Projected top-two pick Kaapo Kakko won't attend this week's NHL Scouting Combine, according to NHL.com's Adam Kimmelman.

The combine started Monday and runs through Saturday at the KeyBank Center and HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y., where 103 prospects will participate in interviews and fitness testing.

Kakko has enjoyed a massive year and is fresh off winning a gold medal at the 2019 World Championship for his native Finland. He's expected to be the second overall pick - which is held by the New York Rangers - behind American center Jack Hughes.

The 18-year-old winger led TPS Turku with 22 tallies this season, setting a Liiga record for goals by a player 18 years old or younger. He also scored the golden goal at the world juniors in the dying minutes of the championship game and notched six tallies at the worlds this month in Slovakia.

Kakko is the top-ranked European skater heading into June's draft. His NHL fate will be determined June 21 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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

Alex Pietrangelo says the St. Louis Blues have only themselves to blame after their collapse in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

"It was more us," Blues captain Pietrangelo said, according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. "I think we got away from our game. We got spread out, allowed them to play the way they wanted to through the neutral zone."

The Blues held a two-goal lead early in the second period before Boston Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton opened up the scoring for the home side.

It was all Bruins from then on. They outshot the Blues 30-12 in the second and third frames, scoring four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory over St. Louis.

"We just didn't get to our game at all," Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. "We turned over pucks, didn't support each other, started flipping the puck a lot. We weren't making a whole lot of plays, and it forced us to defend a lot."

The teams will be back at TD Garden on Wednesday night for Game 2.

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

One of Dave Tippett's biggest lineup decisions as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers will revolve around his two star players: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

During Tippett's introductory press conference Tuesday, he was asked whether he'll pair them together on the same line.

"Together it seems like they feed off each other," Tippett told reporters.

Tippett recalled his time as an assistant with Team North America during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The coaching staff decided to try Auston Matthews - who had yet to play an NHL game - on McDavid's wing. Tippett described Matthews as "an unbelievable compliment" to McDavid.

"I see Draisaitl a little bit in that same vein as Matthews," Tippett said. "Real solid, great plays, Connor can give-and-go with him, and then basically, Draisaitl shoots when he gets a chance.

"That's something that sticks out in my mind, but with that being said, I'm not stuck on that."

Here's a look at how McDavid and Draisaitl fared together, and away from each other, at five-on-five this past season, according to Natural Stat Trick:

TOI = Time on ice
CF% = Shot attempt share
GF% = Goals share
xGF% = Expected goals share

There's no denying that McDavid and Draisaitl are dynamic together, but pairing Edmonton's two highest-paid players on the same line could leave Tippett with a lack of depth for his remaining forward trios.

McDavid and Draisaitl finished second and fourth, respectively, in the league in points this past season, but the Oilers still finished 11 points out of a playoff spot.

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

The Edmonton Oilers will name Dave Tippett as their head coach on Tuesday, according to Sportsnet's Mark Spector.

Tippett's contract will be for three years, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The 57-year-old will take a wealth of coaching experience with him to Edmonton, where he will serve as the 16th bench boss in franchise history.

Tippett was the Dallas Stars' head coach for six seasons from 2002 to 2009, during which the team earned a conference finals berth in 2008.

After his dismissal in Dallas, Tippett moved to the then-Phoenix Coyotes and found instant success. He was named the Jack Adams Award recipient in his first year with the team after guiding the Coyotes to a franchise-record 107 points. He took them to the conference finals two seasons later but would miss the postseason during his last five years in the desert before he was relieved of his duties after 2016-17.

Tippett, a Moosomin, Saskatchewan native, was hired by Seattle's upcoming NHL team as a senior advisor last summer.

Despite boasting ample star power with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the Oilers have missed the playoffs in back-to-back years. Todd McLellan was fired after a 9-10-1 start to last season, and his interim replacement, Ken Hitchcock, didn't fare much better, going 26-28-9 the rest of the way.

Tippett's hiring marks the first major move made by new general manager and president of hockey operations Ken Holland.

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

Sean Kuraly scored the eventual winner early in the third period as the Boston Bruins tallied four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

More to come.

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

Gary Bettman says the NHL will look to expand its video review process, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Speaking during his annual league address prior to the start of the Stanley Cup Final, the commissioner said the league will now determine what plays will be subject to future reviews.

“This is the challenge," Bettman said. "This is the challenge we will focus on and we will meet.”

