Tragedy has struck in rural Canada, as a bus carrying a junior hockey team - the Humboldt Broncos - was struck by a transport truck earlier this evening and has resulted in "multiple fatalities," according to the RCMP.

Exact details on the fatalities and injuries haven't been released.

The bus was carrying the team to a Friday night game against the Nipawin Hawks, another team competing in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, when it was T-boned by a transport truck on a rural highway just north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan.

Three air ambulance helicopters were dispatched to the area, as rescue efforts are ongoing. The RCMP won't confirm the number of causalities until all next of kin are notified, according to Sportsnet's Faizal Khamisa.

Friday's game between the Broncos and Hawks has been canceled.

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With their convincing shutout victory over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins locked down the second spot in the Metropolitan Division, which also secured Pittsburgh home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The win gave the Penguins 100 points on the campaign, the third consecutive season in which Pittsburgh has hit the triple-digit total.

While there's no denying the Pens have had their ups and downs this season, the club still employs two of the very best hockey players on the planet in Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

That duo will be looking to sip from Lord Stanley's mug come June for a third year in a row.

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In the final game of his team's 2017-18 regular season, Pittsburgh Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby recorded a career first.

Friday's win over Ottawa was Crosby's 82nd appearance of the season, marking the only time in his career that he's played every game on the schedule.

His previous career high was 81 games played, first as a rookie in 2005-06 and then again in 2009-10.

Crosby recorded a goal and an assist against the Senators, finishing the season with 29 goals and 60 assists for 89 total points, matching his total recorded in 75 games in 2016-17.

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Evgeni Malkin isn't wishing the Ottawa Senators a happy offseason.

The Pittsburgh Penguins center got into it with Zack Smith on Friday, catching the Senators forward with a two-hand slash and a cross-check after being bumped behind the play.

The incident incited a further melee at the Penguins' bench, and resulted in four minutes in penalties for Malkin.

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Hall of Famer and Montreal Canadiens legend Ken Dryden is calling on NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to get serious about head injuries.

In a piece penned for The Players' Tribune, the former goaltender writes the time for taking action to prevent concussions is now, and Bettman needs to take immediate and decisive action to curb brain trauma incurred during the course of play.

And the solution is not complicated, he argues.

"We need only to penalize all hits to the head, because whether a blow is from a stick, an elbow, a shoulder, or a fist, whether it's done intentionally or accidentally, whether it's legal or illegal, the brain doesn't distinguish."

Dryden adds there would be an adjustment period as players get used to this proposed new normal, but that players and coaches will adapt "almost instantly."

Change is needed to protect players present and future, Dryden adds, and every day that passes without action is a missed opportunity to do the right thing.

"Players will continue to suffer life-changing injuries that they don't need to suffer, and more parents of would-be players will decide their kids will play something else," Dryden writes.

"No hits to the head - no excuses."

The full piece can be read here.

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Being chosen eighth overall isn't the only thing Casey Mittelstadt and Alex Nylander now share, as both Buffalo Sabres rookies got their first career NHL goals Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period.

Check out Nylander's, which was scored less than four minutes after Mittelstadt's:

The last few seasons have been complete write-offs for the Sabres, as the club has finished at or near the bottom on the regular over the last handful of seasons. Allowing the franchise to draft first-round snipers like Mittelstadt and Nylander, two players that should have hockey fans in Buffalo optimistic for what the future holds.

Nylander and Mittelstadt are the first Sabres duo to score their first career goals in the same game since Wayne Primeau and Curtis Brown did it in May of 1995, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

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Adam Gaudette has won the 2018 Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA's top men's hockey player after a standout season at Northeastern.

Gaudette beat out Harvard's Ryan Donato and Denver's Henrik Borgstrom for the honor.

Drafted in the fifth round (149th overall) by the Vancouver Canucks in 2015, Gaudette recorded 30 goals and 30 assists in 38 games for Northeastern this season, leading all players in each category.

He's the first Northeastern player to win the award after leading the team to a win at the Beanpot championship earlier this season.

Gaudette recently signed his entry-level contract with the NHL club, and has yet to record his first point at the pro level through four appearances.

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Imagine heading down to the hockey game, pooling some cash for 50/50 tickets, and walking away with a cool six-figure payout? Well, for Vancouver realtor Derek Kai, that's exactly what happened Thursday night at the Canucks game.

Related: 50/50 jackpot at Canucks game reaches record $1M

In addition to $157,000 that was already in the 50/50 pot from unclaimed prizes from the season, Thursday's jackpot drastically ballooned to over a million bucks due to the capacity crowd on hand at Rogers Arena for the Sedin twins' final home game - which all played into Kai's shock when he learned he won.

"I was stunned and shaking when my girlfriend pointed out the winning number," he told ESPN's Darren Rovell. "I didn't know what to do, so we stepped outside to the concourse."

Kai had pooled money with some friends and put together $500 to buy tickets for the raffle.

"It took a while to go through all our tickets when they announced the numbers," he said.

The take-home amount of $507, 278 will be split among Kai and his two friends, working out to roughly $169,000. Not too bad for a night's work.

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The Washington Capitals will wait until after the Stanley Cup Playoffs before deciding whether to re-sign head coach Barry Trotz, general manager Brian MacLellan confirmed Friday.

With Trotz's contract set to expire at season's end, there have been no contract talks between the two parties, MacLellan told NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

"We wanted to wait to see how the year finished up total, the total year," he said.

In other words, regular-season success is good, but there's much left to be proven by Trotz's Capitals.

The veteran head coach has guided the Capitals to another first-place finish in the Metropolitan Division this season on the heels of two straight Presidents' Trophy wins. Playoff success has continued to elude the franchise, however, and whether or not Washington can finally get over that hump will certainly aid in the decision-making process.

"I think everything plays into it," MacLellan said. "Our focus now is just to win a first series. I think that's what everybody's thinking about."

Trotz has guided the Capitals to a regular-season record of 204-89-34 during his tenure as head coach, but the team has failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs under his watch.

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The final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference could be decided in a play-in game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Florida Panthers, the NHL announced Friday.

Here are the circumstances under which the game will happen, as outlined by the league:

• If at the conclusion of the regular season two teams competing for the final playoff berth in a conference are tied in points, ROW (regulation plus overtime wins), points in their season series (excluding the first home game for the team that has the extra game) and goal differential for the season, a tiebreaking game will be played.
• As it stands, the Flyers (41-26-14, 96 points) currently hold the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, with the Florida Panthers (42-30-8, 92 points) the only team capable of grabbing it away from them.
• The Flyers (81 games played ) and Panthers (80 games played ) are tied in ROW (39), split their season series (after eliminating the odd home game between them), and Philadelphia currently is +3 in goal differential for the season, while Florida is -1.
• Therefore, the teams would play a tiebreaking game if Philadelphia loses its final game of the season by two goals exactly (Saturday vs. Rangers) and Florida wins its final two contests, both in shootouts (Saturday vs. Sabres, Sunday at Bruins).
• An equally weighted draw will be conducted to determine home ice advantage.
• If the score of the game is tied after regulation, Stanley Cup Playoff overtime rules will apply, meaning continuous, sudden-death 20-minute periods until a goal is scored.

It's a long shot, and the Flyers can clinch their spot with a single point Saturday against the Rangers before the Panthers even take to the ice against Buffalo.

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