Cleveland Monsters forward Stefan Matteau has announced his retirement from professional hockey, it was announced earlier this week.
Hailing from Chicago, Ill., Matteau spent this entire season serving as the captain of the Monsters, scoring two goals and adding five assists for seven points in 15 games.
Drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft, Matteau appeared in 92 career NHL games with the Devils, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Colorado Avalanche. Over that time, he collected six goals and five assists for 11 points.
Throughout his 13-year pro career, Matteau spent the majority of his time in the AHL, playing in 411 regular season games, putting up 76 goals and 93 assists for 169 points. Matteau also spent one year playing overseas, splitting time between the SHL (Linkoping HC) and the DEL (ERC Ingolstadt) in 2022-23.
With Matteau officially having up the skates, he can sit back and reflect on what was a solid playing career. Although he never stuck at the NHL level, Matteau always provided solid depth for the teams he played for.
The Philadelphia Flyers hired Rick Tocchet to be the 25th head coach in franchise history Wednesday, and his appointment will benefit certain players in certain ways.
And for others? Not so much.
The crux of the criticisms sent Tocchet's way lie in the lack of offense his teams typically create. For example, during his time in Arizona, the Coyotes never ranked higher than 22nd in the NHL in goals scored.
In parts of three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, Tocchet's scoring offense ranked 13th, sixth, and 23rd--largely a mixed bag of results with a far superior group of players that was headlined by Quinn Hughes, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, and, for a week, Bo Horvat.
The Flyers don't have names like that in their rolodex... yet. Although Matvei Michkov is on his way towards star status in short order. Maybe we can include Travis Konecny, too, even if the end of his 2024-25 season left much to be desired.
Irregardless, someone will have to fill the shoes of Tocchet's old stars, and the 61-year-old bench boss will be putting notes together on who, if anyone, can achieve this.
Winners: Cam York and Jamie Drysdale
Let's talk numbers for a moment, yes?
Last season, the Canucks were not great. Tocchet's club went 38-30-14 while weathering injuries to Thatcher Demko, Quinn Hughes, and, at times, Elias Pettersson, in addition to the rift between J.T. Miller and Pettersson.
That's a lot for any team to deal with, and Tocchet's role in mediating the feud between the two stars is neither here nor there at this point.
Despite Hughes's injury, the Canucks' defensemen scored a lot. Their 38 goals from defensemen ranked 10th in the NHL last season, trailing only teams like Winnipeg, Minnesota, Carolina, Buffalo, Edmonton, St. Louis, Seattle, Columbus, and Colorado.
Guess what? Six of those teams made the playoffs this year. Directly below the Canucks were Washington, Tampa Bay, and Florida, and each of those three made the playoffs as well.
For comparison, the Flyers had 31 goals scored by defensemen, which ranked 26th in the NHL and below the Chicago Blackhawks. Ouch!
Another stat to consider: 35.3% of the Canucks' goals were assisted by defensemen, which was the fourth-highest rate in the league. The Flyers had just 25.1% of their goals assisted by defensemen, which was 31st in the NHL ahead of only the Dallas Stars.
The Stars, as we know, lost Miro Heiskanen for an extended period of time and were or are actively relying on names such as Ilya Lyubushkin, Matt Dumba, and Cody Ceci to get it done offensively. That's just not going to happen.
Also, Hughes never scored more than eight goals in a season before Tocchet became his head coach on the Canucks. Then he scored 17 goals in 82 games last year before adding 16 in 68 this year.
For a Flyers team that has been perennially abominable on the power play, it would be a massive revelation if guys like Cam York and Jamie Drysdale took steps forward and became even glimpses of the players they were drafted to be.
York scored 10 goals and 30 points last year, but injuries and benchings this year limited him to four goals and 17 points in 66 games.
Drysdale, of course, has battled with injuries himself, but he's also scored just 30 points since the start of 2022-23.
These two are the most talented on the Flyers' blueline, and if they can become regular 40-point players under Tocchet, that would be a win in and of itself.
