The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a new coach next season.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan and the team agreed to part ways, GM-president Kyle Dubas announced Monday. The team has missed the playoffs for the past three seasons.

“This was not a decision that was taken lightly, but as we continue to navigate the Penguins through this transitional period, we felt it was the best course forward for all involved,” Dubas said in a news release.

A thorough search for the next coach begins immediately, the team said.

Sullivan joined the team partway through the 2015-16 season after the team started 15-10-3 and fired Mike Johnston. Under Sullivan, the Penguins went 33-16-5 afterward to finish second in the Metropolitan Division and go all the way to win the Stanley Cup. Sullivan's Penguins then won it all again in 2016-17 to become the first team since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 to win back-to-back Cup championships.

 The 57-year-old from Marshfield, Mass., coached 753 regular-season games for the Penguins, going 409-255-89. In 82 playoff games, he went 44-38. He became the 15th coach in NHL history to win 400 games with a single franchise this season.

“Mike is known for his preparation, focus and fierce competitiveness,” Dubas said. “I was fortunate to have a front-row seat to his dedication to this franchise for the past two seasons. He will forever be an enormous part of Penguins history, not only for the impressive back-to-back Cups, his impact on the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust, but more importantly, for his love and loyalty to the organization.”

Sullivan also coached Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off, falling one goal short of winning the tournament against Canada.

On top of the Penguins, NHL teams currently without a permanent coach include the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

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Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines, provide updates on the rest of the night's NHL slate and read your opinions.

On tonight's show, Michael Augello and Andrew McInnis react to the Washington Capitals defeating the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

They also look around the NHL as the first round continues.

Check out the show right now and share your opinions in the live chat and in our comment section.  

Heading into the NHL’s 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, there were certain players you knew what to expect from. Specifically, you knew particular players were going to be annoying influences on the opposition. Pests, if you will. And thus far, there are more than a few pests who’ve been living up to their reputation, or down to it, depending on your perspective.

For instance, Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson engaged in a massive brawl with Montreal Canadiens counterpart Josh Anderson in Game 3 of their series. Wilson’s theatrics were nearly at professional wrestling levels, mocking the Canadiens' crying with facial expressions that were bordering on comical. Even Wilson himself said after the game, “I just gotta be a little bit better, maybe turning away and playing hockey.”

Wilson hasn't had a bad series by any means, with two assists through three games, but maybe a bigger focus on actual hockey would help him contribute even more.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Panthers super-pest Matthew Tkachuk was mixing things up with the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their series, laying a late hit on Bolts star left winger Jake Guentzel with the game well out of hand in Tampa Bay’s favor.

Tkachuk received a five-minute major interference penalty on the play, but he evaded supplemental discipline. And Tampa Bay players knew the type of competitor they were dealing with – an expert player when it comes to getting under the skin of their opponents.

Matthew Tkachuk will not receive any supplemental discipline for this his on Jake Guentzel, according to @FriedgeHNICpic.twitter.com/WqUuGnhIH8

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 27, 2025

“Obviously, the timing of the hit, (the score is) 4-1 and we’re about to make it 5-1 and Tkachuk goes out of his way to hit Guentzel,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “We can’t control what the league thinks is interference and what’s suspendable and not suspendable. So, we’re just gonna fight through that.”

When it comes to Tkachuk, he's a true star in the NHL, so while he, like his brother Brady, likes to get under the other team's skin, he definitely backs it up with his play. In three games this post-season, Tkachuk has put up three goals and four points in three games.

Over in the 'Battle of Ontario', the Ottawa Senators/Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a couple of Sens pests – winger Ridly Greig and Nick Cousins – trying to make an impact by frustrating the Maple Leafs. Cousins and the Sens were fined by the NHL after he shot a puck at Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz during warmup before Game 3, while Greig annoyed many Leafs, including causing Stolarz to lash out at him.  

Cousins and Greig have been pure pests this post-season, as between the two of them, they have just one goal and no assists. Clearly, the two are effecting the game more with their antics than with their scoring.

