The Detroit Red Wings came into their centennial season with understandable expectations, and by late January, they appeared well on their way to comfortably earning a postseason spot.
However, as has been the case in recent years, they unraveled when the calendar flipped to March, lost their points cushion, and struggled to close out games.
They came into Saturday evening's contest against the New Jersey Devils with no choice but to earn two points if they wanted to keep their faint playoff hopes mathematically alive.
But following yet another third-period collapse, their fate was officially sealed.
Devils forward Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the game with 4:34 left in the third period, breaking a 3-3 tie en route to a 5-3 win at Little Caesars Arena.
Once again, the Red Wings were beaten by a team that was outside of the playoff picture and were unable to protect a third-period lead. Almost equally as concerning, the Devils held a 25-15 shots advantage over the game's final 40 minutes.
Detroit struck first in the opening period, as defenseman Justin Faulk found the back of the net. But just 59 seconds later, Devils forward Jack Hughes tied the contest on what was New Jersey's first shot of the game.
While David Perron scored just past the midway point of the second period, the Devils responded soon afterward thanks to a shot from just inside the blue line from Bratt, the first of his two goals; former Red Wings defenseman Dennis Cholowski picked up an assist.
Rookie Emmitt Finnie gave the Red Wings the lead with 13 minutes left in the third period, banging home a loose puck with a backhander past goaltender Jake Allen and giving the sellout crowd reason for enthusiasm.
However, New Jersey once again knotted the score after Cody Glass picked up a garbage goal in front of the net. Hughes then broke in on a 2-on-1 rush with Bratt, who slipped the puck past a diving John Gibson for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Red Wings pulled Gibson for an extra attacker, but weren't able to find the equalizer. The Devils secured the victory thanks to an empty-net tally from Dawson Mercer.
Gibson finished with 28 saves, while Allen made 25 saves.
While the Red Wings still have two games remaining on their regular-season schedule, their hopes of ending their postseason drought came to a close.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
The Chicago Blackhawks had their last weekend game of the season on Saturday afternoon, as they welcomed the St. Louis Blues to the United Center.
The Blues woke up with a very small chance to make the playoffs, but a Los Angeles Kings win earlier in the day eliminated St. Louis.
This game had a twist at the start. For one, Arvid Soderblom started the game, which is likely his last of the season. They also had Ethan Del Mastro scratched, replaced on defense by Sam Lafferty, who is a forward.
The ugly finish to the season continued for the Blackhawks, as the Blues skated out of town with a 5-3 victory. Jimmy Snuggerud scored to make it 1-0 Blues at 9:26 of the first period, but Ryan Greene responded to tie the game at 15:07.
Just 3:04 into the second period, Ilya Mikheyev gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead, which gave Sacha Boisvert his first career NHL assist, but Alexey Toropchenko tied it up at 4:10. From there, the Blues scored three more to make it 5-2.
In the third period, Ilya Mikheyev added his second goal of the game at 13:35. This one was a nice setup by Tyler Bertuzzi. Anton Frondell also earned an assist on the play, giving him 9 points in his first 10 NHL games.
That 5-3 score stood as the final despite an effort by Chicago to tie it up with Arvid Soderblom on the bench. The loss is their third straight in regulation.
To make matters worse, Frank Nazar left the game with an injury. A puck hit him in the face, and he immediately went to the locker room. Of course, Nazar already missed a lot of time during the winter with a jaw injury.
After the game, head coach Jeff Blashill confirmed that Nazar is day-to-day. There are only two games left in the season, so that could mean anything, but he did confirm that he thinks he avoided the "worst case scenario", which would be him having a broken jaw again.
Nazar is not the only injured player. Andrew Mangiapane left the game after crashing into the net, and Ethan Del Mastro ended up not even dressing due to injury. Both of them are also day-to-day.
This game had signs of a young team that is thin on bodies to play, frustrated, and out of gas. Two games are remaining to try and find a spark in front of their home fans before an incredibly important off-season.
The Chicago Blackhawks will be back in action on Monday night. They have their second-to-last match of the season, a home game against the Buffalo Sabres.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
DALLAS — The Rangers kept the third-best team in the NHL scoreless for nearly 53 minutes.
That is noteworthy for a club that has been eliminated from playoff contention for two and a half weeks now.
After a 2-0 loss to the Stars, aided by an empty-net goal, the only zero in the equation belonged to the Blueshirts — their 10th of the season.
Igor Shesterkin makes a glove save during the second period of the Rangers’ 2-0 loss to the Stars on April 11, 2026 at the American Airlines Center. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
No team in the NHL has been shut out more than the Rangers this season, and there are still two games to go.
