Category: NHL

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 15 saves in the third period and 28 overall as the Panthers defeated the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday night.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers avoided elimination from the playoffs with the win.

Florida got first-period goals from Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett in their second straight win.

Boston, which had won four straight, got a goal from Fraser Minten. Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves in the loss.

The Panthers also used a fast start in a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night, scoring five goals in the opening period.

Samoskevich opened the scoring with his third goal in as many games when he intercepted a pass deep in the offensive zone and sent a wrist shot past Swayman.

Bennett made it 2-0 at 7:39 of the first, scoring from the slot.

Boston pulled to within a goal in the closing minute of the first period.

The Bruins put two shots on Bobrovsky near the front of the net, and the puck squirted out along the goal line right to where Minten was all alone.

Minten had plenty of time to grab the puck, put it on his backhand, and beat a sprawled out Bobrovsky to make it 2-1 with 27 seconds left in the period.

Bobrovsky, who has won five of his past seven starts, had a big challenge in the third, but held strong.

The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers avoided elimination from the playoffs with Thursday's win.

Up next

Bruins: At Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Panthers: At Pittsburgh on Saturday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Logan Stankoven scored two goals in the first nine minutes, and the Carolina Hurricanes clinched a playoff berth for the eighth season in a row by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Thursday night.

Alexander Nikishin added a first-period short-handed goal and Jordan Martinook and Andrei Svechnikov also scored as the Metropolitan Division-leading Hurricanes were on the way to winning for the third time in their last four games. Taylor Hall and Sebastian Aho each had two assists and Frederik Andersen made nine saves.

For Carolina, the 10 shots allowed matched the fewest shots against in franchise history.

The Hurricanes have qualified for the playoffs in each season under coach Rod Brind’Amour, a former team captain.

Denton Mateychuk scored for the Blue Jackets, who are winless in their last five games (0-4-1). Elvis Merzlikins stopped 16 shots.

In the third meeting between the teams in less than 2½ weeks, Stankoven scored 2:27 into the game on a deflection in front of Merzlikins on Carolina’s first shot of the game. Stankoven's 17th goal of the season – adding to his career-high total – came at 8:52 when he tapped in a loose puck in the crease.

Nikishin became the franchise’s first rookie defenseman to score a short-handed goal.

By the end of the first period, Carolina had more goals (3) than the Blue Jackets had shots (2).

Mateychuk got Columbus on the board with 8:36 left in the second, but 13 seconds later Martinook scored by sending the puck on net from just inside the blue line.

Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal played in his 1,400th career game.

Stankoven had one goal when Carolina won 5-2 on Tuesday night at Columbus.

Up next

Blue Jackets: Home Saturday vs. Winnipeg

Hurricanes: Home Saturday vs. New York Islanders

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Pregame

The Penguins welcome back Bryan Rust from injury and shake up the lines a little to put Rickard Rakell back at center and put Ben Kindel up with Evgeni Malkin. Stuart Skinner gets a second-straight game in net.

Their hosts are rolling with this lineup.

First period

Tampa starts off the game hot getting seven of the first nine shots, and the first goal. Anthony Cirelli follows up on a rebound to open the scoring.

The Penguins settle down after that and get to their game. Sam Girard steps up in the zone and makes a pass over to Rickard Rakell. Rakell uses his skates to kick the puck up to his stick for a nifty move and finish. 1-1.

Pittsburgh takes their first lead, courtesy of Egor Chinakhov. Chinakhov skates to the outside of the defense then gets a rising backhand shot that goes far-side. 2-1 Pens.

Next up come the first power plays of the night, Connor Clifton is guilty of interference when a Tampa player drives to the net. While on the PK, Erik Karlsson lifts a sky pass for Noel Acciari and a Lightning player has to hold Acciari on his drive to the net.

Shots are 11 a piece, good news for the Penguins to be able to create their looks at the net. They made the most of it and take a one-goal lead into the first break.

Second period

Pittsburgh starts the period on a short carryover power play, but it’s Tampa who scores. An odd bounce handcuffs Karlsson and Rust which Cirelli corals and is off to the races. He dekes and beats Skinner to make it a 2-2 game.

Tampa gains momentum for that and nearly score again if not for Girard pulling a puck away from the crease in a scramble. A bit later Girard stays active by breaking up a Nikita Kucherov pass that might have done damage if it got through.

