We have at least 6 1/2 hours of playoff hockey tonight.

Capitals/Bruins start the action tonight and the North Division gets in on the action with Jets/Oilers.

The full schedule is below and use the comment section to express your views.

NEW YORK (May 19, 2021) – The National Hockey League today released the following statement:

“This morning, we became aware of certain test results involving multiple Players on two Clubs (the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights) that had indicated positive results for the COVID-19 virus. Because those reported results emanated from the same laboratory, and due to other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves, an investigation was initiated into the possibility that the initial test results reported may have been in error. All affected Players were immediately isolated and further testing was done involving collected samples. Those tests have returned uniformly negative results, therefore confirming that the initial reported test results were in error. As a result, all affected Players will be eligible to play in their team’s next game.”

from Stu Cowan of the Montrreal Gazette,

Tyler Toffoli believes Cole Caufield is a “special” player.

“He’s got that it factor,” Toffoli said about his Canadiens teammate in a first-person story that was published last week on The Players’ Tribune website. “I’ve only seen it in a few guys in the league. He’s got it.”

What Caufield doesn’t have is NHL playoff experience and he’s going to have to wait to get it. Caufield won’t be in the lineup when the Canadiens play the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Thursday in Toronto.utting the emphasis on experience over youth, which is why Caufield, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Alexander Romanov will be spectators for Game 1.

Of course, the only way to get NHL playoff experience is to actually play in a game.

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Dylan Larkin is recovering, getting better and is optimistic he’ll be ready for September’s start of training camp.

But Larkin also feels a little lucky.

The neck injury Larkin sustained after being crosschecked in the back of the neck by Dallas forward Jamie Benn on April 20 could have been much worse than it was.

“Anytime you’re dealing with the neck, it’s a little scary,” Larkin said Wednesday during an end-of-season media zoom chat. “I always believed I was going to be OK. It’s something minor that needs time to heal and that’s all you can ask for. I’m just resting and trying to do the right things so I can be ready to train here soon.

“I really do believe I got pretty lucky.”

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Below, watch Larkin with the media today.

Oh dear.

SY may be a great GM (or not), his free pass for me is expired.
From here on - results baby, own your wins, own your suck!

That's one of us, just moments ago. Laying down the law, letting Steve Yzerman know he is...on...the...clock. Leeway...gone. Benefit of the doubt? None. He'd better perform or the pitch forks will be out and the Twitter GM contingent will be out (from behind their keyboards) in full frigging force, brother.

Why? Because Steve Yzerman, the best GM in hockey, decided keeping Jeff Blashill for the intermediate, or even short, term is the best move for this organ-I-zation.

It reminds me of Yzerman's first mistake as GM, and this was a big one. Holy cow did he bone this one up.

from Gemma Karstens-Smith of the CP at CBC,

Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice conceded that his squad has little chance of keeping McDavid off the scoresheet when they face the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs, starting Wednesday.

"He's that good," Maurice said. "You're not stopping this guy completely. If you just do it right, if you just play the right way against Connor McDavid, he's still putting up points against you. He's that level of talent. You just can't help him. He's going to get them on his own. You just can't help him do it."

Long touted as one of the NHL's top talents, the 24-year-old Oilers captain ascended to new heights this year, tallying 100 points in 53 games. Only seven players in NHL history have reached the mark faster.

By the end of the regular season, he led the league in scoring with 105 points (33 goals, 72 assists) in 56 games. His sometimes-linemate Leon Draisaitl was second with 84....

"He really stepped up his game and it was impressive to watch," said Winnipeg centre Mark Scheifele. "I'm a big fan of his. He's a fantastic hockey player and he's the best player in our game right now."

Maurice has watched the likes of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr come through the league and is hesitant to draw comparisons.

But he's certainly proved himself to be a special talent, the Jets coach said.

"He's just unique," Maurice said. "This guy's different than all other players and that uniqueness, he's part of that group of players that are the greatest of all time."

more

10 of them.

Adam Erne, Dylan Larkin and Marc Staal talk today.

You on Twitter too.

Let's say suddenly Steve Yzerman quit or was fired. Who do you replace him with?

Or Gary Bettman feels sorry for the Wings and says hire an current GM in the league, I will make sure it happens. Who do you want? Bill Zito, the Florida GM has done a fine job. Maybe Tampa GM Julien BriseBois, after all, he is in possession of the Stanley Cup. Or Kelly McCrimmon GM of Vegas has done wonders. Perhaps Joe Sakic in Denver would be a good choice. Go ahead, Bettman says it is fine with him.

Now let's pull a reverse, Mr. Bettman says the same to the other 31 NHL owners. Pick any GM you want..., who do you think would be in thee top 1-5?

from Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

Do you know the only real time a sports team faces a must-win game?

When a loss would eliminate it from a playoff series.

Do you know what might have been a just-outside-city-limits of such a test?

When the Golden Knights faced Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Calm down. Don’t go hiding under any covers and calling in sick to work. The Knights were able to even their best-of-seven divisional series against the team they have all sorts of trouble with by beating the Wild 3-1 at T-Mobile Arena.

