Stars surge after 5 unanswered in Game 1 as Oilers seek redemption in Game 2
The Edmonton Oilers appeared to be in full control with a 3-1 lead heading into the third period of Game 1, but the Dallas Stars unleashed a furious comeback, scoring five unanswered goals to stun the Oilers 6-3 and grab the 1-0 series lead.
Dallas capitalized on Edmonton's lack of discipline, converting three power plays in the final frame to turn the tide. What seemed like a sure Oilers victory unraveled into a collapse they'll be eager to rebound from in Game 2, while the Stars aim to build on their momentum and seize a commanding 2-0 series lead.
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Entering this series, the Oilers held a significant advantage in depth scoring from their forwards, boasting 19 goals from their bottom six compared to just six from the Stars’ group. Dallas, however, completely flipped the script with three goals from bottom-six forwards and two from defensemen, while Edmonton had to rely heavily on its star players to stay competitive.
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Depth may be fading for the Oilers, as winger Connor Brown appears to be wearing down, and the Stars are beginning to capitalize, highlighted by a Tyler Seguin goal that resulted from reading and exploiting an Edmonton play in the offensive zone. A stronger performance is needed from Zach Hyman, who is logging the fourth-most minutes among Edmonton forwards but has managed points in only one of the last four games and hasn't scored in five straight.
The former Panthers draft pick has developed into a lethal goal scorer on Connor McDavid’s wing, but the production has notably dried up of late. He is long overdue for a goal and should get one in a big spot for the Oilers. The Stars will need to respond with some scoring from a star player of their own in Wyatt Johnston.
The Toronto native plays the second-most forward minutes and started the playoffs hot with eight points through ten playoffs games but has since failed to make the scoresheet in four straight. With five goals and two assists for seven points over his last nine games versus the Oilers, Johnston should find a way to bounce back and get back on the board.
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The Islanders are hiring Mathieu Darche to be their general manager and executive vice president.
He takes over for Lou Lamoriello, whom the team parted ways with in April after he served in a GM/team president role for seven years.
“I am truly honored by the opportunity to be the New York Islanders General Manager and Executive Vice President,” Darche said. “I’d like to thank Scott Malkin, Jon Ledecky, John Collins, and the entire ownership group for entrusting me with the hockey operations of this great franchise.”
Darche, 48, recently worked as the director of hockey operations for the Lightning.
“Mathieu is the perfect choice to lead our hockey operations," added Collins, the Islanders' operating partner. "He will be given every resource available to put the Islanders first-in-class on the ice, with our business initiatives, and in the community. Mathieu has served as a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has a diverse background in top-level business models. He is a proven winner and is committed, as is our ownership group, to building a group that will be highly competitive next season and beyond.”
Before becoming an executive, Darche spent 12 seasons playing in the NHL and AHL.
In the NHL, he had stints with the Blue Jackets, Predators, Sharks, Lightning, and Canadiens.
On Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks officially announced the hiring of Jeff Blashill, following weeks of speculation. He is the 42nd head coach in franchise history.
At every stop, whether in the NHL, AHL, or development leagues across North America, he has consistently achieved success with young talent. Right now, the Blackhawks have plenty of young players at the NHL level who must take the next step soon.
At the top of the list is 2023 number one overall pick Connor Bedard. He is the face of the franchise, their current best player, and the one with the most natural gifts.
Behind him is Frank Nazar, who has been the team's second-most-impactful forward in the last six months. He may even be able to claim that he was the best player on the team in the second half of the season.
Beyond those two and a handful of others, they lack depth up front, but that is sure to be addressed in free agency and the 2025 NHL Draft.
On defense, studs like Artyom Levshunov, Alex Vlasic, and Sam Rinzel are ready to be difference makers. Other guys like Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, and Louis Crevier will be battling for spots in the lineup. With Spencer Knight in goal, this is an organization doing a great job building from the net out.
With his experience in the NCAA, USHL, and AHL, Jeff Blashill must help all of these young men become great. More than that, he needs to help them become winners.
Although his success in other leagues is well-documented, he didn't achieve as much in the NHL. He made the playoffs in his first Detroit Red Wings season, but the wheels fell off after that. Guys like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Johan Franzen, amongst others, started to age out. After that, a rebuild was needed. Not many coaches would have yielded a ton of wins in that situation.
He did help oversee the development of players like Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider while he was there, which is a plus on his resume. Before the NHL, his development plan for players has seen a lot of success both individually and as a team.
Making the playoffs or competing for the Stanley Cup isn't on Blashill's immediate agenda. However, he must come in and see results from the young players in terms of production. His objective is to have everyone do their job and what they're best at.
With all of the talent that will be at Blashill's fingertips, he must find a way to help them level up in the rebuild. Kyle Davidson was clear that this hire revolved around that theory.
“Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL, and the world stage,” Davidson said. “He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction.”
Davidson believes that Blashill's experience with young players is what made him the clear final choice. After David Carle, who is incredibly successful with young players in his own right, decided to stay at the University of Denver, Blashill became a great option.
It is also nice that he has some NHL head coaching experience to go with all of that developmental history. He breaks a streak of four straight coaches that Chicago has had with no history behind the bench of an NHL team as the decision maker.