The 2025-26 Rangers tied the franchise record for the most shutout losses in a single season, joining the 1928-29 team.
While eight of the 10 blankings came in the first 40 games of the season, with the last one on Feb. 5 against the Hurricanes, the Rangers have gone through too many spurts with zero offense.
Saturday’s game against the Stars, however, was still one of the team’s better performances this season.
“I think we came in kind of having to accept that it was going to be a low-event game,” Adam Fox said. “I think that’s kind of the way they play. Obviously, they have firepower, but they’re stingy defensively. They got a lot of big guys back there, and it just turned out the special teams ended up being the difference. I thought that was really just the story of the game.”
Neither team generated much on special teams for a majority of the 60-minute contest, but Dallas’ Jason Robertson was the first to make an impact by converting on the power play.
Jason Robertson (21) celebrates after scoring a third-period goal during the Rangers’ loss to the Stars. Getty Images
A holding penalty against Matthew Robertson set the Stars up with their fourth man-advantage opportunity of the game.
An incensed Robertson argued former Ranger Colin Blackwell was holding his stick.
The Robertson in green then collected a rebound and buried a backhander past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin — for his 43rd goal of the season — with 7:11 left in regulation.
“You could tell, from both sides, the puck was bouncing a lot,” Mika Zibanejad said of the Rangers power play going 0-for-5 on the night, echoing similar comments Fox made. “I feel like the ice was eh at times, but I think just we had some opportunities to execute maybe a little bit better.”
There wasn’t much space on the American Airlines Center ice Saturday night.
The Rangers limited the Stars to three shots in the first and six in the second, but the visitors were kept in the single digits themselves in each of the first two frames.
It was more of a physical affair than anything else.
Captains J.T. Miller and Jamie Benn dropped the gloves in the second period, after the latter landed a massive hit on Vladislav Gavrikov.
“I just think all good teams have that,” Miller said. “It’s not really a decision. It’s just part of a pack mentality type of thing. There’s going to be hits that happen in the course of the season that people don’t like. It’s fiery game. It’s supposed to be this way. It’s been a part of the game for a long time, and I think our team’s done a good job over the last little while of sticking up for each other.
“There’s like an automatic thing to it. Now you just don’t think. We’re all really close in here. So, yeah, it’s a no-brainer, and obviously we’ve got a lot of guys doing it, so it’s awesome to see.”
The only lineup change Sullivan made to his group of skaters on Saturday was replacing Drew Fortescue with Urho Vaakanainen, who had missed the previous 11 games due to an upper-body injury and a few healthy scratches. As a result, Fortescue lost out on an $80,000 performance bonus he would’ve received if he played in 10 games. He can max out at nine.
By playing fewer than 10 games this season, Fortescue will fall into the 10.2(c) restricted free agent category and won’t be eligible for an offer sheet or salary arbitration at the end of his entry-level contract, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Players aged 18-21 at the time they signed their ELC earn a year of pro experience by playing 10 or more professional games in any league while under an NHL contract.
Since Fortescue burned a year of his ELC by reporting to New York, he is set to become a RFA in the summer of 2028.
Cam Fowler had just scored a goal on Saturday afternoon to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-2 lead against the Chicago Blackhawks late in the second period.
It was a capper to a solid period for the visitors, but what they didn't know at the time was seconds before, their season was made official.
Despite the Blues' 5-3 win over the Blackhawks at United Center in Chicago, they were officially eliminated from postseason contention when the Los Angeles Kings downed the Edmonton Oilers 1-0.
The Blues (34-33-12) are seven points behind L.A. but with just three games left in their season, they can max out with only six points. It was more of a formality for a team that was trying to overcome at one point, a 14-point deficit that closed within three as late as April 5 but unlike last season when the Blues used a franchise-record 12-game winning streak to get in with 96 points as the second wild card out of the Western Conference, there were too many teams and too much a deficit to pull this off for a second straight season.
It almost felt at the time when the Blues fell 5-4 to the San Jose Sharks on March 30 when they lost that game with 22 seconds remaining in regulation, then fell to the Kings 2-1 in overtime on April 1, coming up with only one of a possible four points in those two games, that was like getting kicked into the coffin and waiting for someone to put the final nail down, which came Saturday.
The silver lining to this also is the Blues getting some good out-of-town news when the Detroit Red Wings fell to the New Jersey Devils, eliminating the Red Wings from playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.