The Lightning re-gain the lead with 5:52 to play. Tampa’s top line pushes up the ice, Jake Guentzel’s shot goes wide but the puck ramps back into the danger zone where Brayden Point gets it and scores from in close. 3-2 TB.

Tampa gets a goal in the last minute, Yanni Gourde passed from behind the net to Zemgus Girgensons and he was able to work it to the backhand and put in a goal to extend the lead to 4-2.

Tough period for the Pens, giving up goals at the beginning and end of it puts them behind. Shots are 9-8 TB in the second period, but shot attempts in the game are 47-33 TB through 40. They’re playing the type of game they want to play.

Third period

Evgeni Malkin’s temper boils over out of frustration, he gets four minutes worth of penalties after a scrum, taking a Tampa player away for two. The Lightning get their second power play of the night but come no closer to scoring than a post hit by Darren Raddysh.

Letang skates up the ice and gets hooked to draw a power play. It doesn’t go well, the Pens match their number of shots in the first ten minutes of the period (0) on their power play.

Soon after that expires, Connor Dewar is the latest to get rung up on a penalty, though Tampa’s power play is soon negated by a penalty by themselves.

Nikita Kucherov is at the point of the game where he’s trying to create a special highlight; he puts the puck through Girard’s triangle —twice — on a rush but doesn’t score. On his next shift, Kucherov whips a rolling puck on a bit of a no-look all the way from wall that beats Skinner high. 5-2. Yep, that’s a highlight goal from a special player.

Pittsburgh lifts Skinner for an extra skater with over 5 minutes to go. Doesn’t last that long until Cirelli completes his hat trick. 6-2.

The Penguins get a late power play and Chinakhov provides a somewhat meaningless buzzer beater to wrist an absolutely filthy wrister in with 1:5 seconds left. Not that meaningless I guess, being as it’s Chinakhov’s 20th of the season.

Some thoughts

• Chinakhov often, often, often will cut into the middle of the ice on a rush with the puck on his stick (such a play got him crushed with an open ice hit against Calgary early in his Pittsburgh stint). That’s gotta be the book on him, so it was brilliant to go off-script and use his speed to beat Ryan McDonagh towards the outside in the first period. The finish to get enough on a backhander to beat a goalie the caliber of Vasilevskiy speaks for itself, what a talent Chinakhov is.
• Sam Girard looks much more comfortable and confident lately, today was probably his best game yet as a Penguin. He’s starting to use his legs to extend plays and then he’s got the hands to make something happen. Two assists in the first period and a couple of other sequences were very positive to see. His partner Kris Letang also looks like he’s settling into a physical and more careful role, which from an article earlier today has been working lately. It truly helps the team so much seeing that pair gel and continue to stack up quality performances.
• Glad to see Evgeni Malkin apparently shake off blocking a shot to the skate in the first period. With the way Malkin’s second half of the season has been going it’s been one bad break after another, the last thing he needed was taking more damage. Malkin usually has great games against Tampa, this certainly wasn’t one of them.
• Rust came back from injury to play, but he visibly didn’t look that good moving around the ice. He was skating at times in an unnatural and unsteady way, not looking like a fluid NHL skater. Maybe he’s on the upswing from his unspecified lower body injury, didn’t look excessively comfortable out there on this day. After watching Rust for a decade you gain a little bit of knowledge for seeing him out there, something didn’t look quite right.
• The Pens looked good at times early on, though for the most part Tampa played like a stronger team. They’re very persistent when it comes to puck battles and don’t give up much easily without getting on the opponent and competing for every inch. Wouldn’t blame Crosby if he has a nightmare tonight where Gourde is hounding him relentlessly considering that happened all night.
• By the end of the night, maybe the Pens packed it in but they sure didn’t make a push in the third period. That’s unlike them, they usually don’t go away as quietly as they did today. The damage was done with a poor second period and there wasn’t anything in the cards for even the faintest hints of a comeback attempt.
• This always kinda seemed like a house money game for the Penguins after the hugely important wins on Monday and Tuesday. Maybe all that exertion caught up with them, maybe they just caught a very good opponent on one of their better nights. (And, as always, it’s tends to be a bit of both). The good news for Pittsburgh is this won’t hurt them too much thanks to the other scores: Columbus and Philadelphia lost in regulation, even Washington looks like they’re about to fall. This was the ‘game in hand’ over the Islanders, who didn’t play tonight and now have as many GP as the Pens. Playoff positioning didn’t take any hits tonight – and now Pittsburgh gets to play all of their last six games against teams who won’t be going to the playoffs.

