from Sportsnet,

The pursuit of a forever home for the Arizona Coyotes seems to be a never-ending saga.

In their latest hitch, Scottsdale mayor David Ortega opposed the Coyotes' plans to purchase land in North Phoenix — bordering Scottsdale — to build their arena in an opinion piece written Monday for the Arizona Digital Free Press, calling the project unfeasible and unwelcome.

"The prospect of a rookie developer attempting to buy Arizona State Trust Land with absolutely no infrastructure on the Phoenix side of Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road intersection at the doorstep of Scottsdale is not feasible, or welcome," Ortega wrote.

"I admire the hockey sport, Arizona Coyotes community involvement and phenomenal youth clubs at Scottsdale Ice Den. But I along with City of Scottsdale staff will continue to monitor any actions that occur, and negative repercussions for Scottsdale. As it stands today, the fantasy hockey project must move west, away from Scottsdale."...

The Coyotes declined to comment on Ortega's statement when contacted by Sportsnet.

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from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

One key component for the Red Wings was again missing in action as far as putting the puck in the next was concerned. Alex DeBrincat failed to score. His account is showing one tally over 18 games since Feb. 29.

“I’ve definitely got to bear down more and put some pucks in the net and work on that,” DeBrincat was acknowledging.

He’s certainly right about that. When the Red Wings were trading a first-round pick, prospect Donovan Sebrango and 20-goal scorer Dominik Kubalik to the Ottawa Senators for DeBrincat last summer, they were doing so with the expectation that he’d be filling the opposition net with pucks.

It’s also why they were inking the native Michigander to a four-year, $31.5 million contract. The Red Wings aren’t paying DeBrincat nearly $8 million per season to create chances. A provision of that stipend is that he be finishing chances.

At the start of the season, he was doing exactly that. Through his first nine games with Detroit, DeBrincat was good for eight goals.

Now, no one was expecting him to maintain a 73-goal pace. Then again, nobody was thinking he’d be falling off to a Michael Rasmussen scoring pace.

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* The Penguins pushed their point streak to nine games to match the idle Red Wings (Wild Card 2) at 84 points. Pittsburgh will watch Tuesday as the other six teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race hit the ice, including a pivotal showdown between the Capitals and Red Wings on ESPN (7 p.m. ET).

* A Canucks comeback win against the Golden Knights featured noteworthy performances from their top scorers as J.T. Miller recorded his first 100-point season and Brock Boeser notched his first 40-goal campaign.

* Auston Matthews continued his quest to the 70-goal milestone by scoring his 65th of 2023-24, tying Alex Ovechkin for the most in a season among active players.

* The Predators and Kings can clinch playoff spots, while the Rangers, Stars and Bruins can secure division titles.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

The Wings haven't been to the playoffs during their time at LCA, but even more so, they've been out of the playoff picture so early, there really haven't been any meaningful games.

But that's about to change Tuesday as the Wings and Capitals play a colossal game for wild-card positioning in the Eastern Conference.

The Wings, with 84 points, entered Monday's games alone in the wild-card spot, pending Pittsburgh's game Monday night in Toronto. Pittsburgh, Washington and Philadelphia all had 83 points....

The Wings have earned points in four of their last six games and won two of the last three. In this unique playoff race where no team has truly been able to make a sustained charge and take control of the playoff spot, that's been good enough for the Wings assume control for now.

Lalonde doesn't expect his team to be too high or low emotionally in one of their biggest games to date.

"We've been even keel, the same message throughout," Lalonde said. "We've been in these all-or-nothing games for a while now. The guys have gotten a little more comfortable with it, so it's the same message about our starts and doing the right things, and our team game.

"This group has been dialed and locked in. I've been impressed and proud of this group and how they keep battling through everything. They'll show up."

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Let's make this an open post too for tonight's Pens/Leafs game at 7pm in Toronto.

from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

The question is whether teams, players and fans are tired of this format, and whether they would prefer going back to the conference playoff format the league had before: 1 versus 8, 2 versus 7, etc.

