Credit the Montreal Canadiens with a win despite not advancing to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year.
On the morning after the Boston Bruins were eliminated by Tampa Bay, the team's Twitter account posted a public service announcement regrading the dangers of licking golf balls.
Sans nommer personne, on rappelle qu'il est déconseillé de licher sur un terrain de golf également.
Without naming names, just a reminder that licking is frowned upon on the golf course as well.https://t.co/UOYGLsr013
This after Bruins winger Brad Marchand was told to stop licking the opposition, and will now have plenty of time to think about his actions during a long offseason.
As NHL teams are eliminated from Stanley Cup contention, theScore NHL freelance writer Katie Brown looks back at the highs and lows of their seasons, along with the biggest questions ahead of 2018-19. The 22nd edition focuses on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Good
Panarin, Dubois, and Atkinson. Artemi Panarin scored a franchise-record and career-high 82 points in his first season with the club. He also reached a career-high 55 assists playing alongside 2016 third overall draft pick Pierre-Luc Dubois, a big skilled center who scored 48 points in his rookie NHL season. Cam Atkinson was held back by several injuries early in the year and missed a month of action with a foot fracture but found his groove in the later part of the season. He scored 18 goals and 15 assists in 33 games, mostly while playing with Dubois and Panarin.
Trade deadline acquisitions. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen worked some magic at the trade deadline and acquired three players that fit almost perfectly with the existing roster: Mark Letestu, Thomas Vanek, and Ian Cole. Letestu meshed well on the fourth line in a shutdown type role, Vanek meshed well with linemate Boone Jenner, and Cole found instant chemistry with defensive partner David Savard; the two bearded men were even dubbed the "Lumberjackets" by Blue Jackets fans.
Jones and Werenski. Seth Jones, 23, and Zach Werenski, 20, make up one of the best young defense pairs in the NHL; they've played more than 2,000 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey alongside one another. The two set franchise records for goals by defensemen (16), a milestone Jones reached first. Jones had the best season of his career and recorded 57 points. Werenski's 37 points were 10 fewer than his highest, but his 16 goals were a career best.
The Bad
Top players disappeared. As good as Panarin, Atkinson, and Dubois were during the regular season, they struggled in the postseason. Panarin scored the overtime winner in Game 1 and recorded seven points in the first three games of the first-round series against the Washington Capitals. He had no points in the last three games, however. Atkinson followed a similar trajectory - two goals and four points in the first three games, then nothing in the last three. Dubois scored in Game 3 and was silent until a late goal in Game 6.
Losing Wennberg. Injured by a hit from Washington forward Tom Wilson in Game 1 of the first round, No. 2 center Alexander Wennberg missed three games. His absence impacted the Blue Jackets hard, who were forced to make lineup adjustments - Nick Foligno was moved up to the second line, Dubinsky taken off the wing and moved to the third line, and Letestu centering the fourth line. With Wennberg, Columbus could normally roll three scoring lines, but without him, no one could seem to get anything going. He was also missed on the power play, which dried up after Game 2. He returned in Game 6, but by then, it was too late. Washington won four straight games and won the series in six after going down 0-2.
Special teams. Going into the series it was easy to see the Blue Jackets were a little outmatched by the Capitals in special teams, especially on the power play. Washington had 27 power plays in the first round (the most of any team) and scored nine goals with an extra man. Columbus went 4-for-24 on the power play but all four of those goals were scored in the first two games of the series. After that they were 0-for-16 the rest of the series. The Blue Jackets not only gave the Capitals too many opportunities on the man advantage, but they failed to convert on their own power play when given the chance.
The Questions
Which UFAs to re-sign? Cole was acquired as a rental, but there's a possibility he could be offered a contract as an upcoming UFA. With Jack Johnson almost certainly not coming back, there will be room to make that happen. Letestu could also be brought back on a one-year deal. Jenner, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Ryan Murray will likely re-sign, while the futures of Matt Calvert and Vanek are a little more up in the air. Of the two, Vanek seems the most likely candidate to end up on the market.
