from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

Shoulders slumped, Nathan MacKinnon put his head down and exhaled deeply before making the long skate back to his bench as play resumed.

His attempt at a zone entry had just been stymied, as so many had throughout a first period in which his team needed a heroic effort from Alexandar Georgiev to limit the damage to a late Wyatt Johnston goal.

Outshot 16-2 by the Dallas Stars and horrifically outplayed on home ice, MacKinnon’s body language said plenty about where things stood for the Colorado Avalanche then and where they stand now.

Earlier in the day the top-heavy hosts took two massive blows, losing leading scorer Valeri Nichushkin to a six-month suspension, and missing top-pair defenceman Devon Toews to illness.

Plenty to absorb on the heels of a Game 3 loss at home.

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Highlights of the 5-1 loss can be found below.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The Rangers spent all season showing us who they are by overcoming every obstacle along the way to finish with the best record in the NHL

Now, they are going to have to do that again.

And they are going to have to try, try and try again to clinch this second-round series against the Canes because they showed up as imposters in dropping Monday’s potential Game 5 clincher at the Garden 4-1.

The Rangers lacked snap. They lacked energy. They seemed paralyzed by the opportunity to advance. They were at least a step slower than their opponents. They turned 50-50s into 30-70s the wrong way. They were disconnected and, for the most part, disengaged.

Do you know what it looked like? It looked like Game 7 of the 2015 conference finals in which the Blueshirts could barely muster a whimper before going down to Tampa Bay, 2-0, at the Garden in what was their second straight shutout at home. That night was lousy and so was this one.

Maybe more to the point: Do you know what else it looked like? A typical Rangers game in December or January; that’s almost exactly what it looked like.

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* Captain Jordan Staal and Evgeny Kuznetsov started a third-period comeback for the Hurricanes, who staved off elimination for the second straight contest and moved one step closer to becoming the 10th team in NHL history to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-0 in a playoff series.

* In his last night as a 20-year-old, Wyatt Johnston joined elite company in NHL history with a pair of goals and helped the Stars skate to a five-goal outing in Game 4. Dallas now owns an opportunity to advance to the Western Conference Final on Wednesday.

* The Bruins look to accomplish a franchise-first as their quest to rally from a 3-1 series deficit against the Panthers begins in Game 5, while the Oilers and Canucks return to the ice after a trio of one-goal games have highlighted their series’ first three contests.

On Oilers Now, MacTavish told host Bob Stauffer that the Oilers have time to correct their game but more intensity and ferocity is in order. “As maybe the best leader in the history of sports, Mark Messier, said to our group at one point, ‘It’s time to get your balls on the crest of your jerseys and go play the game.’ Message received Mark.

“There really is nothing worse — or should not be worse — of a feeling for a player if you’re not involved in the game offensively or physically… We have far too many guys that at the end of the game take their jersey off and don’t really participate or contribute to the overall performance of the group — and that can’t happen. If you’re going to win, if you serious about winning, and want to win the Stanley Cup, you can’t be satisfied in that dressing room without being a contributor physically.

-Craig MacTavish on the Edmonton Oilers. David Staples of the Edmonton Journal has more.

NEW YORK/TORONTO (May 13, 2024) – The National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche has been placed in Stage 3 of the Player Assistance Program of the NHLPA and NHL.

Under the terms of the joint program, Nichushkin will be suspended without pay for a minimum of six months and then will be eligible to apply for reinstatement.

The New York Rangers will send the Carolina Hurricanes home for the summer with a win tonight.

With a win tonight, the Dallas Stars could wrap up the series on Wednesday.

LAS VEGAS (May 13, 2024) – The NHL Awards™ will return to Las Vegas this summer at the newly opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The ceremony, held for the first time inside BleauLive Theater at the 67-story luxury resort, will take place on Thursday, June 27, and will be broadcast live on ESPN and Sportsnet in the United States and Canada, respectively, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. Tickets for the ceremony will go on sale to the public on Friday, May 17 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET.

“The overall premise I have, to be perfectly honest with you, is we should not be asking the coach after the game what they feel about the officiating and what happens,” Sweeney said prior to the Bruins’ departure from Hanscom Field. “You guys should really be focused on what we didn’t do well enough in the course of the game to win a hockey game. Those questions should either be directed at either the supervisor of officials, supervisor of the series and/or the officials.

“You want full access and transparency? Then put the officials in front of the microphone to answer the question. They’re the only ones that have the experience to be able to handle whatever interpretation they applied to Rule 69.”

-Don Sweeney, GM for the Boston Bruins. Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic has more ($).

from Sean Shapiro of Shap Shots,

I’ve admitted this before, but I was one of the people that looked at the Danielson pick too harshly when it happened. I wanted a flashier pick in the top 10 and I was overly critical of Detroit buying into his defensive play for an early selection.

