RALEIGH, N.C. — Among the handmade signs by the ice Tuesday at the Lenovo Center was one that read simply: “Finish them.”

Meaning the New Jersey Devils. Meaning the Carolina Hurricanes finishing off the Devils, winning their Stanley Cup playoff series in five games and moving on.

The Hurricanes did do that but it was anything but simple....Read more

Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended two games for elbowing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel in Monday’s 4-2 Panthers win in Game 4 of the teams’ first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced Tuesday.

Ekblad, who scored the game-tying goal on Monday as part of a ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — With a raucous celebration unfolding all around him, Mike Sullivan stopped for a moment on the ice at Bridgestone Arena that muggy June night in 2017.

The Penguins had just won the Stanley Cup for a fifth time. They had also become the first team in the National Hockey League's salary cap era to earn back-to-back championships, ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Mike Sullivan era in Pittsburgh is over after a decade spent behind the bench.

The Penguins announced Monday morning the team and the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach had "agreed to part ways" with two years remaining on Sullivan's contract.

However, president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas made it clear in a Monday press...Read more

Frederik Andersen said four words Rod Brind’Amour hoped to hear before Sunday’s Stanley Cup playoff game with the New Jersey Devils: “I want the net.”

The veteran goalie got the net for a fourth straight game against the Devils, but Pyotr Kochetkov was needed in it before it was over at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., after a ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — The Blues-Jets series may be even, but the tide seems to have shifted strongly in the Blues’ favor.

The Blues scored three times in second period, twice in the final three minutes, to beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at Enterprise Center. For the second game in a row, Winnipeg pulled goalie Connor ...Read more

DENVER — Someone should probably start on the movie script at this point.

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog scored his first goal in nearly three years and added an assist, punctuating a dominant performance in a 4-0 win Saturday night against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena in Game 4 of this 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs opening-round ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — They needed a spark. They needed goals.

Mostly, the Tampa Bay Lightning needed some hero-ing.

It could have been Brayden Point, it could have been Nikita Kucherov, it could have been Victor Hedman. The name on the jersey did not matter as much as the desperation in the effort.

As it turned out, Nick Paul was the bringer of ...Read more

EDMONTON, Canada — The Edmonton Oilers played like they couldn’t afford to lose Friday. And they didn’t, scoring two goals 10 seconds apart late in the third period to beat the Los Angeles Kings 7-4 in a wild first-round playoff game that saw the lead change hands three times in the final 25 minutes.

The Kings still lead the best-of-...Read more

The New Jersey Devils’ resiliency was tested — in full — Friday by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It took two overtimes to decide Game 3 of the first-round series, a test of grit and endurance by both teams, before the Devils emerged with a 3-2 victory at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Simon Nemec’s goal ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — During the regular season, Vegas’ top line of Jack Eichel centering Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev combined to produce 70 goals and 142 assists while amassing 475 shots on goal for a Vegas Golden Knights team that won the Pacific Division and earned the No. 2 seed in the NHL’s Western Conference.

Through the opening two ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 19 shots he faced to lead the Florida Panthers to a 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoffs series at Amalie Arena.

Florida is now up 2-0 in the best-of-7 series after opening the series with a 6-2 win on Tuesday. The matchup now shifts to ...Read more

SEATTLE — On April 29, 2024, Ron Francis wore a black pullover and black pants to announce the firing of the Kraken’s first coach.

The general manager had signed Dave Hakstol to a contract extension barely nine months earlier, after he guided Seattle to a 46-28-8 record, 100 points and a playoff upset of the reigning Stanley Cup champion ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published my year-end Penguins report card over the weekend. It included five A grades, a few failing marks and a whole lot of meh in the middle.

When I put out my player grades after each season, one question I always get from our readers is why I don't include coach Mike Sullivan. My response is that...Read more

DALLAS — The Colorado Avalanche had a chance to take complete control of this series. That chance slipped away into the Texas night.

Colin Blackwell, who didn’t play in Game 1, scored with 2:14 left in overtime of Game 2 of this Stanley Cup Playoffs first-round series to give the Dallas Stars a 4-3 victory on Monday night inside American ...Read more