With the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the books, theScore counts down the top players of the postseason so far in all three positional groups. Players on eliminated teams are eligible for this list, as these rankings are explicitly based on cumulative performances from the first three rounds.

Forwards | Defensemen | Goaltenders

5. Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

MacKinnon might seem like a surprise inclusion here because he didn't play in the semifinal round. But he's still tied for second in playoff goals and tied for fifth in postseason points entering the Stanley Cup Final. The Avalanche superstar also ranks second among qualified forwards (who played more than six games) in points per contest in the playoffs, illustrating just how dominant he was despite Colorado's second-round exit.

Games played aside, MacKinnon averaged more ice time than anyone else on this list. In addition to scoring nearly a goal per game during his shorter stint, the 2021 Hart Trophy finalist and perennial candidate is still tied for second in even-strength goals (six) in these playoffs. He's also tied for fourth in even-strength points.

All of this is remarkable considering most of his counterparts have gone one round further in the playoffs. Alex Killorn and William Karlsson narrowly edged out MacKinnon in points through the semis, but both required nearly twice as many games to do so.

4. Tyler Toffoli, Montreal Canadiens

Toffoli has been a perfect fit with the Canadiens, and the skilled forward's regular-season success has carried over into the playoffs. Toffoli leads all Montreal skaters in points heading into the Cup Final and is tied for the team lead in goals.

The former Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks winger notched a goal and three assists in six games against the Golden Knights in the semifinal round after collecting two markers - both game-winners - and three helpers in the Canadiens' sweep of the Winnipeg Jets.

Toffoli has always driven possession well, and that trend has continued in these playoffs. Without his contributions, Montreal would be depending even more on Carey Price's heroics.

3. Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

It's been a productive postseason for Stamkos, the Lightning captain who missed all but one of the defending champions' playoff games last year due to injury.

Stamkos' ice time has noticeably declined compared to his regular-season workload, but he's made the most of his more limited opportunities. Most impressively, Tampa Bay has a larger share of the goals scored at five-on-five with Stamkos on the ice than it does with either of his two teammates who rank above him here.

The 13-year veteran enters the Cup Final tied for third in playoff points in 2021. Stamkos also won 53.4% of the 163 faceoffs he took during the first three rounds, proving the steady center's value extends beyond the scoresheet.

2. Nikita Kucherov, Lightning

Kucherov leads the NHL in postseason points this year, and his excellence is especially impressive considering he missed the entire regular season.

The 2018-19 Hart Trophy winner is driving possession at five-on-five and logging a considerable amount of ice time for someone who had such a long layoff, even if his status as the Lightning's most dangerous catalyst demands it.

Though Kucherov has contributed to more playoff goals than anyone else in 2021 entering the championship round, he's scored only a handful of his own and only one of those came at even strength. Kucherov is a force on the power play but hasn't been as effective in more difficult situations while averaging nearly a minute less on the ice than a certain linemate who tops our list.

1. Brayden Point, Lightning

Scoring is the object of the game, and while Kucherov's offensive output has primarily consisted of assists, Point leads all playoff skaters in goals by six through three rounds. Only half of the latter star's markers entering the final round were of the power-play variety, a far more impressive feat than Kucherov's four goals with the man advantage out of five in total.

Point went on an absolute tear in the second and third rounds. He scored in nine straight games, tallying in the Lightning's final three contests against the Carolina Hurricanes before doing so in each of the first six games against the New York Islanders.

He's also buried three game-winners this postseason - tying him for the league lead - while Kucherov hasn't scored any. They were largely legit winners, too, as two of the three games in question were decided by Point's markers and the other was a two-goal victory.

(Analytics source: Natural Stat Trick)

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The Chicago Blackhawks' management group held a meeting during the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Playoffs to discuss players' accusations about video coach Bradley Aldrich sexually assaulting them.

Former Blackhawks associate coach John Torchetti confirmed the events to TSN's Rick Westhead on Friday, while adding the team chose not to take further action.

Torchetti - who was the club's second-highest-ranking coach from 2007-2010 - revealed the players informed then-skills coach Paul Vincent, who went to management to tell the executives what the players said Aldrich had done.

Vincent said two of Chicago's players told him Aldrich had abused them around the time of Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on May 16, 2010. One day after Vincent asked team sports psychologist James Gary to discuss the matter, the two men met with team president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, and vice-president of hockey operations Al MacIssac. Vincent wanted them to take the allegations to the Chicago Police Department's sex crimes unit, but they declined.

