With the assist, Schaefer became the second 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history to record 50 points in a season, following Phil Housley (57 in 1982-83).
He alsobecame the fourth Islanders rookie defenseman to record 50 points in a season.
The Nashville Predators will be without their starting goalie in one of the most important games of the season.
It was announced ahead of Thursday's game against the Seattle Kraken that Juuse Saros is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He was reportedly injured during morning skate.
Justus Annuen will start in his place with Matt Murray as the late call-up from Milwaukee.
This is the first injury that Saros has officially sustained this season, and the Predators have gone as he has. Saros has a 24-19-7 record this season with a 3.14 goals-against and .894 save percentage.
#Preds Roster Update: Goaltender Juuse Saros will not play tonight vs. Seattle and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Goaltender Matt Murray has been recalled from the @mkeadmirals.
His last start was a 4-3 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, where he made 36 saves on 39 shots, and stopped all three of the Jets in the shootout.
Annunen sits at 6-9-2 on the year with a 3.10 goals against and a .890 save percentage. Murray has not played for the Predators this season and has not played an NHL game since the 2023-24 season, when he was with the Dallas Stars.
Thursday's matchup is critical, as a Predators victory would tie the Kraken for the final Wild Card spot. A loss would set the Predators four points behind Seattle in the playoff race.
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Islanders plan on moving their American Hockey League affiliate from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Hamilton, Ontario, for next season, the franchise announced on Thursday.
The relocation requires approval by the AHL Board of Governors.
Should the move be permitted, the team currently known as the Bridgeport Islanders will play at TD Coliseum in Hamilton, which completed major renovations last fall.
A team name, logo and ticketing information for the Hamilton market will be announced at a later date, pending AHL approval, the franchise said.
“We are excited to make Hamilton our primary affiliate in the American Hockey League,” Islanders general manager and executive vice president Mathieu Darche said in a statement. “The support the city has shown our organization throughout this transition has been incredible. We look forward to having our top young talent play in front of such a strong fanbase inside the newly renovated, world-class TD Coliseum and we are committed to establishing ourselves in the community to engage a new generation of hockey fans.”
The Islanders’ top minor-league affiliate has played in Bridgeport for the past 25 years.
While their season hasn’t quite gone the way many have hoped it would, the Vancouver Canucks will still be giving fans something to cheer about in the coming games. Nine milestones are currently on the horizon for a number of players, ranging from personal to franchise records.
The first to note of these records is Elias Pettersson sliding into ninth in Canucks history in career goals-scored. After his two-goal performance against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, Pettersson only needs one more goal to tie him with Bo Horvat for ninth in franchise history. This isn’t the only milestone Pettersson can hit soon, as he is also three points away from 500 career NHL points and three assists away from 300 on his career.
Another player who is close to achieving another franchise milestone is Brock Boeser, who needs one more point to tie him with Tony Tanti for ninth-most in Canuck history. The forward currently has 469, only 28 less than the next active player on the list (Pettersson, 497).
Next on the list are a handful of career-milestones in NHL games played. The most talked-about as of late has been Evander Kane, who is six games away from hitting 1000 NHL games. The last player to hit this record as a member of the Canucks was none-other than Tyler Myers, who did-so on October 19, 2024.
The next crop of career-milestones in games played are a fair bit less than Kane’s 1000. The first to take place will be Aatu Räty’s 100th-career NHL game, which he will hit if he plays tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Following that is Linus Karlsson’s 100th NHL game, of which he still has nine more to play before he hits it. Marcus Pettersson will be the next to hit a milestone in games played with 600 — while he still has 11 more games to play, it’s expected he’ll hit this before the end of the season. Finally, Max Sasson is 14 games away from 100 in the NHL, which he can achieve if he plays in virtually every game before the season ends.