Not a banner night for the Pens, they got ahead early but gave up a shorthanded goal that took a lot of wind of their sails and Tampa ended up going right by them. On to the next on Saturday afternoon against Florida.

The Rangers enjoyed a rare stretch filled with rookie debuts, milestones and wins, but reality is one heck of a buzzkill.

Canadiens star Cole Caufield delivered the reality check.

Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Canadiens at Madison Square Garden snapped the Blueshirts’ three-game winning streak, as Caufield potted goals Nos. 48 and 49 of the season to stifle the home team’s two-goal, third-period comeback.

A notable number of Montreal jerseys were in the MSG stands to see it.

You could hear just how many there were after each Canadiens goal.

And they shot out of their MSG seats as Caufield made a slick move around Vladislav Gavrikov with just over five minutes left in regulation to put Montreal ahead.

J.T. Miller looked caught off guard by linesman Dan Kelly’s puck drop on the faceoff that led to Caufield’s goal. Asked about it after the game, The Rangers captain said he didn’t want to get into it.

“There’s a lot that goes on in the game,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Dan. I’ve known him a long time. It’s a moment that nobody wanted to have for me and him and sorry, we’ll leave it at that.”

The Rangers fell behind 2-0 in a lopsided second period in which they were outshot 11-5.

They rallied with two goals in just under five minutes in the third.

After Adam Fox put in a loose puck, Will Cuylle ended a 13-game drought dating to March 7 when Jonny Brodzinski’s shot deflected off him and past Montreal goalie Jacob Fowler.

Entering the game, the Rangers had picked up points in nine consecutive games (7-0-2) against the Canadiens, as well as in 14 of their past 17 meetings. (12-3-2) dating to November 2019.

“We talked about it between periods, just getting the next goal,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “Trying to get it in striking distance. Our effort, I thought, was there all night long. It’s unfortunate the goal that beat us, but seemed like a nothing play. As far as the effort, and how hard our guys competed to get back in the game, I give them a lot of credit.”

Miller is the 2025-26 Rod Gilbert “Mr. Ranger” Award winner.

The annual award, created in the 2021-22 season in honor of the late Rod Gilbert, is given to the Blueshirt who “best honors Rod’s legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS

“It’s an honor,” Miller said after the loss. “I feel proud, but feel a lot of pride for that Mr. Gilbert was an unbelievable Ranger and wore the crest as well as anybody. I know what he means to the city and the organization and the Rangers, so to be able to go down there and be a part of that. It meant a lot to my wife, Natalie, and I. This is something we’re just getting started with, and it’s been awesome so far being back being a Ranger. It means the world to me.”

In January, Miller and his wife, Natalie, donated $154,000 to the Garden of Dreams Foundation, marking the largest donation to the nonprofit organization made by a player in MSG sports history.

With this donation, Garden of Dreams purchased 10 suites to invite youth from varying partner organizations, such as NYPD Widows and Children’s Fund, SCAN-Harbor, Ronald McDonald House New York, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and more, to attend Rangers games and to meet the Millers following the game.

At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, Miller also represented the Rangers at the BGC Charity Day in honor of the lives lost in the September 11 attacks. Miller participated in celebrity guest calls on the trading floor, met fans and helped raise funds for the Garden of Dreams Foundation.

Goalie Jonathan Quick returned from a seven-game absence due to an upper-body injury to serve as backup to Igor Shesterkin on Thursday.

Defenseman Urho Vaakanainen shed his red noncontact jersey during an optional morning skate Thursday but was sidelined for his eighth straight game with an upper-body injury.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cole Caufield scored his 48th and 49th goals of the season, and the Montreal Canadiens won their seventh game in a row to move closer to making the playoffs by defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night.

Caufield’s second was his NHL-best 12th winning goal, putting the Canadiens ahead 47 seconds after Will Cuylle tied it. He moved one back of Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in goals and in the process extended his career high with 83 points.

This winning streak is the storied organization’s longest in nearly a decade, dating to an eight-game unbeaten run from Oct. 18-Nov. 2, 2016. Montreal has separated itself from the pack in the Eastern Conference and kept pace with Buffalo and Tampa Bay in a hot Atlantic Division race.