As you may remember, the Blues hold the Red Wings' first-round pick from the trade that sent Justin Faulk to Motown. And depending on how the lottery plays out, the Blues can look mighty good having two potential higher-end picks on the positive end. But we'll know about how all that plays out when the NHL holds its draft lottery on May 5.
As for the game Saturday, 13 players got onto the scoresheet as the Blues split the season series with the Blackhawks (28-38-14) with five different goal scorers (Jimmy Snuggerud, Alexey Toropchenko, Jordan Kyrou, Cam Fowler and Dalibor Dvorsky) while Jonatan Berggren and Tyler Tucker each picked up two assists.
Snuggerud's 18th of the season put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 9:26 of the first period:
Down a goal early in the second, Toropchenko's first in 21 games (Feb. 4 at Dallas) tied the game 2-2 at 4:10 of the second period on this backhand breakaway:
Kyrou put the Blues ahead for good with the lone power play the Blues had in the game with this top shelf shot from the left circle at 12:06 of the second for a 3-2 lead:
Joel Hofer made 32 saves in the game for his 22nd win of the season, and with an assist, Dylan Holloway now has 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 22 games since the Olympic break.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period and added an empty-netter in the final minute while Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Saturday and clinched second place in the Central Division.
The Stars were already assured of facing the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL playoffs. They secured the position late in the third period when the Wild lost in regulation to the Nashville Predators.
Robertson collected a rebound of Matt Duchene’s shot and flipped a backhander into the far side to beat Igor Shesterkin with 7:11 left to play. Robertson has 44 goals, two short of his career high scored three years ago.
Duchene assisted on both goals.
It was Oettinger’s 34th win of the season. He was on the U.S. men’s team that Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan led to the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Shesterkin stopped 17 shots while absorbing only his second regulation loss in 10 career decisions against Dallas.
The Rangers began a season-ending three-game road trip. They’re last in the Eastern Conference and will miss the playoffs for a second straight season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024.
The Rangers, with the second-best road power play in the league, went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. That included 1:02 of 5-on-3 late in the second period.
Up next
Both teams will play on the road Monday, the Rangers at Florida and the Stars at Toronto.
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period and added an empty-netter in the final minute while Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Saturday and clinched second place in the Central Division.
The Stars were already assured of facing the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL playoffs. They secured the position late in the third period when the Wild lost in regulation to the Nashville Predators.
Robertson collected a rebound of Matt Duchene’s shot and flipped a backhander into the far side to beat Igor Shesterkin with 7:11 left to play. Robertson has 44 goals, two short of his career high scored three years ago.
Duchene assisted on both goals.
It was Oettinger’s 34th win of the season. He was on the U.S. men's team that Rangers coach Mike Sullivan led to the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Shesterkin stopped 17 shots while absorbing only his second regulation loss in 10 career decisions against Dallas.
The Rangers began a season-ending three-game road trip. They’re last in the Eastern Conference and will miss the playoffs for a second straight season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024.
The Rangers, with the second-best road power play in the league, went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. That included 1:02 of 5-on-3 late in the second period.
Up next
Both teams will play on the road Monday, the Rangers at Florida and the Stars at Toronto.
DETROIT (AP) — Jesper Bratt scored his second goal with 3:34 left in the third period, helping the New Jersey Devils eliminate the Detroit Red Wings from the NHL playoff picture with a 5-3 win on Saturday.
Detroit extended the league’s longest active postseason drought, dating to the 2016 season when the franchise earned a berth for the 25th consecutive season in what was a remarkable run that included four Stanley Cup championships.
The Red Wings were in a playoff position for 148 days of the season, according to Sportradar, to raise expectations higher than they’ve been since the hockey-crazed state has experienced the playoffs a long time ago.
They went ahead against New Jersey in the first, second and third periods — and lost every lead.
On an odd-man rush, Bratt scored the go-ahead goal from the left circle off a perfect pass from Jack Hughes in the right circle with John Gibson flailing around in an attempt to stop the puck. Dawson Mercer added an empty-net goal with a minute left.
Gibson had 27 saves for the Red Wings and Jake Allen stopped 25 shots for the Devils.
Detroit’s Justin Faulk broke a scoreless tie midway through the opening period.
Olympic hero Hughes, playing about 25 miles from where he skated in high school at USA Hockey Arena, scored his 27th goal of the season a minute later.
The Red Wings went back ahead on David Perron’s goal with 8:01 left in the second period, but failed to keep the lead again. Bratt scored a game-tying goal, giving him at least 21 for a fifth straight season.
