Welcome to Art of the Mask, a video series in which theScore sits down with some of the world's top netminders to talk about goalie mask art.
In Episode 4, Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Garret Sparks walks us through the finer details of two masks he wore during the 2018-19 season. From graffiti to Fortnite to Illinois to the Humboldt Broncos, Sparks is inspired by a variety of things - and it shows in his mask art.
Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews underwent a procedure Thursday to remove surgical hardware from a 2014 surgery, the team announced. The procedure won't disrupt his summer on-ice program.
Matthews suffered a broken femur from a knee-on-knee collision while playing for the USA Hockey U17 National Team Development Program in September 2013. The injury eventually required surgery.
The 21-year-old center recently declined an invitation to play for the U.S. at the upcoming World Championship.
Matthews tallied 37 goals and 73 points in 68 games in his third NHL season. He added five more goals and an assist in seven postseason contests against the Boston Bruins.
The Oilers reportedly requested permission to interview McCrimmon in April once the Golden Knights completed their end-of-season procedures.
McCrimmon was hired by Vegas in 2016 as assistant general manager and has been with the club since.
Mark Hunter, Sean Burke, and Keith Gretzky are apparently the remaining candidates for the Edmonton position, reports TSN's Darren Dreger. Gretzky has acted as interim general manager since the Oilers fired Peter Chiarelli in January.
Before this week, Curtis McElhinney had appeared in all of two playoff games in his 11 years as an NHL goaltender, and one of those took place a decade ago.
Still, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that in this zany Carolina Hurricanes postseason run, McElhinney - like so many of his teammates - has delivered when pressed into action.
Ever since the injured Petr Mrazek ceded his crease to McElhinney midway through Game 2 against the New York Islanders, Carolina's backup has stopped 45 of the 47 shots he's faced. That includes 28 saves on Wednesday, when the 35-year-old McElhinney became the oldest goalie in league history to make his first playoff start and his surging club moved within a win of the Eastern Conference Final.
Grant Halverson / Getty Images
Reserve netminders aren't supposed to look impregnable, especially against an opponent that advanced to the second round via a sweep. But Mrazek and McElhinney have combined to yield just three goals in three games - all Hurricanes victories - and the Isles appear bound to suffer the same fate they just imposed on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Canes' performance in their 5-2 win in Game 3 was well in line with the ethos that has gotten them this far. Through 10 postseason games - and particularly in their past eight, of which they've won seven - it seems like Carolina's always had a "next man" ready to rise to the occasion.
Five Hurricanes have scored at least three goals in these playoffs, and three others have tallied a game-winner. The team didn't stumble when forwards Andrei Svechnikov, Micheal Ferland, and Jordan Martinook all went down in the first round with various injuries. The same goes for life without Mrazek, Saku Maenalanen, and Trevor van Riemsdyk, all of whom were hurt in Game 2 against New York.
And how emphatically did Carolina put the "bunch" in Bunch of Jerks on Wednesday? Every single Hurricanes skater finished Game 3 with positive shot-attempt and scoring-chance ratios at even strength, signifying that New York had a lesser chance of scoring for practically the entire game.
Karl DeBlaker / National Hockey League / Getty Images
The Hurricanes' dominance was especially pronounced in the third period, which began tied 2-2 and ended with the Islanders robbed of all but the faintest hope of coming back in this series.
In that final frame, Carolina had eight scoring chances to New York's three, including a 5-0 edge in quality chances. Even after Justin Williams scored to put the Hurricanes ahead 3-2 with 9:45 remaining - assisted by Sebastian Aho's midair interception of Robin Lehner's attempted clearance around the boards - they continued to control the run of play despite the Isles having an incentive to push aggressively for a tying goal.
Given how well his team played, McElhinney's effort didn't have to be Herculean, but he did make a tremendous toe save on Nick Leddy when Jordan Eberle sprung the defenseman for a breakaway in the second period, and made another with his glove when Eberle tried to pot the rebound. That was plenty on a night when the Isles generated only six quality scoring chances, far fewer than the 10.5 they averaged in the first two games.
It's hard to fathom any way New York could mount a miracle comeback. Any such blueprint would probably start with Lehner playing lights-out - his .915 save percentage at even strength in this series is significantly below his .934 regular-season mark - but at some point, they'd actually have to score. It's easier to forgive Brock Nelson for tapping McElhinney's head when you consider it came after his team's first and only goal at five-on-five through three games.
Karl DeBlaker / National Hockey League / Getty Images
When the Islanders are inevitably eliminated, they'll rue not capitalizing on opportunities to win Games 1 and 2, in which they could have legitimately claimed to be the better team.
However, the Hurricanes fully earned their Game 3 victory, even as their power play failed to score for the seventh straight contest. Pretty much everything else is playing out in their favor - McElhinney being the latest embodiment of that trend.
Dallas flexes scoring depth
Stars head coach Jim Montgomery's successful decision to tweak his top two lines ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday accentuated the reason his team has kept pace with the St. Louis Blues: Dallas is getting secondary scoring.