I posed that to team presidents around the league over the past few days. I asked them because this is a Board of Governors matter, not a GMs matter.

“I understand the thought behind the current format to create rivalries between divisional opponents; there just isn’t as many regular-season divisional games like there used to be,” Boston Bruins president Cam Neely said via text message. “I’d like to see how a conference format would be received by hockey fans.”

Another Hockey Hall of Fame player turned team president, the Los Angeles Kings’ Luc Robitaille, said he doesn’t have a problem with the current playoff format but does wish there would be more divisional games in the regular season. Still, like Neely he would be open to having the discussion.

“Honestly, this is the first year where I feel like people are talking about that,” Robitaille said over the phone. “It seems to be more vocal. I have not looked into it, in terms of what it would do with everything around it, the big picture of it all. But like Cam, I would listen at least and study it, yes.”

A dozen or so other team presidents and governors requested anonymity in their responses, as the commissioner prefers this subject not be hashed out in public by teams.

Of those, the majority were in favor of going back to the 1-8 conference format or at least having a serious conversation about it.

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from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Ville Husso isn’t likely to play another regular season game for the Detroit Red Wings but hopes to be available if needed in the playoffs.

Husso has been practicing for several weeks and will play one or two games this weekend with the Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint. The Griffins host Rockford on Friday and play at Chicago Saturday and Sunday.

Husso hasn’t played since Feb. 13, when he suffered another lower-body injury midway through the first period in Edmonton. That was his first appearance since Dec. 18, when he suffered his first injury in the first period against Anaheim.

“Bad luck there. Maybe I came (back) a little too fast from the first injury,” Husso said.

“It’s been a long road but I feel good now. More mentally try to prepare like we make the playoffs and then be an option. That’s been my biggest thing the last couple of weeks.”...

Husso has one year remaining on his contract and said there was no discussion of shutting him down for the season.

“Not in my head, never.,” he said. “I wish we’ll make the playoffs and you never know what’s going to happen. In my head the last couple weeks I was like make sure I’m ready if I get the call to play here or wherever. There was no thoughts that I would not play (again) this year.”

a little more

NEW YORK (April 8, 2024) – Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby and New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending April 7.

from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. We're finding things out: I don't have a clue how to write.

- The wildest stat, in a season full of them, might be the New York Islanders blowing 22 third-period leads through their first 74 games. Lock up half of those, and they cruise to a postseason berth.

Can you really look at the goal differential of the clubs just outside the wild-card cut line and argue with a straight face that they deserve to be part of some expanded playoff tournament?

more topics...

The question is...

Who's going to take the East's second wild-card spot?

One answer is...

Give me the Penguins finishing third in the Metro and the Red Wings finding a way to take the final wild card. I'm a bit nervous for the Islanders with the New York Rangers twice on their schedule and then a game against the Devils. Late in the season as it is, and with those teams clearly in different head spaces as the playoffs arrive, local rivalry games are always unpredictable in spots like these. I could see that last game against Pittsburgh as an elimination game for the Islanders. They currently have a tiebreaker problem on the rest of the East contenders.

who is it and another question is...

What game will you be watching most closely in the final two weeks?

* The race for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference remains as crowded as ever, with Detroit defeating Buffalo and concluding Sunday holding the position thanks to Ottawa’s overtime win against Washington.

* The Red Wings became the fifth different team to occupy the Eastern Conference’s final Wild Card spot through play in the past five days, following the Capitals (April 3), Islanders (April 4), Flyers (April 5) and Penguins (April 6).

* The Stars (49-20-9, 107 points) moved ahead of the idle Bruins (46-17-15, 107 points) for second in the NHL standings and kept pace with the first-place Rangers (53-21-4, 110 points), while Nathan MacKinnon (48-85—133 in 78 GP) had two assists to climb within three points of League leader Nikita Kucherov (43-93—136 in 76 GP) in the Art Ross Trophy race.