Emmitt Finnie scored a tiebreaking goal seven minutes into the third to put the Red Wings ahead again, but Cody Glass pulled the Devils into another tie midway through the period.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 17: Sam Reinhart #13 of the Florida Panthers skates against Charlie McAvoy #73 of the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on May 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
It’s not exactly the way you want to clinch a playoff spot, but you’ll take it!
After throwing away a point or two via a late regulation loss to Tampa Saturday afternoon, the Bruins officially clinched a playoff spot via a Detroit Red Wings loss later in the day.
The Red Wings, playing at home, needed to either beat New Jersey or lose beyond regulation to stay in playoff contention.
They did neither, allowing three New Jersey goals in the third period en route to a 5-3 loss that ended their slim playoff hopes.
While the B’s are officially in, there’s still plenty to be decided in the last few days of the regular season.
The Bruins and Ottawa will go back-and-forth over the first and second wild card spot, with Ottawa currently in WC1 via the regulation wins tiebreaker.
Both the Bruins and Senators have two games left:
Bruins: at Columbus, vs. New Jersey
Ottawa: at New Jersey, vs. Toronto
The Bruins will be playing out their string Sunday and Tuesday, while the Senators will be playing tomorrow and Wednesday.
There’s also the not-so-small matter of who the B’s (and Senators) will be playing in the first round.
It’s likely that the second wild card team will be facing the Carolina Hurricanes, though there’s a chance they could flop in their last three games and let an Atlantic team catch them.
However, the second wild card is almost certainly beginning the playoffs in Raleigh, while WC1 will be facing a to-be-determined Atlantic team.
Interestingly enough, that could be any one of Buffalo, Montreal, or Tampa Bay at this point, with the three teams separated by two points (prior to Montreal’s Saturday night game, at least).
I don’t think there’s an easy out in the Atlantic, but I’d prefer to play one of those three teams instead of Carolina.
Regardless, the Bruins are officially back in the playoffs after a season away.
Their last postseason game was on May 17, 2o24, a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
Given where the Bruins were predicted to finish this season, making the playoffs is no small feat.
The Kings' Anze Kopitar waves to fans after his final regular-season home game, a 1-0 win over Oilers on Saturday. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
When the final horn sounded Saturday on the Kings’ 1-0 matinee win over the Edmonton Oilers, Anze Kopitar made his way to center ice, a microphone in his hand and his heart in pieces.
"Thank you very much," he said to the fans, his voice cracking. "Thank you for being here."
Kopitar then held his hands in front of him and folded his fingers into the shape of a heart before skating away — not quite into the sunset, but headed in that direction.
Kopitar announced in September that this season would be his last, so unless the Kings make the playoffs — a distinct possibility after the team's fourth win a row and fifth in six games, its best streak of the season — Saturday marked the final home appearance of a brilliant 20-year career spent entirely in Los Angeles.
The Kings' Anze Kopitar vies for position in front of the Oilers' Darnell Nurse during the second period on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
And the announced crowd of 18,145 at Crypto.com Arena made sure he knew that parting is such sweet sorrow, standing and cheering long after the game had ended.
“Eventually it was going to happen,” Kopitar, 38, reflected before the game. “Whether it was this year or two years from now, there was going to be a last day. And I’m very OK with my decision.”
Kopitar will leave having written his name all over the Kings’ record book. He’s the all-time franchise leader in points (1,314), assists (862), game-winning goals (79) and games played (1,518). He ranks third in goals (452) and power-play goals (129).
And most importantly, he played a starring role on the Kings’ only two Stanley Cup championships, leading both the 2011-12 and 2013-14 teams in goals, assists and points.
“Over 700 people have put the Kings’ uniform on,” said Daryl Evans, who was one of the 700 before retiring to become a broadcaster with the team. "He stands at the top of the mountain as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — to do so. He’s a great hockey player, as we can all see. But he’s a better person off the ice.”
It’s that second part, Evans said, that will make Kopitar difficult to replace.
“Records are made to be beaten. But the intangibles, the things that he did as the team’s captain, the leadership that he provided, the type of a player he was, very unselfish,” Evans said. “He’s one of those guys who’s a special player.”
The Kings got the only goal they would need Saturday 7:34 into the first period when Artemi Panarin stripped Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard of the puck at the Kings’ blue line and took off the other way, skating in alone on Oilers’ goalie Connor Ingram, then beating him on a wrist shot from between the circles.