Alex Newhook scored the Canadiens’ first goal 4 1/2 minutes into the second period on their 12th shot against Igor Shesterkin, who was the only reason they hadn’t taken a lead earlier.

Jakub Fowler made 21 saves, the biggest on a penalty kill late in the second when he turned aside Alexis Lafrenière at the side of the net. Helped by his teammates controlling the puck for much of the night, the 21-year-old from South Florida improved to 8-5-2 in his first 15 NHL starts since getting called up in December.

Despite 22 saves from Shesterkin and the goals by Cuylle and Adam Fox, New York lost for a 26th time in 38 home games. Captain J.T. Miller was honored with an award named for Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert, who played his entire 18-season professional career with the Rangers.

Up next

Canadiens: Visit the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night to wrap up their five-game trip.

Rangers: Host the in-the-hunt Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

All year long, the Islanders have been outrunning their defensive analytics, so maybe it is not a shock that in two pivotal games against the Penguins and Sabres, the results started to catch up.

The Islanders were not knocked below the playoff cutline with those two defeats, though they head into Friday’s home match against the Flyers with minimal cushion over the Senators, Red Wings and Philadelphia.

There are six games left in their season, and each of them is of the utmost importance.

So, too, is making life easier for Ilya Sorokin, who is likely to start at least five of the last six, with Saturday’s game in Carolina the only spot in which David Rittich might get a look.

Sorokin’s Vezina Trophy campaign could get over the line if the Islanders make the playoffs, and has been the single biggest reason for the disconnect between his club’s expected and actual goals allowed.

The goaltender cannot do it all by himself, though, and the Islanders can only learn that the hard way so many times.

“We want to do a good job in the inner area,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Meaning that when the puck’s behind the net, make sure we get good body position. Make sure we got good sticks protecting that net front. I think our expected goals against was a little high [against the Sabres] because of those areas.

“When the puck goes to the goal line, they like to take a shot from the blue line, we like to front. But if you front, you need to block the shot. So we need to do a better job and maybe clean up a little bit here and there. You don’t have to do a lot. I’ll give you an example: When we played Pittsburgh, [Sidney] Crosby had two plays behind the next. He came in front, it’s probably .40, .50 [xG]. So you clean up a couple goals like this, makes a big difference at the end of the night.”

Of course, the chances — and Roy pointed out it’s only a few per game — that carry a high expected goals against do so because they are Grade-A looks.

The analytics merely put a number on what everyone can see: Protect the inner slot and the areas below the hashes and the Islanders will cut out the opposing team’s best chances.

“I think we can protect the middle a little bit better,” Brayden Schenn said. “Shifts are gonna happen where you get caught in your own end. You have to force plays, keep it to the outside. I think all in all, we need to be a little better defensively, which ultimately leads to more offensively.”

Granted, that’s easier said than done, and won’t ever be perfect. But there’s a lot of ground to cover between perfect and the last couple of games. For example, the Sabres’ third goal Tuesday night, when no one picked up Peyton Krebs in transition, allowing him to streak in and get on the end of Alex Tuch’s pass, is the sort of thing that shouldn’t happen.

“A little bit of over-back-checking,” Scott Mayfield told The Post. “We’re trying to collapse the house and there’s a guy behind. But there’s kind of been different things that have been happening. I think in the end, we all know the way we need to play.”

That would be aggressively, getting the puck in the offensive zone and forechecking it to keep it there. It’s easiest to defend by playing offense, after all.

As for when that’s not working?

“In the D-zone, it’s all about closing quick,” Mayfield said. “I think when we let them get time and space, we kinda get a little mixed up on whose guy is who, it gets tough. When we’re getting in there, closing: hit, pin, find a puck — I think that’s when we’re at our best.”

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The Detroit Red Wings need every point they can get in this tightly-packed race toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the good news is that they've taken a 2-1 lead over the Philadelphia Flyers into the third period. 

The bad news is that they're shorthanded once again. Defenseman Justin Faulk, who was acquired from the St. Louis Blues last month at the NHL Trade Deadline, suffered an unspecified injury and has been ruled out for the remainder of the contest. 

UPDATE: Defenseman Justin Faulk will not return to tonight’s game.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 3, 2026

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. 

Before his injury, Faulk had appeared in 10:49 of ice time over 16 shifts. 

Since being acquired by the Red Wings from the Blues last month, Faulk has scored once while adding two assists.

He's signed for another season with a $6.5 million cap hit. 