Without a doubt, all these pests aren't new to their profession. None of Greig, Cousins, Tkachuk and Wilson were Lady Byng candidates coming into the playoffs, and they certainly aren't going to make any fans outside of their team's fan bases. But the key to playing against those types of players is to ignore them and not fall for the emotional traps they lay out with their sandpaper brand of play.

Indeed, the more disciplined teams are against the super-pest competitors, the more they take the power away from the pests, and coaches and veteran players understand this. That’s indeed easier said than done when emotions and stakes are sky-high, but one wrong reaction or overreaction can turn out to be the difference between a team winning or losing a playoff game. And if that happens, the pests have done their job.

We’re sure players like Wilson, Cousins, Tkachuk and Greig will continue to push the envelope. As Hedman said, players can’t control what the league deems acceptable behavior. And while that’s a column for another day, the truth is that teams have little choice but to turn the other cheek and not indulge pests when they try to affect the outcome of games.

Ultimately, the better players are at staying calm and focused, the more their team is likely to win the big and small battles in the rest of the playoffs – and the tougher it is for super-pests to have an impact on the game. And that’s the game-within-the-game challenge that super-pests’ targets have to deal with.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs came within one overtime goal of sending the Ottawa Senators home for the summer Saturday night, losing 4-3 to the Sens in Game 4 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. However, Maple Leafs fans shouldn’t allow their anxieties to spike anytime soon.

The reality is that the Leafs are still in commanding control of this series, and sooner or later, the Buds are bound to eliminate the Senators and move on to the second round of the post-season.

To ease your fears, Leafs fans, simply look back at Toronto’s regular-season record. When you do, you’ll find some comforting patterns. For instance, the Maple Leafs didn't lose four straight games at any point this season. In addition, the last time they lost three games in a row was from March 3-8, and they haven’t lost two straight games since March 13-15.

If there’s one thing Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube has been good at, it’s getting the Leafs back on the right track after a loss, and why should this time be any different?

Meanwhile, let’s bear in mind the fact that Toronto will be playing at home in Game 5. The Leafs’ record in their own building was 27-13-1 this season – and Ottawa’s road record this year was a thoroughly dismal 18-19-4. Moreover, the Sens haven’t won more than three games in a row since the middle of March.

But the most comforting stat to keep in mind is that the Buds won 52 games this season. Only the Winnipeg Jets (56 wins) won more games this year, and in that regard, we don’t believe the Leafs are getting the respect they’re due. Yes, we’re well aware of Toronto’s past playoff woes, but every year is different, and this year, the Maple Leafs have shown they can take a punch and punch right back.

We’re not here to say it's an absolute lock that Toronto wins this series, but the momentum is still in the Leafs' favor, and one loss to the Senators on the road isn't going to change that.

The Maple Leafs have found ways to win in the first three games of this first-round series, and that’s also something that isn’t likely to change in the next three games. A four-game collapse would surely spell the end of the 'Core Four' era in Toronto, but that’s far less likely than the chance of the Maple Leafs winning one of their next three games.

Ottawa can and will put up a battle the rest of the way, but the Leafs have been resilient all season long. And with Berube preparing his team and making some adjustments, we expect Toronto is going to eliminate the Senators and prepare for a second-round showdown against either the Tampa Bay Lightning or Florida Panthers. The Leafs have already done much of the heavy lifting against the Sens, and now it’s a matter of putting the finishing touches on this series and taking the next competitive step. 

So relax, Maple Leafs fans. The end may not be imminent, but it may not be all that far away, either. And the most likely result is the Leafs eliminating the Senators.

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By Jack Sponagle, The Hockey News Intern

The typical NHL player tends to hail from one of five or six countries. Canadians have long made up the majority of the talent in the league, with Americans, Russians, Swedes and Finns also filling out NHL teams’ rosters.

But every so often we see players who were born in countries that rarely come up when discussing the birthplaces of NHL stars.

Robyn Regehr, the Calgary Flames defenseman who played 1,089 NHL games, was born in Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Regehr’s parents were Mennonite missionaries, which also explains why his younger brother, Richie, who got into 20 NHL games, was born in Bandung, Indonesia.

Both brothers represented Canada internationally, but neither were born in the world’s dominant hockey nation.

