The experience will be invaluable whether Calgary Flames prospect-turned-pro gets game action or not. With five games remaining on the regular-season schedule, Zayne Parekh got called up to his NHL club on Tuesday — joining the Flames on the road in Anaheim. 

It’s unlikely the 19-year-old (as of mid-February) defenseman gets into his first NHL contest right away. The Flames are in the final days of a playoff chase and after making no changes to the roster at the trade deadline, the team seems likely to let the guys who got the team this far in a season that has surprised everyone on the outside looking in. 

Even if he’s relegated to the role of cheerleader until the team is either eliminated from the playoffs or locks up the last spot in the Western Conference, Parekh told the Flames’ team reporters he was excited for the opportunity. 

“Whether I play or not, I’m going to be the No.-1 supporter of this team,” Parekh said during a day off for the squad in what he can now confirm is the Happiest Place on Earth. 

“I’m hoping the team makes the playoffs, because I’m more excited to see what the city looks like come playoff time.”

Some would argue Parekh being inserted into the lineup could help that against-the-odds cause. Instantly following the news he was joining the team that scooped him up ninth overall in the NHL draft a little less than a year ago, that’s what most have been debating in professional and fan hockey realms. 

Here are some reasons for and against having Parekh suit up sooner than later. 

PUT HIM IN: Parekh’s incredible junior season put him in the record books alongside NHL legend Bobby Orr. Offensively, there’s not much more you can ask for from a blueline prospect and the Flames are among the lowest-scoring teams in the entire league. Parekh instantly makes you more dangerous on the power-play and on the rush at even strength. 

LET HIM WATCH: He’s barely 19, had a rough training camp and admittedly still has things to work on with his defensive game. Because of the struggles the Flames have felt putting pucks past goaltenders, they can’t afford any mistakes ending up behind theirs. 

PUT HIM IN: He’s arguably already better than a few of the defensemen on the roster, maybe at both ends of the ice, and doesn’t icing the best roster possible give you a better shot at winning games and making it to the playoffs? Parekh could be a difference-maker. 

LET HIM WATCH: The team’s chemistry is one of the biggest reasons the Flames have remained in the hunt for a playoff position few believed would be possible before the season began. Putting Parekh into the lineup would probably mean some major shifts on the back end, including some serious swapping of partners. Does Flames head coach Ryan Huska want to risk that chemistry or send the message the guys he’s been rolling with aren’t good enough?

PUT HIM IN: The kid is a big part of the Flames’ future and already has great confidence. Sounds a lot like Calder Trophy candidate Dustin Wolf, doesn’t it?

After an uninspiring loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to exact revenge on home ice Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, it came at a cost. 

The Penguins cruised past the Blackhawks, 5-0, and they lost their top prospect to injury en route to the win. During a penalty kill in the waning seconds of the middle frame, young forward Rutger McGroarty blocked a shot and took the brunt of it. He hobbled to the bench after a whistle and went straight to the locker room and did not return with what the Penguins are calling a lower-body injury.

In the postgame, assistant coach David Quinn - filling in for head coach Mike Sullivan, who was pulled into a postgame meeting with GM and POHO Kyle Dubas and others - said McGroarty is still being evaluated. 

That aside, the Penguins put together a strong effort. Sidney Crosby got the scoring started with a power play goal - and his 31st tally of the season - late in the first period to put the Penguins up, 1-0. 

Then, just under five minutes into the second period, Bryan Rust forced an offensive zone turnover near the blue line, and he got the puck down low to rookie Ville Koivunen. Koivunen spotted Erik Karlsson cross-ice just above the goal line, and he fed him a perfect pass that Karlsson didn't miss on for his 200th career goal.

Pittsburgh locked it down in the third period, starting with a top-shelf goal from Kris Letang and ending with two consecutive Kevin Hayes goals to give them the 5-0 victory. Tristan Jarry also earned his second shutout of the season in a 26-save effort.

Suffice to say, they were much happier with their effort in this one.

"We had a good bounceback game," Jarry said. "Chicago played well in their building, and I think we were able to play well in ours. It was kind of back-and-forth, but again, I thought the guys were doing a really good job tonight just letting me see the puck and giving me the shots that I needed, and I think it really helps me when I'm able to get into it early like that."

