Category: Sports News

Linus Ullmark made 31 saves as the Ottawa Senators defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night. Ridly Greig set up both of the Ottawa goals, and was excellent on both sides of the puck, but it was Ullmark who stole the show in a crucial victory for the Sens.

Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson provided the scoring for the Senators, who increased their seven point cushion above the Eastern Conference playoff cut line, and maintained their five point lead on the (WC2) Montreal Canadiens. The Habs defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1, the Columbus Blue Jackets were being manhandled late in the game by the Colorado Avalanche, and the New York Rangers were idle.

The Senators were fortunate to escape the first period with a 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay outshot Ottawa 13-8, but many of those shots were of high quality, and Ullmark had to be extremely sharp, a trend he continued throughout the game.

The Senators didn’t get many good looks in the opening frame, but Pinto finished off a three-on-two Ottawa rush with a wrist shot from the slot that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 1-0. Tampa Bay loudly protested, claiming that Oliver Bjorkstrand had been wronged in the Ottawa zone. Bjorkstrand laid on the ice for the entirety of the rush but didn't get a call.

Just over five minutes into the second period, after Tampa took a too many men call, Jake Sanderson's power play shot from the point made it 2-0.

But less than two minutes later, the Sens got burned by a lazy line change. Brandon Hagel then beat Tyler Kleven to the net to cash in on a rebound to cut the Ottawa lead to 2-1. 

Ullmark shut the door after that and was an easy choice as the game's first star, as the Senators were outshot 32-19. It was a fine bounce back for the Sens starter after an average performance against his old team, the Buffalo Sabres, on Tuesday night.

As pointed out by NHL Network analytics guru Mike Kelly, the Lightning outshot the Senators 26-5 from the slot and out-chanced them 11-1 off the rush.

As the Sens creep toward their first playoff spot in eight years, they'll host the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. We already know that Matthew Tkachuk will miss the game with an injury. It will be interesting to see if his brother his ready or not.

The Nashville Predators (27-41-8, 62 points) took an early 1-0 lead but gave up five unanswered goals – including four in the third period alone – in what would end up being a 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars (50-21-4, 104 points) Thursday at American Airlines Center.

Steven Stamkos scored the only goal for the Predators, who have lost five straight and now have 10 losses in their last 12 games. Justus Annunen made 22 saves in the loss for Nashville, while Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger made 28 saves in the win.

Dallas now leads the season series, 2-1. The Stars earned a 4-3 Opening Night win over the Predators at Bridgestone Arena, and Nashville secured a 4-1 victory Dec. 12 in Dallas. The Central Division rivals will face off for a fourth and final time in the last game of the regular season April 16 in Nashville.

How the Predators Lined Up vs. Dallas

Bunting-O'Reilly-Evangelista
Forsberg-Stamkos-L'Heureux
Smith-McCarron-Vrana
Bellows-Svechkov-Wiesblatt

Skjei-Blankenburg
Del Gaizo-Barron
Englund-Oesterle

Annunen
Saros

Extra: Stastney (day-to-day, upper-body), Marchessault (day-to-day, lower-body), Sissons (week-to-week, lower-body), Wood
IR: Lauzon, Josi, Wilsby

The Predators announced prior to Thursday's game that defenseman Spencer Stastney would be out of the lineup and is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Forwards Colton Sissons and Marchessault, who missed each of the previous two games with lower-body injuries, will also miss Thursday's contest against Dallas.

Forward Ozzy Wiesblatt, whom the Predators recalled from the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals Thursday morning, slots in on the fourth line with Kieffer Bellows and Fedor Svechkov. Wiesblatt adds depth to the Predators' injury-depleted forward group after Nashville was forced to ice 11 forwards and seven defensemen in each of their last two games.

Forward Matthew Wood, the Predators' 2023 first-round draft pick who signed his three-year, entry-level contract on Saturday, has joined the team in Dallas but has yet to make his NHL debut with the team.

Predators at Stars: Live Updates

First Period (NSH 0, DAL 0)

After the first 20 minutes, Nashville is outshooting Dallas, 17-5. Both goaltenders have been tremendous and kept the game scoreless after the first period.

Second Period (NSH 1, DAL 1)

The Predators finally scored on their 18th shot, and what a shot it was. Steven Stamkos scored in transition, taking a no-look wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle that beat Oettinger five-hole to give Nashville a 1-0 lead at the 4:37 mark of the second period.

The no-look shot 🤯

Steven Stamkos you are unreal pic.twitter.com/X63gKZ405z

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 4, 2025

Two former Predators forwards combined on the game-tying goal late in the second period, as Mikael Granlund redirected a Matt Duchene shot for a goal to make it 1-1 with 36 seconds left in the frame.

Third Period (NSH 1, DAL 5)

It took just 39 seconds for the Stars to take the lead in the third period. Duchene won a puck battle along the boards and found Mason Marchment in the left circle for the score to give Dallas a 2-1 lead.