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As the Ottawa Senators' 12-year regional broadcast and sponsorship agreement with Bell Media is set to expire at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, the organization announced Thursday night that it has reached a new agreement with the conglomerate.

From the official release:

OTTAWA (April 2, 2026) – The Ottawa Senators and Bell Media announced today a new long-term rights extension ensuring regional Ottawa Senators games continue to be available on TSN and RDS. As part of the renewed partnership, TSN Radio 1200 remains the exclusive English-radio partner of the Ottawa Senators, delivering live coverage of games as well as insight and analysis on the team. Ottawa Senators regional matchups are available to viewers located in the team’s designated broadcast region, and stream live through the network’s digital platforms.

“We are very happy to extend our partnership with Bell Media for our regional broadcast rights in English and in French,” said Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer. “Our fans appreciate the passion and professionalism that go into our home broadcasts on TSN, RDS, and TSN 1200 and we are excited to build on this strong relationship in the years ahead.”

“With ascending young stars across their roster, the Ottawa Senators are a key pillar of TSN and RDS’s industry-leading hockey coverage, and this new extended agreement represents the continuation of the successful partnership we’ve built together,” said Shawn Redmond, Vice President and General Manager, Bell Media Sports. “With this new long-term agreement in place, TSN and RDS subscribers across the region can enjoy exceptional live coverage of the team for years to come from our all-star broadcast teams in English and French.”

TSN’s regional Ottawa Senators games continue to be available to viewers in the team’s designated broadcast region as defined by the NHL, which includes Eastern Ontario, Québec, and Atlantic Canada on TSN5.

In addition to Ottawa Senators regional broadcasts, TSN also delivers coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, and Toronto Maple Leafs. TSN is also the prime destination for industry-leading NHL news, information, and specials featuring the networks’ all-star team of Hockey Insiders and experts, including TRADECENTRE, FREE AGENT FRENZY, TSN HOCKEY SEASON PREVIEW, TOP 50 PLAYERS, TSN HOCKEY DRAFT RANKING, and more.

Under the old agreement, TSN would televise at least 52 regular-season and preseason games regionally, while RDS would carry at least 40 regular-season and exhibition games.

The specifics of the new agreement, including its financial details, were not disclosed.

Interestingly, in contrast to the previous agreement, the announcement makes no mention of any sponsorship considerations. The release, however, primarily emphasizes Bell’s television coverage and properties, while giving little attention to the radio rights, raising concerns about the future of sports radio in Ottawa.

Five years ago, Bell Media abandoned the TSN Radio formats in Hamilton (CKOC), Vancouver (CKST), and Winnipeg as part of a cost-cutting initiative. TSN 1200 has already felt the budgetary tightening this season, as Dean Brown and Gord Wilson, the Senators’ longstanding radio play-by-play and colour commentator, have been benched.

The duo, who have been calling Senators games since the organization’s return to the NHL in 1992, have not travelled on the road this season.

This decision represented the first time in the organization’s history that it would not have any third-party media travelling to cover every road game.

Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News 

Talk about the game with Pens fans here!

When the Vegas Golden Knights parted with Zach Whitecloud in a deal to acquire Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames, they didn’t just lose a good player– they also lost a man with deep roots in the Las Vegas community.

On Thursday, Whitecloud will take the ice at T-Mobile Arena wearing road whites. After playing 368 games in a Golden Knights uniform, he had one word to describe how it feels coming to Las Vegas as a visitor: weird.

“It’s a little weird,” he admitted. “It’s just weird, right? I spent seven or eight years here, created a lot of lifelong relationships here, not just with the team but in the community. I’m mainly excited to get back, see everyone, play in front of that building, and have some fun with it.

“It’s going to be weird going through the gameday routine and being on the other side of it,” continued Whitecloud. “Yeah, it’ll be different, and it’ll be weird. But it’ll be exciting for my friends and family, and exciting [for me] to play against those guys.”

The trade caught Whitecloud by surprise, but he’s thriving in Calgary. He has been a rock and a pillar of stability for a young Flames team in the midst of a rebuild. He has six assists through 23 games and plays over 24 minutes on most nights.

“It’s been good,” said Whitecloud. “First and foremost, the guys and everyone in the organization did a fantastic job of making me feel at home pretty quickly… The coaches and players made me feel pretty comfortable coming in, made me feel part of the family.