Will Panarin or Bobrovsky sign an extension? The expiring contract was undoubtedly a factor in the Chicago Blackhawks' decision to move Panarin, and now it's going to be something Columbus has to deal with. Panarin says he's happy in Columbus and is setting franchise records as its top player. It's hard to think of reasons why he wouldn't remain in Columbus on a big-time long-term deal. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is entering the last year of his contract as well and Kekalainen will have to decide if he's better than anyone available in free agency. Bobrovsky has won two Vezinas and is still in his prime, but will Kekalainen want to give him a long-term contract?
Where are upgrades needed? If there's any lesson to be learned by the hardship of losing Wennberg for most of the first round, it might be that it would be wise to go after a center in free agency or through a trade. You can never have too many centers, they say, but Kekalainen could opt to stand pat. It might be more likely that Dubinsky will be expected to have a better season next year, and the continued development and improvement of Wennberg and Dubois will be counted on as well.
Four times under coach Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh Penguins have gone into an elimination game in the playoffs. They have won each en route to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.
On Monday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, the Washington Capitals will try to end the Penguins' run with a win in Game 6 of a second-round series. Washington, after winning 6-3 in Game 5, leads the series 3-2 and can advance to the Eastern Conference final with a win.
The Capitals are 1-9 all time in postseason series against Pittsburgh, with two of the losses coming the past two years, so they have a sense of needing to get past the Penguins' roadblock.
"It's not over yet," Capitals winger Brett Connolly said. "They're a good team. We know that. (Game 5 Saturday was) obviously a big win. We just need to find a way this year. We need to find a way to get that last win no matter what it takes."
The Penguins will need to win not only Monday but also Wednesday in a potential Game 7 at Washington if they are to have a chance to win a third Cup in a row.
Even with that cushion, the Capitals are taking a conservative approach.
"I can tell you how I feel if there's four wins," goaltender Braden Holtby said. "Where it's at right now doesn't matter at all. All that matters is the next game. That's got to be our mindset if we want to have success and take a mature approach to it."
Pittsburgh can draw on those four elimination games it won in its recent Cup runs for experience. One of those games was a 2-0 victory in Game 7 against Washington last year, also in the second round.
"We've done it before," Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. "We know we've got it in this group. We're going back home. We've been good at home all year. We win one game there, come back (to Washington) and play a Game 7. That's nothing new to us, nothing we're afraid of. We've just got to bring our best effort again in Game 6."
Sullivan said the Penguins have another intangible.
"It comes down to character and the people we have in our dressing room," he said.
Washington's win in Game 5 might have had a couple of caveats, possible injuries to defenseman John Carlson and center Nicklas Backstrom, although coach Barry Trotz said both were expected to travel to Pittsburgh and should be available.
The Capitals already are without wingers Andre Burakovsky (injury) and Tom Wilson (suspension). Wilson would be eligible to return for a Game 7.
Pittsburgh came away from its loss Saturday -- in which Washington scored two empty-net goals -- feeling pretty good about everything but the final score.
"I liked our effort," winger Patric Hornqvist said. "I liked our attitude and all that. We just have to clean up our mistakes, and we'll be fine."
That is a popular belief among the Penguins.
"Everybody understands the situation," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. "It brings out everyone's best. You don't have anything to save it for, so you go out there with one focus, and that's win a hockey game and get to a Game 7. That's our mindset here.
"We have a lot of good things to build off. We just need to make sure we keep going, keep playing the same way."
When the series is on the line, you can count on Marc-Andre Fleury to have a big game.
With his 28-save shutout in Game 6 of the Vegas Golden Knights' second-round series against the San Jose Sharks, Fleury earned his fourth career shutout in series-clinching games, the second-most among any goaltender in NHL history, and just one shy of the all-time leader, Chris Osgood.
Fleury's fourth shutout of the playoffs now stands as the sixth-most in a single playoff run, one shy of tying Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Nikolai Khabibulin for the third-most. Meanwhile, it also gives him 14 career playoff shutouts, good enough for sixth all time.
The 33-year-old now boasts a league-best .951 save percentage and a 1.53 goals-against average.
After recording three goals and an assist in the Sharks' opening-round series against the Anaheim Ducks, Kane scored just one goal in six games against the Vegas Golden Knights, going pointless in the final three contests as San Jose was eliminated.