Things are now a game apiece as the drama shifts to Minnesota for Games 3 and 4 on Thursday and Saturday.

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from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

On this night, they sang his name.

“Jar-ry! Jar-ry! Jar-ry!”

Unlike the other afternoon, there was no expletive in front of it.

Such is life for an NHL goaltender at playoff time. When his team loses, it’s all his fault. But when it wins? He’s the biggest sports hero in town.

That is the life Tristan Jarry has chosen.

He was on the right side of the deal Tuesday night.

As bad as Jarry was Sunday afternoon in the Penguins’ 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders, he was that good in their 2-1 win against the Islanders on Tuesday night. It’s fair to say he is most responsible for the first-round playoff series being tied at a game apiece.

There was no better player on the PPG Paints Arena ice in a game the Penguins desperately needed.

I have to admit, I didn’t see this bounce-back performance coming from Jarry. His teammates did, though.

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from John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times,

No offense to the Florida Panthers, but this ain’t about you.

No matter how much Tampa Bay’s neighbors to the south might think this is a rivalry and seem desperate to draw blood, this series was always going to be about the journey of a championship team returning to the postseason after a season of hardships.

The Lightning? They’re still the NHL’s star attraction.

The Panthers? Until proving otherwise, they’re just the extras.

Yes, great teams really can flip a switch in the postseason. It didn’t matter that Florida passed the Lightning in the division standings, and it didn’t matter that the Panthers blew out Tampa Bay in the final two games of the regular season. It didn’t matter that Florida stormed into the playoffs with 10 wins in its last 12 games, or that the Lightning were a .500 team for much of April.

For a lot of these Tampa Bay players, the season’s first six months are just a prelude. They’ve reached the conference finals in four of the last six seasons and know exactly what it’s going to take to still be playing in mid-summer.

You want fast-paced and furious? The Lightning can do that, and beat Florida 5-4 in Game 1. You want pushing and shoving and acting like tough guys? The Panthers tried that in Game 2 on Tuesday night and the Lightning won 3-1. If the Panthers thought it was just the misfortune of special teams that cost them in the playoff opener, the Lightning dissuaded them of that notion in Game 2.

Forty-eight hours into the postseason, Florida’s home-ice has been wasted.

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from Ansar Khan of Mlie,

NHL coaches whose clubs fail to reach the playoffs five years in a row generally are gone well before the streak gets that long.

But Jeff Blashill is returning for a seventh season as Detroit Red Wings head coach, and general manager Steve Yzerman spent a large chunk of his nearly hour-long postseason media address Tuesday explaining why.

He also summed up his decision in a few sentences.

“We need a better team,” Yzerman said. “We need our players to play better and it’s up to management to bring in players that make us a better team. You need good players to win in the league. I could change coaches year after year after year. We need good players, and if we don’t have good players, it’s not going to change.”

He added, “Was it a difficult decision? Not really. I’m comfortable with it.”

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from Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press,

Steve Yzerman is keeping his coach. He has his reasons. They probably aren’t yours.

Mostly because it’s harder for you to see them. Which means, for some of you, your thoughts about Jeff Blashill sticking around another year … or five — Yzerman declined to say how long he was extending his contract — may pit your desire to see Blashill fired against your faith in Yzerman.

It’s a tough spot. Though it wasn’t for Yzerman, especially when you consider what the former Detroit Red Wings star values in a coach:

“We can drive ourselves crazy if we get overly emotional,” Yzerman said Tuesday afternoon. “I like (Blashill’s) methodical approach to this.”

continued ($$$)

THREE HARD LAPS

* With more than 9,000 fans at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, and nearly that number at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the Penguins and Golden Knights each claimed home wins to even their respective series at one game apiece.

* Nikita Kucherov moved within one of 100 career playoff points as the Lightning pulled ahead 2-0 in their series with the Panthers as the clubs get set to head cross-state for Game 3 on Thursday.

* The final game of the 2020-21 regular season is slated for this afternoon, with four playoff games to follow including Connor McDavid and the Oilers hosting Mark Scheifele and the Jets in the first postseason game in the Scotia North Division.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

“I feel our team is collectively very competitive,” Yzerman said. “Whether we play well or not every night is different, but we play hard. Our players play hard and I think that’s a reflection of the coaching staff, that they have the respect of the players.”...

"I’ve been a Red Wing for a long time and in this seat for a long time," Blashill said. "I love being a Red Wing. I love being part of this organization, and I want to continue to see this team get to a better tomorrow. We’ve been through tough times and to get a chance to continue to lead this team, I’ve very grateful for it and I’m very excited."

With the team in a rebuild, the focus has been on player development more so than winning percentage.

“Jeff has really worked with me with transitioning our young players into the lineup, being patient with them,” Yzerman said. “Not handing them positions or ice time, really forcing them to earn it and guiding them along.”

read on

The GM is up first, the coach is below.

