The New Jersey Devils cruised to a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 5 on Thursday to take a 3-2 series lead over their Metropolitan Division rivals.
Ondrej Palat opened the scoring 39 seconds into the pivotal contest, leading the way for New Jersey to earn its third consecutive victory. Erik Haula scored twice, and Dawson Mercer also found twine in the emphatic win.
Goaltender Akira Schmid made 23 stops to continue an impressive start to his playoff career. Schmid took over the Devils' crease for Vitek Vanecek in Game 3 and only allowed two goals since. He joined Martin Brodeur and Sean Burke as the only goaltenders in New Jersey franchise history to record a playoff shutout.
Although New York didn't manage many shots on target, Schmid's play made a significant impact as the Rangers outchanced the Devils 24-20 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Devils can close out the series Saturday night with a win at Madison Square Garden. A potential Game 7 would be May 1.
New Jersey hasn't advanced past the first round since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2012.
Superstar Kirill Kaprizov is determined to make an impact after an uncharacteristically poor start to the Minnesota Wild's first-round series against the Dallas Stars.
Kaprizov scored in Game 1 but hasn't found the scoresheet since despite averaging more than 23 minutes per contest. He knows it's now or never with the Wild trailing 3-2 in the series.
"Obviously, it's a bit frustrating, but I'm confident this next game I should break through and be able to help out the team and do more on my end," Kaprizov said, according to NHL.com's Tracey Myers.
He added, "I think there's definitely some responsibility on my end to play better. Of course, I feel that. ... But it's not something I want to dwell on and it's not something I want to think about. It's not going to make it better."
Kaprizov was limited to 67 regular-season games due to injury but still led Minnesota with 40 goals and 75 points. He's previously shown he can produce in the postseason, bagging seven goals in the Wild's first-round loss to the St. Louis Blues last season.
"I've got to go out there and I've got to play my game," Kaprizov said. "If I do that, I think it'll turn, and the goals will come."
The Wild led the series 2-1 but have dropped two straight, being outscored 7-2 in the process. They can force a winner-take-all Game 7 with a victory on home ice Friday.
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour announced forward Teuvo Teravainen is out for the foreseeable future after sustaining a broken hand in Tuesday's overtime win over the New York Islanders.
Teravainen was injured on a slash from Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the third period, and will undergo surgery Thursday.
Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov vowed to improve after allowing six goals in Tuesday's 7-3 loss in Game 1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
"I will be better. I played like shit today," Samsonov said, per TSN's Chris Johnston.
The Lightning got to Samsonov early, opening the scoring in the highly-anticipated first-round rematch just 1:18 into the first period thanks to a net-front goal from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Tampa Bay added two more in the opening frame before blowing the game wide open with three successive power-play tallies in the final 5:31 of the second period. Toronto handed the reins to Joseph Woll for the final stanza with the contest out of reach. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame that it's "too early to know" which netminder will start Game 2, according to TSN's Mark Masters.
Samsonov had a strong bounce-back season between the pipes after signing a one-year deal with the Leafs in free agency, posting a 27-10-5 record with a .919 save percentage. However, he now owns a 1-7 career record in the playoffs with a 3.45 goals-against average and .895 clip.
Woll has 12 NHL starts under his belt, none of which came in the playoffs. Toronto is without veteran goaltender Matt Murray, who sustained a concussion late in the regular season.
McDavid was penalized for boarding Anderson back in March but avoided supplemental discipline. Doughty is adamant his squad will use the saga as motivation to make life difficult on the MVP favorite throughout their upcoming playoff rematch.
connor mcdavid takes a two-minute minor for boarding mikey anderson 1:28 into the game. pic.twitter.com/X2pb1ukbyy
"We didn't feel good about it, that's for sure," Doughty said, per TSN. "I mean, (Anderson) was out for a week, week-and-a-half. We lost some games without him ... It's not something we'll forget.
"Like I said earlier, we don't want to be going to the box, so I don't know that we're going to be taking dumb penalties on them or anything like that. But if we get a chance to smack (McDavid), we're going to try to do that."
The Oilers set an NHL record this season with a 32.4% conversion rate on the power play, and McDavid led the league with 71 points with the man advantage. Leon Draisaitl (62) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (53) finished second and third.
The Kings' penalty kill ranked 24th at 75.8%.
Edmonton and Los Angeles finished five points apart in the Pacific Division standings this season. In last year's playoffs, the two sides went seven games in Round 1, with the Oilers prevailing. Game 1 begins Monday.
With the 2022-23 NHL regular season wrapped up, we're focused on awards here at theScore. We submitted our ballots for the real winners, suggested realistic individual hardware the league should introduce, and now, we're going way off the board with our annual superlative honors.
This award had the deepest pool of worthy candidates, leading to the likes of Claude Giroux and Brent Burns not making the cut. Nonetheless, Tkachuk earned the right by finishing the year top-10 in scoring after the biggest trade in recent memory, while Fiala and Gustavsson also impressed with their new teams. Fiala came exactly as advertised, providing much-needed scoring depth in Tinseltown, while Gustavsson took Minnesota's starting gig and ran to a playoff berth by posting a .931 save percentage in 39 appearances.