What the new review process will include is yet to be determined, and Bettman said that will be discussed when the league's general managers convene on June 20, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Bettman did add, however, that the league won't get carried away.

"The flow of the game would be inalterably affected if we reviewed everything," Bettman said, per TSN's Gino Reda.

Reviews have been a major controversy throughout the postseason. In Game 7 between the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks, Cody Eakin was wrongfully assessed a match penalty for a cross-check on Joe Pavelski. The Sharks scored four goals on a power play that shouldn't have happened and won the series.

Then in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, Sharks forward Timo Meier set up the overtime winner with a hand pass, and that play isn't reviewable under current NHL rules.

Bettman said the Meier play bothers him.

"What I thought was it would be good if my head didn't explode," he said, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Bettman also said no teams will be travelling to China for preseason games prior to the 2019-20 campaign, and there's been no movement between the NHL and IIHF regarding the 2022 Olympics.

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

Warning: Video contains graphic content

The Washington Capitals are investigating a video that appears to show Evgeny Kuznetsov with two lines of white powder.

"We are aware of the video that surfaced on social media of Evgeny Kuznetsov," a team spokesman told the Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan on Monday. "We are currently in the process of gathering facts and will have no further comment at this time."

In a statement translated by Russian Machine Never Breaks' Igor Kleyner, Kuznetsov told Russian outlet Sport-Express that he has never used drugs and doesn't plan to, adding that the video was taken following the Capitals' championship victory last year:

Yes, I saw the video on the internet. I don’t necessarily have anything to do with what is going on around me. I never used drugs and have no intention to get into it. If there are any questions, I am ready to undergo testing.

The video is a year old. It happened in summer of 2018, when we won the Cup in Vegas. It has nothing to do with the World Championship at all. I just came by the room where my some people I knew stayed. When I saw what was going on there - unfamiliar women, unknown substances on the table - I called my friend and left as soon as I could.

Unfortunately, someone decided to catch some notoriety just now - after the (Russian team) lost. I have nothing to hide, let this be on (the) conscience of whoever posted the video.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday that the league needs time to gather more facts on the video before commenting on it, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Twitter user @thesavspb posted and later deleted the clip purportedly showing the superstar forward sitting at a table with what appears to be cocaine.

It has since been shared by other Twitter accounts and has been uploaded to YouTube.

Kuznetsov and Team Russia defeated the Czech Republic to win bronze at the World Championship in Slovakia on Sunday.

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

Details about the potential blockbuster trade between the Minnesota Wild and the Pittsburgh Penguins that fell through last week are starting to come to light.

Penguins forward Phil Kessel, who owns an eight-team "yes" trade list, nixed a deal that would've sent him to the Wild, sources confirmed to The Athletic's Michael Russo. The veteran sniper apparently has a couple of concerns about playing for Minnesota - the biggest one being his belief that the club isn't close to contending for a Stanley Cup, several people close to Kessel told Russo.

Moreover, Kessel is concerned about who would get him the puck, and wasn't swayed by a phone conversation with Wild general manager Paul Fenton - who tried talking up the team's young players - sources told Russo.

Kessel is coming off a productive 82-point season and has three years remaining on his contract with a $6.8-million cap hit.

The 32-year-old has ties to Minnesota. He grew up in nearby Madison, Wis., and played one year at the University of Minnesota before turning pro.

However, the Wild finished last in the Central Divison this past season, ending their six-year playoff streak in the first year under Fenton. The new GM wasted little time putting his fingerprints on the roster, trading away Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and Charlie Coyle - all of whom were considered core players by the previous regime.

Jason Zucker, who signed five-year, $27.5-million extension with the Wild last summer, was reportedly the main part of the package heading to Pittsburgh in exchange for Kessel before the trade fell through. Zucker has a 10-team no-trade list that kicks in on July 1.

This wasn't the first time Fenton came close to dealing Zucker. At the trade deadline, a deal to send the 27-year-old forward to the Calgary Flames reportedly fell through.

The Penguins and Flames don't appear to be giving up on their hopes of landing the former 30-goal scorer, though. They're both among a list of teams - joined by the Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, and Anaheim Ducks - that are interested in Zucker, sources told Russo.

In Zucker talks, the Wild have inquired about Christian Dvorak and Christian Fischer in Arizona, Sam Bennett and Michael Frolik in Calgary, and Jonathan Marchessault with the Vegas Golden Knights, according to Russo.

Zucker tallied 21 goals and 21 assists in 2018-19, but his shooting percentage dropped over 5 points from his previous 33-goal campaign.

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