Kings players react as Anze Kopitar speaks to fans after his final regular-season home game, a 1-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
The goal was Panarin’s ninth in 23 games since joining the Kings just ahead of the Olympic break. Edmonton nearly pulled that back midway through the period when Curtis Lazar tipped the puck by Kings’ goalie Anton Forsberg, only to have defenseman Cody Ceci dive through the crease and swipe it away with a desperate one-handed wave of his stick.
Forsberg was brilliant the rest of the way, stopping 27 shots to post his 11th career shutout and win his season-best fourth game in a row, preserving the Kings' one-point lead over Nashville in the race for the Western Conference's final wild-card playoff berth.
The son of a coach, Kopitar was born in the former Yugoslavia, in the mining town of Jesenice near the border with Austria, an area that became part of Slovenia when that country declared independence just before Kopitar’s fourth birthday.
At 16, he led the new country’s first-tier professional league in scoring, so he moved to Sweden in search of a challenge — and led that country’s top junior league with 49 points in 30 games. That drew the attention of the Kings, who took Kopitar with the 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft.
Fourteen months later he became the first Slovenian to play in the NHL, making his debut as a teenager and scoring two goals against the Ducks. He never looked back — nor looked to play elsewhere, twice signing contract extensions with the Kings rather than test the free-agent market. (Not that he needed to test the free-agent market since he made more than $140 million in his two decades with the Kings, becoming the best-paid player in team history.)
“I've always felt extremely comfortable in L.A.,” said Kopitar, whose two children were born here. “The organization has been world-class since I got here, so I had no desire to go anywhere else.”
Anze Kopitar celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Kings' win over the New Jersey Devils in 2012. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As a result only six players in league history have played more games with a single organization, making Kopitar’s name synonymous with the franchise.
“The greatest to play for the Kings,” said Luc Robitaille, the franchise leader in goals (557) as a player and now the team’s president. “What’s he meant to this franchise — you know this franchise never won and he came along and we won two [Stanley Cups]. So he deserves all the credits and everything that’s coming his way.”
He’s also among the last of a dying breed: a two-way center who stood out on both ends of the ice, but was also gentlemanly enough to win the Lady Byng trophy three times. Only one player has won the NHL’s top sportsmanship award more often this century.
“Every coach would love to have him because he never cheats the game,” Evans said of Kopitar, who this month was also nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which recognizes the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.”
“He’s got a lot of pride and he doesn’t want to let his teammates down,” Evans said. “He’s been a student of the game from Day 1. He plays the game the right way. If you could tell a player ‘watch somebody,’ there’s a guy you want to watch.”
Kopitar’s numbers have declined this season, owing partly to a pair of lower-body injuries that caused him to miss significant time in both October and January. That’s left him on pace to finish with fewer than 16 goals in a full season for just the third time while his 24assists and 36 points are career lows.
But he has the best plus/minus number on the team and he’s winning a career-best 57.7%of his faceoffs, including four crucial draws deep in the Kings' end in the final minute Saturday.
“It’s been, obviously, an up-and-down season,” he said. “Some good, some bad, some ugly.”
Kopitar admits the goodbyes have been emotional at times. On his final visit to Madison Square Garden last month, for example, he and former teammate Jonathan Quick exchanged several hugs after the game.
“I’m enjoying it,” he added. “I’m not sad about it. I guess I’m staying in the moment and enjoying the moment.”
The Kings' Anze Kopitar tries to flip a shot past Edmonton goaltender Connor Ingram Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
The Kings can extend Kopitar’s farewell tour by at least a couple of weeks by making the playoffs, a task that's looking much more likely than it did a week ago. After Saturday's win the Kings not only lead Nashville in the wild-card race, holding a game in hand over the Predators, but they are just two points out of third place in the Pacific Division standings.
"He hopes he's going to play here again," Kings coach D.J. Smith said of Kopitar's possible postseason encore.
Just where and when the team might open the postseason — if, indeed, it qualifies — is up in the air since the Kings could finish anywhere from first to fifth in the division, leaving them with more than a dozen possible playoff scenarios. So when the team leaves for its final three-game trip of the season Sunday, the players have been told to pack for 10 days.
Either way Kopitar isn’t changing his mind; when the Kings’ season ends — whenever that is — his career will end as well. So will his time in Los Angeles since Kopitar is selling his Manhattan Beach home and moving back to Slovenia to accept a new role as a full-time father.
“I’m going to be a dad,” he said. “I’m going to just relax and see how long it takes to get bored and then we’ll figure it out from there. Of course I’m going to miss this place. But it was a family decision, obviously, to move.
“As much as this place is super nice and the community was great to us, it’s time to slow down the tempo a little bit and enjoy life. But I’ll make it back here for sure.”
