The aocial media chatter is Palat should get a game or two.

He receied two for a hit to the head.

Thoughts?

The Tampa Bay Lightning continue their march for back to back Cups with a 4-1 series win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Bolts beat the Canes 2-0 tonight and will now face the winner of Boston/NYi.

Game-winning goal is below and check out the save from Vasilevskiy too.

added 9:28pm, Handshakes and hghlights below.

The Carolina Hurricanes need a home win tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning or else they can start booking summer activities.

The Colorado Avalanche host the Vegas Golden Knight tonight with the series tied 2-2

Feel free to discuss the games and below find the schedule along with notes and numbers.

2 1/2 minutes long.

NEW YORK/TORONTO (June 8, 2021) – The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri’s eight-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk has been upheld by Arbitrator Shyam Das.

Pursuant to this ruling, Game 6 of Colorado’s Second Round series against the Vegas Golden Knights will mark the last game of Kadri’s eight-game suspension after which he will be eligible to return.

Watch the elbow below.

NEW YORK (June 8, 2021) -- Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has been fined $25,000 for public comments critical of the officiating following Game 5 of the Second Round series against the New York Islanders Monday night in Boston, the National Hockey League announced today.

The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.

Watch his post-game comments below.

NEW YORK (June 8, 2021) – Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, Philadelphia Flyers left wing Oskar Lindblom and San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau are the three finalists for the 2020‑21 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey,” the National Hockey League announced today.

The local chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) submitted nominations for the Masterton Trophy after the conclusion of the regular season and the top three vote-getters were designated as finalists. The winners of the 2021 NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone will be revealed during the Stanley Cup Semifinals and Stanley Cup Final, with exact dates, format and times to be announced.

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

A little over 2 minutes of your time.

from Ed Graney of the Las Vegs Review-Journal,

I am sure about this: DeBoer and his team are flawlessly playing the underdog role.

Perhaps the Avalanche should try such a narrative.

Sportsbooks still favor Colorado to emerge victorious in this West Division final, but anyone who witnessed Games 3 and 4 at T-Mobile Arena might struggle buying such a forecast.

Its confidence will rightly stem from going 16-0-1 in the final 17 regular-season home games and being 4-0 in the playoffs at Ball Arena. Its doubt will stem from how the Knights have controlled play from the second period on of Game 2.

“I don’t know if mental toughness is the right (term),” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “But your mentality coming into the game and your approach from a mental standpoint is really important. We can talk about adjustments and this and that, but it’s pretty clear what they’re doing.”

The Knights are making life difficult on Colorado, and the Avalanche aren’t responding in kind. They’re getting beat up and down the ice time and again. It’s not like pickup basketball at the YMCA and nobody feels a need to get back on defense, but it’s close enough.

In the two losses, Bednar’s team couldn’t crack the structure of the Knights, who have been terrific at making a play in the defensive zone, throwing the puck out and attacking the neutral zone.

“They’re coming at us 100 miles per hour,” Bednar said. “All of their lines are executing really well. We have to start getting back above them. They’re coming every single time. We have to earn our ice and earn our space.”

read on

from Luke DeCock of the News & Observer,

Under different circumstances, Rod Brind’Amour probably should have benched Andrei Svechnikov in Saturday’s third period. Svechnikov’s two selfish penalties — he also took one earlier to deny a potential goal — helped open the floodgates as the Carolina Hurricanes saw a two-goal lead disappear in a blink.

But it’s a measure of Svechnikov’s irreplaceable value to the team as a goal-scorer that Brind’Amour felt he had no choice but to keep throwing the young winger out there, waiting for him to conjure the inevitable moment of brilliance.

Still waiting.

There’s no time left to wait. It’s time for Svechnikov to grow up — now — with the Hurricanes facing elimination on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Svechnikov’s first two years in the league were full of wide-eyed precocity, smiling charm and dazzling skill, but school is out and it’s time for him to get out of a season-long funk and graduate being the kind of player who can rise above the postseason fray and turn the tide of a series, or even a season.

It’s easy, on paper, to look at his six assists and his team-best analytics and say, what more do you want from him?

continued

from Eric Engels of Sportssnet,

The Canadiens are moving on to the Stanley Cup semifinals for the first time in seven years. They’re doing so on a seven-game winning streak, as a team that hasn’t trailed in 4:37:53 of game time. They’re just over 50 minutes away from tying an NHL record, set by the 1960 Canadiens, who swept the Maple Leafs to win it all.

And yet, they will be talked about like lambs awaiting the slaughter against whoever emerges from the battle between the NHL’s two best teams from this regular season.

Not by us, though.

You may underestimate these Canadiens at your own peril.

“It kind of feels like nobody believes in us,” said Tyler Toffoli, who scored at 1:39 of overtime to secure the 3-2 win in Game 4 and the sweep over the Jets. “The only people we have are ourselves and our fans, which clearly with the small amount of fans in the building, it sounded a lot more than what it was, are behind us and our friends and family. We’re sticking together. We’re playing as one and we’re winning games and having fun.”

Phillip Danault, who blanketed Toronto and Winnipeg’s best players in these playoffs, called it the best time of he and his teammates’ lives as he chomped on some celebratory pizza.

continued

from Mollie Walker of the New Tork Post,

While the second-round series between the Islanders and Bruins has gotten nastier and nastier on the ice each game, the jabs have carried over to the postgame press conferences.

Following the Islanders’ 5-4 victory over the Bruins at TD Garden on Monday night, a game in which the Isles capitalized on three of their four power plays, Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy had some pointed words for the visiting team.

