Around the rink – Saturday, February 5th

By Joe YerdonFeb 5, 2011, 10:15 AM EST

1:00 p.m.

San Jose @ Boston
For once, these two teams might have a game where Joe Thornton isn’t the focus of everything. Instead, you’ve got a pair of teams that are on fire of late. The Sharks have fallen into a nice groove and gotten back into the West playoff race while the Bruins are looking to keep a good thing going after flogging Dallas on Thursday night. The Sharks are going to have to hope Joe Pavelski’s return to the scoresheet can continue if they hope to beat the stingy Bruins. Pavelski’s importance to the Sharks has been obvious in how his struggles have also coincided with the team fighting to win games. Boston will be without Daniel Paille after he was suspended for four games following his awful blindside hit to the head of Dallas’ Ray Sawada.

2:00 p.m.

NY Rangers @ Montreal
The Rangers need a turnaround after dropping their last three games. Henrik Lundqvist was hard on himself after a disappointing loss to New Jersey on Thursday, expect him to be much better against the Habs. Montreal has won two in a row and they need to so they can keep up with the Bruins in the race for the Northeast Division. Consistency has escaped the Habs of late as stringing together wins for more than a couple games at a time has been tough lately.

3:00 p.m.

Anaheim @ Colorado
The Avs could use a break and they get one in the form of Jonas Hiller sitting this one out with fatigue. Colorado’s slipped back in the standings and their ability to play smart, consistent hockey has seemingly disappeared. Not a good sign for a young team. The Ducks meanwhile are looking to bounce back from a sound beating at the hands of San Jose on Thursday night. With Hiller not playing, the defense will need to tighten up while Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry do what they can to keep the offense rolling.

7:00 p.m.

Toronto @ Buffalo
Buffalo seeks to stay relevant against a hot Leafs team. The Sabres are going to have to be better than they were against Pittsburgh last night in blowing a 2-0 lead before falling 3-2 to the Penguins. Doing it against a Leafs team that’s rallying behind surprise goalie favorite James Reimer may prove tough to do. While it’s a home game for the Sabres, visiting Leafs fans tend to make it seem like a road game for Buffalo with the way Leafs faithful take over HSBC Arena.

Ottawa @ NY Islanders
Well, if there’s something to look forward to at all in this one it’s that Jason Spezza should be suiting up for Ottawa. It’ll be his first game since December 26th and in that span since he’s been out the Senators have lost 14 out of 15 games including their last eight in a row.. Yikes. Speaking of yikes, the Islanders are going without Rick DiPietro in goal for the next 4-6 weeks after getting his face wrecked by Brent Johnson in their fight on Wednesday night. Look for Kevin Poulin to get the start for New York in what figures to be a game only best served for the fans of each team.

Dallas @ Philadelphia
Dallas is smarting after the beating they took against Boston on Thursday night and taking on the Flyers doesn’t figure to make life any easier. The Flyers have won three of their last four games and still sit on top of the Eastern Conference. Dallas, meanwhile, has lost four of their last five.

Atlanta @ Carolina
Eighth place in the East is on the line and for Carolina it’s a huge opportunity to perhaps put the scare into Atlanta that their playoff spot they’ve been hanging onto all year long is not their right. An emphatic win by the Hurricanes could motivate Thrashers GM Rick Dudley into making a trade. Meanwhile the Thrashers have lost 9 of their last 11 games going 2-6-3 in that span.

Edmonton @ Columbus
Columbus seeks to keep a good thing going after shutting out Detroit last night 3-0. For the Jackets they’re not out of the playoff race in the West as every team except one is still in striking distance. The one team that isn’t is Edmonton. The Oilers had a valiant effort to try and come back against the Blues last night but fell short. Edmonton has lost 17 of their last 20 games and are riding a three game skid now. They’re playing for personal pride and looking to spoil everyone else’s season. Doing that to the Blue Jackets might seem especially cruel but it’s the sort of game that the young Oilers could use to snap out of things. Edmonton did beat the Jackets in their last meeting in December 6-3.

8:00 p.m.

Detroit @ Nashville
Jimmy Howard hopes to shake off a bit of a tough loss to Columbus last night but the Wings offense could certainly use a boost. There’s an outside chance of Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom rejoining the lineup for this game and having to deal with a tough Nashville team means they could use all the help possible. The streaky Preds come into this one on a four-game losing skid and their offense has all but disappeared in those games. The key for the Preds? Score more than three goals. In three of their last four losses they’ve lost either 3-1 or 3-2 (one loss coming in a shootout).

Minnesota @ Phoenix
Can the Wild keep it going? Minnesota is hot winning six of their last seven games while the Coyotes are cold losers of six of their last eight games. Lately, the Coyotes are getting outscored badly having given up 21 goals in their last five games (1-4-0 in those games). In Minnesota’s wins, they’ve been the definition of stingy having given up just six goals in their six wins including three shutouts. That doesn’t really bode too well for Phoenix on paper.

10:00 p.m.

