The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled goaltender Spencer Martin from the Chicago Wolves, it was announced Tuesday.
Martin joins the Hurricanes as goaltender Frederik Andersen deals with an injury.
A product of Oakville, Ont., Martin is in his first full season in the Hurricanes organization, having split time between the NHL and AHL this year. In nine NHL appearances, he went 3-4-1 along with a 3.89 GAA and a .846 SP. Over 31 AHL games, Martin posted much better numbers, collecting a record of 20-8-2 as well as a 2.34 GAA and a .909 SP.
Martin also appeared in two playoff games with the Wolves, going 0-2 while posting a 2.78 GAA and a .900 SP, with the team ending their season after being swept by the Rockford IceHogs.
Drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft, Martin has made 66 career NHL regular season appearances with the Avalanche, Hurricanes, the Vancouver Canucks and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
With Martin being recalled to the NHL, he will likely serve as Pyotr Kochetkov's backup until Andersen is ready to return to the team. Having been listed as day to day, Andersen should be back soon but until then Martin adds a safety net for the team.
As Ottawa Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot fired a shot from the point in the second period of Game 5, Anthony Stolarz did his best to track the puck. But he couldn't see anything until it was too late.
"That's playoff hockey right there," the goaltender said, following Toronto's 4-0 loss that forces a Game 6 in Ottawa.
Indeed, Stolarz is correct. The playoffs are all about goals within the crease and through screens. Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tuesday night didn't go their way in that area, with the Senators making life difficult in front of Stolarz.
On Chabot's goal specifically, you could argue that Claude Giroux interfered with Mitch Marner, who was en route to the point to block the shot. Marner not arriving in time allowed the Ottawa defenseman more time to pick his spot, and the rest is history.
"I’m just trying to get to the point. Kind of tough," Marner said of the play.
The 31-year-old's save percentage is currently in free-fall, going from a .926 through the first three games of the series, to an .842 through Toronto's last two games. Five of Ottawa's 14 goals have come off of point shots.
Following the game, though, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube listed several reasons for the Senators' success from the point. He didn't blame Stolarz, but said that the players in front of him can do more.
"I thought that shot tonight, he couldn't see it. So, first of all, we could do a better job off that faceoff," Berube said. "We've got to have a block there, or we've got to have guys clearing out in front of the net so we can see the puck. One of the two."
If you were looking for Joseph Woll to enter the series in Game 6, this quote pretty much shuts that narrative down.
Berube is still confident in Stolarz. The coach alluded to it before Game 5, saying he's only focused on Stolarz playing. "I don’t think there’s any reason to change right now," he said.
For the most part, Stolarz hasn't allowed many egregious goals (aside from his first of the series). His save percentage has dipped significantly over the last two games, but Toronto has also limited Ottawa to 38 shots in that span.
When Toronto needed a save, though, Stolarz gave it to them.
The Senators are doing what the Maple Leafs did well at the beginning of the series: making life difficult on the goaltender. Following Tuesday's loss, several Maple Leafs players said they will get more bodies in front of Linus Ullmark in Game 6.
"I thought at times and stretches throughout the game, could’ve done a better job getting more guys to the net and making it a little bit tougher on him," Auston Matthews said Tuesday night.
"This time of year, it’s greasy goals. It’s not the prettiest of things, so that’s the way you got to approach it."
If the Maple Leafs want to exit the Battle of Ontario victorious, they'll need to do the work which gave them the 3-0 series lead in the first place.
Simon Benoit made headlines for setting up Max Domi, who scored in overtime in Game 2. That goal came with tons of bodies in front of Ullmark. As did Benoit's overtime-winner in Ottawa a few nights later in Game 3.
Toronto will attempt to rewrite the narrative on Thursday with Game 6, and it appears they'll be doing so with Stolarz behind them in the net.
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If doubt has started to creep into the minds of the Maple Leafs after blowing a second chance at advancing to the second round, then the opposite is occurring with Ottawa Senators following a 4-0 win in Game 5.