Mea culpa.

Danielson started proving me wrong with his showing in the NHL preseason, showing his overall ability in four NHL exhibitions, including a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins that well encapsulated his overall performance.

Danielson returned to the WHL and was a point-per-game player with the struggling Brandon Wheat Kings, before getting traded to Portland for a boatload of assets. After the trade Danielson had 41 points (12 goals, 29 assists) in 28 regular season games and has 22 points (16 goals, 6 assists), in 16 playoff games for the Winterhawks....

We’ll get into some video, but first I wanted to bring in Winterhawks beat writer Joshua Critzer, who covers the team for PNW Hockey Talk and has watched Danielson closely since the trade.

I fired over a couple questions that Critzer happily answered for me.

Q: Did anything stand out to you about Danielson’s game that wasn’t expected before the trade?

The general consensus was Portland was getting a 200-foot player, but I don’t think anyone expected it to this extent. His backchecking tenacity and effectiveness have turned over countless pucks. At the junior level, he is the best passer I’ve seen since Cody Glass. The area passes he makes, along with the tape-to-tape passes through traffic, have forced other teams to essentially double-team him in the offensive zone. Especially in Games 3 and 4 against Prince George, he would beat two defenders with one move or one pass.

much more

added 5:07pm, Soucy suspended one game.

A short one today, 3 1/2 minutes long.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The Edmonton Oilers are getting nervous.

About their goaltending. About their depth players. About the fact they haven’t beaten the Vancouver Canucks in regulation yet this season — in seven tries.

About Stuart Skinner’s career .881 save percentage in the playoffs.

How do we know?

Because, after a 4-3 loss in which Skinner was pulled after 40 minutes — then reinserted to sneak in a pseudo timeout in the final two minutes — the affable and accountable No. 1 goalie was withheld from the media by the team.

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from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

When veteran backup Casey DeSmith was unable to play Game 4 of the first-round series against Nashville — three games after Vezina Trophy-candidate starter Thatcher Demko was injured — Silovs, with zero experience in the National Hockey League playoffs, merely went in and outplayed Predators’ goaltending star Juuse Saros.

Now three games into Round 2, he is outplaying Oilers starter Stuart Skinner so much that while Silovs was making 21 saves in the third period of Vancouver’s 4-3 win, Skinner was watching from the Edmonton bench after being yanked by coach Kris Knoblauch after surrendering four goals on 15 shots through 40 minutes.

Not only has Silovs not been the liability for the Canucks many predicted, based only on his inexperience and the daunting circumstances surrounding of his sudden rise to prominence, but the six-foot-four Latvian is outplaying celebrated opponents and actually giving Vancouver the advantage in the crease the team planned to have with Demko when the Stanley Cup tournament began.

more

Game highlights are below.

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Of all Florida Panthers, it just had to be Sam Bennett, didn’t it?

Like he hadn’t already aggravated the Boston Bruins and their passionate fans enough in his only previous appearance in this quickly boiling-over series, like he wasn’t already more annoying than pieces of shell that somehow slipped their way into their juicy lobster roll, Bennett — one of the NHL’s biggest agitators, shift disturbers and notorious playoff warriors — just had to be the guy to score the controversial tying goal in the Panthers’ latest playoff comeback at TD Garden.

One game after drawing the ire of Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, fans and scores of online video detectives with what the state of Massachusetts insists was an intentional, sneaky punch to captain Brad Marchand’s jaw, Bennett turned the other cheek anytime Bruins players wanted a piece of him, then played a major role in Florida’s 3-2 triumph that put it a victory away from a second consecutive Eastern Conference final.

On a third-period power play, Bennett scored after pushing Charlie Coyle into goalie Jeremy Swayman. As Coyle made contact, the puck naturally trickled right to Bennett in front of the goalmouth for the equalizer into an open net. The Bruins challenged for goalie interference, but the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, on the headset with the two refs, ruled that the video “supported the Referees’ call on the ice that the shove by Florida’s Sam Bennett on Charlie Coyle and the subsequent contact with Jeremy Swayman did not prevent Swayman from playing his position in the crease prior to Bennett’s goal.”

continued ($)

from Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic,

* Brock Boeser and Elias Lindholm both scored twice to lift the Canucks to the second comeback win of Sunday night and the 28th of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs – a total that is the fourth highest at this stage of a postseason (58 GP) in NHL history.

* Aleksander Barkov recorded his third game-winning goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs to help the Panthers complete their fifth-ever multi-goal comeback win in the postseason and move within one victory of clinching a berth to the Conference Finals.

* Monday will feature the Hurricanes looking for their second straight win as they aim to force a Game 6, while the Avalanche can even their series on home ice.

