The Boston Bruins' opponent in the Stanley Cup Final has yet to be determined as the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks continue to battle for Western Conference supremacy, but the schedule for the final round of the NHL playoffs has been unveiled.

*if necessary

The Bruins will have 11 days between games leading into the Stanley Cup Final, which is the longest stretch in the salary-cap era, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

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The Boston Bruins' opponent in the Stanley Cup Final has yet to be determined as the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks continue to battle for Western Conference supremacy, but the schedule for the final round of the NHL playoffs has been unveiled.

*if necessary

The Bruins will have 11 days between games leading into the Stanley Cup Final, which is the longest stretch in the salary-cap era, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The San Jose Sharks aren't happy with the perception that they've been fortunate in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"It irks me when you use words like (lucky) because this team has played four or five elimination games," Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said Friday, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "Not moments - games. Twelve-to-15 periods of elimination hockey against Vegas, against Colorado in Game 7, so I think it's a ridiculous statement.

"You know what? We've found a way. And we've faced a lot of adversity. We've had calls go against us and we've had calls go for us, and we're still standing. For anybody to minimize that, I think is disrespectful to our group and what we've done."

The Sharks benefited from an egregious non-call in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, when all four officials missed Timo Meier's hand pass prior to Erik Karlsson's overtime winner.

NHL executive vice president Colin Campbell later admitted the goal shouldn't have counted.

San Jose also benefited from a coach's challenge that negated a Colorado Avalanche goal in Game 7 of their second-round series, when Gabriel Landeskog was deemed offside while standing by the bench waiting to go off on a line change.

In the first round, the Sharks stormed back to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 7 thanks in large part to the controversial five-minute major assessed to Vegas forward Cody Eakin, a call for which Golden Knights general manager George McPhee said the league later apologized.

"I wouldn't say we're lucky," San Jose forward Gustav Nyquist said. "(Against Vegas) our first-unit power play executed that to perfection. They scored four goals in five minutes. In Game 3, (Logan Couture) comes up clutch and ties the game. We battle through. We know we're never out of a game until it's over."

Tomas Hertl agreed.

"I don't care what everybody's saying," the Sharks center said. "We deserve to win. I don't like 'lucky' overall. If you work for it, you deserve it."

Game 4 of the Western Conference Final goes Friday night in St. Louis.

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John Davidson has left his post as president of hockey operations with the Columbus Blue Jackets after the New York Rangers sought permission to speak with him about serving as their team president, the Blue Jackets announced Friday.

Davidson is joining the Rangers, who are expected to make the move official on Wednesday, The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reports.

More to come.

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For nearly a decade, the Hurricanes were a league-wide footnote, and postseason hockey in Carolina was nothing but a pipe dream and a reflection of yesteryear.

However, the 2018-19 season was a different story, as the Hurricanes captivated fans with exuberant post-win celebrations and embraced those who looked down on their fun shenanigans. But most importantly, they won, snapping the NHL's longest postseason drought and making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final.

Even though the season ended in bitter fashion - a sweep at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Thursday night - captain Justin Williams was able to reflect on the impact this campaign had not only on Carolina fans but on the entire league.

"I'm proud of what we've done," the 37-year-old told reporters postgame, per NBC Sports. "I'm proud that we've gotten ourselves relevant again. I'm proud that we raised the bar in the organization, and I'm proud of every one of my teammates."

One of the primary reasons for the Hurricanes' miracle run was the leadership from head coach Rod Brind'Amour. But even though his squad exceeded all possible expectations, he didn't stray from his fiery yet compassionate persona when reflecting on Thursday's 4-0 loss.

"I want to thank the people and community for supporting us. I hate that we went out like that on that game," Brind'Amour told Michael Smith of the team's website. "That was a dud game for them to come watch. I apologize for that. Tremendous support for our team. ... It's a real community feel. It's something special."

The Bunch of Jerks' season may be over, but with a young, promising core and plenty of cap space, there's no reason to believe it'll be another nine-year wait for playoff hockey in Raleigh, N.C.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

For nearly a decade, the Hurricanes were a league-wide footnote, and postseason hockey in Carolina was nothing but a pipe dream and a reflection of yesteryear.

However, the 2018-19 season was a different story, as the Hurricanes captivated fans with exuberant post-win celebrations and embraced those who looked down on their fun shenanigans. But most importantly, they won, snapping the NHL's longest postseason drought and making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final.

Even though the season ended in bitter fashion - a sweep at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Thursday night - captain Justin Williams was able to reflect on the impact this campaign had not only on Carolina fans but on the entire league.

"I'm proud of what we've done," the 37-year-old told reporters postgame, per NBC Sports. "I'm proud that we've gotten ourselves relevant again. I'm proud that we raised the bar in the organization, and I'm proud of every one of my teammates."

One of the primary reasons for the Hurricanes' miracle run was the leadership from head coach Rod Brind'Amour. But even though his squad exceeded all possible expectations, he didn't stray from his fiery yet compassionate persona when reflecting on Thursday's 4-0 loss.

"I want to thank the people and community for supporting us. I hate that we went out like that on that game," Brind'Amour told Michael Smith of the team's website. "That was a dud game for them to come watch. I apologize for that. Tremendous support for our team. ... It's a real community feel. It's something special."

The Bunch of Jerks' season may be over, but with a young, promising core and plenty of cap space, there's no reason to believe it'll be another nine-year wait for playoff hockey in Raleigh, N.C.

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The Boston Bruins completed their sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-0 victory on Thursday night to punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final.

It's the Bruins first finals appearance since 2013, and they await the winner of the San Jose Sharks-St. Louis Blues series to determine their opponent.

More to come.

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The Boston Bruins' Don Sweeney, St. Louis Blues' Doug Armstrong, and Carolina Hurricanes' Don Waddell have been named finalists for general manager of the year, the teams announced Thursday.

Sweeney made two key trades for the Bruins prior to the deadline, landing Marcus Johansson from the New Jersey Devils for a pair of draft picks and acquiring Charlie Coyle from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Ryan Donato and a conditional draft pick.

The Bruins GM didn't make any major offseason splashes, but the low-risk depth signings of Jaroslav Halak, John Moore, Joakim Nordstrom, and Chris Wagner proved integral to Boston posting the second-best regular-season record in the Eastern Conference.

Armstong endured one of the busiest offseasons in Blues franchise history. He landed Selke Trophy candidate Ryan O'Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres without giving up any major assets and signed Tyler Bozak, David Perron, and Patrick Maroon in free agency.

His best move, though, may have been not making one at all. After an abysmal start to the season, the Blues were rumored to be sellers, but Armstrong gave his group time to gel before making any major moves. The team rewarded him with one of the league's hottest second-half runs, going from last in the NHL on Jan. 2 to a playoff berth by the end of the regular season.

Waddell had a busy offseason of his own during his first summer at the helm in Carolina. He made a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames at the draft, shipping out highly touted youngsters Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin to acquire Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland.

He also solved the club's longstanding goaltending issues by signing Petr Mrazek to a one-year deal and claiming Curtis McElhinney off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. His pre-deadline trade sending Victor Rask to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Nino Niederreiter has proven to be one-sided in Carolina's favor.

The NHL's 31 general managers vote on the award at the end of the regular season. The winner will be announced on June 19.

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