“It’s a business on the other side of it, too, and we all get that,” Whitecloud continued. “I’m excited for my opportunity in Calgary. I’ve made a good adjustment here, met a lot of new guys, and the new fanbase has been great too.”

Back in Vegas! pic.twitter.com/ZtspKPPDAZ

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) April 1, 2026

In 2017, the Golden Knights signed Whitecloud as an undrafted free agent out of Bemidji State University. He went on to spend the next nine years of his life as a part of the organization. In 2023, Whitecloud helped the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup, playing in all 22 games and scoring a game-winning goal in the Final.

“I’m obviously grateful for my time here,” Whitecloud began. “There’s not one bad thing to say about Las Vegas, its people, its community, the fans, the organization, everyone that helped me get to the NHL and be a regular here and try to help the team win.

“Every time I come back here in the future will be exciting for me,” finished Whitecloud. “This will always be home in my heart. It’s the place I first broke into the NHL and learned how to win, and eventually won with this group.”

Because the trade happened so suddenly, Whitecloud didn’t have the chance to say a proper goodbye to all of the people in his day-to-day life. Now, he has that opportunity.

“It was pretty quick when the day came,” said Whitecloud. “Being Canadian, I was able to get on a plane and jump right out [to Calgary]... I didn’t really get to say goodbye to a lot of the staff and the people behind the scenes who really make all these things go around and keep us playing. Being able to see a lot of them today was pretty emotional, to be honest with you. [There are] a lot of guys that take care of the players and make sure that we can be ourselves and be the pros that we are, and people don’t really see that… Just being able to give them a hug and see them was really great.”

Whitecloud went to dinner with a group of his former teammates on Wednesday night.

“All the guys have been great,” said Whitecloud. “They were all excited to see me, and me likewise. I got to catch up and see how everyone’s families are doing, how all the kids are doing, and make sure everyone’s good.”

As is tradition, Whitecloud knows that there’s an emotional tribute video in store for him, and he’s ready for it. But he’s also ready to continue processing the emotions stemming from the trade.

“I think, once this game goes by, I can kind of let everything go a little bit,” he said. “Not that I’ll forget everything… I spent a lot of time here and built a lot of roots here. Everything’s weird, everything’s exciting. There are a lot of emotions. Happy, sad, grateful, appreciative– a lot of words come to mind.”

Nothing but love 🥲 pic.twitter.com/agB3wMc9ml

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) April 2, 2026

The Los Angeles Kings are in the fight of their life trying to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, which would mark the fifth consecutive post-season appearance, beginning in 2021-22.

But in a way, the playoffs have already begun for the Kings, and the rest of those post-season hopefuls in the Western Conference.

One of those teams is the Nashville Predators, Los Angeles' opponent on Thursday and Monday. These will be two of the Kings' most important outings all season long. In addition to those two affairs with the Predators, the Kings will also meet the Seattle Kraken on April 13, the third-last game of their regular season.

Los Angeles has just one point more than Nashville going into their Thursday game, and has three points more than Seattle, but the Kraken have a game in hand on the Kings.

They also need to be wary of Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks, as they've won their last three games. Now, the Sharks are one point behind the Kings with a game in hand on them.

While every game for Los Angeles at this point is critical, those three highlighted contests can extend or end the Kings' season, the principle of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Kings' Kopitar Proving He's Not Hanging Up His Skates Without An Honest FightLos Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar is retiring at the end of this year. But with the way he's been playing lately, he's not interested in letting his career end without a fight to get into the post-season.

The Kings' 2-1 overtime victory against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday was massive, and it pushed them back into a playoff position. It's the first time they've been in a wild-card position since March 20. 

The game against the Blues was tight-checking and impersonated a playoff atmosphere in some ways. Each shift was taken with caution, but with a high-level of intensity and attention to detail. That's why it required another extra frame, and was 0-0 for most of the evening.

There's a good chance that a handful of the remaining games in the Kings' regular season will wind up that way. Especially because of Los Angeles' final eight outings, five of which are against Pacific Division opponents.

To add to the drama of this final stretch and the implications of this push for the post-season, the Kings have one of the worst tiebreakers in the NHL. With only 19 regulation wins this season, they'll have to beat opponents in the standings by points outright. They have the second-fewest regulation wins in the league, only the last-place Vancouver Canucks have fewer.

Despite being on track for their worst season since the 2020-21 campaign, the Kings will need to bring their playoff-style game immediately in hopes of getting into the post-season.