Nov 11, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser (6) and forward Elias Pettersson (40) celebrate Boeser’s goal against the Winnipeg Jets in the third period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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The Philadelphia Flyers are ending Year 3 of the Danny Briere and Keith Jones regime in the same place it began: close to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but not in them, and in need of some serious high-end talent down the middle of the ice.
Briere's tenure, not accounting for the draft, has actually been mostly solid, though his successes haven't come without missteps to match.
Buy-low acquisitions like Sean Walker, Ryan Poehling, and Dan Vladar have paid dividends for the Flyers, but overall, the core of the roster remains the same.
Aging players like Nick Seeler, Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak, and Garnet Hathaway all inked contract extensions under Briere's watch, which strays from the path of a traditional rebuild.
Dvorak, as well as defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, could have fetched hauls at the 2025 NHL trade deadline, but one signed a five-year pact, and the other simply stayed put.
The good news for Briere and the Flyers is that they have proven shrewd in trade negotiations overall. Trevor Zegras, David Jiricek, Nikita Grebenkin, and even Jamie Drysdale and Carl Grundstrom have brought meaningful value to the table for the organization, be it now or for the future.
But, the Flyers could lean into that strength more.
In the 2025 draft, they traded the 22nd and 24th overall picks to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 12th overall pick, but then used that 12th pick on a pure upside play in Jack Nesbitt, rather than more critically acclaimed prospects like Carter Bear, Cole Reschny, Jackson Smith, Braeden Cootes, or Kashawn Aitcheson.
The Flyers made a similar pivot the year prior, trading down one spot from 12th to 13th, passing on the chance to select Zeev Buium, and adding Jett Luchanko to the fold instead.
It's not a slight against Nesbitt or Luchanko, but the two centers haven't taken meaningful steps forward in their development yet, and the Flyers still need high-end talent at the position despite burning a total of three first-round picks on the two players.
That's where, if the Flyers had gotten Smith and Buium, the rebuild would look much more positive, even with the significant presence of veteran players.
Assembling a young defense core of Buium, Smith, Jiricek, Oliver Bonk, Drysdale, Hunter McDonald, and Ty Murchison is an extremely solid and talented base to work with, and that's excluding existing options like Cam York and Travis Sanheim.
Also excluded was defenseman Spencer Gill, who was acquired with the help of the third-round pick the Flyers acquired when trading down with Minnesota at the 2024 draft.
So far, the fact of the matter is that the Flyers, 16th in the NHL standings with 76 points and a -13 goal differential, are right back where they were in the 2023-24 season, even after adding Matvei Michkov, Zegras, Vladar, and Dvorak.
They still haven't leaned fully into one direction: whether to embrace a full rebuild or push all the chips in and go for a playoff run with their cap space and draft capital.
Other "rebuilding" teams, like San Jose, Anaheim, and Chicago have assembled more exciting nuclei of young talent without becoming abhorrent or unwatchable for more than a year at a time.
This fact is especially disappointing when accounting for the regression of Matvei Michkov, who has been in the crosshairs of Rick Tocchet, as well as the divided public, since the beginning of this season.
A once-promising 26-goal, 63-point rookie has devolved into a one-dimensional middle-six scorer who might just barely crack 40 points in his sophomore season.
That's sucked the excitement out of the Flyers, who still have plenty to offer for the future. Michkov, the apparent franchise player, has become more of a side character or extra in a cliché, inspiring action film rather than continuing to ascend as the avatar of a hopeful, high-flying future in Philadelphia.
The Flyers still have a solid group, yes, headlined by the likes of Michkov, Zegras, Porter Martone, Jiricek, and Drysdale, but it could also be much better with verifiable direction and focus.
It doesn't help, either, that the Flyers are on pace to secure another middling draft pick in the midst of their current playoff push, which will presumably push them out of the territory of the likes of Chase Reid, Carson Carels, Alberts Smits, Viggo Bjorck, Gavin McKenna, and more top prospects at positions of need.
Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, and Egor Zavragin make for a strong group at the goalie position, but little else has improved for the future of the rebuild in the last two seasons.
In a recent article for Sportsnet, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Philadelphia Flyers were one of the teams that had interest in Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine ahead of the trade deadline.
"There were discussions about Patrik Laine ending up either in Philadelphia or Toronto, but it obviously didn’t work out," Friedman wrote.
The Flyers having talks with the Canadiens about Laine ahead of the deadline is certainly interesting. The Flyers are currently on the wrong side of the playoff line, so it could have been surprising to some if they successfully brought in a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) like Laine.
However, the Flyers also notably traded Bobby Brink to the Minnesota Wild on deadline day. With this, perhaps the Flyers viewed Laine as a potential short-term replacement for Brink in their top nine once he got fully healthy.
The Canadiens were one of the teams that had been connected to Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen ahead of the trade deadline as well.
Nevertheless, Laine, of course, did not end up being dealt to either the Flyers or the Maple Leafs and will finish the season with the Canadiens because of it. In five games this season with Montreal, Laine has one assist. This is after he had 20 goals and 33 points in 52 games for Montreal last season.
Ryan Johansen has announced he is retiring from the NHL and professional hockey at the age of 33. Drafted in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft fourth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Johansen would go on to play over 900 games in the NHL, scoring 202 goals, 376 assists, and 578 points.
Johansen’s last season in the NHL was with the Colorado Avalanche in 2023-24, where, in 63 games, he scored 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points, six of which were power-play points, while averaging over 13 minutes of ice time per game.
His time with the Avalanche was not one to remember much fondly, as the team desperately needed a second-line center after Nazem Kadri left for the Calgary Flames, and J.T. Compher left as well.
He just came off a down season, scoring 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in 55 games with the Nashville Predators, a significant drop from his 2021-22 season, when he scored 26 goals and 37 assists for 63 points.
A change in scenery was supposed to do good for Johansen, joining an Avalanche team coming off a Stanley Cup, despite losing some players to free agency and only having to move off Alex Galchenyuk in exchange. However, it did come with his hefty $8 million cap hit, but if he could bounce back more offensively and remain strong defensively, it could fill a massive hole as the cap could continue to rise, and the team could focus on other areas to improve.
Though his time with the Avalanche wouldn’t last long, as he was traded mid-way through the season to the Philadelphia Flyers in a package that saw Sean Walker and a 2026 fifth-round pick to the Avalanche in exchange for Johansen and a 2025 first-round pick.
It was a cap dump the Avalanche had to make; the production wasn't there, and his defensive game couldn't keep up with the cap hit he brought along, though getting Sean Walker was a great addition.
It got messy for Johansen with the Flyers as they tried to move him down to the AHL. After a “material breach,” the Flyers opted to terminate his contract, but that only opened up a whole can of worms among him, the NHLPA, and the organization for trying to get his contract off the books.
Center Ryan Johansen, who played eight seasons with the Nashville Predators from 2015 to 2023, announced his retirement on Thursday.
During his time in Nashville, Johansen tallied 362 points (110 goals and 252 assists) in 533 games played and 48 points (17 goals and 31 assists) in 61 playoff games, helping the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history in 2017.
Over his NHL career, Johansen played in 905 games, recording 578 points (202 goals and 376 assists) with three teams: Columbus, Nashville and Colorado.
His Predators' point and assist totals both rank sixth all-time. Johansen also owns the record for fastest goal scored in franchise history, tied with David Legwand at 11 seconds.
Johansen played in the 2015 NHL All-Star Game and earned All-Star MVP honors, tallying two goals and two assists. That season, with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Johansen had a career-best 71 points in 82 games.
He was drafted fourth overall in the 2010 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Johansen spent four and a half seasons in the Blue Jackets organization before he was traded during the 2015-16 season for defenseman Seth Jones.
