The Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild need a win tonight to force a game 7.

As always, feel free to discuss the games tonight and the full schedule is below.

from Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal,

Ken Holland took to Zoom for an expansive, dare I say rambling press conference on Wednesday morning to discuss the demise of the 2021 version of the Edmonton Oilers he manages, and to respond to reporters’ questions as to how he plans to improve his club going forward.

65 minutes later, after many variations on the theme of “I’ve lived it, I’ve done it” and reminiscences of his long years of experience in Detroit, the two most interesting items to these ears were the two questions he answered most directly. So let’s start there.

Holland mentioned the names of his pending unrestricted free agents on a number of occasions, but was most forthcoming on the future of the oldest of them. When asked if he intended to bring back his 39-year-old netminder, he answered in a single syllable, “Yes”, and it didn’t take more than a few seconds before he made it crystal clear: “Yes I do want to re-sign Mike Smith“....

Another Oiler who was singled out by Holland in the presser was forward Devin Shore. When Stauffer asked about him specifically, Holland praised the player’s versatility, ability to play either centre or wing or to wait his turn in the press box without creating waves. Invited to camp on a Professional Tryout, Shore earned a one-year contract at NHL minimum, cleared waivers a couple of times, but became something close to a full time player down the stretch, primarily as a bottom six LW, bringing physicality and penalty killing to the mix. While his path to making the team superficially resembles that of Alex Chiasson a couple of years ago, presumably a Shore extension would come a whole lot cheaper. He is a restricted free agent for one thing, and he didn’t have a career season in the manner that Chiasson did in 2018-19....

Otherwise, Holland spoke in generalities rather than specifics, returning to some takes time and time again. His initial comment was that he is “obviously disappointed, any time you don’t win the Stanley Cup, you’re disappointed… I was proud of our guys, lots of positive steps made this year. The pain that we’re feeling today is a good thing, it means we were good enough to have aspirations to go on a playoff run.”

more

“I promise you, with the people I’ve worked with over the course of my career, I don’t think you’re going to tell Andy Van Hellemond, Don Koharski or Kerry Fraser how to referee a hockey game,” said Hall of Fame referee Paul Stewart, a fourth-generation official. “They just look at you like pffft.

“I didn’t give a shit. I did the job based on what my feelings were. In many senses, I felt the players played for me. If you’re going to officiate and be at the top level of your game, you can’t allow this type of outside influence to taint your thinking. You have to gauge it by how you are and who you are.”

-Paul Stewart, former NHL referee

“At a stoppage of play, I would go to the benches to both coaches and say, ‘Obviously you’ve taken way too much advantage of my generosity and I’m embarrassed, but I’m now going to lay the hammer down. I prefer you to control your guys before I have to. But I’m going to grab one player in the scrum — it might be your guy or their guy. Control your guys or I will.”

“If I said something, you can take it to the bank, I was going to do it. The guys that are really successful are when they step on the ice and players know they mean business. When they tell them something, they follow through. It’s not an idle threat.”

-Kerry Fraser, former NHL referee

Joe Smith of The Athletic has much more ($$$)

from TSN,

St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said Wednesday he believes the team's Stanley Cup window is still open, despite a second straight early exit from the postseason.

The Blues were swept in four games by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of this year's playoffs, after being eliminated in six games in the opening round by the Vancouver Canucks last year.

Now two years removed from the team's first ever Stanley Cup championship in 2019, Armstrong said he sees at least two more years of the Blues being a contender.

"When we brought in the players a couple years ago, we thought we had a 5-year window (to win the Cup)," Armstrong said. "This was Year 3 of it.

"I still think it’s open."

continued

How about all 13 from the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

via Turner Sports press release,

The NHL is coming to Turner Sports’ networks and platforms later this year and the first additions to the roster of studio and game commentators are in place. Turner Sports and Wayne Gretzky have reached a multi-year agreement for “The Great One” to offer studio analysis during key moments of the NHL regular season and throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Additionally, veteran play-by-play commentator Kenny Albert and analyst Eddie Olczyk will call live games for Turner Sports throughout the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs, airing on TNT and TBS.

“The world’s best hockey league is coming to Turner Sports later this year and the exciting additions of Wayne, Kenny and Eddie will jumpstart our NHL coverage with some of the best and biggest talents in the sport,” said Tara August, Senior Vice President of Talent Relations and Special Projects, Turner Sports. “Their incomparable experiences within the game and unparalleled depth of knowledge will bring a distinct dimension to our game and studio coverage. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Turner Sports family.”

from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,

And then there was one.