Los Angeles @ Calgary
Calgary has won six straight and in heading back home to take on the streaky Kings, they’ve got a chance to catch up to Anaheim and San Jose who sit tied for fifth in the Western playoff race. Of course, L.A. is right there with them as well the catch being the Kings haven’t been on a tear quite as noticeable. The Kings, though, have won three of their last four and getting wins at the start of their 10-game road trip helps out. With things as tight as they are in the West, games like these make a huge difference over the long haul. Seems silly to say that now in early February but at the end of the season it’ll make a difference between finishing sixth, seventh, or eighth and being in the pits of the West.

Flyers trade Pride-night boycott defenseman Provorov in 3-team deal

Associated PressJun 6, 2023, 10:12 PM EDT

Dennis Schneidler/USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers have traded Ivan Provorov, sending away the defenseman who boycotted the team’s Pride night as part of a three-team trade that included the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Los Angeles Kings.

The seventh overall pick of the 2015 draft, the 26-year-old Provorov lands in Columbus and is set to enter the fifth season of a $40.5 million, six-year contract. He was the centerpiece Tuesday of the first major move under new Flyers’ leadership.

There were plenty of moving parts in the three-team deal.

— Philadelphia traded Provorov and forward Hayden Hodgson to Los Angeles in exchange for goalie Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, defenseman Helge Grans and the Kings’ 2024 second-round pick. The Kings lost in the first round of the playoffs.

— Columbus acquired defenseman Kevin Connauton from Philadelphia in exchange for a 2023 first-round pick (22nd overall) and a conditional second-round pick in either the 2024 or 2025 NHL Draft. Columbus acquired Provorov from Los Angeles in exchange for Connauton.

The Flyers already hold the No. 7 pick in this season’s draft and now also have the 23rd pick as they start accumulating key assets for long-range success in what is expected to be a deep draft.

Flyers general manager Danny Briere had said no player was untouchable after the Flyers missed the playoffs for the third straight season and went to work with the Stanley Cup Final still underway. The Flyers named broadcaster Keith Jones team president last month and he is still working the Final for TNT. But it’s clear the overdue rebuild is underway for a franchise that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup in 48 years.

“We felt that the picks and the direction that we wanted to go in, it was really enticing, very exciting,” Briere said. “We have a chance to really start building the team the way we wanted. The right way.”

Briere said the Flyers are “open for business” this summer and that included potentially listening to offers for No. 1 goalie Carter Hart. Coach John Tortorella, Briere and Jones have all tempered offseason expectations for any fan looking for a quick fix. The trio all insist the Flyers have a cohesive plan for the future.

Provorov had 65 goals and 217 points in 532 career games with the Flyers. The Russian was widely criticized in January when he cited his Russian Orthodox religion as the reason he did not participate in pregame warmups when the Flyers wore Pride-themed jerseys and used sticks wrapped in rainbow Pride tape.

“I respect everybody’s choices,” Provorov said after the game. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.”

Now, he’s traded during Pride month.

Briere said the backlash over Pride night had nothing to do with trading Provorov.

The Blue Jackets, who missed the playoffs this season, were ready to take a flier on a defenseman seemingly with many productive years ahead.

“Improving our blue line has been a priority for us and acquiring Ivan gives us an established left-shot defenseman who is still a young player with his best seasons in front of him,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “He immediately improves our group on defense as he is durable, has great skill, skates well, is an excellent passer with an accurate shot and can effectively play at both ends of the ice.”

Provorov said at the end of the season he wasn’t necessarily happy the Flyers planned to rebuild but understood the decision. Briere declined to say if Provorov wanted out of Philadelphia.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the most positive news you can hear, but there’s a bright future here, and there’s a lot of great players that can keep growing,” Provorov said in April. “Obviously, it depends on how quick everybody gets better and how quickly the team game gets better. I think that’s what determines the length of the rebuild.”

Turns out, the potential success out of the haul the Flyers got for Provorov just may determine the length of the rebuild.

Golden Knights take 2-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final with 7-2 win over Panthers

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 11:49 PM EDT

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS — No team in over 25 years has been more dominant than the Vegas Golden Knights through the first two games of a Stanley Cup Final.

They have outscored the Florida Panthers by eight goals, including a 7-2 victory in Game 2 that put the Knights two wins from the first championship in the franchise’s short six-year history.

It will take a rare rally for the Panthers to come back as the series shifts to Florida for Game 3 on Thursday. Teams that took a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final are 31-3 in the expansion era, but the Panthers opened the playoffs by storming back from 3-1 down to beat the heavily favored Boston Bruins.

Florida will have to significantly up its level of play to beat a Vegas team that won by three goals on Saturday and then five in this game. The last team to win the first two games of a Cup Final by more than eight combined goals was the 1996 Colorado Avalanche – who outscored the Panthers by nine.

“I think our depth has been a strength all year,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It is the biggest reason we are still here, why we beat Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas. I just feel that we have the best team from player one through 20.”

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice for the Knights and started an early blitz that chased Sergei Bobrovsky, the NHL’s hottest postseason goalie.

Marchessault also had an assist to finish with three points. His 12 postseason goals set a Golden Knights record, with all of them coming after the first round. The only player with more following the opening round was Pavel Bure, who scored 13 for Vancouver in 1994.