It's a heavy burden for Blashill to take on, but lots of coaches have proven to be successful in their second jobs. Chicago is very excited about the prospect farm that they have put together, and it's only going to get better with the third overall pick. Blashill could become a significant part of their present and future right away if he shows progress immediately.
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The NHL announced the finalists for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award on Friday.
The Winnipeg Jets' Kevin Cheveldayoff, Dallas Stars' Jim Nill and Florida Panthers' Bill Zito are the final three up for the award, which goes to the league's most outstanding GM.
While most of the NHL's awards are voted on right after the regular season, the league's GMs and a panel of executives, print and broadcast media voted for the Jim Gregory Award after the second round of the playoffs.
Two of these GMs are still in the playoffs, while the other led his squad to the Presidents' Trophy.
In fact, Cheveldayoff's Jets not only finished atop the regular-season standings for the first time in franchise history, but they had their best regular season record as well, with a 56-22-4 record and 116 points.
Cheveldayoff followed up on a fourth-place finish and first-round exit last year by promoting coach Scott Arniel to replace Rick Bowness as bench boss. Arniel is a Jack Adams finalist.
The GM also acquired left winger Brandon Tanev and defenseman Luke Schenn at the NHL trade deadline. Schenn had 59 hits and one point in the playoffs, while Tanev had 44 hits.
Nill's Stars eliminated the Jets in six games during the second round and are back in the Western Conference final for the third straight season. Nill also has a chance at winning the Jim Gregory Award for the third straight time as well after earning the honor in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Nill brought on Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci in February. Granlund has nine points in the playoffs so far, and Ceci has three.
But the biggest move of the trade deadline brought Mikko Rantanen to the Stars from the Carolina Hurricanes, and Nill signed the superstar to an eight-year contract extension. Rantanen now leads the NHL in playoff scoring, with 20 points in 14 games.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, currently trail Nito's Panthers 2-0 in the Eastern Conference final.
Zito and the Panthers won the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history last season. Although they lost Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Stolarz in free agency, he brought in depth players Nate Schmidt, A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek and Jesper Boqvist while later acquiring star defenseman Seth Jones and former Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand around the trade deadline.
Zito is a finalist for the GM of the Year award for the third straight time and trails only Nill for most finalist berths since the award was introduced in 2009-10.
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The story behind Florida Panthers fans' rat-throwing tradition originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Will it be raining fake rats throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs once again?
The Florida Panthers captured their first-ever championship in the 2024 NHL postseason, outlasting the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final thriller. And Florida is one series victory away from reaching a third straight Cup Final.
The Panthers, the Atlantic Division’s No. 3 seed, opened the 2025 playoffs with a five-game series victory over the No. 2 Tampa Bay Lightning before getting past the No. 1 Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven-game battle. Florida is now in the Eastern Conference Final for the third straight year, squaring off against the Metro Division’s No. 2-seeded Carolina Hurricanes in a rematch of the 2023 ECF.
As Florida attempts to join an exclusive group of repeat champions, viewers will see Panthers fans celebrate their team’s victories — both at home and on the road — by throwing fake rats onto the ice. This most recently happened after Florida’s 5-0 road win over Carolina in Game 2, giving the Panthers a 2-0 conference final series lead.
WE'VE GOT RATS ON THE ICE IN RALEIGH 🐀 pic.twitter.com/9mWGfUJRWK
— x – Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) May 23, 2025
But exactly how and when did that rodent-related celebration become a tradition? Here’s what to know:
The rat-throwing tradition dates back to the Panthers’ third season as an NHL franchise. Ahead of Florida’s home opener in 1995-96, forward Scott Mellanby spotted a rat running through the team’s locker room. Mellanby then took his stick and slapped the rat, sending it flying into a wall and killing it.
Later that night, Mellanby scored two goals as Florida defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 for the team’s first win of the season. And following the victory, goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck told reporters that Mellanby had recorded a “rat trick.”
But some Panthers players became upset when they learned that one of the team’s equipment managers, Scott Tinkler, had gotten rid of the dead rat, according to NHL.com.
“They asked if I kept it,” Tinkler recounted to NHL.com. “No! It’s a huge dead rat! I picked it up with a stick and threw it away. Some of the guys wanted to take it to a taxidermist or something.”
So, when Tinkler was at a mall a few days later, he spotted a rubber rat in a Halloween store, purchased it and placed it in the locker room where the actual rat had died, per NHL.com. Once the rat shrine became public knowledge, Panthers fans began throwing fake rats onto the ice — at first only when Mellanby scored and eventually after every Panthers goal.
The Panthers’ 1995-96 campaign would ultimately become known as the “Year of the Rat.” After two losing seasons, the team made a run all the way to the 1996 Cup Final. (The Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac calendar was also 1996).
Following Florida’s 1996 Cup Final loss, the NHL banned the throwing of rats after goals, citing the extended delay to clear the ice it can cause.
But to this day, rats will still come raining down onto the ice following Panthers wins. The tradition isn’t limited to just home games, either, as the rats have made appearances following Panthers road victories, as well.
The Panthers even have a rat mascot — the aptly-named Viktor E. Ratt was introduced in 2014. Stanley C. Panther, the team’s other mascot, has been around since the franchise’s inaugural season.
Editor’s note: This story was first published in 2024.