Category: Sports News

The Florida Panthers did not get off to a good start on Saturday night in Montreal, and it cost them.

If the Cats want to bounce back on Sunday and avoid a pair of losses in consecutive days, they’ll need to show up from the start.

Just as hungry as the Canadiens were in their home barn, you better believe the New York Islanders are just as desperate for every point in the standings they can get.

Entering play Sunday, the Isles find themselves six points back of the New York Rangers for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, and with four teams to climb over just to reach their crosstown rivals.

Florida, meanwhile, remains atop the Atlantic Division, currently holding a four point lead on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, who each have 81 points.

Only four points back of the Bolts and Leafs and turning some heads as they climbed up the standings are the Ottawa Senators, another team the Cats will need to keep an eye on as the postseason draws closer.

In terms of recent play, both the Panthers and Islanders have left something to be desired.

Florida has dropped two of three on their current six-game road trip while the Islanders have lost three straight and are in danger of falling too far behind in the Wild Card race.

The Panthers will likely turn to Vitek Vanecek in goal on the back end of the back-to-back after Sergei Bobrovsky played on Saturday night in Montreal. 

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Sunday’s tilt on Long Island:

Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Mackie Samoskevich – Sam Bennett – Evan Rodrigues

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Jesper Boqvist

A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Tomas Nosek

Gus Forsling – Seth Jones

Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov

Nate Schmidt – Uvis Balinskis

Scratches: Jonah Gadjovich, Brad Marchand

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The hometown fans left their arena happy on Saturday night following the battle between the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, and their fans, the Cats were not the home team.

Montreal came out swinging, jumping out to an early multi-goal lead that proved to be enough to take down their division rivals and keep pace in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race.

As for the Cats, they have now dropped two of three to open their extended road trip and will need to figure things out quickly before things start to get out of hand.

After Sunday’s game on Long Island against a desperate Islanders team, Florida will battle Columbus and Washington to finish their roadie.

So yeah, there is nowhere for the Cats to hide.

Let’s get to Saturday’s takeaways:

NOT PANTHERS HOCKEY

It was pretty clear after the game that the Panthers did not think much of their collective result in Montreal.

The effort is never lacking with this squad, but on this night, the Canadiens found a way to get Florida off their game.

Perhaps falling behind early played a part, though the Panthers generally don’t come out of their style when needing to come from behind.

For whatever reason, the Cats didn’t look very much like the Cats on Saturday night.

“Well, I don’t want to tell you how I thought we played because I want to be respectful Montreal’s effort, they played hard and fast,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “I can't really give you an assessment of how good that was, because I’m not sure that relates to how we played, but I think we own that one. Our play, that was on us. We would have to play considerably better before I could assess what the other team did to us.”

STRUGGLES AGAINST MONTREAL

Florida is now 0-2-0 against the Canadiens this season.

The Cats have been outscored 7-1 against Montreal and frankly they did not look good in either loss.

While the Panthers were a much different team in many ways back in late December, it is still worth wondering if Montreal has some kind of edge over the Panthers.

It isn’t out of the realm of possibility for the Cats and Habs to meet in the first round (though Ottawa’s hot streak may have something to say about that).

For his part, Maurice made clear that he felt Saturday’s loss had more to do with what Florida didn’t do well than anything Montreal did to them, and he did it without showing any disrespect to what their opponents did.

“Listen, they beat us,” Maurice said. “They're in the fight for their lives, and they play the butts off tonight, and that should be the story here.”

DEEP BREATHS

It’s been a funky week with a couple of frustrating, unorthodox losses for the Panthers.

Now it’s probably no coincidence that both have come after Florida added Aaron Ekblad to the list of key players who are currently unavailable, as few on the team play as key a role as Ekblad does.

In similar situations, the Panthers have found ways to persevere.

Their depth and style of play allow the team-first mentality to shine through, but if that’s going to happen again this time, they have a bit of a gauntlet to get through on this road trip.

“We've gone from December 28th to today, and I've been pretty happy with our game most nights,” Maurice said. “There’s a couple we didn’t love, but…we'll leave this one here.”

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The vibes were high after the Chicago Blackhawks' big overtime win over the Utah Hockey Club on March 7th. They looked to take that momentum on the road for four games but they did no such thing. 

After going 0-2-1 in the first three, they had a chance to get a little something out of the trip when they paid a visit to the Vancouver Canucks. Connor Bedard's homecoming is always exciting but it didn't go his team's way. 

Vancouver was winning 2-0 at first intermission thanks to goals from Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers. Despite playing a solid opening period on the road, the Canucks were opportunistic and took the multi-goal lead.  

In the second period, Vancouver extended their lead to three with a Connor Garland goal at 8:08. This was a beautiful passing play that Garland completed with Nils Hoglander and Pius Suter. 

