Called out in St. Louis for not addressing the media on locker clean-out day, the 24-year-old spoke Tuesday and cleared the air in regards to his silence immediately following a Western Conference Final loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks.
Tarasenko said he was "too pissed off" to talk the other day. Sting of losing in playoffs had him upset. #stlblues
Tarasenko also laughed off the suggestion of growing friction with the club, exacerbated by being called out by head coach Ken Hitchcock after Game 5 of the series with San Jose.
The winger - who carries a cap hit of $7.5 million through to the end of the 2022-23 season - is seen as a key piece to the puzzle in St. Louis moving forward, and rightfully so.
Over the past two regular seasons, he's scored 77 goals in 157 games, with 15 tallies in 26 playoff contests.
The St. Louis Blues have signed head coach Ken Hitchcock to a one-year contract extension, the club announced Tuesday.
The 2016-17 season will be Hitchcock's sixth behind the Blues' bench, and 20th as a NHL head coach. He has a lifetime 757-453-194 record, and a 224-103-36 record in the Gateway City.
Ken Hitchcock's last rodeo? Don't be surprised if Hitch says next season and his new 1-year contract will be his last as head coach in NHL.
After three straight first-round playoff exits, the Blues advanced to the third round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season. They were defeated by the San Jose Sharks in six games in the Western Conference Final.
St. Louis enjoyed a tremendously successful regular season, their 107 points the fourth-highest in franchise history, despite a myriad of injuries to key contributors.
They knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, in seven games, and eliminated the Dallas Stars - the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference - in another seven-game series.
The Blues have finished first or second in the Central Division in each of Hitchcock's five seasons at the helm, and his .667 winning percentage is the highest of any St. Louis coach in franchise history.
Hitchcock won a Stanley Cup with the Dallas Stars in 1999, and has a lifetime 76-72 record in the postseason.
Lost in the San Jose Sharks' defeat in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was another multi-point game from Brent Burns, his eighth of the playoffs.
Burns and his beard assisted on both Sharks goals Monday, and he now has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) this spring, which puts him in elite company. Only four defensemen have put up more points in a single postseason dating back to 1986 - and they were great ones.
D-Man
Postseason
Points
Brian Leetch
1994
34
Al MacInnis
1989
31
Ray Bourque
1991
25
Larry Murphy
1991
23
Burns
2016
22
There's a good chance Burns ends up third on that list, behind only Leetch and MacInnis, by the time the Cup is awarded.
Considering how much the game has changed since the late 1980s and early 1990s, and how much better goaltenders are today, Burns' playoffs are that much more impressive.
The Golden State Warriors punching their ticket to the NBA Finals Monday night ensured that for the first time since 2003, one region's NHL and NBA franchises would be involved in their respective leagues' championship series at the same time. About 35 miles separate Oracle Arena in Oakland and SAP Center in San Jose.
The hard part: No city or region has ever won both a Stanley Cup and an NBA title in the same spring. The closest it came to happening was 1994, when the New York Rangers hoisted the cup while their MSG counterpart, the Knicks, fell to the Houston Rockets in seven games.
Year
City/Region
NBA team
NHL team
2016
Bay Area
Warriors
Sharks
2003
New Jersey
Nets
Devils*
1994
New York
Knicks
Rangers*
1992
Chicago
Bulls*
Blackhawks
1980
Philadelphia
76ers
Flyers
1974
Boston
Celtics*
Bruins
1972
New York
Knicks
Rangers
(* - won championship)
Up until now with the Warriors and Sharks, all other teams shared arenas. The last time a city came away empty-handed after having both teams in the final round was Philadelphia in 1980.
The Carolina Hurricanes have hired Ulf Samuelsson to serve as head coach of the team’s minor-league affiliate, the AHL's Charlotte Checkers.
"Ulf has built a very strong coaching resume during a decade behind the bench in the AHL, NHL, and Swedish league," said Carolina general manager Ron Francis. "He has a proven history of helping to develop young players and understands the organizational culture that we are building here."
The former NHL defenseman and Stanley Cup winner (Pittsburgh Penguins - 1991, 1992) spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers, helping the club reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and the conference final in 2015.
Prior to that, he coached Modo of the Swedish Hockey League, served as an associate with the Arizona Coyotes from 2006-07 until 2010-11, and cracked the coaching ranks as an assistant with Hartford (AHL) back in 2005.
The Ottawa Senators and the National Hockey League are evaluating the logistics of hosting an outdoor game on Parliament Hill in 2017, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Monday.
The idea, first reported in March, is to incorporate a Heritage Classic with Canada’s 150th birthday and the NHL's 100th anniversary, both of which will be marked in 2017.
Creating a temporary stadium and accommodating tens of thousands of fans on the Hill would not be a simple proposition, however.
"It's complicated. We'd have to know more. It's complicated and expensive," Bettman said at the league's annual Stanley Cup Final press conference. "We've been exploring it and doing some homework on it."
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly added the league is looking at other options in Ottawa, including but not limited to TD Place, home of Ottawa's CFL team.
"There are number of possibilities in Ottawa," Daly said. "If it doesn't happen on Parliament Hill it doesn't necessarily mean we're not doing an outdoor game in Ottawa, right? As I said, there are other possibilities.
"Believe it or not there may be more than one but there might be No. 1 and No. 1A (TD Place)."
At any rate, it appears as though the Senators will be hosting an outdoor game as early as 2017, with the location listed as TBD.
The Ottawa Senators and the National Hockey League are evaluating the logistics of hosting an outdoor game on Parliament Hill in 2017, commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Monday.