Erik Karlsson Becomes Second Swedish Defenseman In NHL History To Score 200 GoalsIt has been a season full of milestones for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and one of their future hall-of-famers racked up yet another.

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Here are a few other notes and observations from this one:

-  Crosby strikes again. This guy is magnificent. 

I don’t really have anything else to say at this point. He’s been the best player for the Penguins night-in and night-out, and he deserves to see the playoffs again before retirement.

"When I got traded here, you hear stories about Sid," Hayes said. "Playing against him, you hear these stories from other people that you know... and he's all those stories and more. Arguably the best player to ever play, [and] he's just showing it this year. People talk about his age, and he's not slowing down.

"Obviously, we're not in the position that we'd like to be in... he's leading the way night-in and night-out, and he silently holds everyone accountable."

-  If McGroarty is injured, that’s a very unfortunate circumstance and a huge blow to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for their Calder Cup run. Of course, calling up the kids was the right move - and it still is - but, unfortunately, something like this happening is always a risk, especially when players are deployed on the penalty kill.

If you’re WBS, you’ve got to hope McGroarty is alright. He has been a big part of WBS’s second-half playoff push, and missing him for the playoff run would be a huge loss. 

-  At the start of the second period, Sullivan opted to swap Koivunen and McGroarty, giving each of them the opportunity to work with and gel with the another all-time great center. Koivunen shifted to Crosby’s line, and McGroarty shifted to Evgeni Malkin’s line.

I was especially impressed with how Koivunen looked with Crosby. The pass on Karlsson’s goal was perfect, his hockey smarts are evident playing with Crosby and Malkin, and he has three points in five games.

He has literally done everything but score a goal. And that will certainly come soon enough.

It's Only Been Six Games. But Rutger McGroarty Is The Real Deal.Yes, it's only been six NHL games for Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward Rutger McGroarty.

-  When you think about all-time conversations regarding defensemen, it’s pretty crazy what Karlsson has accomplished in his NHL career. And what’s even crazier is that he has more time and room to climb even further up the all-time lists before he hangs them up. 

He is just the second Swedish-born defenseman in NHL history to score 200 goals. He is 24th all-time in goals among defensemen. He is 15th all-time in points among defensemen. He is just the second active defenseman to score 200 goals, with the other being Brent Burns. 

"It's a nice [milestone]," Karlsson said. "I don't know if it is actually a milestone, though, but I'll take it. Obviously, I've been fortunate to play for a long time and score some goals over the years, and hopefully I've got 100 more in me."

In terms of blueliners, Karlsson will almost certainly end up top-10 all-time in points, has a good chance for top-seven in assists, and he has an outside shot at top-10 in goals. 

Even if you’re part of the crowd who hasn’t particularly loved his output in Pittsburgh, stuff like this sometimes serves as a reminder to sit back and enjoy watching some all-time greats play hockey games for the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

-  Speaking of blueliners, Letang also climbed the all-time list. His third-period goal gave him sole possession of 22nd place on the all-time points list for defenseman, leapfrogging former Penguin Sergei Zubov. 

He now needs just six points to surpass Rob Blake for sole possession of 21st all-time. Just like Karlsson, there’s still plenty of room for Letang to climb. Enjoy it while you can.

-  The Penguins head to New Jersey to face the Devils for their final road game of the season on Friday,, followed by the Boston Bruins at home on Sunday and fan appreciation night against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

In the prior two seasons, the playoff race had gone down to the wire. The Penguins have been in the thick of it up until the final game.

You can sense there is a different tone in the locker room this season, given that they’ve already been eliminated. Even the players said it’s a bit hard to find the motivation to lay it all out on the line during the final stretch with nothing to play for as a team. 

But, as Karlsson pointed out, there is still a lot for individuals to play for - as well as a sense of pride in winning hockey games. 

“I think everybody's obviously playing for something, and we know that we haven't played the way that we wanted this year," Karlsson said. "But, it feels like the approach the last few games have been the same as they have been throughout the year, which makes it a little bit easier. It starts with Sid and the big guys, and they're preparing the same way every day."

Maybe it’s not the best scenario for the Penguins to win the majority of their final games, as it affects their draft position. But don’t expect these guys to lay an egg. They’re simply not built that way.

