NHL

10:19 PM ET Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. — Los Angeles Kings coach Todd McLellan entered COVID-19 protocols and wasn’t behind the bench for Friday night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. The Kings announced McLellan’s status less than an hour before faceoff. Assistant Trent Yawney served as the acting head coach. The Kings started a stretch

7:07 PM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury suffered in a loss to New Jersey on Thursday. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Matheson is “week-to-week.” It is unclear when Matheson was hurt. He skated 19 minutes, 4 seconds in a 6-1 setback that marked

6:21 PM ET Associated Press GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Coyotes have signed defenseman Dysin Mayo to a three-year contract. Terms of the deal announced Friday were not released. Mayo, 25, has three goals and three assists in 42 games with Arizona this season. A fifth-round NHL draft pick in 2014, Mayo became the eighth

3:40 PM ET Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin issued an anti-war statement on Friday in his first comments following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war — Russia, Ukraine, different countries — we have to live in peace,” he said following the Capitals’ practice. Ovechkin, 36,

4:58 PM ET ESPN News Services Former NHLer Sean Avery was released Friday by the Orlando Solar Bears of the East Coast Hockey League — just two days after they signed the 41-year-old forward. Avery last appeared in an NHL game on Dec. 10, 2011, while a member of the New York Rangers. He had

12:01 PM ET Jokerit has decided to end its season rather than appear in the Kontinental Hockey League playoffs, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this week. The Finland-based team was scheduled to face Moscow’s Spartak in the first round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs on March 1. The league said it will revise the Western

10:53 PM ET Zdeno Chara stands alone. The New York Islanders blueliner set a record for most games played by an NHL defenseman after he skated in his 1,652nd career contest Thursday night in San Jose, California. Hall of Fame defender Chris Chelios had held the mark since 2010, when he retired after 26 seasons

9:00 AM ET The old adage in the NHL is that “you can’t fire the players.” I mean, there are so many of them. It’s much easier to fire just one person, which is why the head coach usually pays for the team’s on-ice sins. Theoretically, firing the head coach is a surefire way to

7:00 AM ET When the Florida Panthers hit the ice, goals follow. No team in the NHL scores more of them on average. Combined with a middle-of-the-pack defense, the Panthers have more total goals than any league club. Some nights they look like potential Stanley Cup champions who overwhelm their foes. On others, they desperately

4:05 PM ET Associated Press BOSTON — The Premier Hockey Federation is increasing team salary caps for the rest of this season and next to go along with an expansion of the U.S.-based women’s league. The PHF announced all six teams can spend an additional $10,000 beyond the existing $300,000 cap this season to add

8:20 AM ET With the NCAA men’s hockey tournament selection show March 20 less than a month away, conference races hitting the homestretch and conference tournaments on deck, it’s a good time to assess what the field of 16 could look like and who has the chops to win it all at the Frozen Four

7:00 AM ET By this point of the 2021-22 NHL season, we have a good sense of where all 32 teams stand — and what they’re likely to do ahead of the trade deadline on March 21. For this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings, we identified one stat that helps explain how each

7:00 AM ET The 2022 NHL trade deadline is scheduled for Monday, March 21, at 3 p.m. ET. It’s an annual event shrouded in uncertainty, whose preceding hype rarely matches its actual action. But there are a few teams and individuals that could really start the party this season. Are the Dallas Stars playoff contenders,

12:50 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — Hall of Fame forward Bobby Hull is no longer serving as a team ambassador for the Blackhawks. Hull played for Chicago for 15 years, collecting 604 goals and 549 assists. He was named a Blackhawks ambassador in a ceremony with fellow Hall of Famer Stan Mikita in 2008.

11:39 PM ET ESPN News Services SAN JOSE, Calif. — Three games into his Vegas Golden Knights career, Jack Eichel on Sunday began to show glimpses of the many reasons the Stanley Cup-hopeful team acquired him. Eichel, held out of the goal column in two losses for Vegas to open his season last week, scored

6:47 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — Andrew Hammond, playing in an NHL game for the first time in 1,425 days, made 30 saves and stopped two of three shootout attempts, leading the Montreal Canadiens past the New York Islanders, 3-2, on Sunday. In a season full of surprises for Montreal, most of

1:37 AM ET Finland won its first ever Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medal with a 2-1 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee on Sunday in Beijing. Finland forward Hannes Bjorninen scored the game-winning goal just 31 seconds into the third period. He added an assist on Ville Pokka’s goal in the second period that

11:45 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Emile “The Cat” Francis, the diminutive goalie who became a Hall of Fame coach and general manager with the New York Rangers, has died. He was 95. The Rangers announced the death Saturday night. “Emile’s passion and dedication to the Rangers organization and growing the game of