Jim Nill is being as vague as possible when it comes to Tyler Seguin's status.
Prior to Game 5 against the Minnesota Wild on Friday, the Dallas Stars general manager was asked to provide an update on the injured center, who has missed the majority of the series.
The prognosis?
Seguin has a lower-body injury, is considered day to day, and it's not a long terms issue, Nill told Mike Heika of the Dallas News.
The injury that kept Seguin out of the final weeks of the regular season and Game 1 of the first-round series was to his Achilles, but it appears as something else may be hindering his ability to play.
Tyler Seguin just walked out of AAC with not a heavy, but certainly noticeable limp. A band of tape wrapped around his right upper calf.
If the Stars can finish off the Wild on Friday, it'll afford Seguin extra time to get ready for round two, especially if other series around the league go long.
Shortly after the opening faceoff in Friday's Game 5, Flyers forward Brayden Schenn and T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals - two unlikely combatants - dropped the gloves and engaged in attempts at face punching.
The tilt was likely a spillover from Game 4, when Schenn caught Evgeny Kuznetsov with a vicious slash to the back of the legs.
If the ultimate aim is to find out whether a goal is good or not, then the NHL's replay system is working just fine.
That's Gary Bettman's assessment early in the postseason, at least.
Speaking at a meeting with The Associated Press Sports Editors on Friday, the league commissioner addressed the use of the coach's challenge to rule on offsides and goaltender interference on potential scoring plays, arguing for accuracy above all else.
"It starts with, which is more important, to be fast or to get it right?" Bettman asked rhetorically, according to Jesse Spector of The Sporting News. "I know there's been some criticism about, 'Get rid of the whole system! It takes too long!' The fact of the matter is, does it really matter if the skate is this much offside? Well, yeah, it matters.
"Frankly, if we don't get it right, and it's an important or deciding factor in the game, we're going to hear about it."
The major complaint has been the amount of time taken to make a ruling on marginal offsides, the depletion of goal scoring as a result of overturned calls, as well as the size of the screen used to review the play.
The process, Bettman added, remains a work in progress.
"It's a close call sometimes, and sometimes it's a hard call to make," Bettman continued. "Our guys are doing the best that they can to get it right. That's the most important thing. The more we do it, the faster it will get. We added cameras on the goal line for the playoffs. We added cameras in the crossbar. We're constantly trying to move forward with the technology that's available to us."
Suffice it to say the conversation will continue throughout the playoffs and into next season, especially if it affects the outcome of the Stanley Cup Final.
It's shaping up to be the shortest spring in five seasons for the Broadway Blueshirts.
The Pittsburgh Penguins can return the favor from last season Saturday afternoon and end the New York Rangers' playoff bid in similarly swift five-game fashion with a victory on home ice.
Here are three reasons why for the first time in a long while the Rangers don't appear as though they'll sniff a second round:
Laboring Lundqvist
Most pundits would side with New York's Henrik Lundqvist when assessing which team has the advantage in net, even with Marc-Andre Fleury healthy and available for the Penguins.
But through four games in this series, one of the most tested, consistently dominant postseason performers has been outmatched by another team's depth.
Journeyman Jeff Zatkoff and rookie sensation Matt Murray, each with two starts, have conceded seven goals in four games, and stopped pucks at a combined rate .938 clip. Lundqvist, meanwhile, was beaten nine times on 90 shots before being pulled early in the second period of Game 4.
Really, it's unfair to single out Lundqvist, but his save percentage, clinging at .900, is a far cry from his career average under the brightest lights.
Real special
Pittsburgh's special teams were formidable this season, finishing eighth in combined power play and penalty kill. But rarely did they sizzle like this.
The Pens have scored seven times on 19 opportunities against New York's kill, including three in their Game 4 shellacking at Madison Square Garden. What's perhaps more impressive though, is a penalty kill that's allowed one goal on 16 opportunities.
Factor in a shorthanded goal per side and the Penguins hold an 8-2 margin on special teams. What better formula to combat New York's enduring 5-on-5 success (at least in terms of scoring).
Burners
No, it's not as simple as the net difference from Carl Hagelin trading in a blue sweater for black. But the speed in which the Penguins are using to dominate the Rangers was actually a strength of New York's when the teams met last year.
But since Mike Sullivan removed the team's governor - unleashing an inner break-neck tempo - the Penguins have been dominating the opposition, and have overwhelmed a plodding Rangers defense with its pace.
Darryl Sutter doesn't often criticize officials, but with his team on the brink, he's drawing attention to them.