And the winner is: Tkachuk. He's a legitimate candidate to be an MVP finalist and scored 31 more points than any other Florida skater. Any doubts about his value following the trade from Calgary were erased after he grabbed his new club by the scruff of their necks and carried them to the playoffs.
Here we have an award no one wants to find themselves in the running for. Chiarot's long-term deal with Detroit paid little dividends in its first year, while DeAngelo's offensive production took a dive. He was also a healthy scratch more than once under head coach John Tortorella. Finally, if it weren't for the emergence of Stuart Skinner in the Edmonton goal, Campbell's debut season with the Oilers may have been the runaway winner.
And the winner is: Evidently, the droves of fans and pundits that forecasted Chiarot's four-year, $19-million contract being a problem for Detroit had a point. The rugged blue-liner was a team-worst minus-30 and has underlying numbers that indicate the cause is something much more alarming than bad luck.
Not to be confused with a surprise breakout season, this award highlights players who've carried high expectations throughout their young careers and took the next step into superstardom in 2022-23. Hughes set a Devils single-season record with 99 points, flashing all the brilliance fans expected after he went first overall in 2019. Stutzle became a nightmare for the opposition in his third year and led the burgeoning Senators with 38 goals and 88 points. Last but not least, Heiskanen maintained his excellent defensive standards while exploding for a career-high 73 points, 37 more than his previous best.
And the winner is: Hughes. Nothing against the other candidates, but the Devils phenom staying healthy for most of the year and posting superstar numbers is great for the league and the Devils, who were one of the league's most exciting teams this season.
Connor McDavid should be the unanimous Hart Trophy winner after tearing the league apart for 153 points, but we think these three have a great chance to be MVP finalists. Pastrnak joined McDavid in the 60-goal club and led the most successful regular-season team in NHL history in scoring by 46 points.MacKinnon sparked a sputtering Avalanche team back into the Central Division mix with a career-high 111 points in 71 games, good for the league's third-highest points-per-game clip at 1.56.
And the winner is: Tkachuk. We already mentioned his exploits above, and it carries weight that the Panthers aren't nearly as deep as the Bruins or Avalanche. Tkachuk was the only constant in the Cats' roller-coaster season, and he turned out to be the perfect fit after commandeering his way to Florida last summer. Pastrnak was almost the choice here, but even without all his points, Boston would have won a ton of games on the strength of its goalie duo.
Here we have three players that exceeded expectations this season, and three players we think don't have great odds to repeat in 2023-24. Karlsson and Nugent-Hopkins both eclipsed 100 points for the first time in their lengthy careers, while Morrissey added an offensive element to his game that simply didn't exist over his first seven campaigns.
And the winner is: Morrissey. Karlsson has the background as one of the most prolific offensive defensemen in NHL history, while Nugent-Hopkins is likely to continue sharing a power play with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Morrissey's previous career high in points was 37, leading us to believe this year's output isn't sustainable.
This year's trade deadline was a doozy, and the three names above were a tiny fraction of the players that were dealt. That said, each blockbuster chosen as a finalist here seemingly took forever. Kane kept his heart set on the Rangers while they took on highly complex salary cap gymnastics to make a deal work. Chychrun was finally moved after what felt like years on the market, and Horvat had his fate as Canucks captain sealed nearly two months after rejecting Vancouver's final extension offer.
And the winner is: Chychrun, by a lot. Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong held the star defenseman captive as long as possible and ultimately moved him for a package of three picks - a price many felt was low. The 25-year-old was even held out of the lineup for nearly three full weeks while the deal with Ottawa materialized.
There were dozens of terrific individual outputs across the league this year, but these three did so without taking up much of the spotlight. Point has championship cache, but did anyone happen to notice he scored 51 goals this season? Keller matched Keith Tkachuk's Coyotes record with 86 points and was one of the NHL's most productive players post-All-Star break with 45 points, a total bested by only McDavid, Draisaitl, and MacKinnon. And congrats to you if you bet on Verhaeghe being a top-10 goal-scorer with 42 tallies.
And the winner is: Keller. The Coyotes only ever make headlines for the wrong reasons, but Keller deserved some league-wide attention for his outstanding production on a 27th-place Arizona roster. He also earns some props for having a career year on the heels of a gruesome leg injury sustained late in 2021-22.
The Columbus Blue Jackets fired head coach Brad Larsen after two years at the helm, the team announced Saturday.
Larsen was promoted to bench boss in 2021 following a seven-year spell as an assistant with the organization. Goaltending coach Manny Legace was also let go.
"This season has been extremely disappointing, and the responsibility for that lies with all of us," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a statement. "These decisions were difficult and not made lightly, given our respect for both Brad and Manny as coaches and people. Brad has been part of our organization for more than a decade, and we are extremely thankful for his hard work and many contributions - both on and off the ice - during that time. We wish nothing but the best for Brad and his family in the future."