Johansen was traded by the Predators to the Colorado Avalanche following the 2022-23 season for the rights to Alex Galchenyuk. He played 63 games in Colorado before he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline and then placed on waivers.
He'd remain on the Flyers roster due to an unreported injury when he was acquired. Johansen was then placed on unconditional waivers following a breach of contract in the 2024 offseason.
Johansen had not played a game since the 2023-24 season.
The New York Islanders officially announced on Thursday that they intend to move their AHL affilaite, the Bridgeport Islanders, to Hamilton, Ontario, following the 2025-26 season.
The
The team will be set to play in the newly renovated TD Coliseum, which just underwent a $300 million renovation and seats 18,000 fans. The hope is to attract more talent to the Islanders organization, as the team will play in a more promising hockey environment, which Bridgeport could not compete with.
Hamilton offers a much better venue and a stronger hockey market.
The move will have to wait for approval from the AHL board of governors.
Here's the release:
"On behalf of the entire New York Islanders organization, I want to extend our deepest thanks to the City of Bridgeport and the incredibly loyal fans who have supported this team for the past 25 years," said Kelly Cheeseman, President of Business Operations for the Islanders and UBS Arena. "From the early days of the Sound Tigers to our time as the Bridgeport Islanders, this community has been the heart of our AHL operations. We are grateful for the memories, the partnerships, and the passion the fans in Connecticut have shown our players and staff."
"We are excited to make Hamilton our primary affiliate in the American Hockey League," said Mathieu Darche, General Manager and Executive Vice President of the Islanders. "The support the city has shown our organization throughout this transition has been incredible. We look forward to having our top young talent play in front of such a strong fanbase inside the newly renovated, world-class TD Coliseum and we are committed to establishing ourselves in the community to engage a new generation of hockey fans."
The Chicago Blackhawks traded multiple players leading up to the deadline, as Nick Foligno, Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, and Colton Dach were all moved. The Blackhawks being sellers was not surprising, as they are still rebuilding and are on the wrong side of the playoff line.
While this is the case, they also reportedly were interested in making a major addition to their roster ahead of the deadline.
In his most recent 32 Thoughts column, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that the Blackhawks were among the teams that had "serious interest" in Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Matthew Knies.
"Teams that showed serious interest in Matthew Knies included Anaheim, Chicago, Montreal, New Jersey and Utah," Friedman wrote.
Hearing that the Blackhawks had Knies on their radar is not necessarily surprising. At just 23 years old, he would have been an excellent addition for a team on the rise like the Blackhawks. This is especially so when noting that the Blackhawks could use more skilled wingers to help Connor Bedard.
Furthermore, at this point in his young career, Knies is already a proven top-six power forward. His stats this season effectively show this, as he has 18 goals, 39 assists, 57 points, and 132 hits in 66 games. This is after the 6-foot-3 forward had 29 goals and 58 points in 78 games last season for Toronto.
Knies would have also been a long-term addition for the Blackhawks if acquired, as he has a $7.75 million cap hit until the end of the 2030-31 season.
While the Montreal Canadiens are still involved in a no-holds-barred fight to make the NHL playoffs, its AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, punched its ticket to the spring dance last night with a convincing 5-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, who has been elevated to the role of starter with Jacob Fowler’s callup, made 29 saves on the 30 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Sean Farrell was named the first star of the game with a goal and an assist.
The Rocket still has 10 games left in the regular season before the Calder Cup playoffs kick off, but it’s nice to put that question to bed before things become stressful; last year, they only qualified on March 28. This is the fourth time in the last five years that the Place Bell-based outfit qualifies for the playoffs.
The playoffs will feature six of the eight teams from the Atlantic Division, the first five teams from the North and the Central Division, and the top seven teams from the Pacific Division. The first round of the tournament will be a best-of-three format, but the two highest seeds in the Atlantic, the three highest seeds in the North and Central, and the first-place team in the Pacific will receive byes and go straight to the best-of-five Division Semifinal. The Division Finals will also be a best-of-five series, but the Conference Finals and the Final itself will be best-of-seven.