Losers: Egor Zamula and Emil Andrae
Egor Zamula struggled a lot in the 2024-25 season. He was more disciplined, dropping down to just six PIM in 63 games, but struggled to keep up more often than not.
That led to his scoring dropping by six points (21 to 15) and his offensive involvement plummeting. Zamula recorded just 37 shots on goal in 63 games, and while his shot is above average for a defenseman, his poor mobility and slow processing strongly hamper his fit in a Rick Tocchet team.
It's why Noah Juulsen and Vincent Desharnais, who was traded twice this season, combined for three assists in 69 games between them.
Andrae, on the other hand, is far more mobile than Zamula and boasts surprisingly good puck skills, but might be too similar to an Erik Brannstrom, who was not Tocchet's cup of tea in Vancouver.
This could open the door for a player like Helge Grans, for example, to compete during training camp.
Skating, passing, urgency, and pace of play will be key for these young Flyers defensemen if they want to thrive during life under Tocchet.
Winners: Nikita Grebenkin, Matvei Michkov, and Tyson Foerster
Most of the Flyers' wingers will be eating good if Tocchet deploys a style similar to the one he used in Vancouver.
The Canucks generated the NHL's fewest chances on the rush per game, and they were quite close to the bottom of the league in converting on those chances, too.
And given the Flyers' lack of speed and skill at center, they will have to become a forechecking, cycling team bar the odd individual skill moment from Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, or Ryan Poehling.
That bodes well for Nikita Grebenkin and Matvei Michkov, who play their best hockey when utilizing their mean streaks, winning wall battles, and making east-west passes from the half wall and other favorable lateral angles.
Tyson Foerster, like the other two, is not a speedster, but he employs a shoot-first mentality, knows how to get open, and knows how to win the puck.
There will be a lot of low-high and high-low passing in the future for this motley crew, but only time will tell whether that translates to quantifiable offense.
Winner: Sean Couturier
Sean Couturier was the first Flyers player to get the phone call from Danny Briere saying Rick Tocchet was the new head coach, and while he may not have sounded overly ecstatic over the phone, it's a big win for the Flyers captain.
The since-dismissed John Tortorella preferred high-energy, pacey centers like Noah Cates and Poehling to Couturier, who is a slower skater by nature and a more calculated player.
Plus, Couturier and Tortorella just never saw eye to eye. That much was apparent when Couturier was benched last season and had no idea why. It was weird and silly.
The 32-year-old, who quietly scored 15 goals and 45 points this season, has a new lease on life under Tocchet, and his style of play will aid Tocchet's cycle game immensely.
After all, Tocchet did just go a full season with Pius Suter as his most effective center with Pettersson playing injured and dealing with other drama.
Health permitting, it would not at all be a surprise to see Couturier flirt with 60 points next season if all goes according to plan.
And tonight, the heroics came from a far more unlikely source.
Ex-Penguin Kasperi Kapanen - claimed by the Edmonton Oilers off waivers on Nov. 19 - played overtime hero for the Oilers in Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights, earning the only tally of the game on a second-chance effort at the goal line to send Edmonton to the Western Conference Final.
Kapanen was playing in just his second game of the playoffs for the Oilers, and it was his first postseason game since 2022 with the Penguins.
Pittsburgh selected Kapanen 22nd overall in the 2014 NHL Draft, and since then, he's been quite the journeyman. The 28-year-old forward was initially dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the deal that brought Phil Kessel to Pittsburgh in 2015, and he came back to Pittsburgh via trade in 2020.
Even though his NHL career with the Penguins got off to a good start, he couldn't find consistency in Pittsburgh and was waived on Feb. 24, 2023. In parts of three seasons with the Penguins, Kapanen registered 29 goals and 82 points in 162 games.
He was claimed by the St. Louis Blues, who then waived him less than a year later, which is when he was claimed by the Oilers.
Edmonton - heading to its second consecutive Western Conference Final - will face the winner of the Dallas-Winnipeg series.