* The MultiVersus NHL Face-Off Draft took place Sunday ahead of the real-time animated presentation of the Avalanche-Golden Knights game on April 14, with Colorado’s roster featuring Velma, Superman, Steven Universe and Finn the Human and Vegas’ including Shaggy, Batman, Bugs Bunny and Wonder Woman.

* Monday’s two-game slate features the Penguins looking to unseat the idle Red Wings when they visit Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas’ former team as well as the Pacific Division-leading Canucks hosting the Golden Knights in a potential 2024 First Round matchup.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"That was a goalie win," Lalonde said of goaltender Alex Lyon, who made 37 saves and looked like the Alex Lyon from earlier in the season with his poise, confidence and competitiveness in net. "I know we shut them out five-on-five, but that's a high-end offensive team. We blocked shots (27), did good things in the hard-scoring area.

"But that was a strong performance by him, and we needed it. He was our best player in the third period. That team had some looks and some real good looks, that he kept out of the net."...

Lyon feels the Wings are getting increasingly comfortable in these sort of high-pressure, season-defining games.

"For sure," Lyon said. "It's always a learning experience, a lot of the guys in our room have played in big games. It's muscle memory and it's brain memory and kind of the way you're thinking and feeling, and the more you expose yourself to it, it's like anything else, you get better at it."...

The Wings blocked 27 shots Sunday, with Moritz Seider's 10 blocks totalling more than the Sabres had as a team (nine).

It's a statistic Lalonde enjoyed hearing and feels is important for a winning team.

"A little of that is them having the puck in the third (period) and especially the goalie pull situation but it's our willigness to do it," Lalonde said. "Winning is hard and we're finding out how hard it is. It's real hockey, it's the NHL, and it's always tough but this is next level type of stuff.

"Our guys stepped up."...

Raymond's goal and assist, along with a team-leading five shots and two takeaways in over 21 minutes of ice time has been indicative of his recent play.

"You can see guys elevating (their play) and Raymond has been unbelievable," Lalonde said. "You could see Raymond building in the last two years I've been here, the whole package. Now he's driving us in these big games."

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Below catch the extended game highlights.

The puck has dropped in Washington.

No scoring in the third, Wings win 3-1.

Team Stats

Detroit goals are below.

Good day and welcome to all. As we all know, today’s game, like every game for at least the past three weeks have been must wins. Too bad for the fans that the brain trust behind the benches just haven’t been able to drill that home.

Lalonde said. “It still feels like if we just win, we can control our own destiny.

Ya think?

It’s the Sabers vs the Red Wings. The puck drops around 1:00 PM and will be broadcast nationally on TNT, and on the Red Wings Radio Network WWJ Newsradio (950 AM in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on MAX, and SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

You don’t want to face Andrei Vasilevskiy in the playoffs. In his past 10 starts, the Lightning are 8-1-1, his goals against average is right around 2 and his save percentage is .937 in that time … When the Leafs lost to Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers in Round 2 last May, Bobrovsky had a save percentage of .940 in the series … Since the trade deadline, the Carolina Hurricanes are 11-3-1 and key pickup Jake Guentzel has 20 points in the 13 games he has played for the Canes … What a lame playoff race this has been in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia has won five of its last 17 games and is still in a playoff position. Detroit has won four of its last 16 games and is one point out. Makes you wonder how Buffalo and Ottawa couldn’t make a playoff push.

more hockey talk including who wins the Hart Trophy...

* Auston Matthews added to his goal total to reach the 100-point mark for the second time in his career and tied Connor McDavid (64 in 2022-23) for the third-most goals in a campaign in the past 30 years – a list topped by Mario Lemieux (69 in 1995-96) and Alex Ovechkin (65 in 2007-08).

* Sidney Crosby reached the 40-goal mark for the third time in his career – and first in seven seasons – to propel the Penguins into a playoff spot for the first time since Nov. 14 after sitting nine points out just last week.