In other words, qualifying for the playoffs is one thing, but Pascal Vincent’s men will now be working towards getting a bye for the first round. While the Rocket is currently first in the North Division, all of its rivals have games in hand, and nothing is set in stone right now. Vincent will be glad to have Adam Engstrom at his disposal. The young blueliner recently came back from injury, and he’s having a great sophomore season with 33 points in 41 games.
One has to wonder if the Laval outfit will be able to rely on all its players going forward, though. Given how little ice time Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj generally get, it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see Montreal call up David Reinbacher. It would allow them to see where he is in his development, and it would also mean that Lane Hutson could go back to playing on his strong side.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild are going to match up for the second time this week and the third time this month. All three results between these two teams so far this season have been Minnesota Wild wins in extra time by a score of 4-3.
On Tuesday, Mats Zuccarello scored the overtime winner after the Blackhawks battled back to get it tied late in the third period. Now, the Blackhawks have one final chance to get a win over their Stanley Cup-contending rivals.
Scouting Minnesota
The Minnesota Wild, despite winning on Tuesday, are not too happy with the way they've played over the last couple of weeks.
They aren't likely to catch the Dallas Stars ahead of them, and they aren't in any danger of falling into the Wild Card spot held by the Utah Mammoth, so it's easy to get complacent, but that can't be how they go into the playoffs.
This game against the Blackhawks is a chance for them to continue working to get back on track with another win over a pesky young team.
Kaprizov - Yurov - Boldy
Zuccarello - Hartman - Tarasenko
Johansson - McCarron - N Foligno
Trenin - Sturm - Brink
Hughes-Spurgeon
Brodin-Faber
Middleton-Petry
Wallstedt
Jesper Wallstedt is going to start in goal for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson was in goal during the win on Tuesday, and now they will go with their other Swedish Olympian.
Bobby Brink will draw into the lineup in place of Robby Fabbri. Other than that, their deep forward group will remain mostly the same.
On defense, the pairs are getting a bit of a makeover compared to the last game. The bottom pair will remain the same, but there will be two new pairs in the top four. Quinn Hughes will get Jared Spurgeon, while Brock Faber will move down to play with Jonas Brodin.
Brodin and Spurgeon are very good defensive defensemen who play a strong leadership role in the locker room, while Hughes and Faber are the younger, more skilled players. This could give them more depth on the back end.
Projected Lines, Defense Pairs, & Goalie For Chicago
The Blackhawks scratched Matt Grzelcyk on Tuesday in favor of Ethan Del Mastro. That meant that all six defensemen in the lineup were 24 or under. That could be the case again on Thursday in Minnesota.
Sacha Boisvert is not ready to join the team yet due to visa issues, so his NHL debut will have to wait.
Greene-Bedard-Burakovsky
Bertuzzi-Nazar-Teravainen
Mangiapane-Donato-Mikheyev
Lardis-Lafferty-Slaggert
Vlasic-Levshunov
Kaiser-Rinzel
Del Mastro-Crevier
Grzelcyk
Soderblom
Arvid Soderblom hasn't started since Spencer Knight returned from his illness. Project him to get the nod in this one. With the second half of a back-to-back looming on Friday, expect Spencer Knight to get that game against the Colorado Avalanche, who are one of the few teams ahead of the Minnesota Wild in the overall NHL standings.
UPDATE: Spencer Knight started in goal. They went 11/7 with their skaters. Sam Lafferty came out, Matt Grzelcyk went in.
How To Watch
The game can be heard locally on AM 720 WGN in the Chicagoland area. To view this game, it can be found on ESPN+ and Hulu. The puck will drop shortly after 6:30 PM CT.
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It was another crazy, back-and-forth game, but the Carolina Hurricanes got back in the win column Wednesday night with a 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The win got the Canes back into the win column and helped to build on their division lead.