Former Penguins Goalie And Sportnet Broadcaster Millen Suddenly DiesSad news broke late Monday afternoon that former Pittsburgh Penguins goalie and Sportsnet broadcaster Greg Millen had suddenly passed away at the age of 67. 

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Fedor Svechkov scored 1:56 into overtime and the Nashville Predators rallied from two goals down late in the third period to beat the New York Islanders 7-6 on Tuesday night to snap a six-game losing streak.

Steven Stamkos had two goals and two assists, Filip Forsberg added a goal and an assist, and Ryan O’Reilly and Michael McCarron also scored for Nashville. JonathanMarchessault and Brady Skjei each had three assists and Justus Annunen finished with 16 saves.

Simon Holmstrom had two goals and two assists, Maxim Tsyplakov added a goal and an assist, and Anders Lee, Kyle Palmieri and Scott Mayfield also scored for New York, which snapped a two-game win streak. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had three assists.

Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 shots through two periods before leaving with an apparent injury. Marcus Hogberg had six saves on nine shots the rest of the way.

In the extra period, Svechkov beat Hogberg with a shot from the slot for the win.

Palmieri gave the Islanders a 5-4 lead with 4:39 left in regulation with a driving backhander past Annunen, and Mayfield scored short-handed from the right circle to give New York a two-goal cushion with 3:41 remaining.

Stamkos' second of the night on the power play pulled Nashville within one with 2:07 left, and Bunting tied it 6-6 with 40 seconds to go.

Holmstrom got his second of the night to put the Islanders up 3-2 at 4:36 of the second, and Stamkos tied it with a slap shot at 7:24. Tsyplakov put the Islanders ahead 4-3 with 7:51 left in the second, but McCarron tied it 1:16 later.

Takeaways

Islanders: New York is eight points out of a playoff spot, tied with the Rangers, Red Wings and Blue Jackets with 79 points with five games remaining for each.

Predators: Nashville, already eliminated from the playoff race, won for the third time in 14 games (3-10-1).

Key moment

In the final minute of regulation, Stamkos fired a shot from the left point that deflected off Bunting and Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov in front and in to tie the score 6-6.

Key stat

Stamkos' two power-play goals gave him 14 for the season, tying Brady Tkachukk, Tomas Hertl and Nico Hischier for fifth place in the NHL.

Up next

Islanders host the New York Rangers on Thursday, and Predators visit Utah.

On Tuesday night at the Bell Center in Montreal, not long before 10 pm local time, whatever remained of the Detroit Red Wings' playoff aspirations shriveled in upon itself in a 4–1 loss to the Canadiens. 

A game the Red Wings dominated for long stretches, a game contested much closer than the final score suggested, but ultimately a game from which one possible outcome—regulation victory—could provide any reasonable foundation from which Detroit could built to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The mathematical probability of securing that berth hasn't yet sunk to zero, but the Red Wings trail Montreal by eight points with five games to play, and at the end of a playoff push that's felt more like a slow death, Detroit appears to have at last squandered its last opportunity to pull within striking distance of the cut line.

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From a Red Wings perspective, there is no shortage of reasons for Tuesday's loss to sting.  To begin with, there is the macro: (all but certainly) a ninth straight season without qualifying for the playoffs, extending the longest such streak in franchise history and second longest active streak around the NHL.  Then there is the opponent and the biting frustration at being leap-frogged in the Atlantic Division queue by a Canadiens team in the bottoming out stage of rebuilding than Detroit was.

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Then, considering just the game itself, the Red Wings could rightly return to their locker room at the end of the night with an agonizing sense that the evening's game was there to be won, theirs to win.

In the first, Detroit outshot the Habs 23–4 in one of its most dominant periods of the season.  Thanks to a canny Patrick Kane set up for Dylan Larkin at the back door, the Red Wings had a lead, but they managed just the one goal despite the offensive volume.

Montreal evened the score with three and a half minutes to play in the second.  At the end of an extended Canadiens stay in the Detroit end of the rink, Habs defenseman Mike Matheson fired a puck to the net, where Cam Talbot was unable to squeeze it and Cole Caufield won the battle for the rebound, which he tucked home.