Not since the spring of 2004 have the Maple Leafs won a playoff series.

With a 4-0 victory in Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, the Leafs are on the brink of changing that narrative.

One more win in the best-of-seven will do it, as the Leafs have taken a firm grip with a 3-1 series lead versus their Original Six rivals and head home full of confidence for Game 5 on Thursday....

“Scoring, defending, checking, all the way through the lineup, the guys dug down,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “These back to backs are tough. I thought a lot of guys were actually better (Tuesday) than (Monday). There were a lot of great efforts all the way through.”

Toronto most recently won a playoff series 17 years ago, when it beat Ottawa in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. The Leafs then lost in the conference semis to Philadelphia, and since then, have lost their past five series, including the qualifier last August against Columbus.

A win by Toronto on Thursday — or in Game 6 or 7 — and the Leafs will meet the Winnipeg Jets in the second round.

read on

Watch the highligts below.

from Kurt Dusterberg at NHL.com,

Jordan Staal scored 2:03 into overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup First Round at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

Staal batted the puck out of the air after goalie Juuse Saros stopped a shot from the point by Brett Pesce. The goal came 20 seconds after Alexandre Carrier was called for interference, which ended a Predators power play.

"I was fortunate enough, I easily could have whiffed on that one," Staal said. "I think I got my shaft on it. I was just swinging at it and I got a good bounce."

Martin Necas scored twice, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves for Carolina, which is the No. 1 seed from the Discover Central Division and leads the series.

"I think we got rewarded tonight," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We finally got a bounce, something that went our way that we really haven't had this series. It's that kind of goal you have to have every night."

continued

Game highlights are below.

THREE HARD LAPS

* The Maple Leafs earned their third straight win to move within one of reaching the Second Round, while the Hurricanes snapped a two-game slide to take a 3-2 series lead.

* Joe Thornton scored and became the oldest Toronto player to record a point in a playoff game, while William Nylander also found the back of the net (again) to move closer to matching a franchise record.

* The Islanders, Lightning and Golden Knights will look to advance past the First Round, while the Penguins, Panthers and Wild aim to force the first Game 7s of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I'm in relaxed mode tonight...

via the NHL PR department,

HURRICANES HOPE HOME ICE ADVANTAGE CONTINUES FOR GAME 5

A pivotal Game 5 goes tonight at PNC Arena in Raleigh between the Predators and Hurricanes, while in Montreal the Maple Leafs and Canadiens will battle for a second straight day with the host looking to even the series at 2-2.

* The home team has won each of the first four games between the Predators and Hurricanes, with Carolina returning to a building that welcomed 12,000 fans to watch them win Games 1 and 2. Carolina also was involved in the last series to have the home team win each of the first four contests – that happened in the first six games of the 2019 First Round against the Capitals before the Hurricanes snapped the streak with a Game 7 victory in D.C.

from Sportsnet,

Wayne Gretzky has resigned from his post as vice-chairman of the Edmonton Oilers after five years, he announced Tuesday via Twitter, and will join TNT as an analyst, according to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post.

"The Oilers, their fans, and the city of Edmonton have meant the world to me and my family for over four decades – and that will never end," Gretzky wrote in a statement. "Given the pandemic and other life changes, I realize I will not be able to dedicate the time nor effort needed to support this world-class organization."

The Great One will serve as lead analyst on the cable network's forthcoming studio show, per Marchand, which is in the works after the NHL and Turner Sports agreed to a seven-year TV rights deal late last month.

Marchand reports that Gretzky will be paid roughly $3 million per season by TNT, who scooped him up with recruitment help from friend Charles Barkley after the NHL legend failed to reach a deal with ESPN nearly three weeks ago.

continued

via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,

Connor McDavid talked about the core the Oilers have built and his future with the team going forward.

from George Richards is Florida Hockey Now,

The Panthers can only hope so.

Knight was fantastic, as you may have heard on Monday night. After giving up a goal on Tampa Bay’s first shot of the night (off a 2-on-1 due to botched defensive coverage), Knight settled in and stopped the Lightning’s next 36 offerings.

Once you let one in you kind of just reset and you’re like, ‘Alright, this is how it’s going to go, can’t do anything to change it so let’s just go play now,'” Knight said. “That’s how it was. It was a good goal by them, great play, but I just tried to recover. Just smile and have fun.”