Here are five takeaways from the win:
Sean Walker postgame (3/18/26)
1. A Historic Back-And-Forth
According to the NHL, Wednesday's game featured four third-period, game-tying goals, which matches the most ever in a single game in league history.
The game went from 2-1 heading into the third, to a 5-5 game after the 20 minute frame, so it was certainly a wild one.
"Going into the third it was 2-1 and then it ended up 6-5," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "You would never have thought that the way the game was going."
Fans certainly got their moneys worth and in the end, the Canes still won anyway.
2. For The First Time Ever, Sean Walker Called Game In OT
Sean Walker has played a good bit of overtime hockey throughout his career.
The 31-year-old defenseman has just under 60 total minutes of career, 3v3 OT experience under his belt, but before Wednesday, he had never once scored beyond regulation.
However, that all changed last night though as he put home a Sebastian Aho feed for his first career OT goal.
"Walks getting that OT winner, you love seeing that for guys that maybe don't get them all the time," said Jordan Martinook, who himself has never scored at OT winner. "Those ones feel a little better sometimes."
It was also, in fact, Walker's first game-winning goal as a Hurricane and just the third total of his career.
On that note though, Hurricanes assistant coach Tim Gleason actually holds the record for the most career games played (727) without a single game-winning goal.
3. Jackson Blake Hits The 20-Goal Mark
Ain't no sophomore slump for Jackson Blake it seems.
In Year 2, the 22-year-old winger has continued to take big steps in his development, already setting new career highs in goals, assists and points with still 14 games to go in the year.
And last night against the Penguins was just another example of his ability to take over a game.
Blake had three points in the win, contributing on three straight go-ahead goals for the Canes.
He also registered his 20th goal of the season, becoming the team's fifth 20 goal scorer this season and also just the second Hurricanes fourth-round or later draft pick to ever register 20 goals in a season (credit Cory Lavalette for that stat)
His line with Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall has been Carolina's best since returning from the Olympic break.
"Those two are unbelievably good players and they came up big for us tonight," Blake said on his linemates. "I love playing with those guys because you know what you can get from them. It's awesome. We've had chances, but tonight, fortunately they went in."
4. Penalty Kill Steps Up
Since returning from the Olympic break, the Hurricanes' penalty kill has really struggled, operating at just around a 70% success rate.
And after giving up two against the Columbus Blue Jackets the day before, Carolina knew they needed to be better against the Penguins.
Well, you can't draw up any better of a start to the penalty killing then scoring a goal nine seconds into your very first opportunity.
After winning the opening draw, Jordan Staal got to a loose puck and sent it up the boards to a streaking Jordan Martinook, who then ripped it past Stuart Skinner.
Overall, the Canes did very well on the PK, killing off around seven minutes of shorthanded time.
The only time they got burned was when Pittsburgh was handed a 5-on-3 power play, but those scenarios are very challenging for any team.
"When you go down 5-on-3, it's tough to kill that one off, but I think we battled hard," Martinook said. "They have dynamic players over there. But I felt like we were on it pretty good. When you go down 5-on-3, it's tough, but overall, we were pretty good out there."
5. Goaltending
Even though he gave up five goals, I really liked Frederik Andersen's game.
He made quite a few big saves for the Canes, including a huge stop on Ben Kindel in overtime right before Sean Walker's winner.
I get that fans are going to be upset at any netminder when they see goals go past them, but you have to look at these things with a bit more context.
Of Pittsburgh's five goals, two were from breakaways, one was a backhander by Sidney Crosby alone in front of the net, one was a post-and-in rocket at 5-on-3 through a screen and the fifth one was also a top corner snipe through heavy traffic.
The Penguins are a good finishing team and the expected goals at the end of that game for them was over four, so, in my opinion, Andersen wasn't poor by any stretch.