The idea, first reported in March, is to incorporate a Heritage Classic with Canada’s 150th birthday and the NHL's 100th anniversary, both of which will be marked in 2017.
Creating a temporary stadium and accommodating tens of thousands of fans on the Hill would not be a simple proposition, however.
"It's complicated. We'd have to know more. It's complicated and expensive," Bettman said at the league's annual Stanley Cup Final press conference. "We've been exploring it and doing some homework on it."
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly added the league is looking at other options in Ottawa, including but not limited to TD Place, home of Ottawa's CFL team.
"There are number of possibilities in Ottawa," Daly said. "If it doesn't happen on Parliament Hill it doesn't necessarily mean we're not doing an outdoor game in Ottawa, right? As I said, there are other possibilities.
"Believe it or not there may be more than one but there might be No. 1 and No. 1A (TD Place)."
At any rate, it appears as though the Senators will be hosting an outdoor game as early as 2017, with the location listed as TBD.
Nick Bonino has a San Jose Sharks jersey at home, and for good reason. He was drafted by the club in 2007, in the sixth round, 173rd overall.
Now with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and having the playoffs of his life, Bonino reflected on the start of his NHL journey Monday, after scoring the game-winning goal against the Sharks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The 28-year-old never suited up for the Sharks. He was traded in 2009 to the Anaheim Ducks, where he began his NHL career, but the Sharks will always be a part of his life.
"It was cool to be drafted. I'll always thank them for drafting me," Bonino said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Seth Rorabaugh. "But I only went to a couple of development camps. Really nice guys. A really, really good organization.
"I've got my draft jersey back in my room at home. I'll obviously never get rid of it. But that's it."
Bonino made his NHL debut on March 26, 2009 with the Ducks in Edmonton. Seven years later, after five in Anaheim and one in Vancouver, he's in Pittsburgh. And while he doesn't know what his future holds, he's happy to be wearing black and gold.
"I think I found a home for sure," Bonino said about the Penguins after his Game 1 heroics. "I enjoy the guys, enjoy the team. Organization is first class. Definitely feels nice to be in the Cup Final playing with (Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin), it's been a lot of fun for me."
All four of Nick Bonino's goals this postseason have come in either the third period or overtime. #Clutch
After being traded twice in recent years, from Anaheim to Vancouver to Pittsburgh, Bonino's not thinking long term, due to the nature of his profession. But barring another trade, he's a Penguin for another season, signed through the 2017 season at $2.1 million.
Bonino is slated for unrestricted free agency on July 1, 2017, and he's no doubt hoping to have a Stanley Cup on his resume by then.
For the first time in a decade, the Eastern Conference champions won the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final.
Indeed, the Pittsburgh Penguins replicated a feat last achieved by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, taking Game 1 courtesy of a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on home ice and putting themselves in a very favorable position moving forward
Since the Stanley Cup Final went to the best-of-seven format in 1939, the team that has taken Game 1 has gone on to capture the Cup 77.6 percent of the time (59 of 76 series) and each of the past four years, according to NHL Public Relations.
Here are three keys to Pittsburgh's Game 1 win.
Depth scoring
Pittsburgh's top three lines all got in on the scoring, with goals coming from seemingly unlikely but increasingly reliable forwards.
The Penguins are making a habit out of out-shooting the opposition, and it's paying off.
In fact, the Game 1 winners outshot their opponent for the 10th straight game (41-26), including an 80-43 margin over the past two games.
Conversely, the Sharks allowed 40-plus shots on goal in regulation for only the second time in 2015-16, including the regular season and playoffs.
As the following chart shows, each team held an advantage in terms of total shot attempts at different stages of the game, but Pittsburgh poured it on at the end and came out with the win.
Bonino and Patric Hornqvist led the way with six shots apiece, with Kessel (5), Crosby (4), and Kris Letang (4) not far behind.
If that trend continues, the Penguins will be awfully difficult to beat, but expect the Sharks - who admitted to not being prepared - to lock things down as the series progresses.
The rookie keeps standing tall
22-year-old Matt Murray won his 12th game of the playoffs, and is now tied with Mike Vernon and Ken Dryden for second-most wins by a rookie goalie in a playoff year.
Matt Murray (@penguins) moved to 12-4 this postseason, tied for 2nd-most wins by a rookie goalie in a playoff year: pic.twitter.com/1cWdCexSYw
While he didn't see as much action as Martin Jones at the other end of the ice, Murray did stop 24 of 26 shots, and maintained a postseason save percentage of .924 as a result.
Three more wins and Murray will match the playoff wins record for a rookie, last achieved by Cam Ward with the Hurricanes in 2006.
The Philadelphia Flyers announced the passing of Stanley Cup winner Rick MacLeish on Tuesday. He was 66.
"With the passing of MacLeish, the Flyers have lost one of their legends," team president Paul Holmgren said in a statement.
MacLeish spent the majority of his career with the Flyers, scoring 328 goals and adding 369 assists in 741 games with Philadelphia. He was a force on back-to-back Flyers teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1974 and 1975, scoring a combined 24 goals in 34 games over two playoff runs.
MacLeish scored the Cup-winning goal when the Flyers won their first championship in '74.
"Ricky was the most talented layer the Flyers had during the 1970s," Bobby Clarke said. "Life after hockey wasn't fair to Ricky. He left us far too soon."
MacLeish was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in 1990.
He's survived by his wife Charlene, his daughters Danielle and Brianna, and his grandchildren.