Don’t look now, but the Florida Panthers appear to be hitting their stride.
After dropping back-to-back games to open their second-round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida has fought back with a few haymakers capped off by Wednesday’s 6-1 victory in Game 5.
Now the Panthers are heading back to South Florida with a chance to knock out the Maple Leafs for the second time in three postseasons.
It won’t be easy, but it appears that over the past week, Florida has started to look more like the team they want to be, physically overpowering their opponent while allowing their skills to shine through.
That was certainly the game on Wednesday night.
Let’s get to Game 5’s takeaways:
BOQVIST'S BIG NIGHT
Jesper Boqvist had been on the ice for each of Florida’s first seven playoff games, skating primarily on the fourth line.
When Florida fell into a 0-2 hole against Toronto, Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice made a fairly drastic change to his forward group, swapping out the entire fourth line.
Well, the Cats haven’t lost since, which understandably kept the roster intact, but when Evan Rodrigues was ruled out of Game 5, Maurice turned to Boqvist to take Rodrigues’ spot on Florida’s top line.
The 26-year-old Swede responded with one of his best games in a Panthers jersey, picking up a goal and an assist while logging a plus-3 on-ice rating and adding three shots and eight hits in 15:15 of ice time.
“He’s kind of a guy that scored big goals for us this year,” Maurice said. “He ended up with 12, but they weren't the last goal in a run. Those are the fun stories for a room when (Boqvist) gets one, (Gadjovich) has one, because those guys work hard. They don't get on the magazines, right? They're not the front of it, but it's special on the bench when those guys score.”
BOB KEEPS ROLLING
Sergei Bobrovsky is locked in.
He came 66 seconds away from logging his second straight shutout on Wednesday night, boasting an impressive goalless streak of 147:58.
Despite a tough start to the series in which he allowed 13 goals on just 81 shots, Bobrovsky is showing why he’s earned a reputation as one of the NHL’s absolute best money goalies of his generation.
Over the past two-plus games, because Bob was stellar at the end of Game 3 and during the overtime, we’re seeing exactly Florida’s players and coaching do nothing but exude confidence in their netminder.
“I think Sergei is always available to get into a groove,” Maurice said. “I think his prep doesn't change, he has no idea about his stats, but I think recently, and it was true in the latter half of the Tampa series, the guys in front are playing a game that he understands, that he has history with this year. He's had stretches this year where the shot total wasn't big for him, he never got warmed up in the game, he didn't get a bunch of outside angle shots that let him feel good about his game, (instead he faced) a breakaway, but not a ton of them. So he's kind of trained himself with this style of game that we play, (other than) the breakaways, which is a silly thing to say. He has a fairly consistent expectation of what's going to happen next. I don't know if that makes saving the puck any easier for him, just his anticipation and becomes very good.”
BEFORE THE BLOWOUT
Looking at the final score, one might believe that this was a Panthers-dominating game from start to finish.
That wasn’t quite the case.
While yes, Florida did score the first goal and play a statistically strong opening period, the game was still incredibly tight for basically the entire first half of it.
If not for a couple big saves by Bobrovsky and a couple fortunate goal posts that Toronto hit, the game could have taken a much different turn.
“(Taking an early lead) felt important because that game was really fast and well executed by both teams up and down the ice early,” Maurice said. “There was lots of really good execution in that for both teams, so getting the first one was important. I thought it flat lined a little bit after that for us, and then probably, where the game doesn't break, is Sergei Bobrovsky. He made saves on two or three breakaways tonight night, so I think he was the pivot point in the way that game went.”
The Edmonton Oilers are headed back to the Western Conference final for the third time in four years.
And the goalie the Oilers swapped out early in the first round got two straight shutouts to help the team move on.
Stuart Skinner made 24 saves against the Vegas Golden Knights in Wednesday night's Game 5, which was tied 0-0 after regulation. At the other end of the ice, the Oilers' Kasperi Kapanen found the puck in a scramble and jammed it into the net just over seven minutes into overtime to win the game 1-0 and the series 4-1.