Then, Predators defenseman Andreas Englund got caught in a 3-on-1 in transition, and Roope Hintz finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson to extend the Stars' lead to 3-1 at the 5:47 mark of the third period.

Approximately four minutes later, Wyatt Johnston got a breakaway chance, deked around Annunen and scored to extend his own goal streak to six games and give Dallas the 4-1 lead.

The Stars got their fourth goal of the period scores from rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel, who broke a 28-game scoring drought with a shot from the left circle on a saucer pass from Rantanen to extend Dallas' lead to 5-1 at the 12:42 mark.

While the 2024-25 season has been another tough one for the Buffalo Sabres, they have been playing better hockey as of late. The Atlantic Division squad has won four out of their last five games and seven of their previous 10. 

Sabres forward Peyton Krebs has certainly stepped up during the team's recent strong stretch of play. The Calgary, Alberta native is currently sporting a five-game point streak, where he has three goals, six points, and a plus-6 rating over that span. This includes scoring a goal in each of the Sabres' last two games. 

With his ongoing hot streak, Krebs now has nine goals, 15 assists, and 24 points in 73 games this season. He also just needs one more goal and three more points to set new career highs in those stats. 

It is encouraging to see Krebs starting to heat up offensively. At 24 years old, there is still time for the 2019 first-round pick to hit a new level and become a more prominent force on the Sabres' roster. Perhaps this could be the start of him doing just that. 

It will now be intriguing to see if Krebs can stay hot in the Sabres' next contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 5 from here. 

Recent Sabres News 

Buffalo Sabres Send First-Round Pick Back To AHL

Ex-Sabres Star Jack Eichel Rewarded For Incredible Month

Ex-Sabres Defender Expected To Be Done For The Season

Buffalo Sabres Send Defenseman Back To AHL

Buffalo Sabres Announce Exciting Rasmus Dahlin News

Sabres' Isak Rosen Records First NHL Point With Great Assist

With just seven games remaining in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins will embark on their final road trip of 2024-25.

And it starts Thursday in St. Louis.

The Penguins will take on the St. Louis Blues, which happens to be the hottest team in hockey. After a rough start - and heading into the trade deadline - St. Louis was out of the playoff picture.

Now? An active 10-game winning streak has catapulted them to the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.

"They've gone a pretty good run here over the last month or month-plus," Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. "They're 10-0 in their last 10, and I don't think they've lost since the last time we played them. So, that's a pretty good run. [Blues head coach Jim Montgomery] is a good coach. He's done a good job with these guys."

Tristan Jarry will get the start in goal for the Penguins, and he has been very good against St. Louis in his career. He is 7-1-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average versus the Blues in his career.

Jarry is 5-3-1 since his return from a long stint in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton - the Penguins' AHL affiliate, which practiced in Pittsburgh on Thursday - and Sullivan is happy with what he's seen from his goaltender in that overall stretch.

'We Have A Close Team': WBS Penguins Practice In Pittsburgh, Talk Chemistry Of GroupThe Penguins took to the ice for practice on Thursday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa.

"Jars has played extremely well for us since he's come back," Sullivan said. "And he's playing up to his capability. That was our hope when we brought him back up, and he certainly has done that for us."

As far as the rest of the lineup, young forwards Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen - called up Friday prior to Pittsburgh's 1-0 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday - figure to remain in their top-six roles. And forward Evgeni Malkin - despite making the trip and skating with the team on Thursday morning - will not be in the lineup.

Here is the rest of the projected lineup for the Penguins:

McGroarty-Crosby-Rust
Dewar-Rakell-Koivunen
Hayes-Acciari-Tomasino
Heinen-Lizotte-Bemstrom

Grzyleck-Letang
Timmins-Karlsson
Graves-Shea

Crosby Earns OT Winner For 1-0 Win Over Senators On Koivunen's DebutThere was hockey being played on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, although one might not even know it for how low-event it was.

Heading into the game against St. Louis, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is riding a 10-game point streak (8-7-15), which is the longest active streak in the NHL. The Penguins won the first of their matchups with the Blues on Mar. 13, which was a 5-3 victory that saw contributions from up and down their lineup - including five different goal-scorers.

Robert Thomas paces the Blues in scoring with 19 goals and 69 points in 65 games, while Jordan Kyrou leads the team with 32 goals.

Bookmark THN - Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab  to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!         

The Nashville Predators have announced that defenseman Spencer Stastney will be out of the lineup for the club's April 3 contest against the Dallas Stars due to an upper-body injury. In addition, the Predators shared that he is considered day-to-day. 

Stastney, 25, has appeared in 22 games this season with the Predators, where he has three assists, 24 blocks, and a minus-7 rating. He also has played in 23 games this campaign with the Milwaukee Admirals, posting two goals, 11 assists, 13 points, and a plus-3 rating. 

Stastney was selected by the Predators with the 131st overall pick of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. In 50 career NHL games over three seasons with the Central Division club, the 6-foot defenseman has two goals, seven assists, nine points, and a plus-7 rating.

The Predators will now need to adjust without Stastney in the lineup against a very challenging Stars club from here.