With the 2025 IIHF World Championship on the horizon, here are 20 NHL players who were born in and sometimes even represented nations that don’t typically produce world-class hockey players.

Jordan Spence – Manly, Australia

The Los Angeles Kings defenseman was born to a Canadian father and Japanese mother in the Australian state of New South Wales. He lived in Osaka, Japan, until his family relocated to Prince Edward Island when he was 13.

Nathan Walker – Cardiff, Wales

The St. Louis Blues winger was born in Cardiff, but his family moved to Australia when he was just two years old. He was the first Australian to make it to the NHL when he broke in with Washington in 2017-18.

Yutaka Fukufuji – Kushiro, Japan

He may have only played in four NHL games as a goaltender with the Los Angeles Kings in 2006-07, and he failed to register a win, but Fukufuji can hang his hat on being the first Japanese player to appear in an NHL game.

Ryan O’Marra – Tokyo, Japan

O’Marra is the other NHLer who can claim the Land of the Rising Sun as his birthplace. Born in Tokyo to Irish-Canadian parents, O'Marra saw 33 NHL games with the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks from 2009 to 2012.

Borna Rendulic – Zagreb, Croatia

The first Croatian-born and -trained player in the NHL, Rendulic is better known for his performances in Finnish and Russian leagues. The Zagreb-born Rendulic played 14 games with the Colorado Avalanche between 2014-15 and 2015-16, registering a goal and two points. He also got into a single game with the Vancouver Canucks in 2016-17.

Luca Sbisa – Ozieri, Italy

Ozieri is a small municipality on the Italian island of Sardinia, and it’s reputed to have one of the oldest-known cultures in Italy. It is also the birthplace of Sbisa, who played in 549 NHL games for seven different NHL teams between 2008 and 2021. Sbisa represented Switzerland internationally.

Graeme Townshend – Kingston, Jamaica

Townshend called Jamaica’s capital of Kingston his home until his family moved to Toronto when he was three. Townshend played for the Bruins, Islanders and Senators in the early 1990s. He was the first Jamaican-born player to make it to the NHL.

Andre Deveaux – Freeport, Bahamas

Deveaux played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers in a 31-game NHL career from 2008 to 2012. He was born in Freeport, the second-largest city in the Bahamas. Deveaux played 13 years of pro hockey in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, as well as in Russia, Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

Sean Day – Leuven, Belgium

A defenseman, Day became the fourth player to be granted exceptional status to play in the OHL a year early. Long before that, though, he was born in Belgium to Canadian parents, and the first time Day skated was at a mall in Singapore. Day played two games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021-22.

Leo Komarov – Narva, Estonia

Komarov was born to a Russian-Finnish family in the Estonian city of Narva. Komarov represented Finland internationally and played in the NHl for nine seasons for the Maple Leafs and Islanders. He’s the first and, so far, only Estonian-born NHLer.

Willi Plett – Asuncion, Paraguay

Plett was an intimidating winger who played 834 NHL games in the 1970s and 1980s, putting up 222 goals, 437 points and 2,570 penalty minutes. Plett’s family were Russian Mennonites who fled to South America during the Second World War. The 1977 Calder Trophy winner was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, before settling in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Mike Greenlay – Vitoria, Brazil

Robyn Regehr isn’t the only NHLer born in Brazil, as goalie Greenlay, who was born in Vitoria, played two games for the Oilers in 1989-90.

Levente Szuper – Budapest, Hungary

Szuper also had a short NHL career – so short, in fact, that he never actually played in a game. The Budapest native served as a backup goalie for nine games with Calgary in 2002-03, becoming the first and, so far, only Hungarian player to dress in an NHL game.

Alexandar Georgiev – Ruse, Bulgaria

San Jose Sharks goalie Alexandar Georgiev is the first Bulgarian player in NHL history. Born in Ruse, the fifth-largest city in Bulgaria, the former Rangers and Avs netminder was raised in Russia.

Jim Paek and Richard Park – Seoul, South Korea

The first of two pairs on this list, both Paek and Park were born in the South Korean capital of Seoul. Paek became the first Korean-born NHLer and the first player of Korean descent to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup after his contributions in the playoffs with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991 and 1992.

