Rod Brind’Amour's contract expires at the end of this season.

from Johnathan Bailey of PhillyHockeyNow,

Some Flyers fans have this fantasy of Brind’Amour returning to Philadelphia and replacing John Tortorella as the Flyers’ head coach, particularly due to his success as a coach in the regular season. Brind’Amour has won no fewer than 52 games in each of his last three seasons behind Carolina’s bench.

If the expectation is that Brind’Amour elevates the Flyers to a level that makes them a perennial playoff team that can win the Stanley Cup, those hopes are misplaced. The Hurricanes are currently down 3-0 to the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, putting them one game away from getting swept in the second round.

If the Rangers sweep Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes, Carolina will have gotten swept two years in a row. Here’s how the postseason has treated the Hurricanes under Brind’Amour: swept in the conference finals in 2019, lost in five games in the first round of 2020, lost in five games in the second round of 2021, lost in seven games in the second round of 2022, swept in the conference finals of 2023, and on track to get swept in the second round of 2024.

Brind’Amour’s teams tend to run out of gas fairly quickly in the postseason, and while he is absolved of the responsibility of building the team, the Hurricanes’ results always come back to him.

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Again, the concussion spotters never pulled him from the game.

He did not play in the third period last night, Bruins say upper body injury.

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

The center chosen ninth overall by the Red Wings in the 2023 NHL entry draft is leading Portland in playoff scoring. Danielson is good for five goals and 16 assists through 14 games. During the Western Conference final against the Prince George Cougars, Danielson led all scorers with 2-9-11 numbers, along with a plus-7 rating....

A 6-foot-2 and 188 pounds, Danielson has the ideal frame to be a dominant NHL center, although he’ll still need to bulk up and add strength. He’s already known for his 200-foot game, and defensive play is generally the aspect that is holding young players back from making the NHL grade.

“He did not (look out of place),” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said of Danielson’s first NHL training camp last fall. ” I love the fast that even as young as he is, he came in with a ‘I want to make the team’ mentality, which is exciting for me.

“My message was want to get back here as quick as you can.”

Could that be next season for Danielson? The tradition with this franchise is to slow cook prospects. At the same time, in certain cases – Larkin, Raymond, Moritz Seider – when a player shows that he’s ready, they’re ready to give him the chance to show what he can do in the show.

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from Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald,

Bruins fans showed up at the Garden on Friday looking for their team to exact some old school vengeance on the Florida Panthers after some cheap shots were thrown in the Panthers’ lopsided win in Game 2.

The B’s, however, were not ready for the moment. And when they finally woke up, it was too late.

The Panthers, far quicker to the puck than the B’s in the first two periods and playing their forechecking game to perfection, raced out to a 4-0 lead and withstood a Bruin rally in the third period for a 6-2 victory in Game 3.

To make matters worse, the B’s lost Brad Marchand, who was wobbled in the first period on a hit from Sam Bennett, playing his first game of the series. Marchand was looked at on the bench and stayed in the game but did not come out for the third period. There was no immediate update on him.

The Bruins had three shots on net after the first period and just eight after 40 minutes in a start that was reminiscent of their anemic starts in Games 5 and 6 against Toronto. Coach Jim Montgomery took the heat for his players.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we started slow and didn’t generate much offense,” said Montgomery. “We’ve got to get better. I have to give the players a better plan, you know? Florida was significantly better than us and I’ve got to come up with a better game plan.”

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Below, watch the game highlights.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

Connor McDavid coming off a sub-par game, and Leon Draisaitl playing hurt.

You might be able to overcome one of those. But both?

The poor Vancouver Canucks, they never had a chance.

“McDavid and Draisaitl, they were unreal,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet marveled after the game. “They were all over the ice tonight.”

In a Game 2 described by Mattias Ekholm as “not a must-win, but close to it,” the Edmonton Oilers pulled away from Vancouver as the game went on Friday, overcoming a one-goal deficit three separate times in a 4-3 overtime win that evens the series at 1-1.

Evan Bouchard’s long wrist shot rattled in off of Canucks defenceman Ian Cole for the OT winner, but it was identical one-goal, four-point nights by the Oilers' two superstars that stoked the playoff legend of Draisaitl and McDavid.

“They're hungry. They know what's at stake, and the best players bring out the best of themselves in these kinds of situations,” Ekholm said. “They're the top two players in the world, in my mind. When they put on a show like they did tonight, when they bring their ‘A’ game, it's hard to stop.”

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Game highlights are below.

* Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each factored on all four Oilers goals Friday, including the assists on Evan Bouchard’s overtime winner, to help Edmonton head back home for Game 3 with deadlocked 1-1 series with the Canucks.

* The Panthers joined rare company in NHL history with a fourth consecutive playoff win in Boston and did so thanks to their second six-goal performance in as many games as well as a three-assist outing from Matthew Tkachuk.

* Saturday features a Hurricanes attempt to stave off elimination in the Second Round and hand the President’s Trophy-winning Rangers their first loss of the postseason, while the Stars and Avalanche continue their tightly-contested series at Ball Arena for Game 3.

We should have two great games tonight. Comments are always welcome.

Throughout the night, I add videos of the goals and key plays so follow along.

from Sean P. Roarke of the NHL's website,

"Everyone knows what is going on; what situation we are in," Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis said Friday. "It's not going to help anyone being negative or being down. So everyone's being positive. We had a good practice. Everyone was upbeat, energetic, so it was nice to see."

In the history of best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, 209 teams have lost the first three games; four have found a way to come all the way back and advance.

The Hurricanes have not done so in six attempts since relocating from Hartford for the 1997-98 season.

Yet, they believe.

They have no choice. It's who they are. They are hockey players. It's in their DNA to believe -- to try -- until they are told to take off the skates for the final time in a season.

"We show up to the rink every day, we go out there and work," Carolina forward Stefan Noesen said. "It doesn't matter if it's Game 82, Game 1, preseason, down 3-0, up 4-0. We just show up and work.

"That's the identity we've built here and the culture that we bult. That's why we are here today. We're just trying to get better."

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from TSN,

Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan took responsibility Friday for the team's continued failures in the postseason.

"Our results in the playoffs have not been good enough. That's on me," Shanahan said.

Shanahan, alongside general manager Brad Treliving and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley, met with reporters one day after the team fired head coach Sheldon Keefe following his fourth opening-round exit in five years.

Shanahan said he appreciated Keefe taking the blame for the playoff letdowns in Toronto, but said the "unacceptable" results are on him. He added that all options will be on the table this off-season as the Maple Leafs look to take a step forward.

“We will look at everything this summer and will consider everything with the intention of making the Maple Leafs better and to win,” Shanahan said, declining to speak on the future of any specific players.

Shanahan has continuously backed the team's "Core 4" throughout his time in Toronto, but struck a different tone on Friday, noting the time for patience may be at an end. Captain John Tavares and winger Mitch Marner are both entering the final seasons of their contracts after Treliving extended both Auston Matthews and William Nylander this season.

"It has certainly become evident that we have to assess all of those things and assess if we have to do some very difficult things to make the team better," Shanahan said.

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Once a bully knows they can get away with murder in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there’s only way to stop a killing spree.

Someone’s gotta pick up the Captain’s spine. Someone’s gotta let Benn know that this won’t stand. And neither will he.

-Sean Keeler of the Denver Post where you can read more on the Jamie Benn hit.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

This is my take and not Peter Laviolette’s, but I am thinking the reason the Rangers head coach inserted Filip Chytil into the lineup for Thursday’s third game of the conference semis after a 188-day absence is that he believes that the club will need No. 72 in order to go the long haul, and what better time to bring him back than with a 2-0 series lead?

And now, with an ebullient and healthy Chytil back in place, the Blueshirts are just nine victories away from a parade up the Canyon of Heroes, nine victories away from lifting the Stanley Cup after recording their seventh straight victory of the tournament, this one 3-2 in overtime on Artemi Panarin’s exquisite deflection at 1:43 for No. 10’s fourth game-winner of the tournament.

Chytil came through his 12:02 of ice time without a care in the world. He kept up. He dangled twice in the third period. No one would have known that the 24-year-old hadn’t played since Nov. 2 in the regular season’s 10th game, when he sustained what is believed the fourth concussion of his career. It was as if Chytil jumped onto a speeding Acela in full flight.

And, man, does Laviolette deserve a lot of credit for this. The coach switched the lineup after six straight victories. He scratched Matt Rempe after the Rangers had won their last 15 games with him in the lineup.

Laviolette spit into the wind, and the Rangers soared.

The coach has their back, and the players have his.

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via the Dallas Morning News,

“Benner’s been outstanding in this playoff,” DeBoer said after the game. “I thought against Vegas, he did it, and he did it smart. He did it at the right time. He did it clean. His presence physically is having an impact for us in this playoffs in a real positive way.”

Still, the no-call was controversial, and Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar expressed confusion at the rules but ultimately noted that in the playoffs, “you have to play through it.”

