A referee left the Game 7 matchup between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday after a high stick to the face.

Chris Rooney, a veteran official with two decades of NHL experience, was hit in the face with the stick of Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola, leaving him bloodied and forcing him to exit the game.

The incident took place a few seconds into the second period, with Mikkola's stick grazing Rooney's face and nearly knocking off his helmet. Rooney went down, clutching his face and bleeding. Players on both teams instantly waved over the medical staff.

After a few moments, Rooney was escorted off the ice while holding a bloody towel to his face. He was replaced by alternate referee Garrett Rank.

During the third period, TNT reported on the broadcast that Rooney had received stitches on the cut, which was above his eye.

Rooney, who has been a referee in the NHL since 2002, has officiated more than 1,500 games in his tenure, according to the NHL Officials Association. Rank, his replacement, has been an NHL referee since 2015.

The game was 0-0 at the time of Rooney's injury. But a few minutes later, Florida defenseman Seth Jones broke through with a goal. The Panthers then picked up two more goals, from forwards Anthon Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich, to bring the score to 3-0.

Florida nearly made it 4-0, but another second-period goal from Jones was called back by Rank, the replacement ref, for goalie interference. Despite the Panthers' objections, video replay confirmed the call, showing that Jones' leg made contact with the stick of Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll.

In the third period, the Maple Leafs took one back, with Max Domi reawakening the crowd with a great goal to bring things to 3-1. But the Panthers quieted them again with a fourth goal less than a minute later, with Eetu Luostarinen scoring off an assist from Brad Marchand.

Marchand, Panthers very close to delivering first-round pick to Bruins originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Bruins are extremely close to getting another first-round draft pick.

When the B’s dealt captain Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers at the NHL trade deadline in March, they got a conditional 2027 second-round pick in return. That selection would upgrade to a first-rounder if the defending champs reached the Eastern Conference Final and Marchand played in at least 50 percent of Florida’s playoff games.

One of those conditions was met Sunday night when the Panthers eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 6-1 win in Game 7 of their second-round series. The Panthers clinched a conference final berth for the third straight season as a result.

The last condition for the pick to upgrade to a first-rounder is Marchand playing in at least half of the Panthers’ postseason matchups. According to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson, this condition applies to the entire Panthers playoff run, and not just the first two rounds.

Marchand has played in all 12 of the Panthers’ playoff games so far. Barring an unforeseen injury, he’s very likely to play every game, especially when you consider how well he’s playing (12 points in 12 games). The Panthers can only play in 14 more games (if they go to Game 7 in each of the last two rounds), which means their maximum number of potential games played is 26.

So if Marchand plays in Game 1 of the Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, he’ll get to 13 games played and meet the 50 percent condition.

The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy has reported that the 2027 first-rounder owed to the Bruins (assuming all conditions are met) is top-10 protected, so if the pick does fall in the top 10, it would convey as an unprotected 2028 first-round pick.

If the Bruins do get this first-round pick from the Panthers, it would give them five picks in Round 1 over the next three drafts.

• 2025: Own
• 2026: Own, Toronto Maple Leafs (top-five protected)
• 2027: Own, Florida Panthers (top 10 protected)

It remains to be seen whether the Bruins will keep all of these first-round picks. The B’s do have one of the league’s worst prospect pools, but if they want to compete right now, it might make sense to package some picks to try to acquire a star player.

After the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers play Game 7 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday night, there will be only four teams left in this year's post-season. And no matter which team joins the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers in the conference finals, it's going to be crystal-clear to everyone -- the Buffalo Sabres included -- what it takes to have success to get into the playoffs, and when the games matter most once they get there.

For one thing, you need some degree of generational talent -- whether that's superstars like Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Toronto's Auston Matthews, Dallas' Miro Heiskanen, Florida's Aleksander Barkov and Carolina's Sebastien Aho -- and you need a defense corps that has feisty competitors, including Florida's Aaron Ekblad, Edmonton's Darnell Nurse, Toronto's Chris Tanev  and Jake McCabe, Dallas' Esa Lindell, and Carolina's Brent Burns.