Park never won hockey’s most coveted prize, but he ended up playing 738 NHL games for the Penguins, Mighty Ducks, Flyers, Islanders, Wild and Canucks.

Darius Kasparaitis and Dainius Zubrus – Elektrenai, Lithuania

The second shared birthplace is Elektrenai, Lithuania, which produced both Kasparaitis and Zubrus.

Kasparaitis, a veteran of 863 NHL games in the 1990s and 2000s, was known for his aggressive and hard-hitting gameplay, which saw him accumulate 1,379 PIM in his career.

Zubrus has the most NHL experience on this list, with 1,293 NHL games across his 19-year big-league tenure, primarily with the New Jersey Devils, although his most productive seasons came with Washington in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

Claude Vilgrain – Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Vilgrain became the first Haitian to play in the NHL when he joined the Vancouver Canucks during the 1987-88 season. He played in 89 games in his NHL career.

Arthur Kaliyev – Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Kaliyev became the first NHL player born in Uzbekistan when he made his debut in 2021 with Los Angeles. Now with the Rangers, Kaliyev moved to Staten Island, N.Y., when he was two, and later to Michigan when he was 13. Kaliyev represents the USA internationally.

Akim Aliu – Okene, Nigeria

Aliu played seven NHL games with Calgary in 2011-12 and 2012-13. He was born in Nigeria and then raised in Ukraine until his family left due to the political climate caused by the fall of the Soviet Union. His family moved to Toronto when he was seven.

Owen Nolan – Belfast, Northern Ireland

The Belfast-born Nolan was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1990 draft by the Quebec Nordiques. He played 1,200 NHL games, scoring 422 goals and 885 points. Nolan represented Canada internationally, winning a gold medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

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By Jared Clinton, Features Writer

At one time, it seemed impossible. Later, it became implausible. And then, slowly and steadily, it transformed from existing somewhere within the realm of possibility to simply a matter of time. None of that, though, makes it any less surreal that Alex Ovechkin has blasted his way past Wayne Gretzky to assume the mantle as the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring king.

When Gretzky hung up his skates in 1999, he did so in the midst of an ultra-defensive era. Scoring had plummeted. It made sense, then, that his career goal total was categorized among his individual feats that would go unmatched. But Ovechkin’s arrival and lamplighting prowess begat whispers about a challenge to Gretzky’s throne. Those whispers grew in strength as ‘The Great Eight’ rose from precocious rookie sensation to perennial Rocket Richard Trophy favorite. Now, Ovechkin has cemented himself as the greatest goal-scorer the game has ever seen.

Click here if you agree that Nathan MacKinnon is the best player in the NHL right now.

Top 💯: https://t.co/smKk3NQdgQpic.twitter.com/qw9yHoNCLI

— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) April 20, 2025

With Ovechkin overtaking one of the marks formerly considered untouchable – and in doing so proving that most records really are made to be broken – the mind starts to wander. Is it only a matter of time before other significant individual achievements fall? Which feats appear secure but are perhaps precariously held? And are there any records that remain unbreakable?

Clock is Ticking

Gretzky held the goal-scoring crown for 31 years, but that’s still shorter than Doug Jarvis’ tenure as the NHL’s ironman. Jarvis held the title for nearly 35 years, from October 1987 to January 2022, when Keith Yandle played in his 965th consecutive game. Yandle’s time as ironman, however, was short-lived. Within nine months, he was passed by Phil Kessel, who pushed the mark to 1,064 games. But the durability of this era’s players makes it seem likely that Kessel won’t hold the top spot for all that long. Nine of the 14 players to play in 600-plus consecutive games have done so in the past 11 years, including Brent Burns, the active leader at 925 consecutive games played and counting.

Staying healthy will also be important in the pursuit of the single-season power-play goal record. Tim Kerr holds the mark, having potted an astounding 34 PP goals in 1985-86, but the NHL is currently in a special-teams resurgence. This season was the fourth in a row in which NHL power plays operated at an average of 20.5 percent or higher. The last stretch of four such seasons spanned from 1986-87 to 1989-1990. And the current power-play excellence has given rise to some Kerr challengers. Leon Draisaitl notched 32 PP goals in 2022-23. Sam Reinhart posted 27 last season. If scoring with the man advantage continues to boom, Kerr’s record stands to fall.

