The NHL's bubbles are still working.

For the fifth consecutive week, the league recorded zero COVID-19 cases among the 4,644 tests it conducted from Aug. 16 to 22.

As usual, testing was done daily on players and every other member of the teams' 52-person traveling groups.

The NHL also recorded perfect testing results in the week leading up to the restart when players reported to the hub cities.

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The Colorado Avalanche will be without two key pieces for the foreseeable future, as goaltender Philipp Grubauer and defenseman Erik Johnson are out indefinitely with undisclosed ailments, head coach Jared Bednar said Monday, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Both players were injured in Game 1 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

The Avs will roll with backup Pavel Francouz - who was actually the team's most effective goalie this season - in Grubauer's absence.

Both netminders have been sensational in the postseason thus far, though.

Losing Johnson is a massive blow. The veteran blue-liner averaged 21:03 of regular-season ice time - the third-most on the team behind Samuel Girard and Nathan MacKinnon. The club counts on the 2006 No. 1 pick to play a shutdown role.

Kevin Connauton, a veteran of 314 NHL games, will draw into the lineup in Johnson's place. Bednar said he liked the play of young rearguards Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins in training camp, but the bench boss values Connauton's strength, puck-moving ability, and experience, according to The Athletic's Ryan Clark.

Forward Matt Calvert will also remain out of the lineup for Game 2, which is set for Monday at 9:45 p.m. ET.

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The Florida Panthers interviewed Sean Burke for their general manager vacancy, a source told Arizona Coyotes insider Craig Morgan.

Burke is currently a scout and goaltending consultant with the Montreal Canadiens. He worked in the Coyotes organization for nearly a decade from 2007-16 in a number of roles, including goalie coach, director of player development, and assistant GM. Burke also served as the GM for Hockey Canada at the Spengler Cup (2017-present), World Championship (2018), and Olympic Games (2018).

The 53-year-old enjoyed an 18-season playing career as a goaltender. He played 66 of his 820 NHL games with the Panthers.

Florida fired Dale Tallon as GM on Aug. 10.

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Marc-Andre Fleury's agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted out a photo Saturday of a sword inscribed with Vegas Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer's name stabbing his client in the back.

Walsh is obviously not pleased DeBoer has rolled with Robin Lehner as the team's No. 1 goalie during the playoffs (he's started seven of nine games) instead of Fleury. Lehner addressed the tweet on Sunday after his shutout in Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks.

"Me and Marc were just laughing. It's always the media and everyone else that makes a big deal out of this," Lehner said, according to TSN. "I think me and Marc we get along great; he's a really good guy.

"This team is a (heck) of a group and everyone is really tight, and when this happened, I saw Marc and we were just laughing. That's all it is. At the end of the day, he didn't do anything. It was his agent, and if he wants to be unprofessional, go ahead. He looks terrible, but it is what it is."

Fleury declined to answer whether he knew Walsh was going to tweet the photo, but the veteran did say he asked his agent to delete the image the following morning. Fleury also noted that he and Lehner maintain a good relationship.

Lehner, whom the Golden Knights acquired at the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks, is 6-1 in the playoffs with a .918 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average. The 29-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent.

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Washington Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin will grace the cover of NHL 21, EA Sports announced Monday.

This isn't Ovi's first time on the front of a video game. He was the cover athlete for EA Sports' NHL 07 and 2K Sports' NHL 2K10. He also appeared on the front of the Russian edition of NHL 09.

Here's a look at the trailer:

Ovechkin was well on his way to another 50-goal season before the NHL halted the 2019-20 campaign, tying for the league lead with 48 tallies. The Great Eight fittingly ranks eighth on the NHL's all-time goals list with 706 and is 188 back of Wayne Gretzky for most ever.

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We closed out Round 1 with a 2-0 night and opened up Round 2 by cashing in on the Dallas Stars at a generous price.

Let's keep the momentum going into Monday night.

New York Islanders (+100) @ Philadelphia Flyers (-120)

This is a huge game for the Flyers. It feels somewhat ridiculous to say that - when isn't a Game 1 huge for everyone involved? But it's particularly massive for Philadelphia after the team largely struggled to get out of first gear against the Canadiens.

The Flyers know they weren't good enough against Montreal. Offensively, they struggled to generate anything, and defensively, they uncharacteristically gave away a lot of chances, only to be bailed out by Carter Hart. This is a relatively veteran team. They don't need anyone to tell them that level of play wasn't good enough for a Cup run, and they won't be ignorant of the fact that everyone is picking the Islanders to pull off the mild upset as a result.

If the Flyers remain stuck in mud - outskated and outworked by a relentless Islanders team - they can start packing now. But this team is a lot better than that. Philadelphia's inconsistencies are what have me on the Islanders to win the series, but I expect a strong response tonight. The Flyers' Round 1 series was a wake-up call and I predict they'll find another gear, much like they did in Game 3 against the Canadiens - their best of the series - following an embarrassing 5-0 Game 2 loss.

Pick: Flyers (-120)

Dallas Stars (+125) @ Colorado Avalanche (-145)

These teams put on a show Saturday night to kick off Round 2. The Avalanche were all over the place defensively, but it was a really strange game; they fell behind early and never could quite recover, losing both Erik Johnson and Philipp Grubauer to injury.

The Stars have found a groove on offense, scoring five or more goals in four of their seven playoff games thus far, while the Avalanche have scored 17 goals in their last three. That said, when we look back on this series in a couple of weeks, I feel comfortable saying Game 1 will be an outlier. These are two structured teams that aren't looking to play pond hockey.

Dallas continues to play a tidy defensive game, excelling at suppressing offense, and the Avalanche - while revered for their offensive capabilities - have allowed the second-fewest expected goals against per 60 minutes among Western Conference teams in the bubble. And that was reflected in Game 1, despite what the scoreboard suggested. The Avalanche posted just 1.52 expected goals for at five-on-five, compared to 1.87 for the Stars, with those tallies only jumping to 2.1 each at all strengths.

All four meetings between these teams in the regular season finished under 5.5 goals - a more accurate representation of how they will play each other - and, without him having to come off Colorado's bench cold, expect a much better showing from Pavel Francouz, a wildly underappreciated goalie and one of the league's best backups.

Pick: Under 5.5 (-115)

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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Antoine Roussel's intention to get under the skin of the Vegas Golden Knights appeared largely ineffective Sunday night.

The Vancouver Canucks pest seemed determined to antagonize his opponents during Game 1 of their second-round series, but it didn't phase the Golden Knights as Vegas marched to a 5-0 shutout victory.

"He's running around out there but I don't think he's distracting anyone but himself," Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said postgame, according to SinBin.Vegas.

Jonathan Marchessault is also unconcerned about dealing with Roussel's antics as the series continues.

"That's why we pay (Ryan Reaves) the big bucks," he said after the win, according to David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Reaves, who signed a two-year, $3.5-million extension in June, sparred with Roussel all night - both physically and verbally.

Widely considered one of the toughest players in the league, Reaves taunted Roussel with chicken noises from the bench.

Without fans in the building, a hot mic even picked up Reaves' clucking:

Roussel eventually tried to fight Reaves, but the Golden Knights enforcer was having none of it with his team up 4-0. Roussel earned a 10-minute misconduct for the attempt.

The two players were in the thick of a scrum as the final horn sounded.

Game 2 is set for Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. ET.

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