They are starting to believe.
It wasn’t long ago that the Senators were down 0-3 in what had been a mostly one-sided Bludgeoning of Ontario. Now, after back-to-back wins with their season on the line, they are one win away from forcing a Game 7.
“I’ve always said, you’re never out of it,” said Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. “And for us tonight, it was nothing other than winning Game 5. There was no other thought about any other games in the series.”
It was after being down 0-3 when Tkachuk said the series was far from over. Teams had come back after being down 0-3, he said. He even brought up the Boston Red Sox's 2004 comeback against the New York Yankees as proof.
"It's been done before," he said, "and I believe that it can happen again."
Maybe it is because the Leafs have a history of choking. Or that the Senators are finally getting bounces — and the saves — that they weren't getting in the first three games.
Either way you look at it, the pressure is no longer on Ottawa. Suddenly, it's shifted to Toronto.
“Whenever you lose two in a row, it’s not a good feeling,” said Tkachuk, who had a goal and assist in Game 5. “We lost three and it’s a shitty feeling.”
The Senators, meanwhile, have momentum on their side. And really nothing to lose. Whether they force a Game 7 or lose in Game 6, they’ve made a series out of what looked like it was going to be sweep.
“It can change fast,” Senators coach Travis Green said of the momentum swings of the series. “You can feel great about yourself; feel shitty about yourself as well.”
That pretty much describes how the Leafs must be feeling these days.
They did not want this series to be going to Game 6. Had their once-scorching power play not gone stone cold, this would have already been over.
But now, with Game 6 back in Ottawa, all bets are off.
"Well, I expect pure insanity, that’s for sure," said Tkachuk. "Our mindset right now is that these are do-or-die games."
After a day off on Monday, the Montreal Canadiens were back at practice on Tuesday in readiness for Wednesday night’s game five against the Washington Capitals. Patrik Laine was back at practice wearing a regular jersey, indicating he might be nearing a return to play. When Martin St-Louis spoke to the press after the skate, he said Laine was still considered day-to-day but would be travelling to Washington, just like Alexander Carrier, who is also day-to-day. However, the bench boss wasn’t sure if Samuel Montembeault would make the trip.
The Canadiens did not call up anyone from the Laval Rocket, so if Alexandre Carrier is not ready to go, Jayden Struble will reintegrate the lineup. Given how shaken up he looked after the Tom Wilson hit, I would be shocked to see Carrier play.
The uncertainty about Montembeault making the trip kind of settles the question of who will likely start for the Canadiens. Jakub Dobes should be back in the net for a second consecutive game. The youngster surrendered three goals on 24 shots on Sunday night, ending his day at the office with a .875 save percentage, and looked good aside from a costly hesitation on the game's first goal.
As for the Capitals, it’s clear that Logan Thompson will once again be in the net, since he led his team to the first three wins against the Canadiens. In four games, he has a 2.54 GAA and a .912 SP.
It would be surprising to see Patrik Laine back in the lineup. The Finnish sniper’s most significant selling point is his ability to score on the power play, but it hasn’t been the case since the start of the playoffs. Furthermore, the newly formed first power play unit featuring Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Lane Hutson was the most significant threat on the ice for the Habs on Sunday night and must remain together.
Of course, Laine could always be put on the second unit, but does his five-on-five play warrant inserting him in the lineup instead of Oliver Kapanen, who was centering a line between Joel Armia and Emil Heineman in game four? I’m not entirely sure.
So far in the series, Hutson leads all Montreal players with five points in four games, followed by Caufield with four, while Suzuki and Slafkovsky only have two. If the Canadiens hope to remain alive, they’ll need an improved offensive contribution across the board.
Meanwhile, Dylan Strome, Anthony Beauvillier, and Alexander Ovechkin lead the hosts with seven, five, and four points, respectively. The Caps’ captain didn’t skate on Tuesday, but that was nothing to write home about as he was taking a maintenance day. Meanwhile, Aliaksei Protas was a full participant at practice and even took contact. Washington didn’t do line rushes, so it’s impossible to know where he would slot in for now.