If the Stars Align

Given that league-wide scoring is holding at levels commensurate with the first post-lockout campaign and that five of the highest-scoring individual scoring seasons of the past 20 years have come since 2022-23, there is a case to be made that we’re in an era of big-time production. Gretzky’s single-season scoring record – 215 points in 1985-86 – isn’t in danger, but could a rearguard set a new record for single-season points by a defenseman?

For more than 50 years, Bobby Orr has held the record, with his 139-point season in 1970-71 sitting atop the list. But the current generation of blueliners is redefining what it means to produce from the back end. To wit, we are only two years removed from Erik Karlsson’s 101-point season, which saw him become the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in 1991-92 to reach the 100-point plateau. That makes Karlsson one of four defensemen to register 90 points in the post-lockout era, all of whom have done so in the past four seasons.

We’re also only beginning to see Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes enter their primes. This season, Makar hit 90 points for the second straight year. Hughes battled injury but scored at nearly a 95-point pace. And the players they’re inspiring could hound after Orr’s mark down the line. Lane Hutson became the first rookie defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom in 1991-92 to score 60 points in a season. The defensemen who emerge in the coming years could build on the foundations laid by Makar and Hughes.

But even in an era of increased scoring, a battery of goaltending records could fall at a moment’s notice. Chief among those is the longest shutout streak.

While the record is six straight shutouts, held by Alec Connell, it’s worth noting that that run came during the 1927-28 season – when the forward pass was permitted in only the defensive and neutral zones. Thus, some acknowledge Brian Boucher’s five straight shutouts in 2003-04 as the modern achievement. And while no one since Boucher has posted four consecutive shutouts, there are seven instances in the past decade in which a goaltender has pieced together a three-shutout run, most recently Andrei Vasilevskiy and Semyon Varlamov in 2020-21.

A shutout streak could pair well, too, with the record for single-season saves. Gump Worsley is in the top spot with a 2,376-save season, but it’s not unrealistic for a present-day keeper to mount a challenge. Worsley accumulated his total over 70 games, which is greater than but not far from the workloads that netminders play these days. Twice in the post-lockout NHL has Worsley been threatened – by Roberto Luongo in 2005-06 (2,275 saves in 75 games) and Cam Ward in 2010-11 (2,191 saves in 74 games). More recently, Frederik Andersen posted 2,029 saves in 66 games during the 2017-18 season.

And how about the single-season win total? In 2015-16, Braden Holtby tied Martin Brodeur’s then-nine-year-old record of 48 wins – and Holtby did so despite playing in 12 fewer games than Brodeur. Further fuelling speculation the mark could fall? Connor Hellebuyck won 47 of his 63 games this season. It proves that a workhorse keeper on a title contender can mount a chase.

It would take something truly special, though, for anyone to chase down Brodeur for the top spot on the all-time wins list. Given his consistency and sturdiness, Hellebuyck might have the best chance – he’s at 322 victories. However, he’d have to average nearly 40 wins per season for another decade. The same can be said for Vasilevskiy, who – with the pending retirement of Marc-Andre Fleury and his career 575 wins – is third among active keepers. Vasilevskiy would have to maintain a similar 40-win clip until he called it a career to reach the record. The conditions would have to be perfect for Hellebuyck, Vasilevskiy or any up-and-comer to surpass Brodeur.

The Untouchables

Which brings us to those that will stand the test of time.

While The Great One may have lost one of his most notable records, he still has a stranglehold on a great many of the NHL’s single-season and career bests – as well as one of the most formidable in league history: 50 goals in 39 games. The closest modern challengers have been Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, who have recorded 33 goals in 39 games.

Perhaps more than his goal-scoring feats, though, Gretzky’s work as a set-up man makes for the most unattainable marks. For instance, Gretzky is atop the all-time assists ledger (1,963) by more than 700, and he’s 900 ahead of any active player. Combine that with his goal total and it’s unfathomable that anyone in this lifetime or the next will be able to match Gretzky’s 2,857 career points. That’s the equivalent of 19 consecutive 150-point campaigns. Only once since the turn of the millennium – McDavid in 2022-23 – has a player posted even one 150-point season.