“It’s a very well-respected management and coach staff over there,” Cassidy said. “But they sell a narrative over there that they’re the New York Saints rather than the New York Islanders.”

While NHL referees continue to struggle with setting a precedent for penalties at the start of games, the Bruins evidently felt spurned by the black-and-white stripes in Game 5. Boston only received two man-advantage opportunities, with David Pastrnak scoring his second of the night on one to make it a two-goal game in the third period.

There have been an abundance of cross-checks throughout the series that the referees haven’t called, in addition to lots of post-whistle activity that have been let go. As a result, the series has gotten increasingly more physical.

contued

THREE HARD LAPS

* The Canadiens have emerged from the Scotia North Division after Tyler Toffoli scored a series-clinching goal in overtime – a first by a Montreal player since 1993 – to complete a sweep of the Jets and make Montreal the first club through to the Stanley Cup Semifinals.

* The Islanders are one win away from back-to-back appearances among the final four teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs following yet another comeback win.

* The defending champion Lightning can join the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Semifinals tonight, while either Colorado or Vegas will get one win closer to setting up a matchup with Montreal in the next round.

I hope Google is correct... The Montreal Canadiens Are In The Semi-finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Montreal Canadiens have swept their series with the Winnipeg Jets. Final score was 3-2 in OT.

They'll face the winner of Vegas/Colorado in the semi-finals.

GWG is below.

added 11:08pm, Handshakes are below. added 11:32pm, Game highlights are below.

The NYI beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 tonight and with a home win on Thursday. the Islanders will be playing either Tampa or Carolina in the semi-finals.

Highlights are below.

After tonight's game, either the New York Islanders or Boston Bruins will be facing elimination. The series is ts tied 2-2.

The Montreal Canadiens can sweep the Winnipeg Jets tonight with a home win.

All the information you need about the games today can be found below.

The 2021 IIHF, Ice Hockey World Championship, is almost coming to an end. The USA faced Slovakia in the quarter-finals while Finland was against the Czech Republic in a similar match. How had the teams fared before reaching the quarters, and which two teams proceeded?

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO Scott Howson announced that the league’s Board of Governors has approved a schedule unification plan that will see all teams play a 72-game regular-season schedule beginning in 2022-23.

As part of the plan, for the 2021-22 season, teams in the Atlantic, North and Central Divisions have the option of playing either 76 or 72 games, while teams in the Pacific Division will play 68 games. Additionally, there will be an increase in the number of teams qualifying for the Calder Cup Playoffs each year; details will be finalized and announced later in the offseason.

“I am very pleased that we were able to achieve a schedule of 72 games for all teams in the American Hockey League,” said Howson. “In coming together to create a plan that is fair and equitable, our owners have demonstrated a commitment to the long-term strength of the league.”

The following division alignment has been approved for the 2021-22 AHL season (National Hockey League affiliations in parentheses):

Two minutes to get caught up.

Check out Galli's recent tweets for more.

from Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun,

They got beat when they had an extra man on the ice and they got beat while shorthanded.

They got beat by a line of kids and they got beat by a line of old-timers.

They got beat at the start of the game, they got beat at the end.

They had less discipline and less desire.

Their goalie got outplayed, their defence got outplayed and their forwards were outplayed, from the top line to the fourth.

They weren’t as fast or as smart.

And they lost their cool in a third-period mini-parade to the penalty box.

Sunday night’s win-or-else tilt in Montreal was as complete a failure as we’ve seen from the Winnipeg Jets in a long time. A game that demanded their best brought out their worst.

continued

from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

So how’s trashing the Avalanche working out for you, Jared Bednar?

Not to suggest he doesn’t have a clue, but Bednar might want to buy a vowel. Instead of throwing his team under the bus, maybe he should get his brain in gear, because Colorado could certainly use something that resembles a coach who knows how to respond to adversity under the pressure of the NHL playoffs.

Faced with the grim reality of being thoroughly embarrassed Sunday night in front of 18,081 screaming fans in the T-Mobile Center during a 5-1 loss to Vegas, the Avs coach might want to consider making a meaningful lineup change, replacing defenseman Patrik Nemeth with Bo Byram.

Hey, I’m nothing more than a knucklehead who has been along for every mile of those long, glorious rides the Avalanche took to championships in 1996 and 2001. But you don’t have to be Scotty Bowman to see Colorado cannot survive and advance against Vegas this way.

It’s now on Bednar to come up with a more novel approach than pointing a finger of blame at Nathan MacKinnon and the top line for getting flustered by the Golden Knights. During the last three games, the shots favor Vegas 119-63....

Maybe brow-beating your players worked as a motivational tactic in the locker room of an old hockey barn about 50 years ago. But this is real life in 2021, not “Miracle” the movie. You’re not being portrayed by Kurt Russell as a grizzly bear on the bench, Mr. Bednar.

So quit your growling. Stop complaining about “compete” level. And start coaching.

read on

THREE HARD LAPS

* After becoming the 16th and final team to clinch a spot in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Canadiens can become the first to advance to the Stanley Cup Semifinals with a victory tonight.

* Jonathan Marchessault scored the third-ever playoff hat trick by a Golden Knights player as Vegas won consecutive contests on home ice and guaranteed a Game 6 against the Presidents’ Trophy winners.

* The Bruins and Islanders are set to clash at TD Garden tonight. When a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 holds an all-time record of 215-58 (.788).

The VGK defeated the Colorado Avalanche tonight after a 5-1 win tonight.

The series is now 2-2 and the next game is on Tuesday night in Denver.

added 6/7/21, highlights are below.