On January 27th, the Senators were ten points and seven teams out of a playoff spot in the NHL's Eastern Conference standings.
What a difference a couple of months can make.
Ottawa's 3-0 victory on Long Island on Saturday afternoon, combined with the Detroit Red Wings' 5-3 Loss to the New Jersey Devils later in the day, means the Senators have officially clinched a playoff spot for the second straight season.
Since January 27th, the Senators have only lost six games in regulation, posting a record of 19-6-3. Not quite as good as the 2015 Hamburglar Run, but it's right there among the best in-season turnarounds in Ottawa Senators history.
That included the win on Long Island, where Linus Ullmark earned his 3rd shutout of the season and 15th of his career. Mike Amadio and Ridly Greig each had a goal and an assist. Jake Sanderson provided the insurance, giving the Senators a 2-0 advantage on a 5-on-3 third-period power play. Ottawa managed only 16 shots in the game.
In Detroit on Saturday, the Wings just couldn't get the Devils out of their hair, blowing three one-goal leads in the game. Jesper Bratt scored the winner for the Devils with under four minutes to play.
Once the Senators won their game, Detroit's comeback was destined to be a long shot anyway. They would have had to win their last three games, including two in Florida, while the Senators would have had to lose their last two.
Detroit will officially miss the playoffs for the tenth straight season, and with the Buffalo Sabres snapping their record skid, Hockeytown is the NHL's new active playoff drought leader.
Ottawa currently holds down Wild Card 1 with two games to play. If they win out, it's theirs. But the conundrum now is rest versus rust. They'll want some guys to heal up and/or rest a little, but with a week still before the playoffs start, they also don't want to lose their mojo right now.
There's still a lot to be decided for playoff positioning, but as a Wild Card team, the Senators will likely get either Buffalo or Carolina in round one. The 'Canes have clinched the Metro, so they will definitely play a wild-card team, either Boston or Ottawa.
Buffalo is in good shape to clinch the Atlantic and face one of the wild-cards, but that's not official yet. So as of this writing, Montreal and Tampa aren't totally off Ottawa's first-round radar.
The final road game will be in New Jersey on Sunday. Their regular-season finale will be at home to Toronto on Wednesday, which is fan appreciation day, when fans will be excited to show their appreciation for a phenomenal turnaround and fuel the boys for Game 1 on the road next week.
Steve Warne The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Check out more great Sens features from The Hockey News at the links below:
DENVER — Sometimes, the chaos of an NHL bench extends beyond line changes and matchups—on Saturday night, it placed Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar on the injury report.
At the 3:21 mark of the third period, Vegas Golden Knights forward Keegan Kolesar attempted to clear the puck with Jack Drury applying pressure, but the puck sailed into the Avalanche bench and struck Bednar on the right cheek. Trainers immediately rushed to his aid before escorting him down the tunnel.
Nick Blankenburg's post-game comments.
UPDATE: Bednar took a puck to the right cheek. He’s awake and alert but going to the hospital for a CT scan.#goavsgo@thehockeynews
Following Colorado’s 3–2 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Avalanche announced that Bednar was awake, alert, and fully conscious, but was transported to a local hospital for precautionary imaging, including a CT scan.
The injury concerns extended beyond the bench, as Colorado also lost defenseman Josh Manson in the second period. He is currently undergoing further evaluation.
Despite the setbacks, the Colorado Avalanche received goals from Devon Toews and Nick Blankenburg, the latter marking his first goal with the club since being acquired in a trade from the Nashville Predators. Brock Nelson, Martin Nečas, and Nicolas Roy each recorded an assist. In goal, Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves on 28 shots.
With the Presidents' Trophy already locked up, it was more or less a meaningless game for the Avalanche, but unfortunately, the results could prove to be costly depending how long Manson is out. The team is already without the services of Nazem Kadri, who is out with a broken finger, and Cale Makar, who continues to recover from an upper-body injury.
Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev found the net for the Golden Knights and Carter Hart made 30 saves.
First Period
The Avalanche came out flying, pressuring Carter Hart and firing six shots on goal within the opening minutes. However, Vegas made its first shot count as a dangerous opportunity—after Brent Burns broke his stick, Ivan Barbashev picked up the loose puck, raced down the left wing, and fired a shot that rang off the post.
After successfully killing off a bench minor for too many men on the ice, the Avalanche drew their first power play of the night when Golden Knights forward Nic Hague was called for boarding Nick Blankenburg, driving him from behind and sending him hard into the boards.