Pickard is 6-0 in this year's playoffs with a 2.84 goals-against average and .888 save percentage. Skinner, meanwhile, had an .810 SP and 6.11 GAA after losing Games 1 and 2 in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, leading coach Kris Knoblauch to change netminders.
With Game 5's shutout performance out of the way, the 26-year-old Skinner said Wednesday night was the least nerve-wracking of the three matches he's played in the series.
"I had a feeling of peace tonight," Skinner told Sportsnet's Gene Principe post-game. "My job's just to give the team a chance to win. I can't really do too much else, so just trying to do my best out there, and whatever happens happens."
There was a lot of mental and emotional resolve to end the series the way he played compared to being on the bench at the start of it.
"It's hard. It's very difficult, to say the least," Skinner said. "It's definitely been a grind, lot of work – lot of work just to try to stay sane in all of it, too, and obviously a moment where we were able to step up.
"I got so much to thank for my teammates with all their support even through that and then also how they've been playing since I've been in."
The Oilers limited the Golden Knights to 24 shots in Game 3, 23 in Game 4 and 24 in Game 5. That average of 23.67 would be the lowest in the NHL this post-season if they were like this the whole time.
That said, Skinner still had to stand tall, and he did.
He logged 1.98 goals saved above expected, which accounts for the quality of the scoring chances, according to moneypuck.com. In Game 4, he had 2.23 goals saved above expected in a 3-0 Oilers win. His play was a big step up from Game 3, when his minus-1.69 rating may have been the difference-maker in a 4-3 loss.
Skinner's stats improved to a 2-3 record, 3.05 GAA and .884 SP in five playoff games. He and the team now get to rest as they await the winner of the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars series. The Stars lead 3-1 with a chance to eliminate the Jets on Thursday night.
They battled until the end, but the Edmonton Oilers came out on top when the final buzzer sounded. They take their series against the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 after winning Game 5 by a 1-0 final score.
Stuart Skinner was brilliant for the Oilers, stopping every shot he faced in the overtime victory. Kasperi Kapanen scored the game-winning goal off a great play by Leon Draisaitl.
With the Golden Knights in the rearview mirror, the Oilers now look ahead. They will face the winner of the Dallas Stars vs Winnipeg Jets series.
Oilers fans are familiar with both, considering all three teams reside in the Western Conference. But they will remember the Stars well from last year’s playoff run.
They came face-to-face with the Stars in the Western Conference final. The Oilers would do away with the Stars in six games and book their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.
In the 2021 playoffs, the Oilers found themselves on the wrong end of a sweep at the sticks of the Jets. If these two teams meet again in the postseason, the Oilers will look for retribution for that failure.
Game on.
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When a team goes to the Stanley Cup final in successive years and captures it once, you'd have to believe it has learned a thing or two about winning in the playoffs.
And when a team consistently underperforms and loses in the most crucial situations, it's probably a safe bet it has learned how to accept defeat.
How else do you explain what has happened in the second round of the playoffs in the series between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs?
This is a series in which the Leafs were leading 2-0 in games and 2-0 in Game 3 and, since then, look as though they've hit a brick wall. Their stars are not only not scoring, but their play is leading to goals against. Their power play has gone south, goaltending has been a problem, and they might have to look up depth scoring in the dictionary to find out what it is.
The Panthers, on the other hand, got goals in a 6-1 win in Game 5 from Niko Mikkola, Dmitry Kulikov, Jesper Boqvist and A.J. Greer.
They're harder and faster on pucks, they're more determined, they're playing with a sense of purpose, and their goaltending is trending upward.
"They outskated us, they had the puck, they won the races, and we just played slow," said Leafs coach Craig Berube. "They were fast, they were honest, they were hungrier."
And they're going to be Atlantic Division playoff champions Friday night unless the Maple Leafs can be much, much better and the Panthers much, much worse.
Watch Game 5's post-game video column for more, and share your thoughts.
