better players were so much better than ours tonight. They deserved to win. They were the better team in the regular season, they were the better team in this series.”

It feels like we’re a game away from hearing Bowness repeat himself.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way this time around — with the Jets proving to be a 52-win juggernaut in the regular season and entering the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak — but here we are again.

continued

Game highlights are below.

Ten of them.

The Washington Capitals need a win to avoid a sweep, three teams need a win to even their series at 2-2.

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- It should be Toronto’s time — shouldn’t it? — if only because Boston has taken up too much of our sporting time over the years. Just to be fair.Year after year we’ve seen it, team after team, individual star after freaking individual star, and in truth, we’ve been kind of overwhelmed if not mesmerized by Boston’s teams and athletes....

Which makes this Bruins-Leafs series — big picture, right now — all the more important. You can only have so much sand kicked in your face. Eventually, you have to kick back.

- Watching the Colorado Avalanche is like watching hockey played at another speed. It’s like something is wrong with your television and the game is on fast-forward.

- If it’s true, and Rod Brind’Amour will be a free agent at the end of the season, shouldn’t every team in the league, even those with a coach under contract, make an attempt to hire the Carolina Hurricanes bench boss.

- It’s bush league that there is no place for a backup goaltender to sit on the bench for visiting teams playing in Carolina.

more on the first topic plus additional hockey notes...

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Kane suggested he may want to play till he's 40. Teams aren't likely to give him more than two years in term since he turns 36 a month into next season. As regards money, before Yzerman can offer a new contract to any of his unrestricted free agents — a group that also includes David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere — the GM needs to know how much he has to commit to restricted free agents Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Then there's weighing whether the Wings might be better off having money to spend in free agency, because both star forwards Sam Reinhart (28 years old and coming off a 57-goal season) and Steven Stamkos (34, with 1,137 points in 1,082 career games) project to be available July 1.

It will likely take around $8 million annually to attract Stamkos, and around $9.5 million annually to attract Reinhart. Kane maybe can be had for closer to the $5 million range. Other teams are likely to show interest — the Vegas Golden Knights, for one, if Jonathan Marchessault walks away in free agency. In Boston, the Bruins hung on to Jake DeBrusk at the trade deadline, but the $4 million forward is a pending UFA. In Chicago, Kane was greeted with a raucous welcome when he led the Wings into United Center back in February, and he would be a spectacular mentor for young Blackhawks star Connor Bedard.

Kane will mull his decision, but he does have some parameters that the Wings fulfill.

"Coming into this year, my decision was based on playing on a good team, a team where I thought I fit in well," he said. "The comfort of playing with Alex DeBrincat again is something I was looking forward to and really enjoyed. As the season goes on, you realize there’s a lot of good players here, there’s a lot of good players to play with. I was put in a great situation to succeed. I was really appreciative of that. I think it will be similar going forward, too — how will I fit in with the team, who would I play with, things like that.

"From being in Chicago for so long and then New York and then coming to Detroit, you’re looking for a little bit more stability as far as term. But the right situation matters, too."

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from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

Stop crying, bro.

Start trading. Start firing.

The 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs are crumbling into pieces in front of our eyes, their belief morphing into frustration, their greatest strengths dissolving into weaknesses.

Time and again, this era of the hockey team's core — loaded with high-end talent and blessed with financial security — finds a way to underwhelm and underachieve when the city that cares so deeply wants it the most.

So, as the boo birds flew inside Scotiabank Arena and the scoring chances dried like hope, and the organized but hardly insurmountable Boston Bruins executed a tidy 3-1 road win to match their series lead, the superstars began bickering on the bench.

The clip spread around the Internet faster than the latest Drake diss, and the lip-readers had a field day:

continued

Below watch Marner and Nylander discuss the frustration and watch the game highlights here.

* The Islanders and Lightning both staved off elimination and forced a Game 5 – for New York, it was via a double overtime winner thanks to Mathew Barzal, while Steven Stamkos hit the 50-goal and 100-point mark in his postseason career during Tampa Bay’s victory.

* Wyatt Johnston became the youngest player in Stars/North Stars history to score an overtime goal in the playoffs and helped his club move one game closer to tying their series.

* Brad Marchand climbed to the top of the Bruins’ all-time postseason goals list as he helped his club earn a win with the series shifting back to Boston for Game 5 on Tuesday.

* Sunday will feature the Capitals looking to force a Game 5, while the Jets, Predators and Kings will all take their shot at tying their First Round series.

Tying and winning goals can be watched below.