With 10:43 remaining in the period, Devon Toews took a pass from Brock Nelson at the point and snapped a wrist shot through traffic that slipped past Carter Hart, giving Colorado a 1–0 lead on the power play. With an assist on the goal, Martin Nečas recorded his 99th point of the season.
Mark Stone tied the game for Vegas with 6:16 remaining in the period, finishing off a deft sequence that began with a shot from Mitch Marner. It was pure artistry from Stone, who jumped on the rebound and quickly shifted from his forehand to backhand, fooling Mackenzie Blackwood before burying the chance to even the score.
Second Period
At 2:09 of the period, the Golden Knights took a 2–1 lead off a beautiful setup. Ivan Barbashev fed Pavel Dorofeyev for a one-timer, and despite the awkward angle from the middle of the left circle, Dorofeyev blasted it top shelf, sailing it over Mackenzie Blackwood’s glove.
Over eight minutes later, the Avalanche delivered the equalizer as Nick Blankenburg scored his first goal as an Av, firing a wrister through traffic that Carter Hart was too late to react to, tying the game.
On the ensuing sequence, Colorado was sent to the penalty kill after Gabe Landeskog was called for hooking.
Manson exited the game at this point and was not seen on the bench. It was later revealed that he had suffered an upper-body injury and would not return.
Josh Manson has suffered an upper-body injury and will not return to tonight’s game. #goavsgo@thehockeynews
Near the halfway point of the third, the Avalanche caught a huge break when Golden Knights forward Tomasz Hertl turned around from the right circle and whipped a shot that clanged off the post.
After a scoreless period, the game went to overtime.
Overtime
Eichel scored the game-winning goal for Vegas 1:19 into overtime, finishing off a rush with a shot from the right circle.
Next Game
The Avalanche (52-16-11) will take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers (40-30-10) as the latter continue to fight for a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
Even though he isn't on the Philadelphia Flyers anymore, Claude Giroux, with the help of his Ottawa Senators teammates, lent his former club a helping hand in their playoff race Saturday afternoon.
The last playoff spot is effectively down to the third place Metropolitan Division team, which will be either the Flyers, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, or New York Islanders.
The Islanders, with 91 points, were only 1 point behind the 92-point Flyers with the same amount of games played (79), but on Saturday, Giroux and Co. got the job done in sensational fashion.
Forward Ridly Greig (son of longtime Flyers scout Mark Greig) and defenseman Jake Sanderson (son of ex-Flyers forward Geoff Sanderson) tallied short-handed and power play goals, while Greig added an assist on the empty-net goal to seal a 3-0 defeat of the Islanders.
Giroux, 38, was the Senators' lead faceoff man, winning 10 of his 17 faceoff attempts (58.8%) and finishing second only to Greig (71.4%) in faceoff percentage on the night.
To make the playoffs and finish ahead of the Islanders, the Flyers need to only earn as many points as the Islanders, or more, in their final three games of the season.
With their win over the Islanders, the Senators effectively bought the Flyers a free loss which, if nothing else, makes the brutal 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night a wash.
If the Flyers can defeat the Winnipeg Jets in any fashion on Saturday night, they'll expand their lead over the Islanders to three points with an equal amount of games played.
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar left Saturday's 5-3 loss to St. Louis after he was hit in the face by a puck.
Nazar dropped his stick and discarded his gloves in frustration as he made his way off the ice after the play occurred about 3 1/2 minutes into the second period.
“I think Frank's going to be all right,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He had to get some dental work done, but I think he'll be all right.”
The last-place Blackhawks (28-38-14) have two games left in the season.
The 22-year-old Nazar was sidelined for a month after he broke his jaw when he was hit in the face by a puck during a 6-4 loss at Ottawa on Dec. 20. He returned on Jan. 22 at Carolina.
Nazar, a first-round pick in the 2022 draft, has 15 goals and 26 assists in 64 games in his third NHL season. He agreed to a $46.2 million, seven-year extension with Chicago in August.
Forward Andrew Mangiapane departed in the third period after crashing hard into the net with 9:17 left. Blashill said Mangiapane is day to day.
Ethan Del Mastro was scratched because of an unspecified injury. With Del Mastro sidelined, veteran forward Sam Lafferty was inserted into the lineup as a defenseman.
“(Lafferty) has played D with our team in practice a decent amount in the last three, four weeks,” Blashill said. “(Lafferty) has been committed to this team all year. ... He played D in college, so it's not like he's foreign to it. I mean he actually knows our systems probably as good as anybody.”
New York Islanders head coach Peter DeBoer looks on during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at UBS Arena, Saturday, April 11, 2026, in Elmont, NY.