Meanwhile, playoff teams also need to have some degree of clutch goaltending. Toronto got that from both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll this season, as did Edmonton with Calvin Pickard and Stuart Skinner, Florida with Sergei Bobvrovsky, Carolina with Frederik Andersen, and Dallas with Jake Oettinger.

And you also need a good deal of quality depth to help you guard against injuries and your opponents' depth. All five teams that were still active as of Sunday afternoon have depth to spare, as the Hurricanes, Stars, Leafs, Panthers and Oilers all have benefitted from quality performers throughout the lineup.

The Sabres, on the other hand, haven't yet been able to boast of any of those things. Yes, Buffalo has Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power, but you probably can't put those three youngsters in the top-10 of their positions -- at least, not yet. And while Buffalo may eventually have a high-end goalie in Devon Levi, you can't say he's anywhere close to the top-10 among netminders right now, either. Finally, while the Sabres have a slew of prospects they hope will be on the rise, it's not accurate to compare them to the best in the NHL in the depth department.

That's the challenge ahead for Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams -- put the Sabres in a top-three or top-five position in at least one of those areas to get things started. Asking them to be in a top-three or top-five area in those three different areas is a tall order indeed, but if Buffalo ever is going to win a couple playoff rounds and give Sabres fans true reason to be optimistic regarding their championship aspirations, they have to start somewhere. 

Who Is A Reasonable Target For Buffalo In Free Agency This Summer?The Buffalo Sabres are heading into the off-season knowing they have some money to spend on free agents -- not as much money as some teams, but right now, they have approximately

That initial area of strength is probably their defense corps, but if Buffalo has that and they don't have elite netminding and overall high-quality depth, they're going to continue to struggle, and their 14-year playoff drought is going to continue. 

Teams that eventually rise through the ranks are built with painstaking attention to detail, and if even the slightest element isn't up to snuff, they'll be eliminated from the post-season in short order. So that's what Adams has to do in the months and years ahead -- figure out how to get the Sabres to be difference-makers and needle-movers in far more than one key department.

If there's any doubt about the areas we've covered above, Buffalo will be making more excuses to a fan base that has to be sick to their stomach from excuses. You either have what it takes to be better than 28 other NHL teams in crucial areas or you don't -- and right now, the Sabres don't.

For the second time this week, a Pittsburgh Penguins' prospect has earned top Swedish Hockey League (SHL) honors.

Forward Melvin Fernstrom - acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in the Marcus Pettersson trade - was named SHL Rookie of the Year on Sunday. 

The 18-year-old right winger registered eight goals and 17 points in 48 games for Orebro HK.

⭐️ Melvin Fernström (@orebrohockey) är vinnare av Årets Rookie i SHL 2024/25 – ett pris som delas ut i samarbete med huvudsponsorn Svenska Spel!

📲 På SHL:s hemsida kan du läsa motiveringen och mer om priset som Årets Rookie. pic.twitter.com/w9bmSe2VZt

— SHL.se (@SHLse) May 18, 2025

Fernstrom was selected in the third round (93rd overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft. This was his first season playing in Sweden's highest professional hockey league, and he also played in 12 games for Orebro HK's J20 team, putting up 11 goals and 18 points in that time. During the 2023-24 season for Orebro HK J20, Fernstrom recorded 31 goals and 63 points in 45 games to go along with a plus-25.

The young Swede has a lot of raw talent, even if his skating and some of his details away from the puck are things he'll have to work on in order to stick at the NHL level. Penguins' POHO and GM Kyle Dubas said at the time of Fernstrom's acquisition on Jan. 31 that the Penguins were intrigued by him prior to the 2024 Draft.

"I think the thing that stood out in the draft is that, when we interviewed him, he was known as an offensive, scoring winger," Dubas said. "And we interviewed him, and it was very clear to us that his mindset was in the right spot. His goal for this year was to earn a spot in the SHL and knowing that role was not going to be as a top-two-line goal-scorer. 

"And when we watched him this year for Orebro, he was highly competitive."

Fernstome is signed to Orebro HK through the end of the 2025-26 season.

Penguins Prospect Recognized As SHL Forward Of The YearA recently-signed

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