And while Gretzky’s career point total is among the NHL’s most unmatchable, that record still pales in comparison to what is arguably the most awe-inspiring record in the sport: Glenn Hall’s mark for most consecutive complete games by a goaltender.

From Oct. 6, 1955, through to Nov. 4, 1962, Hall played every possible minute in the blue paint, 502 consecutive games. Forget the single-season games-played mark (Grant Fuhr’s 79 games) or the all-time total (Brodeur’s 1,266 contests) it’s Hall’s streak that is a truly breathtaking feat. What we know about the physical toll of the goaltending position on the body makes it not unlikely, not implausible, but absolutely, unequivocally impossible anyone will ever pry that record from Hall.

This article appeared in our 2025 Top-100 NHLers issue. This issue focuses on the 100 best players currently in the NHL, with the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon sitting atop the list. We also include features on Alex Ovechkin finally beating Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record, and former CFL running back Andrew Harris' switch to semi-professional hockey. In addition, we provide a PWHL playoff preview as the regular season nears its end.

You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.

Whenever he’s asked about expanding the Stanley Cup playoff pool, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has come up with a response that’s tough to argue: the current format creates the most compelling first round in all of sports. 

This year has been no different, with familiar matchups, old favorites from a generation ago and fresh rivalries igniting. After eight days, all 16 teams are still alive, and there’s at least a small element of doubt in every series. 

Here are six players that have stood out in the early going — for better or for worse.

Winners

Gabriel Landeskog – Colorado Avalanche

The smile said it all when Landeskog’s high wrister beat Jake Oettinger over his glove to put the Colorado Avalanche up 3-0 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

1,041 days later 💙

What a night for Gabriel Landeskog who scores his first NHL goal since the 2022 #StanleyCup Final. pic.twitter.com/cr1ZBHUwfc

— NHL (@NHL) April 27, 2025

It was the first goal for the Colorado captain since June 20, 2022 — a triumphant story of perseverance that also served as an important insurance marker to level one of this year’s most high-level first-round series at 2-2. 

Adrian Kempe - Los Angeles Kings

Does practice make perfect for the big Swede? Kempe had 11 goals and 19 points across 18 games in the Kings’ previous three playoff meetings with the Edmonton Oilers. This year, he has obliterated that pace with nine points in the first three games, including four goals. 

The Kings let one slip away in Edmonton on Friday, but Kempe still finished the night with two points. At 28, he’s an underrated threat whose start could shine brighter than ever before if L.A. can finish the job and advance.

Jake Sanderson – Ottawa Senators

Who better than the Senators’ future Norris Trophy hopeful to foil the Toronto Maple Leafs’ dream of a first-round sweep? At just 22, Ottawa has Jake Sanderson locked up for seven more years. He could become one of the league’s great bargains if he continues his trajectory.

Sanderson picked a perfect moment to score the most important goal of his career on Saturday. Let’s see what’s next.

CATCH US WATCHING THIS ON REPEAT 🔁#GoSensGopic.twitter.com/Ltf5N8NPlV

— X - Ottawa Senators (@Senators) April 27, 2025

Losers

Stuart Skinner - Edmonton Oilers

He’s been here before, but it can’t be easy for Stuart Skinner to cede his crease to Calvin Pickard for the second-straight year.

Last season, Kris Knoblauch replaced Skinner for two starts against Vancouver in Round 2. He was steadier when he got back into action, and earned his team two series wins.

This year, Skinner’s regular-season numbers dropped, and his playoff performance followed suit. He gave up 11 goals in five-and-a-half periods and gave up 4.7 goals above expected before he got the hook. 

The silver lining? After three games, the Kings’ Darcy Kuemper has surrendered 5.2 goals above expected. If the Oilers can stay alive long enough for Skinner to get back on track, there’s still a path for them to advance.

Jack Eichel - Vegas Golden Knights

Eichel picked up his first playoff point of the year as the Golden Knights evened their series with the Wild on Saturday. But he was also a minus-2, taking him to minus-7 over four games. 