By the time the Florida Panthers scored their sixth goal midway through the third period on Wednesday night, Scotiabank Arena had become a sea of empty seats. However, fans began the booing and heading for the exits late in the second period when Florida made it 4-0.
The fans who remained made their displeasure known, showering the Toronto Maple Leafs, the home team, with boos as multiple blue and white jerseys hit the ice. It was a humiliating night for the Leafs and one that has them pushed to the brink of elimination.
ScotiaBank arena is getting pretty empty with many choosing to leave halfway through the 3rd and those choosing to stay are booing @sdpnsportspic.twitter.com/RehA3YxZfC
“I don’t think we gave them much reason to stick around,” said captain Auston Matthews following the 6-1 loss to the Panthers in Game 5. “Everybody's got to look in the mirror, myself included.”
“Yeah, I mean, 6-1 in the playoffs or 6-0 in a playoff game, I understand them (the fans),” added forward William Nylander. “We could have played better. That's it.”
Auston Matthews, asked what goes through his mind when he see’s fans leaving early and the boos.
“I don’t think we gave them much reason to stick around”
It was a Game 5 no-show, and Toronto paid the price. The Leafs were outskated, outworked, and overwhelmed from the opening puck drop.
Florida out-attempted them 33-12 in the first period alone and, luckily, only carried a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. Then came the avalanche with three Panthers goals in under eight minutes during the middle frame, turning a one-goal game into a blowout with the Leafs not knowing what hit them.
As a result, Florida would cruise to a 6-1 win, their third straight victory in the series, putting Toronto in a 3-2 hole heading into Game 6 on the road.
“First period, they outskated us, really. They had the puck and won the races. Like, we just played slow. They were fast, they were on us, they were hungrier,” said head coach Craig Berube post-game. “That's the first period. And that sets the tone for the game… We all got to be better, myself included."
Joseph Woll did his best to hold down the fort early but was eventually pulled in the third after surrendering five goals. Matt Murray entered in relief, though by then, the damage had already been done in his first postseason appearance in 1,743 days. The Leafs’ sloppiness and turnovers allowed the Panthers to pounce.
So when members of the Leafs hear the boos, what’s going through their heads?
“Play better,” said veteran defenseman Chris Tanev. “I’ll take responsibility. I need to be better.”
“It is what it is. I'm not focused on that. You focus on the team and what you can do out there. Like I said, it wasn't good enough from our standpoint. That's what happens,” added Mitch Marner.
We’ve seen jerseys thrown onto the ice before, but it’s more of a rare sight in a Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and one that underscored the frustration of a fan base that had watched its team go from up 2-0 in the series to the verge of a second-round exit in under a week. What should’ve been a rowdy home-ice atmosphere instead turned into a quiet, half-empty building by the midway point of the final frame.
“I don't think anyone's happy about it. Time to reset, refocus, and be ready… You realize that it wasn't close to good enough. You flush it down the toilet,” said Marner.
The Leafs head back to Sunrise for Game 6 on Friday, needing a win to keep their season alive. If they can extend the series, they’ll return to Scotiabank Arena for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday and a chance to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd.
“We've been a great road team all season long. There's always going to be a belief in this group and the confidence in this group from what we built off throughout the year,” Matthews explained. “So we've got to go into this game with confidence, and it's going to be our best game of the year.”
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It's safe to say that things did not go well for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their lackluster 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series.
Former Penguins' goaltender and two-time Stanley Cup champion Matt Murray entered the game in the third period to replace Leafs starter Joseph Woll, who surrendered five goals on 25 shots. It marks Murray's first playoff appearance since Aug. 5, 2020 as a member of the Penguins during the play-in round against the Montreal Canadiens that year.
Murray allowed a power-play goal to Panthers forward Sam Bennett and stopped six of seven Florida shots in relief of Woll.
The 30-year-old Thunder Bay, Ontario native was selected by the Penguins in the third round (83rd overall) of the 2012 NHL Draft. He stormed onto the scene for the Penguins just prior to the 2016 playoffs, filling in for an injured Marc-Andre Fleury during Pittsburgh's final 13 games of the regular season.
