Flyers eliminate Canadiens, continue incredible run

By Adam GretzAug 21, 2020, 9:51 PM EDT

It was not always easy, but the Philadelphia Flyers survived their First Round matchup with the Montreal Canadiens and are moving on to the Second Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Flyers eliminated the Canadiens on Friday night with 3-2 victory in Game 6, securing a matchup in the next round with the New York Islanders.

It continues what has been an incredible run by the Flyers since the start of January.

They were the hottest team in the league during the stretch run of the regular season, and are now 7-2 during the Return To Play and looking like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

They were not necessarily at their best on Friday night and needed a lot of things to go their way to close out the series. Carter Hart, their young star goalie, was outstanding in net once again, especially in the second period when the Flyers were on their heels a bit defending. They also had a little puck luck on their side to get some fluky goals behind Carey Price. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Every championship caliber team has to win a few games like this during the playoffs.

The important thing is, quite simply, that you find a way to get those wins.

They don’t ask you how you got the wins at this time of year, they just ask if you got them.

Right now the Flyers are getting a lot of wins, and have put themselves in a great position to continue what has been an unexpectedly great 2019-20 season.

What gives them such a great chance?

Let’s start with the fact they finally seem to have the goalie they have been lacking for decades. Hart has been sensational this entire postseason and has looked like the goalie the Flyers had been hoping he would be throughout his development. If he has not exceeded expectations, he has at the very least met them. Having a young, No. 1 goalie on an entry-level contract is a game-changer for any team.

Then there is the fact the Flyers are 7-2 in the postseason and through to the Second Round despite getting almost zero goal production from their top goal scorers. So far this postseason the group of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Travis Konecny, Kevin Hayes, and James van Riemsdyk (the Flyers’ top-five goal scorers during the regular season) has combined for ONE (Hayes on Friday) goal in the postseason. And the Flyers are still winning games.

It would be easy to write this off as a negative, maybe even a concern, but I am going to take it in a different direction. It is actually encouraging for the Flyers. Very encouraging. The reality that we never seem to want to acknowledge in the NHL is that star players get held without goals far more often than they score them. Your top players are not going to score goals every night, especially in the playoffs, which means you better have a third and fourth line that can score until the top players get going again. The Flyers are getting that. The depth players are picking up the slack and buying more time for the players at the top to break out. And the more games they play, the more likely it is that they will.

Then we get to the matchups.

It is not always just about how your team is playing. Sometimes it is about who your team has to play. Or doesn’t have to play. Thanks to an unusual sequence of events (the season being paused, an expanded 24-team playoff, the Flyers going unbeaten in the Round Robin to steal a No. 1 seed they would have otherwise had no chance of getting, Montreal upsetting the Penguins in the play-in round) the Flyers first two playoff opponents are going to be the 24th and 11th ranked teams in the NHL respectively.

The Islanders are not going to be a picnic by any means. They are a good team, a well coached team, and a frustrating team to play against. But the Flyers are in a position where they will not have to play Boston or Tampa Bay until the Conference Finals, and avoided consistent Eastern Conference powers Pittsburgh and Washington entirely.

Nothing is guaranteed, especially in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that is a favorable position to be in. They have an opportunity to do something special here, and so far they have taken advantage of it.

No. 1 Philadelphia Flyers vs. No. 8 Montreal Canadiens (PHI wins 4-2)

Wednesday, Aug. 12: Flyers 2, Canadiens 1 (recap)
Friday, Aug. 14: Canadiens 5, Flyers 0 (recap)
Sunday, Aug. 16: Flyers 1, Canadiens 0 (recap)
Tuesday, Aug. 18: Flyers 2, Canadiens 0 (recap)
Wednesday, Aug. 19: Canadiens 5, Flyers 3 (recap)
Friday, Aug. 21: Flyers 3, Canadiens 2 (recap)

MORE:
• Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round schedule

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Surging Stars on cusp of first Stanley Cup Final in 20 years

Associated PressSep 14, 2020, 1:00 PM EDT

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The Dallas Stars were fourth in the Western Conference when the NHL season paused for the pandemic.

Dallas hovered under the radar in the postseason bubble, particularly after losing two of three round-robin games.

Given little chance against Colorado in the second round of the playoffs, the Stars pushed the Avalanche around and right back to the Rockies. Still considered the underdog against top-seeded Vegas, they have shut down the deep Vegas Golden Knights to move within a game of the Stanley Cup Final.

Seems these Stars like life in the bubble.