Alex Vlasic scored one to get Chicago on the board at 18:51. That 3-1 score went to the second intermission. At that point, it felt like the Blackhawks were back in the game. 

At 4:01 of the third, something happened that you don't see every day. Elias Pettersson took a shot that appeared to hit the post. That left the Blackhawks scrambling in the defensive zone before Nils Hoglander found it and rifled it into the net. 

After further review, however, it was determined that Pettersson's initial shot didn't hit the post. It went in the net. It was going to be 4-1 anyway but Pettersson got his rightful credit for the goal. 

Just over a minute later, Wyatt Kaiser responded with a beautiful wrist-shot goal to make it 4-2. On the play, Artyom Levshunov earned his first career NHL point with an assist. He sent Kaiser in for the good chance that led to a goal. 

In his three NHL games so far, Levshunov has had some learning moments but it has mostly been great for him. He has a ton of confidence when the puck is on his stick and he's been defending well. 

Next up for Levshunov is his first career NHL goal which is coming soon. He loves to shoot the puck and he's quite good at finding the net through traffic. Eventually, one will sneak through. He's also going to collect a lot of points from deflection goals in the coming years with that talent. 

Any chance of Chicago coming back was shut down by Vancouver later in the third as they scored two more goals in eight seconds about midway through the final frame. The 6-2 score was the final. 

Things looked good for Chicago in terms of how they were playing in the first half of the game. Things fell off hard in the third period though which made the final score look even worse. 

With under three minutes left in the game, there were some skirmishes at the whistle. The referees started handing out ten-minute misconducts and Connor Bedard was one of the players to get one.

This is the second game in a row where Bedard was handed this penalty. Frank Nazar, Filip Hronek, and Conor Garland were also given ten-minute misconduct penalties. 

Chicago only gave up 15 shots on goal in this one which is their lowest total allowed this season. Arvid Soderblom didn't have his best night in the net which was obvious. The Hawks didn't allow a ton of shots in the game but they weren't as good in the second half. Vancouver was able to make good plays and capitalized when given the chance. 

Now, the Hawks will return home for seven of their next eight games. They must learn from this 0-3-1 road trip ahead of their match against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night if they want to keep the good play at home going. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

The Pittsburgh Penguins just keep on rolling during the stretch run of the season.

Even though goaltending has mostly been carrying them, their offense found a way to be the story on Saturday afternoon.

The Penguins beat the New Jersey Devils, 7-3, to earn their fourth straight win. And they got contributions from up and down their lineup - including from their newcomers.

Forward Connor Dewar registered two goals, and defenseman Conor Timmins notched two assists. Both were acquired on Mar. 7 from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

DEWEY GETS THE HELMET! pic.twitter.com/btWYzjxO6U

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 15, 2025

Regardless of who is doing it and how they are doing it, the Penguins are winning games against some pretty good teams. And it's something they should feel pretty good about.

"It's just one game at a time," said goaltender Tristan Jarry, who put up his fourth straight win. "We can't get too far ahead ourselves. We just have to keep focus on the task at hand, but I think we've done a really good job just getting points and climbing. We just have to keep that mindset and keep going with it."

New Jersey opened the scoring midway through the first period, when former Penguin Cody Glass put one home from the right circle for his fourth point in four games since being traded from Pittsburgh to the Devils.

Dewar responded near the end of the third with a "garbage goal," and - 25 seconds later - Danton Heinen capitalized on a two-on-one chance with a beautiful forehand-to-backhand move, which came after a sneaky feed from Philip Tomasino.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Danton Heinen with 02:24 remaining in the 1st period.

Assisted by Philip Tomasino and Vladislav Kolyachonok.

Pittsburgh: 2
New Jersey: 1#NJDvsPIT#LetsGoPens#NJDevilspic.twitter.com/nXD78fKJqJ

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) March 15, 2025

The Penguins held the 2-1 lead into the second period, and they added on within the first five minutes of the middle frame. Rickard Rakell came in hard on the forecheck and managed to squeeze the puck from below the goal line out to Matt Grzelcyk. Grzelcyk fed it to Timmins, who fed it to Sidney Crosby, who found Rakell in just the right spot in the slot to register his 31st goal of the season.

The dynamic duo is at it again! 👏 https://t.co/zw6u6dlMMkpic.twitter.com/uabsQ0ITew

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 15, 2025

After a disallowed shorthanded goal by the Devils during a four-minute kill in the second period, Tomasino worked hard to earn a goal of his own in the opening minutes of the third period, as he forced a turnover in front of Devils goaltender Jakob Markstrom and finished his own play to make it 4-1.

But, then, things got a bit dicey.