After a 3-2 to Florida.

The Bruins are as close to a must win game without it being one.

The Vancouver/Edmonton series should be a long one.

7 1/2 minutes to watch.

from Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic,

Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand will not play in Game 4 because of an upper-body injury. Coach Jim Montgomery classified Marchand as day to day. Montgomery declined to answer whether Marchand had suffered a concussion.

The Bruins believe Marchand was injured by Sam Bennett during a first-period collision in Game 3. Slow-motion video replay appears to show Bennett punching Marchand in the head with his right hand. Marchand played for two periods but did not return in the third....

“I think it pisses off everyone,” Trent Frederic said of Bennett’s punch and its consequences. “I think this whole team kind of ticks everyone off, to be honest. There’s some individuals, obviously, that make guys more frustrated, more mad. Maybe it’s frustration. You’ve still got to go out and do the job. We’re still down 2-1, trying to make it 2-2.”

Bennett was not penalized for the play and was not subject to supplemental discipline.

“I don’t think I classified it as dirty,” Montgomery said following the Bruins’ optional morning skate on Sunday. “I just thought it was outside the lines. I think it’s someone that plays the game on the edge. And he knew what he was doing. I don’t know if you’ve seen the picture from behind. But there’s clearly… he loaded up.”

read on

If you missed it earlier, watch the incident below.

It's a beautiful day here in Michigan and I wish all the moms out there a beautiful day too.

Sit back, relax and do whatever your heart desires. Let your family cater to you today.

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

Detroit Red Wings goalie Alex Lyon is out of the World Championships in Czechia after suffering an injury in USA’s 6-1 win against Germany Saturday.

Lyon was scheduled to fly back to the United States today, according to USA Hockey. Details of the injury have not been disclosed. Reports on social media say it’s a hand injury, but that is unconfirmed.

That leaves former Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and Detroit draft pick Trey Augustine as USA’s goalie. Michigan State player Augustine, 19, replaced Lyon at 3:27 of the second period and played the remainder of the game. Lyon had stopped all 14 shots he faced against Germany before he was hurt. Augustine stopped 11 of the 12 shots he saw. This is Augustine’s first World Championship. However, he owns international experience at the World Junior Championship and the World Under-18 tournaments.

continued

from Ryan S. Clark of ESPN,

"Take the ball."

Everything about those three words was an invitation. It was a way to let Arturs Silovs know that although he had already done quite a bit, he could still do so much more, because those around him believed he was capable of more.

Several months have passed since Abbotsford Canucks coach Jeremy Colliton delivered that message. In that time, Silovs has gone from a strong AHL goaltender to one who has won three postseason games for the Vancouver Canucks in one of this year's unlikeliest situations.

Think about that. Or rather, think about it like this: Silovs is a 23-year-old goalie from Latvia, a nation whose population is smaller than metro Vancouver. For all the questions facing the Canucks about how they'd survive without injured Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko, they have found answers with Silovs' ascension.

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from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- This is a George Constanza opposite year for the NHL. Usually, the first round of the playoffs is sensational, then diminishes each round after that. This year, the first round was unspectacular, but the second round has been terrific to date. And wait ’til next round, when we’re potentially looking at Panthers versus Rangers or Oilers versus either the Stars or Avalanche — that could be even better.

- Thank you NHL and American television. When Evan Bouchard scored in overtime on Friday night, it was actually Saturday morning in my house, 1:16 am. How many Canadians east of Manitoba were watching that late?

- It was clear a few months ago that likely Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck would wind up as the goalie for Team USA at the next Winter Olympics. But now, Jeremy Swayman has entered the conversation, along with Thatcher Demko and Jake Oettinger. All four would start for Team Canada if available.

more hockey note, most sre Toronto related...

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

It will take one more game, at least one more game, for the Rangers to sew up their second-round series and advance to the conference finals following Saturday’s 4-3 Game 4 defeat here to the Canes.

If you want to spin the end of the Blueshirts’ 7-0 joyride to start the playoffs somehow as positive, there is of course the continuing and eerie parallel to 1994, a fairly famous year around here.

Those Rangers also won their first seven postseason games, lost a potential second-round Game 4 clincher in Washington before taking out the Caps in Game 5 at the Garden before moving onto the Devils, “We’ll Win Tonight,” “Save by Richter!” and all that jazz.

This group would sign up for something similar when the Candy Canes come to Manhattan for Game 5 on Monday.

The defeat, though, does have an additional consequence in that it prevents Adam Fox getting perhaps a full week’s rest before the next round starts. Fox, who took a leg-on-leg from Nick Jensen in Game 4 of the Washington series on April 28, has not seemed entirely up to par throughout this series and appeared to labor at times in the match.

continued