He's been pretty good overall since returning from the Olympics and it seems that that event was a good reset for him.
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The Vancouver Canucks welcome the slumping Tampa Bay Lightning to Rogers Arena on Thursday, March 19.
My top Lightning vs. Canucks predictions and NHL picks are headlined by Vancouver winger Liam Ohgren tonight.
Lightning vs Canucks prediction
Lightning vs Canucks best bet: Liam Ohgren Over 1.5 shots (+100)
Winger Liam Ohgren has been a rare bright spot for the Vancouver Canucks, rankingsecond in shots and third in attempts at 5-on-5 across the past 12 games.
Ohgren and the Canucks are drawing the Tampa Bay Lightning at the right time, too.
The Lightning have lost seven of their past 10 while allowing the fourth-most shots per game (30.1) and ninth-most shots per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.
Lightning vs Canucks same-game parlay
This is a slump-busting spot for Tampa Bay, and I fully expect them to have a solid defensive showing, with Vancouver scoring just 2.6 goals per game since the Olympic break.
Simply put, I don’t anticipate the Canucks doing enough offensively to push this total Over.
The final leg of this same-game parlay turns for Vancouver center Elias Pettersson, as he's registered two or more shots in six of his past seven games for 16 total on 31 attempts.
The Vancouver Canucks have covered the first-period puck line in eight of their last nine home games (+5.95 Units / 36% ROI). Find more NHL betting trends for Lightning vs. Canucks.
How to watch Lightning vs Canucks
Location
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Date
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Puck drop
10:00 p.m. ET
TV
Sportsnet Pacific
Lightning vs Canucks latest injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Edmonton Oilers' captain Connor McDavid was asked about the response to his comments on NHL player safety and how suspensions are handled. A few days ago, he was fairly vocal about not liking the process and about players being frustrated. He believed it was time to revisit the way things work.
Head of the NHL Department of Player Safety, George Parros, stood his ground in the face of criticism.
Following a controversial decision to only suspend Radko Gudas for five games after a knee-on-knee hit, Parros said:
“We sweat over these decisions and pore over these decisions every night, all season long. We have a process in place that’s consistent, and we have a team that works for me, and together with me, that evaluates all these plays. A very experienced team, a veteran team. Guys who have been there since the beginning of the department. Not to mention all the former players who have a large set of experiences playing NHL games and accolades. Some of the best guys who have played the game work for this department, helping make decisions. So, our process, I feel very confident in. We’ve got great guys who make these decisions, and I think the players should be confident in this team to do so.”
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman backed Parros and added that if the players wanted something different, it should have been mentioned in the recent CBA renegotiation. It wasn't. Bettman seemed to hint that it was on the players.
McDavid was asked if he was OK with Parros' comments.
"Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, I said what I said a couple days ago. Obviously, the league disagrees, and that’s fine. But, you know, as I said, there’s obviously frustration from the players. Every single time one of these things comes up, I think everyone kind of voices that."
-
He added, "So the status quo doesn’t matter—nothing has to change—but, you know, I think things like this leave an opportunity to have those discussions. And obviously, if there’s a better way, there’s a better way. If there’s not, there’s not. But we’ll never know if we don’t have that conversation."
"It takes all of us to be a bit more dangerous, shoot the puck a little bit more."
McDavid was also asked about Leon Draisaitl's injury and losing the team's star for the rest of the regular season. He said it was unfortunate but called it another opportunity for players to step up. Understanding what Draisaitl brings, he'll never be replaced. But, when it comes to goal scoring, maybe the Oilers can do it by committee.
"It takes all of us to be a bit more dangerous, shoot the puck a little bit more."
The Oilers will take on the Florida Panthers Thursday night, looking for some retribution after two consecutive Stanley Cup Final losses. The Oilers have played better hockey of late and are looking to win three in a row for the second time this season.
The Panthers are not the team they were last season, but the Oilers will need to be cautious not to take them too lightly.