The game is set for 7:00 PM and it’s a do or die tilt for the Habs who are on the brink of elimination. Should the Canadiens lose, it would be David Savard’s last career game, chances are that will be used as motivation by the Habs.
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LAS VEGAS -- Brett Howden scored his third goal of the playoffs 4:05 into overtime to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, and a 3-2 series lead in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.L
Howden makes it back to back overtime goals for Vegas as the Knights move within one game of advancing. pic.twitter.com/q1bsRI3o7H
— Golden Knights Radio (@VGKRadioNetwork) April 30, 2025
Vegas kept Minnesota from earning a third win in the series, as the Wild held a 2-1 series lead after winning Game 3 in Saint Paul.
Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday in Minnesota, at 6:30 pm Central Time.
Adin Hill made 20 saves for the Golden Knights.
Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for Minnesota, while Fluery made six saves in relief.
The Golden Knights opened the scoring when William Karlsson scored a short-handed goal just before the midway point of the first period. Jack Eichel intercepted a pass in the defensive zone and took the puck to the other end before sending it to new linemate Karlsson, who was there for the one-time tap to give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
It wouldn't take long for Minnesota to respond, though, as Kirill Kaprizov notched his fifth goal of the series 13 seconds later when he one-timed Mats Zuccarello's pass to knot the game at 1-all.
Mark Stone scored his first goal of the postseason later in the period when Eichel once again picked off a pass to create a turnover and carry it into Vegas' zone. Eichel sent the puck to the top of the slot, where Stone blasted a shot past Gustavsson, giving the Knights a one-goal lead once again.
After a scoreless second period, the Wild got their equalizer when Matt Boldy scored with 3:31 left in the game.
Minnesota winger Ryan Hartman scored what appeared to be the go-ahead goal with 1:15 left, but a coach's challenge overturned the goal when it was determined the Wild were offside.
"I think once they got that goal and tied it 2-2, I thought we reset pretty well and played well third," Stone said. "It was a great challenge by (assistant coach) Dave (Rogowski), a critical point of the game. We either got a minute and 15 seconds left to try and tie the game, but he saw it right away and gets a challenge.
"Once you get into the locker room, we feel comfortable again. We got a great start to overtime, started forechecking, started making plays, get pucks to the net, (Tanner Pearson) makes an incredible play, draws two guys to him and (Howden) finds the soft spot to end it."
— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 30, 2025
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"The start time for Game 6 of the First Round series between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche has been set for 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 1, in Denver. The game will be televised on TBS in the U.S. In Canada, the game will be on SNE, SN360, and TVA Sports."
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For Colorado and Dallas residents, the start time is 7:30 p.m. MT/8:30 p.m. CT. The games will also be televised on the usual local broadcasts: Altitude for Colorado and Victory+ for Dallas.
The Stars currently lead the series 3-2, following a 6-2 win in Dallas.
Find all of the most up-to-date information on each series across the league here:
Brett Howden played the hero in Game 5, burying the overtime winner to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 series lead over the Minnesota Wild. T-Mobile Arena was electric…
Game 5 of the first round playoff series between the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings moved back to Crypto.com Arena where the Kings are undefeated so far in the…
Kings right wing Quinton Byfield reacts during the second period of his team's Game 5 playoff loss to the Oilers Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark pushed the Kings to the brink of playoff elimination, scoring off a rebound early in the third period to give the Oilers a 3-1 win in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff at Crypto.com Arena. The Oilers, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, can end the Kings’ season for a fourth straight season with another victory.
“It's hard right now. Obviously everybody's frustrated,” captain Anze Kopitar said. “But we’ve got to put it behind us. We’ve got to go win a game on the road, and that's what we're going to focus on.”
Janmark’s goal marked the fourth time in five games the Kings have given up a game-tying or go-ahead score in the final 13 minutes of regulation. It was also the third consecutive come-from-behind win for the Oilers, the first time they’ve done that in the franchise’s playoff history.