“They want to set the tone with being undisciplined like Game 1 and we set the tone back,” Marchessault said. “It was scoring that first goal there. But we’re still pretty far from our goal here.”

Brett Howden scored twice for the Knights, who also got goals from Alec Martinez, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio. Six players had at least two points for Vegas, all 18 Knights skaters were on the ice for even-strength goals and their nine goal scorers through the first two games are a Stanley Cup Final record. The Knights’ seven goals tied a franchise mark for a playoff game.

It was too much for Bobrovsky, who was removed 7:10 into the second period down 4-0. It was the fifth time in 12 games the Knights have chased the opposing goalie.

Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, carried Florida through the Eastern Conference playoffs. Coming into the Stanley Cup Final, he had won 11 of his past 12 starts with a 1.95 goals-against average and .942 save percentage during that stretch. But he’s given up eight goals in 87 minutes against Vegas, compiling a 5.52 GAA and .826 save percentage in the series.

“We can be a little better in front of our goaltender,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I got him out to keep him rested.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Anton Lundell scored for Florida.

Adin Hill continued his stellar play in net with 29 saves for the Knights. Hill once again brought his feistiness as well as his A-game. He stopped Carter Verhaeghe on a breakaway in the first, and later that period hit Tkachuk, who was in his net, with his blocker and then slashed him with his stick.

“He’s been unreal for us,” Vegas forward William Carrier said. “He’s been unbelievable.”

A group of four fans behind one of the nets wore sweaters that spelled out his last name, and Hill has often received the loudest cheers from Knights fans, reminiscent of when Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal for Vegas in its first three seasons.

“It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey,” Hill said. “I’m just enjoying it, cherishing every day. It’s been awesome to be part of the journey with this team.”

The Knights were dominant early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Marchessault and Martinez. It was Vegas’ third game in a row with a power-play goal, its first such stretch since Christmas week.

The Panthers lost their biggest, toughest defenseman early in the game when Radko Gudas was injured on a hit by Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev. Gudas left 6:39 in and did not return.

That was one of several big hits by Barbashev, the Golden Knights’ biggest trade-deadline acquisition, a Stanley Cup champion with St. Louis in 2019. Barbashev broke the sternum of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard during the playoffs last year, also on a clean hit.

Vegas had its own scare late in the second period when Jack Eichel was nailed in the right shoulder by Tkachuk. Eichel returned in the third and set up Marchessault’s second goal for his second assist of the game.

“We did a good job managing momentum tonight,” Eichel said. “And we got some timely goals.”

Ducks hire former Leafs, Islanders assistant Greg Cronin as head coach

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 2:18 PM EDT

Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Anaheim Ducks have hired veteran NHL assistant and AHL head coach Greg Cronin to be their new head coach.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek announced the decision to hire the 60-year-old Cronin, who will be a first-time NHL head coach.

Cronin has 12 years of experience as an NHL assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs and in two stints with the New York Islanders. The Massachusetts native has been the head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles since 2018, and he spent six years as a collegiate head coach at Northeastern.

Verbeek called Cronin “the ideal fit” to take over a young, rebuilding team.

“I felt we needed a teacher of the finer points of the game, and someone who has worked extensively over time with talented young players, helping them develop into successful NHL players,” Verbeek said. “Greg has done all that and more.”

Cronin replaces Dallas Eakins, whose contract wasn’t renewed in April after the Ducks finished their fourth consecutive losing season of his tenure. Anaheim finished in last place in the overall NHL standings at 23-47-12.

The Ducks never finished higher than sixth in the Pacific Division during Eakins’ four years in charge. They’ve missed the playoffs in a franchise-record five straight seasons, and Anaheim was the NHL’s worst defensive team of the 21st century by several measures during the just-completed season.

Cronin takes over a struggling team that is still loaded with young talent, including the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming draft and a wealth of farm prospects seemingly ready to break into the NHL. Anaheim has a solid long-term base with playmaking center Trevor Zegras, two-time All-Star Troy Terry and promising forward Mason McTavish.

Cronin has never led an NHL bench, but he interviewed for the Boston Bruins’ vacancy a year ago.

He becomes only the Ducks’ fourth permanent head coach since Henry and Susan Samueli bought the franchise from Disney in 2005, joining Randy Carlyle, Bruce Boudreau and Eakins.

Canadiens sign Cole Caufield to 8-year, $62.8 million extension

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 2:05 PM EDT

David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens signed Cole Caufield to an eight-year, $62.8 million contract extension.

The deal, which will pay the 22-year-old winger an average annual salary of $7.85 million, runs through the 2030-31 season.

Caufield scored 26 goals and added 10 assists in 46 games in 2022-23 before he underwent season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in February.

Despite missing nearly half the season, Caufield led the Canadiens in goals for the second consecutive season, tied with Nick Suzuki.

Montreal selected Caufield in the first round (15th overall) of the 2019 draft.

Since making his NHL debut in 2020-21, the forward has 84 points (53 goals, 31 assists) in 123 NHL games.