The kid from Connecticut went from playing in the NCAA tournament with the Boston College Eagles — he was named the school’s male athlete of the year — to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

He got his first playoff game under his belt Monday night but Wednesday will be his first in enemy territory. Amalie Arena is going to be rocking for Game 6. Are the Panthers worried their goalie can handle that pressure?

“You don’t see any nervousness on him,’’ Sasha Barkov said. “He’s a special kid. You don’t see that often. He’s so young, he’s so confident, technically really good. I could be here until tomorrow if you want me to say everything about Spencer. He’s just great.”

read on

NEW YORK (May 25, 2021) – Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for cross-checking Florida Panthers forward Mason Marchment during Game 5 of the teams’ First Round series in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday, May 24, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 7:16 of the first period. McDonagh was assessed a minor penalty for roughing.

Watch below.

NEW YORK (May 25, 2021) – Tampa Bay Lightning forward Pat Maroon has been fined $3,879.31, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for unsportsmanlike conduct during Game 5 of the team’s First Round series in Sunrise, Fla., on Monday, May 24, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 19:45 of the third period. Maroon was assessed a 10-minute misconduct.

Watch the incident below.

from Al Montoya at The Players' Tribune,

I was seven, playing in a house league at the old Glenview Park District ice arena back home in Illinois. And at that point, on that team, being the goalie was like losing a bet or something. We used to have to pass the goalie bag to a different player before each game. No one wanted the job. And the beat-up bag with recycled equipment didn’t exactly help sell it.

But for me? As a little kid looking for new ways to have fun? Are you kidding?

To me, it was like that bag was filled with gold. What was inside couldn’t have been any more special — the old-school leather pads, one of those ancient chest protectors where it was just the chest and you had to slide on the arms, the whole thing. It may as well have been Patrick Roy’s or Eddie Belfour’s gear. In my eyes, it was beautiful.

And when the bag landed at my feet one day, I strapped on the mask and … I fell in love. Immediately. With that mask on, I felt like I could block out the noise around me and trust my instincts to respond to whatever came my way.

To fully understand why, you have to understand what it’s like to navigate two different worlds: The one shaped by being the son of a Cuban refugee — my mom, who had come to America after fleeing the Castro regime with her parents when she was 10 years old — and the one I had to create for myself, as an everyday American kid born in Chicago.

Let me be totally clear: I’m proud of every part of my identity. But moving between two completely different versions of yourself on a daily basis can be challenging. It’s not that I didn’t know which one I most belonged to. It’s that I didn’t feel like society would let me be everything I was — Cuban, American, the son of an immigrant — all at the same time.

read on

First video is Jets/Oilers, Leafs/Canadiens and Islnders/Penguins.

Second video is below and includes more Winnipeg/Edmonton and Toronto/Montreal and Florida/Tampa.

from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

This was not how the final 10 seconds were supposed to look.

This was supposed to be a celebration for the Lightning, a vindication for their hard work. This was supposed to be the end of the first-round series, and the beginning of Tampa Bay’s quest for back-to-back NHL titles.

Instead, the final 10 seconds included a pitiful attempt at a fight and one final indignity in a night full of them.

Pat Maroon tried to take out Noel Acciari after a faceoff with 10 seconds remaining but ended up in a scrum of bodies at center ice in a fitting metaphor for a team that did not go down swinging.

The Lightning lost 4-1 to the Panthers in Game 5 on Monday night with an effort that was even more disappointing than the final score.

continued

Watch the game highlights below.

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Taking a page from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, the Wild are Not Dead Yet!

Oftentimes in hockey, the term “steal” is overused, but the latest odds at the BetMGM King of Sportsbooks have it at 2-1 that the Wild’s charter flight home will be surrounded on the tarmac by Las Vegas Metro PD and Cam Talbot placed in handcuffs.

In a game where the Wild were outshot 40-14 for the fewest shots they’ve had in their playoff history, their goaltender deserved a celebratory beer, cold tub and naturally the fiery-red Hero of the Game hydration bucket for the umpteenth time this season during a 38-save extravaganza and 4-2 victory to force a Game 6 Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in St. Paul.

With the Colorado Avalanche patiently awaiting the winner of this series, the Wild had to put some doubt into the collective mind of a team that tied the Avs for the most points in the NHL....

“We’re not going to start dreaming about winning the series until we get it done,” two-time Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Ian Cole said. “But this was a great first step in that process. Coming here to a tough barn to win in and they came out hard and we were able to handle it and turn the tides a bit as the game went and able to survive.