The 26-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and is sure to be a hot commodity after a 54-point regular season.
The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings debated that issue in a Twitter feud just minutes after Vegas punched its ticket to the Western Conference Final on Sunday.
The back-and-fourth tweets began when the Kings reminded the Sharks about a tweet sent during Game 2 of the second-round series, in which San Jose's account mocked Los Angeles' lack of scoring against Vegas in the first round:
TFW you score as many goals in one period as the Kings did in their entire series. pic.twitter.com/oEKkf1tpH0
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the expansion Vegas Golden Knights are headed to the Western Conference Final in their inaugural season after beating the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 of their second-round series Sunday.
Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring, Nate Schmidt added an insurance goal that was only detectable by replay and Cody Eakin sealed it with an empty-netter to help Vegas become just the third team in NHL history to win multiple series in its first season.
The Toronto Arenas won the Stanley Cup in the first postseason in league history in 1918 and St. Louis won two rounds to win the all-expansion West Division in 1968.
The Golden Knights relied on a crew of castoffs, led by a goalie who was part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh before headlining a new team. Fleury posted shutouts in Games 1 and 6 against the Sharks and was also spectacular in an overtime win in Game 3.
Next up for Fleury and Vegas will be the Western Conference Final against either Winnipeg or Nashville. The Jets lead that series 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Monday night.
The Sharks had numerous opportunities all night but were thwarted by a couple of shots that hit the iron, some acrobatic saves from Fleury and other chances that trickled just wide. This marked the fourth straight postseason for the Sharks that ended with a loss on home ice.
The Golden Knights took control of this game with some good fortune in the second period. It started when usually reliable Marc-Edouard Vlasic turned the puck over in his own zone. Reilly Smith took control near the blue line and found Marchessault alone in front for a goal that trickled between Martin Jones' pads.
Vegas nearly added to the lead when Smith had a shot at open net that San Jose forward Chris Tierney blocked from the crease. But Fleury made sure the Sharks couldn't capitalize on that momentum when he stopped Tomas Hertl.
The Golden Knights then added to the lead after an icing by Brent Burns led to an offensive zone faceoff. David Perron beat Tierney on the draw and Schmidt took a shot that appeared to deflect off the post and out.
Play went on for 25 more seconds before the buzzer rang, with the situation room in Toronto calling for a video review. That quickly showed that the puck bounced off the post, off a piece equipment inside the net and out.
Vegas then had a delayed celebration for the goal that made it 2-0.
The Golden Knights then smothered the Sharks for most of the third period with Fleury getting some help again when Burns' point shot hit the post with about six minutes left. Fleury then rubbed the post in appreciation at the next stoppage.
The Sharks came out fast with Hertl drawing an early penalty and the team generating numerous chances. But none of those opportunities could beat Fleury, who got some fortunate bounces to go his way.
Hertl hit the crossbar on a partial breakaway and Logan Couture whiffed on a rebound attempt with an open net. Evander Kane had a deflection hit the cross bar in final minute of the period. He raised his hands in celebration, thinking he had scored, and that might have cost him a chance at knocking in a rebound.
San Jose had a handful of other deflections that Fleury was either able to stop with an acrobatic move or trickled just wide as the teams played just their second scoreless first period of the series.
NOTES: Jones made 30 saves. ... Vegas F William Carrier was scratched with a lower-body injury and replaced by Ryan Reaves, who played his first game this postseason.
Brayden Point doesn't appear to be intimidated in just his first NHL postseason.
The Tampa Bay Lightning forward has thrived in his sophomore campaign, and as a result of his playoff performance, garnered incredible praise from head coach Jon Cooper after Game 5 on Sunday.
"In my opinion, he was the best player in the series," Cooper said, according to Joe Smith of The Athletic.
Point tallied three goals and seven points in the series win over the Boston Bruins, which was highlighted by a four-point effort in Game 2.
"I think Pointer’s line, the way they responded after that first game, was pretty inspiring to us as a team," captain Steven Stamkos said.
In all, the 22-year-old has now tallied four goals and 10 points in 10 playoff games, numbers the team will hope he can build off as the club awaits the winner between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals.