Rather than forging ahead with Tyler Seguin centering Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov - the trio that netted 89 of the Stars' 209 goals this season - Montgomery shifted Seguin to the second line and promoted flourishing Finnish 22-year-old Roope Hintz in his place.
The shakeup worked out happily for everyone involved, as Dallas won 4-2 on the strength of three terrific joint efforts from the members of those two lines: Seguin won a puck battle to feed new linemate Jason Dickinson for a tap-in; Dickinson, Mats Zuccarello, and Seguin all made key plays to set up a John Klingberg goal; and Hintz scored to reward Radulov and Benn for two consecutive pretty passes.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Hintz now has five goals in these playoffs, tied with Radulov for the team lead. Seguin, Dickinson, and Zuccarello have all scored three times, while Benn has contributed two goals and seven assists.
Their combined production has fortified Dallas' offensive punch in a series where Vezina Trophy finalist Ben Bishop - he of the .945 save percentage against the Nashville Predators in Round 1 - has looked shockingly beatable (.906 save percentage through four games).
Even in a 2-2 series, it's remarkable how little separates these teams. The Stars and Blues have each scored nine goals at even strength, while Dallas has a modest edge in total scoring chances at 123-119.
Like Bishop, St. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington has fared worse than expected (.904 save percentage) after his sterling second half of the regular season, mainly thanks to Dallas' aforementioned top-six forward group.
Does either goalie have a shutdown showing in him? In what's now a best-of-three matchup, it could make all the difference.
"I was just reaching to prevent him from playing, and he’s a big guy, he’s 6-6," Perron said postgame, according to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford.
Before the two teams skated off for the second intermission, Benn exchanged words with Blues netminder Jordan Binnington, who took a swing at him and then hacked Bishop on his way off.
Ben Bishop seemed to downplay Jordan Binnington's slash.
Did he say anything to you? “No.” Just gave you a whack? “Yeah, I wasn’t looking. I didn’t know he was there.” Did you feel it in the moment? “He just hit my stick.”
Blues head coach Craig Berube wasn't pleased with Benn going after Binnington.
“Heck, I don’t know what Jamie Benn’s doing skating down there and he’s getting in Binner’s face," Berube said, according to the Dallas Morning News' Matthews DeFranks. "He’s just reacting a little bit to it. He’s a competitor.”
Binnington was assessed roughing and slashing minors as a result, and Benn was handed an unsportsmanlike conduct minor.
Gary Bettman believes outlawing all head contact would bring about the decline of hitting as a whole.
The NHL commissioner insisted as much while testifying before a subcommittee on sports-related concussions on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday.
“There would be no more body checking in the game,” Bettman said when asked about the possibility of implementing a more strict rule governing hits to the head, according to The Canadian Press.
The commissioner's reasoning was that larger players would be penalized for unavoidable headshots on smaller players in the normal course of play.
Bettman pointed to Rule 48, which bans hits on which the head is the main point of contact, and said he doesn't believe the league can go beyond that to reduce head contact.
The commissioner also reiterated his long-held stance that there isn't sufficient evidence to link hockey concussions and CTE, a brain condition associated with repeated blows to the head.
"I don’t believe there has been, based on everything I’ve been told - and if anybody has information to the contrary, we’d be happy to hear it - other than some anecdotal evidence, there has not been that conclusive link," Bettman said.
The NFL affirmed a link between CTE and playing football in 2016.
Gary Bettman believes outlawing all head contact would bring about the decline of hitting as a whole.
The NHL commissioner insisted as much while testifying before a subcommittee on sports-related concussions on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Wednesday.
“There would be no more body checking in the game,” Bettman said when asked about the possibility of implementing a more strict rule governing hits to the head, according to The Canadian Press.
The commissioner's reasoning was that larger players would be penalized for unavoidable headshots on smaller players in the normal course of play.
Bettman pointed to Rule 48, which bans hits on which the head is the main point of contact, and said he doesn't believe the league can go beyond that to reduce head contact.
The commissioner also reiterated his long-held stance that there isn't sufficient evidence to link hockey concussions and CTE, a brain condition associated with repeated blows to the head.
"I don’t believe there has been, based on everything I’ve been told - and if anybody has information to the contrary, we’d be happy to hear it - other than some anecdotal evidence, there has not been that conclusive link," Bettman said.
The NFL affirmed a link between CTE and playing football in 2016.
"That play should have been penalized," the NHL commissioner told Canadian lawmakers while testifying before a subcommittee on sports-related concussions on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, according to TSN's Rick Westhead. "Sometimes things are missed on the ice. Our officials must have the most difficult job in sports."
Bettman told the panel that the NHL Department of Player Safety has warned Marchand about his behavior and that if it's repeated, "he should look forward to a suspension."
Marchand punched Harrington from behind after the whistle late in the Blue Jackets' Game 3 victory. He wasn't given a penalty and is reportedly expected to avoid a suspension and fine.
Last May, the NHL said it warned the talented Bruins pest that "similar behavior in the future will be dealt with by way of supplemental discipline" after he licked the face of then-Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov.