Evander Kane had Edmonton’s first goal while the lone Kings’ score came from Andrei Kuzmenko, both in the second period. The Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal in final minute.
Kings left wing Andrei Kuzmenko gets tangled up with Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak in the first period. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The final score wasn’t a true reflection of the game, which the Oilers dominated.
“They were stronger,” said Kings coach Jim Hiller, whose teams lost in regulation for just the seventh time in 44 home games this season, including the playoffs. “They beat us in every area except for the specialty teams. They were just better in every way ... we can't look to one part of our game and think that was acceptable.”
Well, except for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was brilliant, and deserved a far better fate after turning back 43 shots. He’s faced 93 in the last two games but the Kings have scored just four times behind him.
“Darcy was stellar tonight, as he's been the whole season,” Kopitar said. “He gave us a chance.”
Kings left wing Kevin Fiala goes after the puck against Oilers center Leon Draisaitl in the first period. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Oilers were stronger during the opening 20 minutes during which they took the first 11 shots, building a 19-4 advantage for the period. But Kuemper, who on Monday was named one of three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, proved why, leaving Edmonton with nothing to show for all that effort.
That allowed Kuzmenko to put the Kings in front 3:33 into the second period. The winger parked himself in front of the net and was shielding Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard when he reached out to redirect a pass from Kopitar near the blue line. The goal, the Kings’ eighth power-play score of the series, came eight seconds after Darnell Nurse went off for tripping. It also marked the fourth time in five games that the Kings scored first.
Kopitar's assist was his seventh in five games while Adrian Kempe, who also assisted on the goal, has six.
However the lead lasted less than three minutes before Kane tied it on a wrist shot from the high slot. That goal came seven seconds after the Kings killed off a tripping penalty to Drew Doughty.
Edmonton then went in front to stay 7:12 into the final period when Janmark scored off the rebound of a shot by former King Viktor Arvidsson that Kuemper had pushed out to his stick side, not knowing that Janmark was perched just inside the circle.
Now the Kings fly to Edmonton on Wednesday knowing that a season in which they tied franchise regular-season records for wins (48) and points (105) may not have more than 60 minutes left. A win, though, would bring them back home for a winner-take-all seventh game on home ice, where the Kings had the best regular-season record in the NHL.
“We've proven we're a pretty good hockey team,” Hiller said. “So you're a pretty good hockey team, go there and take it back. Because they just took it away from us.”
The Florida Panthers will play their first elimination game of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night.
Fortunately for the Cats, they're on the potential giving end of the elimination, as the host Tampa Bay Lightning need to pull out a win in order to keep their season alive.
It wasn't until Monday's Game 4 that a home team finally picked up a victory, and now Florida will look to start their postseason a perfect 3-0 on the road and knock out their cross-state rivals in the process.
So far during the four games in the series, Florida has scored 13 goals. Five have come off the sticks of defensemen.
Nate Schmidt is tied for the team lead with three goals while Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad each added tallies of their own during Monday's Game 4 win.
Between Schmidt in Games 1 and 2 and Jones in Game 4, those defensemen have also accounted for all of Florida's game-winning goals in the series.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they will have to play without one of those defenseman for the next couple games.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced on Tuesday that Ekblad had been suspended two games for an elbow to the head of Tampa forward Brandon Hagel.
A likely reason for the suspension length being two games instead of one is that Hagel had already been ruled out of Game 5 by Tampa Head Coach Jon Cooper.
Considering how the intensity has been building with each game this series, Wednesday night should be quite a barn burner.
Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Game 5 in Tampa:
Carter Verhaeghe – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk
Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Brad Marchand
A.J. Greer – Nico Sturm – Jesper Boqvist
Gus Forsling – Seth Jones
Niko Mikkola – Dmitry Kulikov
Uvis Balinskis – Nate Schmidt
Scratches: Mackie Samoskevich, Jonah Gadjovich, Tomas Nosek, Jaycob Megna