Pittsburgh took two consecutive double-minor penalties for high-sticking - the first by Noel Acciari, and the second by Evgeni Malkin - and New Jersey capitalized on both four-minute power play opportunities. Timo Meier got the first, and Nico Hischier got the second to make the score 4-3.

However, the Penguins responded with a power play goal of their own. Defenseman Erik Karlsson found the twine with an absolute rocket from the point to give the Penguins back a two-goal lead.

Filthy toe drag release by EK65 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/uopBgh6621

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 15, 2025

And from there, they pretty much shut it down. Dewar scored his second goal of the game on the empty net with 55 seconds left in regulation, and Kevin Hayes added an even-strength goal with 22 seconds left on the clock to score the "chili goal" and give the Penguins a 7-3 victory.

This was Pittsburgh's first win against the Devils this season and just their second win in the last 11 games against them.

"I give the players a lot of credit," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "I think 'Jars' played terrific. He was outstanding again tonight, and our power play gets us a huge goal late in the game to give us a little bit of a cushion.

"Guys are just competing. We're playing hard, I'm happy for the players. We've been able to string a couple in a row here together, and we're just going to take that game right in front of us and see where it takes us."

Here are just a few thoughts and observations from Saturday's win:

- Let's get the negative out of the way first. The Penguins' penalty kill is outright awful right now.

The unit surrendered another two power play goals against the Devils, which were both on third-period high-sticking double-minors. A unit that was top-12 for much of the season has free-fallen in the league standings.

The Penguins are now 19th in penalty kill percentage at 77.2 percent, and they have surrendered eight power play goals in their eight games in March - including four in the last two games.

"It's not always the cleanest game from an execution standpoint," Sullivan said. "I think we've got to do a better job staying out of the penalty box, and in some of those situations, there were a few penalties that I thought could've been avoided that would put us in a better position."

Simply put, the Penguins need to be more disciplined. Their PK unit isn't really doing much killing right now, so they're best-served to avoid it entirely for the time being.

- Speaking of which, there were three different double-minors for high-sticking in this game - two by the Penguins and one by the Devils.

Not something you see very often.

- The new guys are really playing well for the Penguins and have played pretty big roles, respectively, in their four-game win streak.

Dewar - who didn't have a goal on the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs before becoming a Penguin - has three goals in four games with Pittsburgh and is helping Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari drive offense on the third line. Timmins had two points tonight and has been a steady presence on the blue line for Pittsburgh's bottom pairing.

DEWEY 👏 pic.twitter.com/PxLH5reo9z

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 15, 2025

"It's been great to come in and contribute right away," Dewar said. "It makes you feel a lot more comfortable, and it's nice helping out in getting these wins here."

Five games since the trade deadline, four wins. And the only loss was the first one on deadline day against the Vegas Golden Knights - which Dewar and Timmins were not available for.

- I've mentioned that Vladislav Kolyachonok's offensive instincts continually impress me. He did earn his first point as a Penguin on Heinen's goal.

Another player who has been very good in this last handful of games? Tomasino.

He has been impressive, really, since being slotted back on Evgeni Malkin's right side. The production won't pop out at you - he has three goals and seven points in his last 12 games - but he is driving offense on that line. 

Phil-ing good 😊 pic.twitter.com/hTX9VwcHgH

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 15, 2025

"He's a really talented player," Sullivan said. "He has real good offensive instincts. He has the ability to finish, he's got a deceptive shot, and I think he's a dangerous player off the rush. I think an example of that is the two-on-one goal he scored tonight."

He continued: "The area we're trying to help him grow is to develop a grind game. If you don't have the opportunity to generate offense off the rush, you have to find different ways to generate offense. Usually, when you play the better teams in the league, they take the rush game away."

Tomasino has earned the opportunity to stay on the second line for the remainder of the season, even if he still has to iron out some of the details of his "grind" game.

- The Penguins kept showing this young Penguins fan on the jumbotron. The first time, he was dancing, and the crowd went wild. Then, they showed him after Tomasino's goal, which garnered a huge cheer. 

Then, they showed him again with a "Celebrity Alert" AI frame around his face. The crowd responded and went nuts yet again.

This wasn't a huge crowd, but it was a good, loud one. Awesome stuff by the Penguins' video staff to make this kid a star.

- After a New York Rangers win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, the Penguins are still six points out of a playoff spot, and every team ahead of them has games in hand. At one point Saturday, they were just four points out.

I can’t believe I’m typing this and everyone has games in hand on them, but the Penguins are four points out of a playoff spot.

— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) March 15, 2025

Don't get your hopes up. But, obviously, if the Penguins keep winning games - their next of which comes Tuesday against the New York Islanders and then Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, both teams ahead of them in the standings - I suppose we'll have to keep monitoring the mathematics.

Who would've thought, right?