“It’s the first step in a very long process, very long journey to getting this done. We just have to keep going. We can’t rest on our laurels. The series isn’t over. We’ve got to win Game 6.”

read on ($$$)

Highlights are below.

from Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette,

Maybe the Canadiens should put Jake Allen in net for Game 4 of their playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs and let Carey Price play forward to see if he can score.

Almost nobody else on the Canadiens can.

The Canadiens lost Game 3 by a 2-1 score Monday night at the Bell Centre as the Leafs took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 set for Tuesday night in Montreal.

The Canadiens have scored only four goals in the first three games of the series. Nick Suzuki scored Monday night, while Josh Anderson, Paul Byron and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have also scored in the series. That’s it.

Meanwhile, Price has stopped 91 of 98 shots for a .929 save percentage.

Many of the players have changed over the years in front of Price and so have the coaches, but one thing remains constant when the Canadiens do get into the playoffs: they struggle to score.

continued

Below are the game highlights.

from Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun,

It’s almost impossible to fathom.

After everything the Edmonton Oilers accomplished this season, after how they man-handled the Winnipeg Jets all year, how on earth did they get punted out of the playoffs in four games?

How, after a season in which everything went so right, did the playoffs go so horribly wrong?

“There are things we could have done better here, but… I honestly don’t know how to answer that one,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse, who logged a staggering 62:07 in a heartbreaking triple overtime loss in Game 4.

“We played hard. It sucks that we’re sitting here after four games and it’s a sweep and we took three to overtime.”

There is a massive sense of disbelief for everyone in the wake of this painfully early playoff exit. The Oilers went 17-6-2 in their last 25 games to finish with the second most regulation wins in the NHL. They had the two best players in the world. Their special teams were best in the league. Their goalie was running hot. They were a good team that truly believed it could go deep in the playoffs.

continued

from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Good luck to the Penguins trying to bounce back from this defeat.

It is not a stretch to say their 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders in double overtime Monday night was one of the most painful playoff losses in franchise history....

But this latest loss still hurt badly.

The damn Islanders, right?

This is becoming a really rotten trend.

By losing Game 5 despite thoroughly outplaying the Islanders, the Penguins need to win Game 6 on Long Island on Wednesday night and Game 7 back at PPG Paints Arena on Friday night to avoid falling to 1-5 against the Islanders in postseason series. If they lose either game, they will be bounced from the playoffs in the first round for the third consecutive season.

There are two ways of looking at the Penguins’ chances for survival:

One, they need only to match their effort from Monday night in Game 6 in order to live and play another day.

Or two, they took their best shot at the Islanders, and it wasn’t good enough.

read on

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

After spending his entire career in New York, Staal quickly warmed up to his new surroundings.

“I had a lot of fun this season,” Staal said. “It was good to have a fresh start. I enjoyed going to the rink every day. Really nothing but positives my whole experience start to finish. Got a good opportunity to play and for the most part I was playing quite a few minutes.”

He added, “It’s a fun D corps to play with, a lot of great guys, not a lot of big, selfish personalities, everyone just wanting to play well and help the team win.”

Clubs can sign players they hold the rights to anytime before free agency opens on July 23, but nothing is likely to transpire with UFAs until after the July 21 Seattle expansion draft. That way teams won’t need to protect or expose those players.

Staal also said he is “kind of anxious” to see what transpires in free agency. Brother Eric, 36, also is a UFA and Staal mused about possibly having a rare opportunity to play with one of his brothers (Jordan plays for Carolina).

“We had 20 games in New York after the (2016) trade deadline; that was fun,” Staal said. “When you have two brothers in the league, it’s always a possibility to try to play with one of them because it’s a pretty unique opportunity.”

Wherever Staal signs, it will be for significantly less than the $5.7 million cap hit he had from his most recent Rangers contract.

more

THREE HARD LAPS

* The Jets won the first triple-overtime game of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs – the longest game in franchise history – to complete their first-ever sweep. Winnipeg became the third team to reach the 2021 Second Round.

* More than one-third of contests so far this postseason have required extra time, with 12 overtime games through 35 games played (34%). Only seven rounds in NHL history have featured more such contests.

* Goaltenders SpencerKnight and CamTalbot stood tall on Monday to help the Panthers and Wild extend their respective series to a Game 6.

They will face Toronto/Montreal winner.

3OT goal first, handshakes below.

added 2:28am, game highlights below...