Technically, the Islanders were not eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday with a 3-0 defeat to the Senators.
But the first word in that sentence is doing some heavy lifting.
The only pathway for the Islanders now is to win their last two games — against Montreal on Sunday and Carolina on Tuesday — and get significant help.
Head coach Peter DeBoer looks on during the third period of the Islanders’ 3-0 loss to the Senators at UBS Arena on April 11, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
For starters, the Flyers need to lose their final two game against Carolina on Monday and Montreal on Tuesday. The Islanders also were passed by both Columbus and Washington, which both were victorious late in the day.
So they need not only the Flyers to lose, but also the Blue Jackets and Capitals.
“We gotta control what we can control,” captain Anders Lee said. “Let’s have a good response tomorrow. Win our games. We’re gonna need some help but all we can do now, this game’s over, unfortunately. We just gotta respond with our own game.”
Had the Islanders beaten Ottawa, they would have suddenly felt quite good about their playoff chances. With the Flyers not playing until later Saturday, the Isles would have gotten back into a spot for at least a few hours, putting significant pressure on Philadelphia.
So much for that. The Flyers later won, making matters worse.
It took eight losses in their past 12 games, all of which came in regulation. But after being in a playoff spot uninterrupted for more than three months, the Islanders are on the brink of completing a monumental collapse.
“It doesn’t feel great right now but we’re still alive,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We gotta win our last two games and make somebody earn that last spot.”
Lee said that he asked Brady Tkachuk to fight off the opening draw, with the Ottawa captain reciprocating after Lee had acceded to his request last month in the Canadian capital.
“Want to get the crowd going. I thought we had a great response,” Lee said. “Our guys were ready to go. They didn’t need that. They didn’t need that to get going tonight. But thought we could do it again.”
Max Shabanov was out with an upper-body injury and called day to day. Kyle MacLean reentered the lineup, taking his usual spot on the fourth line while Ondrej Palat moved up to the third.
The Vancouver Canucks will play a significant role in whether or not the San Jose Sharks make the post-season with their matchup tonight. Ironically enough, if San Jose is able to make it to the playoffs, they’ll be one of four teams that currently has the league-high in former Canucks currently on their roster. All four of these teams have yet to officially clinch a playoff spot, meaning that 16 former Canucks’ post-season hopes will be dictated in the next few days.
As it stands, the Sharks currently have four former Canucks on their roster: Kiefer Sherwood, Vincent Desharnais, Adam Gaudette, and Tyler Toffoli. All but Toffoli played in at least 30 games for the Canucks, with Gaudette recording the highest number of games played for Vancouver with 153. Despite feeling like a much bigger part of the team that went to seven games of the 2020 Pacific Division Finals, Toffoli only ended up playing in 10 regular-season games for the Canucks in 2019–20.
Around the rest of the league, there are still three other playoff-bound and playoff-hopeful teams that have four former Canucks on them. The Edmonton Oilers have Vasily Podkolzin, Jason Dickinson, Curtis Lazar, and Riley Stillman (brother of current Canucks prospect Chase Stillman), though the latter has only played in four NHL games for Edmonton this season. The Oilers have the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot tonight if the Winnipeg Jets lose in regulation or overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers, though they would have secured this spot if they'd recorded at least one point against the Los Angeles Kings today.
In the Eastern Conference, one Atlantic Division team and one Metropolitan Division team each have four former Canucks in their organization. The Boston Bruins were in a similar position as the Oilers heading into Saturday’s matchups, with Boston able to secure their spot in the playoffs with a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Bruins ended up losing 2-1 earlier today, meaning former Canucks Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Lukas Reichel, and Michael DiPietro will have to look to the New Jersey Devils in hopes of a clinch today. The other clinching scenario for the Bruins today would see the Devils defeat the Detroit Red Wings in regulation.
Apr 8, 2026; San Jose, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Jason Dickinson (16) and San Jose Sharks left wing Kiefer Sherwood (44) collide after going for the puck in the second period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images
The final team with four former Canucks in the organization is the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are also pushing for a playoff spot but currently trail the Red Wings (91), the Washington Capitals (91), and the New York Islanders (91) for the second Wild Card spot currently occupied by the Bruins (95 points). Having said that, Philadelphia currently occupies third in the Metropolitan Division with 92 points, which would make for a much easier target for Columbus, who currently have 90. Former Canucks Conor Garland, Danton Heinen, Erik Gudbranson, and Brendan Gaunce will look to help push the Blue Jackets into a playoff spot in the coming days.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