Plus-minus may not be a perfect stat, but that’s not good.

Being a No. 1 center is no easy task, but Eichel crushed it in his maiden voyage two years ago, chipping in better than a point a game while playing sound two-way hockey on his way to winning a Cup. 

He knows exactly what it takes, so is there something holding him back? Despite hitting a new career high with 94 points and attracting some Hart Trophy chatter during the regular season, he went cold late in the year, logging just one point in his last five games played, and missing four just before the playoffs with an upper-body issue. 

Eichel led all Vegas forwards with 29:57 of ice time on Saturday, and his six shots were one more than the first three games of the series combined. Sin City fans will be hopeful that’s a sign that his full game is starting to round back into form.

Aaron Ekblad – Florida Panthers

It’s a small sample size, to be sure. But after his Florida Panthers carved out a 2-0 series lead on the road in Tampa, Ekblad’s return to the lineup from his 20-game performance-enhancing-substance suspension couldn’t have gone much worse.

While he was out, Nate Schmidt seized his moment and scored three goals in two games. But with Ekblad back in the lineup and Uvis Balinskis scratched, the Panthers suffered a 5-1 beatdown on home ice on Saturday. 

Ekblad finished third in ice time among Florida defensemen, at 20:20. But he and partner Gustav Forsling were both an ugly minus-4 for the day.

Ekblad needs to sharpen up in a hurry to help the Panthers move on — and to help set the table for his next payday. The 29-year-old is heading for free agency on July 1, and there hasn’t been much talk yet about an extension with Florida.

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Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog grabbed the headlines with a storied goal against the Dallas Stars in Game 4 on Saturday.

For the first time in nearly three years, Landeskog has scored a goal in the NHL. It took him over 1,000 days to recover from his chronic knee injury that he suffered back in 2020 and lingered for another two years. Furthermore, he has undergone three surgeries since March 2023.

However, he made a dramatic return to the Colorado lineup on Wednesday for Game 3, playing his first game since June 2022. 

Now, in his second game since returning, he has scored his first goal since June 20, 2022. “There were days where I didn’t know if I would ever score again,” Landeskog told reporters after the Avalanche's 4-0 victory over the Stars to tie the series at two games apiece.

“There were days where I didn’t know if I would ever score again”

- Gabe Landeskog

— Jesse Montano (@jessemontano_) April 27, 2025

His goal came in the second period to give the Avs a 3-0 lead. It came off an assist from trade-deadline acquisition Brock Nelson. Nelson recorded his first playoff point as a member of the Avalanche on the play, as he coasted into the offensive zone on the left wing, found Landeskog in the slot, and the Avs captain wired it home. 

🚨 GABRIEL LANDESKOG GOAL! GABRIEL LANDESKOG GOAL! 🚨

His first goal in the NHL since June 20, 2022 puts the @Avalanche up 3-0 in this one! #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: @NHL_On_TNT (TBS) & @SportsonMax ➡️ https://t.co/4TuyIATi3T
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️… pic.twitter.com/w7UBXIWFpM

— NHL (@NHL) April 27, 2025

Landeskog’s teammates were smiling ear-to-ear as they joined him along the boards in celebration. And their excitement for him didn’t wear off after the game.

“There's only one Gabe Landeskog in the world," said Nathan MacKinnon, a longtime teammate and friend of Landeskog’s. "It was more than just a playoff goal... It was a life goal."

Along with teammates, the hockey world acknowledged the incredible comeback story that has unfolded in front of their eyes.

NHL on TNT host Liam McHugh said on X (formerly Twitter), “The best story in sports just keeps getting better. Gabe Landeskog buries his first goal in 1,041 days — and the roof is about to rip off of Ball Arena.”

Landeskog’s goal wasn’t the last time he would make an impact in this contest. He added a secondary assist in the third period, connecting with Nelson again, with defenseman Samuel Girard scoring the fourth and final goal of the game – his first goal of the 2025 playoffs.

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Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.

After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines, provide updates on the rest of the night's NHL slate and read your opinions.