The Los Angeles Kings head coach believes his team should have been on the man advantage more often after losing 3-2 in Game 4 and falling behind 3-1 in the series.
"I know the theme today is: 'San Jose's power play.' I'd say the game for me is, 'How come we didn't have more?'" Sutter told reporters Thursday night, according to Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times.
"We have a good power play too. There's missed calls in the third period. When it's 3-2, there should've been some calls, clearly. There's two hooking, tripping penalties, they've got to call them. I mean, if they're going to call what they did call …
"There (have been) a lot of special teams in this series. They've scored five and we've scored three and a short-handed goal, so they're plus one - but plus-one might've been (the difference) last night, and we might've been playing overtime until 3 this morning if they'd have given us one more. We didn't get the call."
The Sharks converted on five of their 18 power-play chances in the series, while the Kings scored three times in 13 opportunities with the man advantage.
Sutter says he's spoken to the supervisor of officiating for the series every day.
"It's not in a (complaining) mode, or a correction-officer mode," he said. "It's just, 'What'd you think?' or 'Should've that been?'
"We've seen some funny ones this series, if you look at it. Five-on-three they scored, and neither (referee) knew that the other guy was calling the penalty. But it is what it is. It's the first round, and they go from how many officials down to who they feel are the 20 best referees. You know what? Those guys are trying to get another round too, so it's not easy for them."
Game 5 is Friday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The Carolina Hurricanes extended a forward and signed a defenseman with a Hall of Fame pedigree.
The Hurricanes signed Joakim Nordstrom to a two-year extension Friday. The deal is worth $1.25 million next season and $1.3 million in 2017-18.
Carolina also agreed to terms Friday on a one-year, two-way contract with Jake Chelios, the son of legendary blue-liner Chris Chelios. The deal will pay him a rate of $575,000 at the NHL level and $70,000 in the AHL.
Nordstrom scored 10 goals and chipped in 14 assists in 71 games after spending the previous two campaigns with the Chicago Blackhawks, who made him a third-round pick in 2010.
Chelios collected 31 points in 73 games with the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, in 2015-16.
The undrafted defenseman spent the last three seasons bouncing between the ECHL and AHL after spending four years at Michigan State.
The Los Angeles Kings are the latest team to arm their fans with projectile-capable commemorative tokens, having equipped the Staples Center seats with glowing pucks ahead of Game 5 versus the San Jose Sharks.
Glowing puck night at Staples. Nobody from Philadelphia will be allowed in the building. pic.twitter.com/sD5ztYFYrC
As you may recall, select Philadelphia Flyers fans littered the ice with bracelets (also with glow capabilities) handed out to honor late owner Ed Snider.
And unlike the Kings, they weren't facing elimination that night.
Gary Bettman disagrees with Pat Foley's comments about late starts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The NHL commissioner dismissed the Chicago Blackhawks broadcaster's stance while meeting with The Associated Press' sports editors at the league's offices Friday.
"Mr. Foley didn't have his facts straight ... that everybody hates (late starts)," Bettman said, according to Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times. "It was off the mark."
During Game 5 between the Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, Foley - a CSN Chicago play-by-play voice whose feed was being simulcast nationally on NBCSN - lamented the amount of late local start times in the series before being abruptly cut off for a commercial.
"We are still (on) earlier than what all the other sports do, with respects to Mr. Foley," Bettman said Friday.
"I spoke to (Blackhawks president) John McDonough this morning and told him we'll play at midnight if you want," he added. "We are not playing at midnight."
Bettman said the Blackhawks are comfortable with starting at 8:30 p.m. local time, and the league won't discipline Foley because "he doesn't work for us."
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly admitted the later times are "not ideal" for NHL teams, but said the clubs buy in to the goal of showing every game in a given night.
Three of the five games in the Blackhawks-Blues series have had a local start time of 8:42 p.m.
Game 6 will begin just after 7 p.m. Central time in Chicago on Saturday. Puck drop for Game 7 in St. Louis on Monday, if necessary, hasn't been determined.
The New York Islanders announced Thursday that Pulock, who didn't make the trip to Florida, is likely out for the rest the first round with an upper-body injury.
Jack Capuano set his timetable at 1-2 weeks.
"It's a big loss," the coach said, according to Arthur Staple of Newsday. "He's a young guy who was playing real well, he had a couple points, a big goal.
"It's a little more adversity we'll have to battle back from."
Marek Zidlicky, at the opposite end of the career spectrum, draws in.