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The St. Louis Blues closed out their longest road trip of the season in emphatic style.

They shook off a tough loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday with a solid effort all-around on Saturday, led by Jordan Kyrou's fifth NHL hat trick and his second straight against the Minnesota Wild in a 5-1 win at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

The Blues remain two points behind the Vancouver Canucks, who defeated the the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 late Saturday night, but St. Louis (32-28-7) are tied in points with the Calgary Flames, who have two games in hand (Vancouver has one) and two points ahead of Utah Hockey Club (one game in hand).

Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, Cam Fowler, Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich each had two asssists, and Joel Hofer, making his first career start against the Wild (37-25-5) made 18 saves.

The Blues closed the trip with a 3-2-1 mark and now will play nine of their final 15, including on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks, a game originally slated to begin at 5 p.m. (CT) but has now been moved back to 7 p.m. due to travel complications by the Blues returning from Minnesota.

The Blues, for the first time in the history of matchups with the Wild, were faced with being swept in a season series.

Since the Wild made its way into the league in 2000-01, playing its 24th season in 2024-25 and had never swept the Blues in a season series.

Minnesota won the first three matchups (4-1 in St. Louis on Oct. 15, 4-2 in St. Louis on Nov. 19 and 6-4 in Minnesota on Jan. 7) and were looking for their first-ever sweep of the Blues but it was not to be.

Minnesota was missing some weaponry in this game (Kirill Kaprozov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin), but the Blues were missing Colton Parayko on the back end.

By Montgomery throwing Hofer at Minnesota, a goalie the Wild had never seen before, there's the notion of having to get used to someone's tendencies rather than facing Jordan Binnington, someone Minnesota is quite familiar with. And yes, Hofer was one zone exit away from possibly getting a shutout that resulted in a Jacob Middleton goal that made it 3-1 at 12:47 of the second period, but Hofer was solid otherwise.

Let's dive into Saturday's Three Takeaways:

* More net front presence, middle lane drives -- Despite outplaying the Penguins on Thursday, including owning a 36-22 advantage on the shot clock, the Blues and coach Jim Montgomery lamented that there wasn't enough of a net front presence in front of Tristan Jarry, not enough of a middle lane drive to the net that had made them so successful in going 7-2-2 the previous 11 games.

Consider the message delivered.

Schenn's goal at 4:17 of the first was a perfect example of what the Blues needed against a stingy defensive-minded team that has had issues scoring goals.

The Blues had an extended shift in the Wild zone, one of many throughout the first period, and were able to control the zone enough that a pair of line changes were made, but when the puck was played to Fowler at the left point, he threw it towards the net knowing Schenn was going there. The Blues captain was able to maneuver past Frederick Gaudreau, collect the loose puck and backhand it in past Filip Gustavsson for a 1-0 lead.

On Neighbours goal, same thing. Robert Thomas wins the face-off back high, puck goes low, quick pass to the slot for a one-time shot by Thomas, and Neighbours is the backside forward driving the net and yes, it was a fortuitous bounce off a block by Zach Bogosian, but if Neighbours isn't driving the net, he doesn't score, but he did and potted the puck to make it 2-0 at 10:51 of the second period.

And for Kyrou to kickstart his night to make it 3-0 at 12:22 of the second, it was another face-off win high, puck worked low, thrown to the net, but Kyrou is the middle lane driver crashing to the goal and he made no mistake when Gustavsson pushed the rebound right into his pathway.

* Holding another opponent under 30 shots -- It says that defense pays, and for the Blues, it paid off once again on Saturday.

For the 12th straight game, they held an opponent under 30 shots and have allowed an average of 23.4 shots per game in that stretch, which is second in the NHL behind the Florida Panthers (23.2).

The last team to get 30-plus shots: the Panthers, who had 34 on Feb. 6. But including that game, the Blues allowed 30 or more in four of the five prior to this run of 12 straight.

Quite frankly, Saturday was a defensive masterclass of not allowing traffic, no middle lane drives and taking away shooting lanes with 19 blocks.

* Kyrou owning the Wild -- Coming into the game, Kyrou had 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in 22 career games against the Wild, and he loves playing at the Xcel Energy Center.

With Saturday's performance, it stands at 15 goals, 11 assists in 23 games now.

He made it 4-1 at 11:30 of the third period with a breakout of the puck, then slicing past Declan Chisholm and Vinnie Hinostroza, flying around the right edge with speed and catching Gustavsson over-commiting before wrapping the backhand in to make it 4-1.

And in style, Kyrou scored into the empty net at 17:40 to make it 5-1. And it could have been more with Kyrou having 12 shot attempts in the game but six of them were blocked.

Kyrou's last hat trick also came against the Wild in the very same building, on March 23, 2024.

* Click here to see what Montgomery and players had to say after the game.