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.

Flyers lose a tough one and second straight in regulation originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Tyson Foerster’s return and Porter Martone’s promising effort weren’t enough to prevent the Flyers from suffering a costly loss Thursday night.

Rick Tocchet’s club fell to the Red Wings, 4-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Foerster scored in his first game back from an arm injury that required surgery and cost him four months. The goal tied the game at 1-1 just 31 seconds into the middle stanza.

But Detroit regained its lead with 1:31 minutes left in the second period.

Travis Konecny put up the Flyers’ other goal. It came in the final stanza and was assisted by Martone, who recorded his first career NHL point.

However, the Red Wings had another response, this one just 15 seconds after Konecny trimmed the Flyers’ deficit to 3-2.

“They work their butt off, but there are times when you’ve just got to sense danger,” Tocchet said of his team. “There were a couple of goals where we need a guy to reload behind and stay above. I don’t want to say we’re cheating for offense, but we’re on the wrong side.”

The Flyers (37-26-12) lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since late January. They were unable to bounce back from a 6-4 loss Tuesday night to the Capitals, a game in which the early physicality caught them off guard and mistakes burned them.

“You should learn from last game,” Tocchet said Thursday at morning skate. “We talk about learning lessons. Let’s learn from it in a high-pressured game.”

The Flyers dropped to two points back of Detroit, a team that’s also trying to chase down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Flyers beat the Red Wings (40-27-8) five days ago at Little Caesars Arena and head back there in a week for one more meeting.

• Tocchet’s club entered the day two points back of the Blue Jackets for the second wild-card position.

Columbus lost to the Hurricanes, 5-1, Thursday night.

The Senators, though, beat the Sabres, 4-1, to take over the second wild-card spot via tiebreakers. Ottawa is two points up on the Flyers.

So the Senators, Red Wings and Blue Jackets all have 88 points. The Flyers have 86 with seven games to go.

The Flyers had a chance to gain ground on the Islanders, who were idle Thursday night and hold third place in the Metropolitan Division. But the Flyers remained three points back of New York.

• Foerster did not look like a player that was returning from a four-month absence.

He jumped onto the Flyers’ top line and was highly impactful. He was fired up after collecting a puck in the slot and flinging it home for his goal. Owen Tippett and Trevor Zegras gave him a big hug when they all returned to the bench. The Flyers absolutely missed the release and accuracy of Foerster’s shot.

“He’s one of the best goal scorers I’ve ever played with,” Konecny said after morning skate. “He’s one of those guys that has the knack to be around the net, he has got a great shot. Key piece to the team.”

Martone played his first home game with the Flyers and continued to fit in well.

“I’m trying to come in here and just give a jolt to this group and help them try to win games,” Martone said. “It’s unfortunate we haven’t gotten one yet, but it’s a big response for us tomorrow.”

The 19-year-old winger has a bona fide shot mentality, he plays around the net and there’s an edge to his game. He finished with nine shots in 18:15 minutes.

“He knows his role, he knows what he’s good at, he sticks to it and he’s in good areas,” Konecny said. “He’s only going to get better.”

• Samuel Ersson suffered his first loss since the Olympic break, dropping to 5-1-0. He had 15 saves on 19 shots.

The 26-year-old was rock solid through two periods, but he wasn’t at his best in the third period.

Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat beat him in the final stanza. The timing of DeBrincat’s 4-2 goal was killer. The shot from DeBrincat ricocheted off the stick of Rasmus Ristolainen.

Kane, a future Hall of Famer, made it 3-1. It was a 2-on-1 rush for Detroit.

In the first period, Tocchet became livid with the officials. The Flyers were whistled for two ticky-tacky penalties, the second of which led to the Red Wings’ first goal.

The Flyers had one power play on the night.

On Detroit’s go-ahead goal in the second period, Lucas Raymond was left alone right around the goal line. Ersson had no chance to stop it.

Ersson came into the game with a 1.46 goals-against average and .933 save percentage since the Olympic break. But the third and fourth goals Thursday night were ill-timed.

“I’ve got to come up with a couple of more saves to keep us in it,” Ersson said. “It sucks, but reload here and get ready for tomorrow.”

Red Wings netminder John Gibson stopped 32 of the Flyers’ 34 shots. The Flyers had 21 missed shots.