* Washington and Detroit can move back into a Wild Card spot as part of a busy nine-game Sunday – one that could also feature Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin make NHL history with his 18th career 30-goal season.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

On this edition of Saturday Headlines, Elliotte Friedman discusses Keith Pelley assuming the role of President and CEO of MLSE, the Vancouver Canucks not rushing Thatcher Demko back from injury, the latest on Mikko Rantanen's injury, and more.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Auston Matthews is coming up on 65 goals and has had the Rocket Richard locked down for weeks, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid are embroiled in an Art Ross race for the ages with Nikita Kucherov, and all of this probably means that Sidney Crosby won’t get a single vote as first all-star team center despite the fact that No. 87 is having one of the great seasons of his decorated career.

This serves as an explanation for why Peter Stastny never made a first- or second- all-star team during his career, why Pat LaFontaine made the second team once (first team, never) and Steve Yzerman was never so honored until his 17th season when he was voted onto the first team in 1999-2000.

That was life in the fast line for centers when the NHL was ruled by the Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux hegemony. Now, there are McDavid, MacKinnon and Matthews and one of these three will not be voted onto either all-star team.

Crosby may not get a vote as an all-star, but he might be a factor in the Hart Trophy balloting. Tampa Bay’s right wing Kucherov, who entered Saturday with 133 points to MacKinnon’s 131 and McDavid’s 128, seems to be leading the polls....

continue for more on Crosby plus other topics like...

I wonder whether the Wild’s twin additions of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on July 4, 2012, ultimately represent the most disappointing and perhaps destructive free-agent signings in NHL history even while at the same time at least partially filling their objective.

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

“There’s great learning in this and it’s great for all of us to go through it, but we need more out of everyone,” Larkin said. “We need guys to be drivers and that’s what we’re going to need this week.”

The Red Wings host Washington on Tuesday and visit Pittsburgh on Thursday. The New York Islanders and Philadelphia also are in the mix for either third place in the Metropolitan Division or the second wild card spot.

“We have to get points. It doesn’t matter how we do it,” Larkin said. “We have to start winning hockey matches.”

The Red Wings (37-31-8, 82 points) feel good about their play in recent games but have left points on the table – losing 1-0 at Nashville, 4-3 in overtime at Washington, 3-2 in a shootout at Florida, and 4-3 in regulation to the New York Rangers on Friday.

“There’s a lot at stake and it’s the little details that count,” Larkin said. “It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been a part of games like that and it’s what we ask for. I feel that we’ve figured it out and even going back to Washington, we had a lot of chances and didn’t convert on them. In Tampa (4-2 victory), we didn’t get frustrated when we didn’t convert on our chances, we just kept going. Last night it was a little bit of a different story where we just had costly mistakes at costly times.”

Coach Derek Lalonde said his message to the team is to stay on it.

“You got to stay even keeled and take care of what you can take care of,” he said. “I feel like we can still control our own destiny. We got a couple of four-point games coming up.”

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Tampa Bay/Pittsburgh 1pm ET on ABC/ESPN+

New Jersey/Ottawa 7pm

Philadelphia/Columbus 7pm

Nashville/New York Islanders 7:30pm

Full schedule for today is below.

* The Oilers, Maple Leafs and Lightning all clinched a berth into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, leaving just five more spots up for grabs – two in the East and three in the West – with 13 days left in the regular season.

* Connor McDavid became the fifth active player with eight-plus 30-goal campaigns, while teammate Leon Draisaitl joined a group of six other skaters this season to have reached the century mark for points.

* The Blues and Blues Alumni presented $600,000 to The V Foundation for Cancer Research to support projects at Siteman Cancer Center, with the donation including proceeds from Friday's “Puck Cancer” charity game at Centene Community Ice Center and a $200,000 commitment from this season's Hockey Fights Cancer initiative.

* Playoff races take center stage during the second-last Saturday of the regular season as all eight First Round matchups remain uncertain.