“It’s a physical game, and it’s a physical player. I don’t know what to say. Does he catch a piece of his shoulder? Yes, I guess you could argue that, but the target is high and it’s at his head, and he makes contact with his head,” Bednar said after the game. “I have seen many times guys get called for the headshot penalties with a lot less than that, but I guess [the referees] didn’t think so. ... It just makes me wonder, again, what the rules [are]. We will never probably figure [it] out, but it is what it is.”

“You have to play through it, and I am glad he is OK. It’s a physical game this time of year, but I can’t understand how it’s not a penalty even if it isn’t a five [minute major],” he said.

Watch the hit below.

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

As part of his duties as vice president of hockey operations for the Detroit Red Wings, Nicklas Lidstrom is often assigned with the task of checking in on hockey’s future. While he’s doing so, the Red Wings legend readily admits that these kids have no recollection whatsoever of his spectacular past.

And he’s okay with that.

“I have no problem with that,” Lidstrom 54, told Swedish website Expressen.se. “It’s a bit fun in a way. There’s a new generation coming up and I actually think it’s charming.”...

Today’s up and coming hockey stars can Google all of that information about Lidstrom. They can watch his career highlights on YouTube. What they can’t do is recollect witnessing any of those magical events occuring.

“It was the same for me when I was growing up,” Lidstrom admitted. “There were players whose names you knew, but you had never seen them.”

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from Mark Lazerus of The Athletic,

...we need to talk about the Carolina Hurricanes.

Not in the same sentence as the Toronto Maple Leafs — that’s too harsh, too melodramatic. But in the same paragraph.

Because it’s not working. It hasn’t worked. And it appears it won’t work.

You know by now what the Hurricanes are all about. Depth over elite finishers. Quantity of shots over quality. Relentlessness over resourcefulness. Goaltending that’s always good enough, never great enough. It works so beautifully, so majestically, from October through April. But it hasn’t worked in May, and they haven’t even made it to June.

Carolina is an organizational marvel, one of the best-run and most forward-thinking front offices in the league. The Hurricanes have built a monster, a team that’s so deep, so fast, so effective, so ferocious on the forecheck. They win battles. They retrieve pucks. They wear down opponents. They won the NHL’s rough-and-tumble Metropolitan Division three years in a row before getting barely edged out by the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers this season by 3 points. They’ve finished among the top three teams in the league in each of the past four seasons. The analytical models adore them, the bettors favor them, and the hockey men and computer kids alike respect them.

Then the playoffs come around, and, well, this happens.

The Hurricanes are on the brink again, trailing their second-round series against the Rangers 3-0 after Artemi Panarin’s acrobatic tip-in 1:43 into overtime Thursday night gave New York a 3-2 victory. It was a gut-wrenching way for Carolina to lose, especially after Andrei Svechnikov scored the equalizer with 1:36 left in regulation, sending the cacophonous PNC Arena into absolute bedlam. It felt like that could be a turning point in the series. Instead, it just became another turn of the knife.

read on ($)

* New York remained undefeated in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the help of Artemi Panarin, who factored on the game-winning goal for the fourth consecutive contest and became the first Rangers player to do so.

* Roope Hintz factored on four of five Dallas goals as the Stars withstood another Avalanche comeback attempt to tie their series at one game apiece.

* Friday’s two-game slate features the Bruins looking to regain their edge against the Panthers at TD Garden while the Oilers aim to split their series against the Canucks.

via the NHL's YouTube page,

Tonight's live scoreboard and chat for Game 3 between the New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes and Game 2 between the Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars will provide real-time updates and interactive features for fans to stay engaged throughout the game. The scoreboard will display the current score, period, and time remaining, allowing viewers to easily track the game's progress. Additionally, the chat feature will enable fans to discuss the game, share their thoughts, and interact with other viewers in a lively and dynamic environment. Whether you're cheering for the Rangers or Hurricanes, the live scoreboard and chat will enhance your game-watching experience and connect you with fellow fans.

Follow below.

The Hurricanes really need a win tonight or they will be facing elimination on Saturday night.

The Stars do not want to be down 0-2 heading to Colorado for their game on Saturday.

Can Rangers’ special teams continue to push them through to the Stanley Cup

The New York Rangers are on the march with a special teams frenzy that succeeds in covering up the most glaring shortcoming the team may have, their very mediocre Five on Five (5x5) play. No team in eleven years has won the Stanley Cup without 5x5 play substantially better than what the Rangers have played this season.

via the Toronto Maple Leafs,

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving today announced that Sheldon Keefe has been relieved of his role as head coach. The organization will immediately begin the search for a new head coach, and decisions regarding the remainder of the coaching staff will follow.