In May, an unnamed former Blackhawks player sued the organization, claiming Aldrich sexually assaulted him and a teammate. The player said he mentioned it to a team-employed sports psychologist, who told him it had been his own fault.

In early June, a former high school hockey player in Michigan also sued the franchise, claiming Aldrich sexually assaulted him in 2013. The former high school player said the team gave Aldrich a positive job reference letter despite knowing Chicago players had accused the video coach of committing sexual assault, according to Westhead.

That former player added that the club's letter had allowed Aldrich to get the job at the high school where the former player said the video coach assaulted him.

On Friday, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic's Mark Lazerus, Katie Strang, and Scott Powers the league had talked to Chicago about the matter but was not investigating the team.

Aldrich is no longer in the Blackhawks organization.

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The NHL's 2021 playoff points leader isn't missing Game 7.

Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov is suiting up for the decisive contest of the Stanley Cup semifinal series against the New York Islanders on Friday night.

Kucherov took part in the pregame warmup alongside Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith.

The Russian dynamo left Game 6 not long after Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield cross-checked him early in the first period. Kucherov finished his shift but then exited the contest and didn't return.

Mayfield wasn't penalized on the play, and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos later said the Islanders blue-liner was "probably a guy looking for a cheap shot there."

Kucherov entered Game 7 sitting atop the league leaderboards in both assists (22) and points (27) for this postseason.

The Lightning also got defenseman Erik Cernak back Friday night. He'd missed the last two contests.

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Marc-Andre Fleury's gaffe has at least temporarily cost him his job.

Robin Lehner is the Vegas Golden Knights' starting goaltender for Game 4 of their Stanley Cup semifinal series against the Montreal Canadiens, reports ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer informed Lehner and Fleury of the decision Saturday, adds Kaplan.

DeBoer wouldn't confirm his starter when asked about it after Sunday's morning skate. Lehner was the first Golden Knights puck-stopper off the ice at the session, and that generally determines who gets the nod.

It will be Lehner's first appearance in these playoffs in exactly three weeks and only his second of 2021. The Swede surrendered seven goals on 37 shots in a 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their second-round matchup.

Fleury had been mostly stellar in this postseason, but his giveaway in Game 3 against the Canadiens allowed Montreal to tie that contest in the final minutes and then win it in overtime.

The 36-year-old, who's a 2021 Vezina Trophy finalist, also outperformed Lehner during the regular season, though the soon-to-be 30-year-old goalie played only 19 games due to a concussion.

Lehner started every contest for Vegas during the 2019-20 playoffs but has suited up for only four games in the last 50 days.

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET in Montreal.

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Vegas Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer wouldn't reveal his starting goaltender for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup semifinal series against the Montreal Canadiens when asked about it Sunday.

"Not a chance I'm confirming that," DeBoer said after the Golden Knights' morning skate, according to NHL.com's Danny Webster.

Robin Lehner was the first netminder off the ice for Vegas at Sunday's session, according to Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas. Lehner hasn't played since allowing seven goals on 37 shots in a 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of his team's second-round matchup on May 30. That's his lone appearance in these playoffs.

Marc-Andre Fleury started the other 15 games, posting nine wins and a .921 save percentage in those contests. However, his misplay of the puck late in Game 3 against the Canadiens on Friday allowed Josh Anderson to tie it with under two minutes left in regulation.

Montreal ultimately prevailed in overtime, and DeBoer said afterward, "there's no doubt" Fleury's gaffe affected his team in the extra frame.

A concussion limited Lehner to 19 regular-season games this year, but he produced a .913 save percentage and 2.5 goals saved above average in 2021 prior to the postseason. The Swedish puck-stopper, along with Fleury, helped the Golden Knights win the Jennings Trophy this year as the tandem with the fewest goals against in the NHL.

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Rick Tocchet is on the Seattle Kraken's shortlist for their head coaching vacancy.

The former Arizona Coyotes bench boss is a finalist to become Seattle's first-ever head coach, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on "Saturday Headlines."

Last month, it was reported that Tocchet had interviews lined up with both the Kraken and New York Rangers, who ultimately hired Gerard Gallant earlier this week.

Tocchet and the Coyotes parted ways on May 9. The 57-year-old's contract expired on June 30.