On tonight's show, Michael Augello and Andrew McInnis react to the Ottawa Senators defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs4-3 in overtime to keep the series alive.

Playoff Live Frenzy - April 26, 2025 | The Hockey NewsWelcome to Playoff Frenzy Live by The Hockey News presented by STIX.com, where we give our live reactions and break down the latest news to all the biggest g...

They also look around the NHL as the first round continues.

Check out the show right now and share your opinions in the live chat and in our comment section.  

After their first two games of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the defending-champion Florida Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning were on their heels and on the ropes, having dropped both games at home to the Panthers.

However, in Game 3 Saturday afternoon, the Lightning punched back, and did so convincingly, beating Florida by a 5-1 score. And the Bolts were able to win their first game of the series thanks to big-time contributions from a first-year Lightning member, as well as a proven Tampa Bay legend.

The first-year-Bolts member who thrived Saturday was left winger Jake Guentzel, who posted a goal – his second of the post-season – and two primary assists in the Game 3 win. And the proven Lightning legend was goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who stopped 33 of 34 Panthers shots, frustrating Florida at just about every turn.

Guentzel now has a pair of goals and four points in the series, while Vasilevskiy has overcome a sub-par Game 1 performance – where he allowed six goals on 17 shots – to get increasingly better as the series has gone on, putting up a .955 save percentage in Game 2, and a .971 SP in Game 3.

As Saturday’s game unfolded, the Panthers grew especially ornery at their inability to solve Vasilevskiy, lashing out multiple times and giving the Lightning five power plays. Tampa Bay failed to score on any of their man advantages, but the Bolts killed off all four power plays the Panthers had. It was a measure of the Lightning’s determination that, slowly but surely, Tampa Bay grinded down on Florida at equal strength, overcoming the Panthers’ 1-0 lead in the game to battle back with five unanswered goals.

The Lightning also got a solid performance on offense from star right winger Nikita Kucherov, who put up three assists in the win. But it was Tampa’s defense that was the biggest factor in Saturday’s win.

The Bolts had only 21 shots on Panthers goalie Serge Bobrovsky, but they made them count, particularly in the third period, where Tampa Bay scored three times to put the contest well out of reach. And Florida’s shots on Vasilevskiy were mostly low-quality, allowing Vasilevskiy to methodically square up to most of them and prevent second and third-chance opportunities.

Panthers star left winger Matthew Tkachuk did make an impact right away by scoring the first goal of the game – and his third of the playoffs – at the 2:43 mark of the opening frame. But Tkachuk also was undisciplined, taking an unsportsmanlike minor penalty in the second period, then getting penalized for a five-minute interference major penalty on Guentzel at the 15-minute mark of the third period.

Tkachuk’s hit on Guentzel, which was extremely late, is almost certainly going to result in supplemental discipline. So, Tkachuk has hurt not only himself, but his team by taking liberties with Guentzel. We’re guessing Tkachuk will be suspended for Game 4 on Monday, and Tkachuk has no one but himself to blame for it.

Matthew Tkachuk has been given a 5-minute major for this hit on Jake Guentzel before Tampa's ENG pic.twitter.com/gDHny5h8z2

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2025

In any case, the Lightning have now cut the Panthers’ series lead in half, serving notice that they’re not going to roll over simply because Florida won the first two games.

From our vantage point, we believe Tampa Bay is likely to extend the series to at least six games. And you can bet the other teams still active in the Eastern Conference playoffs – we’re looking at you, Toronto Maple Leafs – are elated to see the Lightning and Panthers beating up on each other. Because the longer this series goes, the harder it will be for Florida or Tampa Bay when they eventually take on their second-round opponents.

That said, right now, the second round seems very far away for the Lightning and Panthers. Florida had the chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead over Tampa Bay with a victory Saturday, but the Bolts battled back – and now, the heavyweight bout between two recent Stanley Cup champs looks like it’s going to be increasingly brutal with every game that takes place. 

The Lightning aren’t going to go into the off-season without a fight, and the Panthers now understand their challenge against the Bolts is not going to be a cakewalk. Tampa has pushed back against Florida, and all of us who foresaw a long first-round series for the two teams are feeling good about that prediction.

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