“We’re missing the net way too much, it has become a problem this year,” Tocchet said. “I love the effort tonight. … We had our chances, we just didn’t put them in.”

• The Flyers are right back at it Friday when they visit the Islanders (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP+).

“Every game’s a must-win at this point, so that’s how we’re looking at it tomorrow,” Konecny said. “Another good team we’re playing against, but this locker room in here, we all believe that we’re better than any opponent we’re playing right now. Tough to get the loss, but we have all the confidence in the world that we’re going to keep playing good.”

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made some changes to their roster ahead of their Thursday night contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Penguins have announced that they have assigned forwards Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. 

Koivunen has played in 36 games this season with Pittsburgh, where he has recorded two goals, five assists, and seven points. This is after he had seven assists in his first eight career NHL games with Pittsburgh this past season. 

Down in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Koivunen has 11 goals, 22 assists, 33 points, and a plus-7 rating in 29 games. 

As for McGroarty, the 6-foot-1 forward has two goals, three assists, five points, and 23 hits in 21 games this season with Pittsburgh. The 2022 first-round pick has also played in 25 games this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he has posted seven goals, 19 assists, 25 points, and a plus-4 rating.

Welcome to Bruins vs. Florida Men: Part 1!

The B’s are in Sunrise tonight to face a Florida Panthers team just playing out the string for the first time in several years.

On the opposite side, the Bruins will look to keep their positive momentum going against a team that has been a thorn in their side for quite a while.

After tonight, the Bruins will face Tampa on Saturday evening, followed by a Sunday afternoon game against the Flyers in Philly.

Relevant scoreboard watching tonight:

• Buffalo vs. Ottawa
• Montreal vs. New York Rangers
• Detroit vs. Philadelphia
• Carolina vs. Columbus
• Washington vs. New Jersey

The B’s have put themselves in a position where if they take care of their own business, they don’t need any scoreboard help, but it still merits watching.

Bruins! Panthers! IN FLORIDA!

Discuss.

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Three of the past four games for the Detroit Red Wings have yielded discouraging results, the most recent being a 5-1 setback at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who led 3-0 at the end of 20 minutes on Tuesday evening. 

Tonight, they have a chance to avenge their setback from Saturday evening against the Philadelphia Flyers, who raced out to a 4-0 lead at Little Caesars Arena and later withstood a late third-period rallying attempt by Detroit. 

Head coach Todd McLellan, who has repeatedly emphasized the need for the club's leadership to step up at such a critical time in the season, once again echoed those sentiments following Thursday morning's skate in Philadelphia. 

“We, like any other team, went to Training Camp and put the foundation into place, and worked on our game all the way through to get to this spot in the season,” said McLellan. “What we have in front of us is an opportunity, and it's up to us to seize it or give it it away.

“To get that done, you have to have good leadership. Now, when I talk like that, I'm not just talking about the players; it comes from me too, and the rest of the coaching staff and everybody in the organization." 

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McLellan emphasized that the leadership needs to come from all areas of the room, not just the most high-profile players and stat leaders. 

“Once the equipment is put on and the game starts, we need guys to step up," he said. "Leadership shows up in a lot of different ways; it's not just the vocal guy in the locker room, although that's important. It's not just the best player scoring goals, it's the shot blocking, the taking a hit to make the play (guy), that's all forms of leadership. The teams that get through have really good leadership at this time of the season.”

Going into their game against the Penguins, the Red Wings emphasized playing with greater urgency and desperation while avoiding the kind of poor decision-making that can come with it.

"We're Sticking Together": Red Wings Remain Optimistic Despite Recent Slide Now that the month of March is over, the Detroit Red Wings have eight games remaining on their schedule and insist that they're sticking together.

However, they found themselves not only trailing by three goals after the first period but also being outshot, 14-5.

In addition to reiterating the need for the club's leadership to step up its game in the remaining eight games, McLellan also noted that the team’s structure should already be ingrained by this stage of the season. 

“If playing with urgency negatively affects our structure and what we do, then we’ve probably done a poor job of putting it in play,” McLellan continued. “That’s why you go through all of these exhibition games, you go through the first 60, 70 games, because you rely on your structure when it counts. And the urgency should already be there in your game, and then you take your chances."

"There’s not much that’s going to change between now and the end of the year for many teams.”

The Red Wings battle the Flyers at 7:00 p.m. ET, and a much better start than what they've shown in three of their last four outings is a necessity. 

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