In those 13 games, he posted a 9-2-1 record and a .930 save percentage, which earned him the starting nod for the Penguins during the postseason. During the 2016 playoffs, he went 15-6 with a .923 save percentage and one shutout to lead the Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship.
Technically still a rookie in 2017, Murray helped the Penguins go back-to-back in 2017. After an injury kept him out in the earlier rounds, he came back strong for the remainder of the playoffs, starting 10 games with a 7-3 record and a whopping .937 save percentage en route to his second Cup as an NHL rookie.
The 30-year-old played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in relief of Joseph Woll during the third period of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers. Woll allowed five goals on 25 shots in an eventual 6-1 Panthers win.
This is Murray's first NHL post-season game since Aug. 5, 2020, when he was part of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the qualification round during the COVID-19 bubble playoffs. Murray's last playoff game under the regular 16-team format was on April 16, 2019, against the New York Islanders.
Murray emerged as a key part of the Penguins' Stanley Cup wins in 2016 and 2017 at the beginning of his NHL career.
In 2015-16, Murray only played 13 regular-season games but had a 9-2-1 record, 2.00 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. He got starting duties for most of the playoffs, winning 15 of the 16 games needed to win the Cup in 21 games and recording a 2.08 GAA and .923 SP.
In 2016-17, Marc-Andre Fleury was the starter until midway through the Eastern Conference final against the Ottawa Senators. Murray replaced Fleury during Game 3 of that series and had a 1.70 GAA and .937 SP for a 7-3 record en route to back-to-back championships.
But since Murray's last post-season game, the Penguins traded him to the Senators in the summer of 2020. He played 47 games for the Sens across two seasons, winning 15 games in that span.
The Senators then traded Murray, a third-round draft pick and a seventh-rounder to the Maple Leafs in July 2022 in exchange for future considerations.
Murray has dealt with numerous injuries during this time, including to his head, neck, abductor, ankle and hip. He only played three games in the 2023-24 season, which came in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies.
But in 2024-25, Murray appeared in 21 games for the Marlies, going 10-5-4 with a 1.72 GAA and .934 SP. On Dec. 20, 2024, he played his first NHL game since April 2, 2023. He stopped 24 of 27 shots for a win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Murray's return to the post-season came under less-than-ideal circumstances for the Leafs, however.
In Game 1 of the series, Anthony Stolarz left the game shortly after taking a shot and an elbow to the head, and he's been out since with an undisclosed injury. Woll took over starting duties, while Murray backed up for Games 2, 4 and 5.
With a chance to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, the Leafs lost Games 3 and 4 to the Panthers. And with the series at 2-2, Florida scored five unanswered goals in Game 5 in Toronto. When Murray replaced Woll, he conceded another goal to make the score 6-0 for Florida but stopped six of seven shots.
Regardless of the score, Murray's return to the playoffs required a lot of recovery and work. That made his appearance one of the few positive points of the Maple Leafs' night.
The Florida Panthers just completed a pretty successful business trip.
Florida picked up their third straight win, taking down the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of their second-round series by a final score of 6-1.
Now the Panthers head back to South Florida with a 3-2 series lead and a chance to eliminate Toronto on Friday night in Sunrise.
There were no shots on goal and only one whistle in the game’s first five minutes as the teams appeared to be trying to feel one another out.
Both goaltenders would be called upon to make big saves in the shifts that followed, though.
First it was Sergei Bobrovsky stopping William Nylander on a breakaway that Gus Forsling may have helped with on the backcheck, then Joseph Woll made a snappy glove save on Sam Reinhart about a minute later.
Florida picked up the first goal of the game on a great shift by their top line.
After Woll made a couple strong saves on Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart, the puck found its way to the stick of Aaron Ekblad.
He fired a shot over Woll’s blocker and into the top corner of the net, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the period.
It was six minutes into the middle frame that Florida doubled their lead.
After killing off a Maple Leafs power play, the Panthers slowly began to take control of the pace again.