”As we’ve gone here, we’ve continued to find ways to win and that shows you’re a good team,” Stars center Andrew Cogliano said Sunday. ”It’s not going to be perfect every night, but it seems like we have a lot of guys who buy in on a nightly basis and understand what their roles are, really do what they need to do to win games.”

Anton Khudobin may be at the top of that list.

The veteran goalie bounced around six teams in 11 NHL seasons, the past two in Dallas. Khudobin had a solid regular season, going 16-8-4 with a 2.22 goals-against average, and has been stellar in the Edmonton bubble after a few shaky starts early.

Khudobin has been a big reason the Stars lead Vegas 3-1, frustrating the Golden Knights with one spectacular save after another. He shut out Vegas in Game 1, stopped 38 shots in Game 3 and made three of his 32 saves during the Golden Knights’ late third period 5-on-3 in Saturday night’s series-controlling 2-1 win.

Behind Khudobin, the Stars can clinch their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 20 years Monday in Edmonton.

”He’s going to battle right till the end,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said. ”That’s why the guys love playing in front of him.”

The Golden Knights’ goal – well, outside of winning – will be to get more traffic in front of Dallas’ goalie. The Stars were outshot 33-20 by Vegas in Game 4 and the Golden Knights have more overall in the series, yet are on the cusp of being sent back to the desert.

Vegas has had plenty of good chances in Game 4 – and the series, for that matter – but Khudobin is in a zone where if he sees it, he saves it. The Golden Knights need to get in his line of sight more if they’re going to stretch the Western Conference final to at least one more game.

”You can analyze this to death, but you can’t coach the puck into the net,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. ”When a goalie’s hot, he can’t see it, he can’t stop it. We have to get bodies there.”

Once the bodies are there, the Golden Knights have to find the lanes to get pucks through.

They’ve been inconsistent at it so far in this series.

Vegas has the massive shot advantage, but many of the shots are coming from the outside or where Khudobin has a direct line of sight. The Golden Knights’ shooters not only have to pick the right spots to shoot from, but the right moment to shoot – not easy when the Stars are trying to harass them off the puck.

”You’ve got to put the puck in a spot for the forwards to get a rebound and you’ve got to shoot for certain purposes,” Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. ”But as far as our back end, we trust our forwards to get to the net and they’re doing a good job and it’s on us to get pucks through, get them through quickly and get them through at the right times and give them a chance to have the first opportunity for a tip and obviously second chances, too.”

Do that and the Golden Knights can extend the series. Fail and the Stars will be headed to the Stanley Cup Final.

Flames name Geoff Ward head coach, removing interim tag

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By Adam GretzSep 14, 2020, 12:58 PM EDT

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The Calgary Flames announced on Monday that they have removed the interim tag from Geoff Ward, officially naming him the team’s head coach.

Terms of the contract were not announced by the team, but Pierre LeBrun reports Ward’s contract is a two-year deal.

He is the team’s fourth different head coach since the start of the 2015-16 season.

Ward had been serving as the Flames’ interim coach since late November when he took over for former coach Bill Peters. Peters had resigned from the team after his previous misconduct (including the use of a racial slur against former player Akim Aliu in the AHL, as well as physical incidents in Carolina) had been revealed. Before taking over on an interim basis Ward had been serving as an associate head coach with the Flames.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

With Ward behind the bench the Flames closed out the 2019-20 regular season with a 24-15-3 record to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

That regular season record under Ward’s watch was the fourth-best mark in the Western Conference during that time.

The Flames ended up beating the Winnipeg Jets (3-1) in the qualifying round before being eliminated in the First Round by the Dallas Stars.

This marks the first time in more than a decade that the Flames qualified for the playoffs in consecutive seasons.

MORE STANLEY CUP COVERAGE:
• Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Final schedule

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

NHL Power Rankings: Point takes over top spot in Conn Smythe race

By Adam GretzSep 14, 2020, 12:44 PM EDT

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It is time again for the NHL Power Rankings and the 2020 Conn Smythe Watch. We not only have a new leader at the top this week, but also a new contender making a strong push and rapid climb in the rankings.

Tampa’ Brayden Point takes over the No. 1 spot this week, jumping over Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, as he has helped the Lightning get to within a win of the Stanley Cup Final.

Also making an appearance this week for the first time is Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin.

Who else makes this week’s NHL Power Rankings list?

To the rankings!

1. Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning. He has at least one point in all but two of his games this postseason, and in one of those two games he only played eight minutes before leaving with injury. He has six multi-point games, two-game winning goals (both in overtime, including one series-clincher) and has been the best and most impactful player on a team that is one win away from the Stanley Cup Final.

2. Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars. After a long run at the top Heiskanen drops down one spot. That drop has more to do with what the guy now ahead of him has done recently than anything Heiskanen has or has not done. He is still the best overall defenseman going in the playoffs and the best skater on the Dallas roster.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

3. Anton Khudobin, Dallas Stars. The Conn Smythe Trophy tends to weigh the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final over everything that happens in the first two rounds, and that is what gives Khudobin such a huge jump. After being solid, and at times really good, in the First and Second Rounds, Khudobin has gone into superman mode in the Western Conference Final. He is the single the biggest reason, and maybe the only reason, the Stars are so close to advancing. Without him standing on his head over the first four games of this series it might already be over in Vegas’ favor. Entering Monday’s Game 5 (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN; livestream), he has a .952 save percentage against the Golden Knights, while the Stars have won three games by a single goal. The Stars have scored 1, 3, and 2 goals in those wins. Goaltending is the difference.

4. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning. Kucherov and Point have been a nearly unstoppable duo offensively for the Lightning, and it is because of their dominance that the team has been able to overcome the absence of Steven Stamkos. He has averaged two points per game over his past eight games.

5. Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights. Consistently the most impressive skater in the Vegas lineup, Theodore has been a top offensive threat from the blue line and also helped control the pace of every game when he is on the ice. Their best overall player at the moment.

[NHL Conference Final schedule]

6. Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars. He has been productive, timely, and quite honestly looked like the Jamie Benn of old. He has some fierce Conn Smythe competition within his own team, however.

7. Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning. At one point he had a goal in four consecutive games this postseason for the Lightning. He does not tend to get as many headlines as the forwards, but he is arguably the engine that makes this machine run every season. He is one of the best all-around players in hockey.

8. Brock Nelson, New York Islanders. He took a beating in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final series only to come back in Game 3 and score a huge game-winning goal to keep the Islanders in the series. He has been one of their top offensive players throughout the postseason.

9. Ondrej Palat, Tampa Bay Lightning. Palat is making a late push for the way he has played over the past two rounds. Since the start of the Second Round he has 11 points in nine games, including eight goals.

10. Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders. He is usually the most noticeable Islanders forward, and with 15 points in 20 games has also been one of their most productive. He has had a really strong playoff run and continues to establish himself as the foundational piece for the Islanders organization moving forward.

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Golden Knights-Stars stream: NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Final

By Sean LeahySep 14, 2020, 11:45 AM EDT

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NBCSN’s coverage of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs continues with Monday’s Western Conference Final matchup between the Golden Knights and Stars. Pre-game coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Watch the Golden Knights-Stars stream on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

After falling behind 1-0 on Alec Martinez’s power play goal in the second period, the Stars rebounded to score twice later in the period. Joe Pavelski tied the game at 1-1 with his ninth goal this postseason. Dallas captain Jamie Benn provided the game winner on his power play tally with 59 seconds left before intermission. Dallas netminder Anton Khudobin, once again, stood tall in goal, stopping 32 of 33 shots.

Khudobin has responded after getting pulled after the second period of Game 2 by stopping 70 of 73 shots he faced in Games 3 and 4. He eclipsed 500 saves in the 2020 postseason with his 32-save outing in Game 4 (527). His 527 saves are the third-most by a Stars/North Stars goaltender in a single playoff year, behind Ed Belfour (606 in 2000 and 574 in 1999).

To extend this series to a Game 6, the Golden Knights will likely need more from some of its big names who have hit cold streaks:

• Jonathan Marchessault: 0 goals in last 10 games
• Reilly Smith: 0 goals in last 10 games
• Max Pacioretty: 0 goals in last 7 games
• Mark Stone: 1 goal in last 8 games

Since the conference format was adopted ahead of the 1981-82 season, teams that hold a 3-1 lead in the Conference Finals own an all-time series record of 34-1.

[NBC 2020 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF HUB]

WHAT: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars
WHERE: Rogers Place – Edmonton
WHEN: Monday, September 14, 8 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
ON THE CALL: John Forslund, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Golden Knights-Stars stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

No. 1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. No. 3 Dallas Stars (DAL leads 3-1)

Stars 1, Golden Knights 0 (recap)
Golden Knights 3, Stars 0 (recap)
Stars 3, Golden Knights 2 [OT] (recap)
Stars 3, Golden Knights 1 (recap)
Game 5: Monday, Sept. 14, 8 p.m. ET – NBCSN (livestream)
*Game 6: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8 p.m. ET – NBCSN
*Game 7: Friday, Sept. 18, 9 p.m. ET – NBCSN

*if necessary