The former NHL forward guided Arizona for four seasons, posting a 125-131-34 record and helping the club reach the postseason in 2019-20 for the first time since 2011-12.

Tocchet won back-to-back championships as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 before the Coyotes hired him. He was the Tampa Bay Lightning's head coach for parts of two seasons from 2008 to 2010.

The Ontario-born former winger played 18 years in the league before joining the coaching ranks. He amassed 440 goals and 512 assists in 1,144 games with six teams.

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The Vegas Golden Knights understand that their ineptitude with the man advantage is the primary reason they trail their Stanley Cup semifinal series 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens.

"There are a lot of problems (on the power play), I don't think you can just pinpoint one," said Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith after Montreal defeated Vegas 3-2 in overtime Friday.

"(Our) breakouts have been bad. We're not doing a good job handling pressure. We're not releasing the puck very well, and we're not doing a good job crashing the net and picking up rebounds. So, there are a lot of things we have to get better at, and it's costing us the series right now."

Vegas went 0-for-4 on the power play in Game 3 and lost - largely thanks to Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's late gaffe - despite dominating the Canadiens at five-on-five.

The Pacific Division club outshot their North Division counterparts 45-27 in the game. Vegas also outplayed Montreal in terms of scoring chances for percentage (59.18 to 40.82) and expected goals for percentage (53.88 to 46.12) at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"Our five-on-five play was excellent tonight," said forward Mark Stone. "We controlled the majority of the game and had tons of scoring chances, but in a game like this, your power play needs to step up for you.

"The last two games, our power play has had to step up, and we haven't even gotten us any momentum. ... It's about time as a group we take a little bit more pride in playing on the power play. (We need to) take that five-on-five mindset to the power play."

Vegas has a league-low 10.5% success rate with the man advantage in this postseason, scoring just four times in 38 opportunities. Over the last 30 years, no team has won the Stanley Cup with a rate under 11%, and no champion has ever had the lowest percentage of any club in the playoffs, according to The Athletic's Jesse Granger.

Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday in Montreal at 8 p.m. ET.

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Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme is isolating at home due to "irregularities" in his COVID-19 testing, the club announced Friday, according to TSN's John Lu.

Ducharme will undergo more tests during the day.

The team confirmed Friday that Ducharme has been vaccinated twice, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels. The 48-year-old received his second dose June 9 along with the rest of the Canadiens who chose to get it.

Montreal named Ducharme the club's interim head coach upon firing Claude Julien in February. The Canadiens went 15-16-7 after Ducharme took the reins, finishing fourth in the North Division. They then upset the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games during the first round of the playoffs before sweeping the Winnipeg Jets.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup semifinal between the Canadiens and the Vegas Golden Knights is scheduled for Friday night. The series is tied 1-1.

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The Arizona Coyotes inked Liam Kirk to a three-year, entry-level contract Friday, agent Dan Milstein confirmed.

On Tuesday, it was reported the Coyotes gave permission for other clubs to talk to Kirk. Arizona had his rights for one more season before signing him.

The 21-year-old forward scored seven times in as many games for Great Britain to tie for the goal-scoring lead at the recently concluded World Championship in Latvia.

Kirk became the first British-trained player to be drafted by an NHL team when the Coyotes selected him in the seventh round in 2018.

He played two seasons with the OHL's Peterborough Petes after starting his career with the Sheffield Steelers in England. When the OHL canceled its 2021 campaign, he returned to Europe, collecting five goals and as many assists in 12 games with Hanhals at Sweden's third-tier pro level. Kirk then reunited with the Steelers, posting 10 markers and as many helpers in 14 contests to wrap up the season.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs inked Jason Spezza to a one-year contract extension worth $750,000, the club announced Wednesday.

Spezza will earn the new league minimum next season after collecting the lowest-possible NHL salary for the last two campaigns.

The veteran forward, who turned 38 on Sunday, produced 10 goals and 20 assists in 54 regular-season games with the Maple Leafs in 2021 before excelling in the playoffs with three markers and two helpers in seven contests.

Spezza has played his last two campaigns with the Leafs. He has proven to be a perfect fit with the club in a bottom-six role. The Toronto-born player first signed with his hometown squad as a free agent in July 2019 after spending five seasons with the Dallas Stars.

He suited up for his first 11 campaigns with the Ottawa Senators, who drafted him second overall in 2001.

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