The Islanders, Lightning and Wild can take a 2-0 lead tonight with a win.

Today's full schedule is below and feel free to comment on the games.

Kris Draper appeared on The Hook Show at the Woodward Sports Network. Draper spoke with Darren McCarty, Tom Mazawey and Pilar Lastra.

The show atarts with the Draper interview and this was just before the Yzerman press conferenc

Watch below.

The Word on Woodward crew along with Ken Kal and Larry Murphy will be on and then at 4:15pm you will be able to watch the Steve Yzerman press conference followed by Jeff Blashill.

Watch below and the stream is scheduled to start at 4:00pm ET.

DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman today announced that Jeff Blashill has agreed to a contract extension to remain head coach of the Red Wings. Additionally, Yzerman announced that assistant coach Dan Bylsma will pursue other NHL opportunities in 2021-22.

from the CP at CBC,

A shot at a Stanley Cup late in an NHL career is something to savour.

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mike Smith is a 39-year-old veteran aspiring to hoist the Cup before the end of his career.

He's aware of the chance in front of him when the Oilers open the post-season Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets.

Smith isn't the oldest goaltender in this year's NHL playoffs.

Craig Anderson, who turns 40 on Friday, backstopped the Washington Capitals to a 1-1 record to open their series against the Boston Bruins.

Smith has played 16 NHL seasons and started 618 games. He has made 23 career playoff starts.

"I remember as 24-year-old being in my first year in the league and guys telling me 'it goes by quick.' You're thinking 'OK, old goat. I've got a lot of time left,"' Smith said recently.

"Now I'm the old goat and I'm trying to say the same things to these young players.

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from Neil Best of Newsday,

You know those position-by-position analyses sportswriters have produced before postseason series since around the time the first Stanley Cup playoff was held in 1894?

They generally prove irrelevant or inaccurate once the games are played. But not always.

Consider the current first-round series between the Islanders and Penguins. It widely was assumed before it started that the Islanders had the edge in goaltending. Then Game 1 confirmed that, in the extreme.

To review: The Islanders’ second-best goalie seems to be better than the Penguins’ first-best goalie.

Poor Tristan Jarry. He sounds more like an ancient Canadian baseball stadium – ask your grandparents – than a modern Canadian goalie. And he was exposed (see what I did there?) on Sunday.

If the Penguins are to have any hope of beating the Islanders four times in six games, he is going to have to be better than he was in the 4-3 overtime loss, in which he allowed a series of savable pucks to go unsaved.

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from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer

It’s been two years and a day, to be exact, since the last time the Carolina Hurricanes got to play a playoff game in front of their own fans, and a little longer than that since they won one.

It feels like it’s been a lifetime. In some ways, it almost has been. The last few minutes, as the Hurricanes turned the first two-goal lead of the entire playoffs so far into the first three-goal lead, felt like a celebration of something bigger than a playoff win. It’s not quite normal yet, not with a good chunk of the 300 level still held empty, not with COVID not yet fully conquered, but it’s a lot closer to it than anything we’ve seen in the past year and change.

There’s a finish line to this pandemic out there somewhere, one getting closer with every shot into every arm — you could even get vaccinated inside the arena Monday, if you weren’t already ... and if not, why not? — but everyone was ready to take a victory lap Monday night.

The Hurricanes pulled away in the third period for a resounding 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators. The fans yelled things and sat shoulder to shoulder and did the wave for the first time in months. Gov. Roy Cooper, who lifted the capacity restrictions Friday at the conclusion of months of careful guidance, was the ceremonial siren sounder before the game. Cooper is, he announced via Twitter later Monday night, 3-0 on the siren in the playoffs.

read on

View the game highlights below.

from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

With every punch Avs captain Gabe Landeskog landed to the mug of a bozo wearing a Blues sweater, the message was pounded home: Do not mistake pretty for weak.

The NHL playoffs are not for the meek of heart. Turn the other cheek? This ain’t church, pal.

This best-of-seven series got chippy early. So be it. Are you sure this is a battle you want, St. Louis? Colorado is built to make good trouble. In a 4-1 victory, Landeskog bombed the Blues with a Gordie Howe hat trick: a goal, not one but two assists and a fight.

Not long after he first stepped on the ice in North America as a 16-year-old from Sweden, “I started fighting,” Landeskog said. To prove he’s no soft European import, he has never been reluctant to drop the gloves and exchange punches.

Although some people might take his fondness for fisticuffs the wrong way, Landeskog admits: “I kind of enjoy it.”

A little over 10 minutes into the opening period of this opening-round playoff series, St. Louis forward “Bozo” Brayden Schenn took a cheap shot at the knee of Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen as he wheeled on the attack.

The Blues, knowing full well they cannot skate with Colorado, went low on Mikko. The Avs better get used to it, because the NHL playoffs might be the last true vestige of old-time hockey, where elevated testosterone levels can turn an otherwise fine gentleman into a goon wielding a stick, and the refs often sit back, swallow their whistles and let it all be decided on the ice.

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Below watch the game highlights.