Moments later, the Red Wings had a glorious chance to re-take their lead, when an aggressive carom off the end boards left J.T. Compher with a wide open net.  With Montreal defenseman Guhle bearing down, attempting to swat the puck to safety, Compher sailed his shot over the cage, leaving the score tied.

After Detroit had dominated the first and controlled most of the second, the Habs—who'd managed to hold level at 1–1 through two—prevailed in the decisive third period.  That period saw some of Talbot's best saves as a Red Wing, including a brilliant technical stop with his glove to deny Josh Anderson at point blank range, but Montreal outshot its guests 10–4 and scored once to take the lead then twice into an empty net to run away with a 4–1 win.

Not long after Talbot's excellent denial, Anderson scored what would prove the game-winner.  First Brenden Gallagher beat out an icing to win the Canadiens possession deep in the offensive zone and initiating the cycle.  In the battle for the puck behind Talbot's net, Albert Johansson lost his helmet.  By rule, because he was not directly involved in the play (or at least he judged himself not to be, such that he feared playing on would draw a penalty), Johansson had to gather the helmet and return it to his head before playing on.  As he did so, Anderson found himself wide open a pocket ice of just beyond Talbot's crease, and this time he left the goaltender no choice.

The two empty net goals made the final result more lopsided than the game played out, but in truth, Detroit's season was over as soon as it had to chase the game at six-on-five in the first place.  To make up meaningful ground in the wild card race, the Red Wings really needed not just a victory but a regulation victory.

But that distinction proved moot.  Montreal claimed regulation victory, and the Red Wings are left to stare into the precipice of a ninth straight playoff miss after losing what was undeniably the biggest game of the year.  Detroit has five games left.  It can win those and hope.

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Despite a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night, the Ottawa Senators' eight-year playoff drought—the third longest in the NHL—has finally come to an end.

The Senators backed into the postseason, earning their "X" in the standings after the Detroit Red Wings lost 4-1 to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre. The Wings outshot the Habs 23-4 in the first period.

That result means the Senators clinch at least the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Until tonight, the Red Wings were the only current non-playoff team in the East still capable (barely) of catching Ottawa.

While the Senators' three-game win streak was halted, there was one bright spot in Columbus: Fabian Zetterlund scored his first goal as a Senator. Since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline, Zetterlund had no goals and two assists in 15 games.

With the Sens down 2-0 in the second period, the big Swede finally caught a bit of luck. Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins couldn’t control the rebound after a point shot from Claude Giroux, and Zetterlund was able to tuck the puck into an empty net.

That gave the Senators some hope with under four minutes left in the second period, but it was quickly extinguished with just 22 seconds remaining in the middle frame when Mathieu Olivier deflected a shot in off his skate. That seemed to be the backbreaker. 

Olivier, Kent Johnson, and Justin Danforth each registered two points for the Blue Jackets. The shot count was dead even at 35, but Merzlikins outperformed Anton Forsberg on this night.

Thomas Chabot led the Ottawa offence with a goal and an assist in his 509th game with the club. He debuted with the Sens in the 2016-17 season – the year the Sens last went to the playoffs. So Chabot has been through every bit of the losing and frustration of the past eight years. The 28-year-old said you'll rarely ever catch him smiling after a loss, but Tuesday night felt great.

"It definitely does," Chabot told TSN 1200's Gord Wilson. "From top to bottom, I think everybody just took a huge step this year. Everybody did whatever they could every single night to get into the playoffs. And obviously, now that it's confirmed, we've still got some games to play, but I think the entire group is just freaking fired up. We're just excited to get in. We can't wait to go at it."

The Canadiens’ sixth consecutive win had major playoff implications for the Senators, both good and bad. On the one hand, as mentioned, it vaulted the Sens officially into the playoffs, but that wasn't really in doubt – it was almost certainly going to happen shortly, one way or the other.

But the victory also left Montreal just three points behind Ottawa for the top wild-card spot. Things could still change, but based on the current standings, the top wild card team would get the Toronto Maple Leafs in round one. The second wild card team will almost certainly face the Washington Capitals.

The Senators and Canadiens each have only four games remaining in the regular season, and they'll go head-to-head at the Canadian Tire Centre this Friday night.

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