Larsen took over the Blue Jackets' bench after the club split ways with John Tortorella. It was his first head coaching gig in the NHL. Columbus finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division in Larsen's debut year, then finished 31st in the league standings this year after a slew of injuries dashed the offseason optimism of landing star Johnny Gaudreau on a seven-year contract in free agency.
Under Larsen, the Blue Jackets owned a 62-86-16 record.
Columbus has the second-highest odds (13.5%) of winning May's draft lottery and the right to draft generational talent Connor Bedard, which could sway potential coaching suitors should it come to fruition.
There are now three head coaching vacancies across the NHL. The Anaheim Ducks let go of Dallas Eakins on Friday, while the Washington Capitals parted ways with Peter Laviolette.
A career year across the board won't mean a thing to Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander without some postseason success.
The 26-year-old has set personal bests in goals (39), points (86), shots (504), and average ice time (18:35) in 2022-23 but isn't resting his laurels with the playoffs around the corner.
Toronto is locked into a first-round rematch with the Tampa Bay Lightning beginning next week. The Leafs have qualified for the postseason in each of the past six seasons, and Nylander has been a key contributor despite the team's failure to win a series. He's collected 30 points in 39 playoff games, including a team-leading 15 points over the past two years.
Nylander enters the postseason slumping somewhat by this year's lofty standards. After opening the year with 72 points in 60 games, he's managed only 14 points in 21 contests since. Despite the downtick in production, Nylander thinks his approach has been consistent all season.
"I think it's just mentally," Nylander said of his growth. "Like when you're having a tough game, just trying to grind your way out of that and find something positive to win the game. Whereas maybe in the past it hasn't been as easy for me to get out of those situations like that."
Nylander's final chance to add to his season's totals comes Thursday against the New York Rangers.
Bo Horvat apologized for ruffling the feathers of his former team's fan base with his postgame comments on Saturday.
Horvat raised eyebrows when he said the excitement of participating in the New York Islanders' push for the playoffs was "a lot better than Vancouver."
"I wasn't obviously expecting that," the former Canuck said Monday, per The Athletic's Kevin Kurz. "It was kind of a heat of the moment thing. I didn't mean any disrespect to the fans of Vancouver or my teammates or (the) city of Vancouver at all. It wasn't directed at them at all. The (Islanders) fans were all excited, and I was excited to be in a playoff push. It was just kind of one of those things where my emotions got the best of me.
"I was just really happy to be there, to be honest with you. It might have come out the wrong way to a lot of people so I apologize for that. I'm just excited to be in the position right now, to be in a playoff push, to be right there. I really enjoyed my time in Vancouver; I'm not trying to disrespect them at all. I'm sorry if it offended anybody but I'm really happy to be in this position right now."
The Canucks traded Horvat to the Islanders in January after nine seasons - including three-plus as captain - with Vancouver. He signed an eight-year, $68-million extension with New York shortly after being dealt.
The Canucks were 27th in the NHL with a 20-26-3 record when they moved Horvat. The club also replaced former head coach Bruce Boudreau with Rick Tocchet roughly a week before shipping out their former captain. Since Tocchet was brought in, Vancouver is the sixth-best team in the Western Conference at 18-11-4. Despite the positive turnaround, the Canucks have already been eliminated from postseason contention for the third consecutive season.
Horvat has registered 15 points in 28 games since arriving on Long Island, a stark decline in production from the 31 goals and 23 assists he put up in 49 games this season with the Canucks.
The Islanders hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 91 points through 80 games. They're tied in points with the Florida Panthers, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are one back entering the final week of the regular season.
Finding the scoresheet in historic fashion isn't the only thing Connor McDavid feels he's excelled at in his eighth NHL season.
The Edmonton Oilers captain said he feels much more comfortable using his influence as the face of the NHL now than when he entered the league as one of the most highly regarded prospects ever.
"(Being guarded), it worked, it got me through that time," McDavid told NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. "Now, like I said, I'm 26 years old, I've been around the league a long time, and I feel more comfortable just being me.
"I think the other thing for me was I cared a lot about what the older guys thought about me. β¦ I feel like I'm in a place now where I have a little bit more respect in the game and can maybe speak (my) mind a little more freely."
Despite racking up awards and accolades throughout his entire career, McDavid has never been regarded as outspoken. In recent weeks, he's shared his desire for the NHL to organize a best-on-best international tournament and stressed the Oilers' support of the "Hockey is for Everyone" campaign amid Pride jersey controversies across the league.
"I understand my position in the game and that my voice carries some weight, so with that, what I talk about and when I talk about it is a little bit more strategic," McDavid said. "I put a little more thought into some things. And with that being said, the league has always been super, super open with me. They've always wanted to have conversations with me, and the players' association the same thing.
"So I feel very lucky to be in that position. I know not every guy gets that type of treatment, so if you do, you'll feel very lucky that way."
The Oilers drafted McDavid first overall in 2015 and made him the youngest captain in league history prior to his second season. He racked up 848 points in 567 games and is widely expected to claim his third Hart Trophy after notching the league's first 150-plus point season since 1995-96.