A point shot from Dmitry Kulikov hit Leafs’ forward Scott Laughton as it bounded past Woll at the 6:08 mark of the second period.
Less than four minutes later, Jesper Boqvist finished off a perfect cross-ice pass from Sam Reinhart to expand Florida’s lead to three.
Another Panthers defenseman picked up his first goal of the playoffs about four minutes after that, as this time it was Niko Mikkola blasting a shot under Woll’s glove.
With just under six minutes left in the second period, Florida was suddenly up by four.
Joining the mix of players picking up their first goal of the playoffs was A.J. Greer.
He found a loose puck at the top of the goal crease and slammed it past a sprawling Woll, pushing Florida’s lead to 5-0 and sending Woll to the showers early.
He was replaced by veteran goaltender Matt Murray for the remainder of the night.
A Sam Bennett power play goal with 10:50 to go gave Florida a 6-0 lead, leading to an even louder chorus of boos than we heard after the Greer goal.
Nick Robertson runed Bobrovsky's shutout with just over a minute to go, not that it's going to bother Bob at all.
The Cats clearly have all the momentum on their side, and now head home with a chance to advance to their third straight conference final if they can pick up a victory on Friday.
On to Game 6.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Bobrovsky's shutout streak lasted 1:47:58, stretching from the end of Game 3 to the end of Game 5.
Ekblad is riding a five-game point streak, with two goals and four assists during the run.
Reinhart’s pair of assists gave him ten points in 10 playoff games.
Filling in for an injured Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist picked up his first point of the postseason on Ekblad’s goal. Then he scored his first goal of the playoffs about an hour later.
Kulikov has two points over his past three games.
Matthew Takchuk has assists in three straight games after dishing out a helper on Kulikov’s goal.
Picking up an assist on Greer’s goal, Nate Schmidt has three points over his past five games.
Bennett has four goals and five points over his past six outings.
The London Knights won game four of the OHL Final in dominant fashion, defeating the Oshawa Generals 6-2. A pair of San Jose Sharks prospects factored heavily into the Knights' victory.
They say heavy is the head that wears the crown, and yet the reigning J. Ross Robertson Cup champions are cruising through the OHL Final.
After losing game one of the series to Oshawa, London has responded with three emphatic wins. In all three games, they've scored 5-plus goals while averaging 32 shots on goal.
"We played about as close to a perfect 60 as we could," said Sam Dickinson about game four. " We're happy to get the win."
While game three featured an intense pushback from the Generals in the third period, game four was an entirely different story.
London came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. They ended up outshooting the Generals 17-6 in the opening frame, though they were unable to register a goal.
The game went completely off the rails for the Generals in the second period as London scored five goals. The majority of the damage was done by San Jose Sharks prospects Dickinson and Kasper Halttunen, who each recorded a pair of goals during the period.
Halttunen picked up a third goal midway through the third period, giving hattricks in back-to-back games, and seven goals in the series.
"He [Halttunen] has got the best shot in the OHL, he's probably the best goal scorer in the OHL," said Dickinson. "It's a lot easier giving the puck to him knowing he's almost always going to have a good chance of putting it in the net."
Dickinson added a pair of assists to the goals he scored, giving him four points at the end of the night. In doing so, he set a franchise record for most playoff points scored by a defenseman with 50. He surpassed Dennis Wideman, who previously held the record with 46.
What's wild is this isn't even the first franchise record he set this year. By finishing the regular season with 91 points, he also set a franchise record for most points scored by a defender in a single season, beating out the previous record (87) held by Edmonton Oilers blue liner Evan Bouchard.
Between Dickinson and Halttunen, San Jose Sharks fans are sure to be the envy of many NHL franchises in the near future, and that doesn't even get into other prospects like Quentin Musty, who also spent the year in the OHL.
By winning games three and four in Oshawa, the Knights have taken a stranglehold on the series and put the Generals in a very awkward position. For Oshawa to mount a comeback, they would need to beat London three times in a row while winning a pair of games on the road.