“Today’s decision was difficult. Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man; however, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal. We thank Sheldon for his hard work and dedication to the organization over the last nine years, and wish him and his family all the very best.”

Keefe coached the Maple Leafs to a 212-97-40 record in 349 regular season games. The club recorded three consecutive 100-point seasons under Keefe, including a team-record 115-point season in 2021-22. Keefe was also at the helm of the Toronto Marlies (AHL) for five seasons, during which the team won the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s top regular season team on two occasions and the franchise’s first Calder Cup Championship in 2018.

from Nick Kypreos at the Toronto Star,

On Friday, when newly appointed MLSE CEO Keith Pelley, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and general manager Brad Treliving speak to the media, it’s fully expected that they’ll be aligned on the team’s short-term plans to get this runaway train back on the rails.

Unlike in years past, it will come with a different tone that no longer supports the idea of the Core Four.

Marner is now expendable because of what it will take to re-sign him, while it’s time for Tavares to go due to his diminishing role. These factors will be the driving force in why the Leafs will be seeking trades for these two as early as this June’s draft.

Both players have full no-movement clauses that they can exercise until they are free agents after next season, but what’s the point of waiting? If the Leafs can find Marner a destination where he’s willing to go and his new team has the means to sign him to a long-term contract with an annual salary he can’t refuse, then why delay the inevitable?

Here is the good news for Marner: there are already multiple NHL teams that have reached out and shown a keen interest in a three-time all-star player who closes in on 100 points every season. And that’s with the knowledge that his next contract could land him as much as $100 million.

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from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman likely will take the highest player on the team’s draft board with the 15th pick, whether he’s a center, winger or defenseman.

Ideally, he’ll be a winger who can put the puck in the net. That’s the biggest organizational need.

The Red Wings used their past two first-round picks on two-way centers, Marco Kasper is 2022 and Nate Danielson in 2023. They have a decent stable of young defensemen: Moritz Seider is well-established, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson will be on the roster at the start of next season and Axel Sandin-Pellikka might not be far behind. Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine are their goaltenders of the future.

They need goal-scorers.

The draft is top-heavy with defensemen. As many as six might be selected in the top 10. That could leave more scoring options for the Red Wings in the middle of the first round. Here is a look at some who might be available at No. 15 during the first day of the draft June 28 at the Sphere in Las Vegas:

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, 6-1, 198, RW, Mora (Allsvenskan, Sweden): The top Norwegian prospect of all-time, his game has been progressing nicely in the Swedish leagues. The Sporting News says, “The right winger is incredibly well-rounded with few holes in his game. He does a lot of things well, including scoring from range and handling the puck.”

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via the YouTube page of the NHL on ESPN,

Hear from the head coaches of the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers, Jim Montgomery and Paul Maurice, as well as David Pastrnak after Game 2 where Pastrnak fought Matthew Tkachuk in the third period...

from Kevin Woodley at the NHL's website,

Nikita Zadorov and Conor Garland scored 39 seconds apart in the third period, and the Vancouver Canucks came back from three goals down to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Zadorov tied it 4-4 at 13:47 with a one-timer from the left point through traffic. Garland then put Vancouver ahead for the first time at 14:26, faking a slap shot off the rush at the right dot before sliding a sharp-angled wrist shot through the legs of Stuart Skinner....

J.T. Miller also scored in the third period, Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and Arturs Silovs made 14 saves for the Canucks, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.

“The belief is always there,” Joshua said. “Just to know that you got to keep playing to the end, anything can happen and in the third, once the crowd gets behind us and gives us a little bit more confidence, you could see it spread throughout the team."...

“They’re a good team and they were doing everything they could to come back and we were doing everything we could to hold onto the lead,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who had one assist but no shots and was minus-1 in 24:03 of ice time. “That happens in the playoffs, you try to hold onto a lead and sometimes you’re maybe a little too passive. We were doing a good job of holding onto the lead, but they find a way to get two and find a way to get a third to win.”...

“Up until 10 minutes left in the third, I thought we controlled the action,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “Sometimes that happens, that’s the emotional ups and downs of the playoffs, they get three quick ones and that’s the game right there. We can be encouraged by the way we played for the first 50 minutes. A little bit of a disappointing ending, but at the end of the day, when we’re at our best and to a certain point, I didn’t think we maybe earned it in the third.”

read on

Below are the game highlights.