For reference, London only lost back-to-back games once during the regular season and never dropped three games in a row. While this is junior hockey and anything can happen, it seems nearly impossible that Oshawa will beat this London team three times in a row.
In an interesting turn of events, London has the opportunity to win the championship on home ice. Last year, they swept the Generals and won the final game of the series on the road, something that has been a bit of a pattern for the Knights.
Game five will take place tomorrow evening with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The Generals will be looking to force a game six back in Oshawa on Saturday.
Love, 40, is currently the defensive coach for the Capitals. He was hired prior to the 2024-25 season and helped lead Washington to the best finish in the Eastern Conference at 51-22-9.
He has spent most of his coaching career in developmental leagues, beginning as an assistant in 2011 with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 2018, he was named head coach of the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, leading them to the playoffs in his first season and putting three strong seasons together.
And in his next gig - which came with the Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers of the AHL - he won coach of the year in back-to-back seasons right before being brought onto Washington's staff.
Smith, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1995 and later appeared in NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. Following his playing career, he was hired by the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL as an assistant coach and remained there until 2012, when he was hired as a head coach by the Oshawa Generals.
In his third season there, he led the team to an OHL championship as well as a Memorial Cup, which earned him an assistant coaching gig with the Leafs, where he remained through the end of the 2018-19 season before becoming the head coach of the Ottawa Senators.
Smith was in Ottawa for parts of five seasons before getting fired during the early part of the 2023-24 season. In 317 total games with Ottawa, Smith was 131-154-32 with a .464 win percentage.
Although the Penguins are casting a "wide net" in their search for a new bench boss, POHO and GM Kyle Dubas has expressed a desire to make experience in developmental leagues a focus. The Penguins rolled with former head coach Mike Sullivan - now head coach of the New York Rangers - for 10 seasons, and given that they find themselves in a rebuild, someone who works well with young talent will likely be paramount.
After several days of intense speculation, the LA Kings confirmed today that there was indeed some fire in all that smoke by announcing that Ken Holland will be the franchise's 10th General Manager.
Welcome to LA! 🌟
We've named Ken Holland the 10th General Manager in franchise history.
The former NHL goalie will immediately be called upon to make some big saves. The NHL Draft is just over a month away and the status of unrestricted free agents Vladislav Gavrikov, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Tanner Jeannot, as well as restricted free agent Alex Laferriere, will need to be gloved down.
Despite assurances from Team President Luc Robitaille on retaining the services of head coach Jim Hiller next season, Holland could very well decide to make a change behind the bench. Holland fired Jay Woodcroft in Edmonton after a 3-9-1 start to the season in 2023, replacing him the relatively unknown Kris Knoblauch. That move turned the Oilers' season around, leading Edmonton to their first Stanley Cup Finals since 2006.
With LA, Holland will inherit a solid team that regularly underperforms in the playoffs. Thus, much like his tenure with Edmonton, the Kings' new GM will be tasked with getting a team to the next level. Unlike Edmonton, however, he won't have superstars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to work with.
Instead, he will have promising youngsters like Quinton Byfield and Brandon Clarke, as well as the aging duo of Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and a rejuvenated Darcy Kuemper between the pipes.
Will Holland feel that this team's current roster is good enough to compete for the Stanley Cup or will he shake things up with an off-season trade? Holland is often described as a "win now" type of executive so a move or moves wouldn't be completely out of character. His 2001 trade for Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek was a huge factor in Detroit's 2002 Stanley Cup win. In 2008, Holland flipped two draft picks to the Kings for defenseman Brad Stuart to line up with Niklas Kronwall on a top-four pairing and guess what? Detroit won another Cup that year.
Team President Luc Robitaille believes that if you are looking to add on July 1st your team is in a good spot. It will be quite interesting to see where Ken Holland thinks the Kings are this summer and how he intends on getting LA past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
![Kasper Halttunen playing for London [Ian Goodall/Goodall Media].](https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_hockey_news_articles_331/95c7958757102cb5a6252b24aed170e4)
