NHL

8:35 AM ET Back-to-back early playoff exits were enough to make the Washington Capitals realize that they had made a mistake. In the two seasons since the team promoted top assistant Todd Reirden instead of giving Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz a raise, the Caps have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first

7:35 AM ET The second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs is in full swing, and we’ve already got a bit of everything: tight games, blowouts, and controversies quelled — and that was all just on Sunday! While the Boston Bruins–Tampa Bay Lightning was in some question until the finish, the Vegas Golden Knights

8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL playoffs roll on to the conference semifinals beginning Saturday, with the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Dallas Stars. Tampa Bay won three of four regular-season matchups against Boston, as well as their contest in the round-robin portion of the postseason. Will the Bruins reverse that trend in this series?

7:50 AM ET The NHL moved up Game 1 of the second round to Saturday night. We’re not sure if anyone told the Colorado Avalanche. “Dallas is a good team. But a lot of what happened tonight was self-inflicted. We didn’t get up to the standard that we have to play at,” said Avalanche forward

8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL playoffs rolled on to the conference semifinals Saturday with the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Dallas Stars. The Islanders swept the Flyers in the clubs’ three-game regular-season series, but Philly has been one of the hottest teams in the Toronto bubble. Who will come out on top in the

12:57 AM ET ESPN News Services Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer left his team’s 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday because of an injury. In the second period, Grubauer went face down on the ice after pushing a shot away with his right skate. He was helped off by trainers and replaced by

10:30 AM ET Kevin Bieksa, former NHL defenseman and current hockey commentary savant on Sportsnet, recently told a story about how badly Nathan MacKinnon wanted to punch people in the face. They were representing Canada at the 2014 IIHF world championships. MacKinnon, 18 at the time, came up to him after practice, dropped his gloves

7:45 AM ET Sachin Chandan There’s little time to rest after the end of a thrilling first round, as the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs begins Saturday night when the Dallas Stars take on the Colorado Avalanche. The last time we saw these teams, they were each dropping seven goals on their opponents,

2:11 AM ET Ryan O’Reilly stared down at the table in front him, moments after the Vancouver Canucks completed their six-game upset of his St. Louis Blues. After last season’s final game, he and his teammates passed around the Stanley Cup in victory. But O’Reilly didn’t recognize the team around him Friday night, as far

6:56 AM ET Fare thee well to the Washington Capitals and Calgary Flames, who were eliminated on Thursday night. That means that the No. 7-seeded New York Islanders are through in the East, and the No. 3-seeded Dallas Stars have joined the conference semifinal crew in the West. Will the St. Louis Blues and Montreal

7:00 AM ET When Carter Hart was 10 years old, his parents wanted to get him a goalie coach. Another family recommended John Stevenson, who lived close to their home in Alberta. Stevenson is famous for working with Braden Holtby — he was the first person the Capitals goalie mentioned on TV, moments after hoisting

3:01 AM ET The Calgary Flames started Game 6 of their quarterfinal series against Dallas by scoring three goals before the Stars had recorded a shot. The Stars’ response was record-breaking: They scored seven consecutive goals in a 7-3 win to eliminate the Flames, marking the first time in Stanley Cup playoff history that a

3:32 PM ET The St. Louis Blues have not decided on a goaltender for Game 6 as they face elimination on Friday against the Vancouver Canucks. “I’m going to think about it still, so I have not made that decision yet,” coach Craig Berube said. Jake Allen took the crease from Jordan Binnington in Game

7:06 AM ET “Elimination Wednesday” in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs was 75% as devastating as promised. Three teams (the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets) are leaving the bubble. One (the Montreal Canadiens) gets to live another day. It was a wild day of hockey; five games brought 35 combined goals. With

3:55 PM ET Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. — A former Ottawa Senators assistant general manager and the NHL team have reached an undisclosed settlement with a hotel shuttle driver who sued both for negligence after being harassed in Buffalo two years ago. The driver’s lawyer, Charles Desmond, cited a confidentiality agreement in declining to reveal

6:59 AM ET Fare thee well, Chicago Blackhawks. We’ll always have your qualification round upset of the Edmonton Oilers. Hence, the Vegas Golden Knights are the first team to advance to the conference semifinals. Four other teams have a chance to join them on Wednesday, with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche and

9:00 AM ET Tanner Pearson had a theory. He watched the St. Louis Blues tie a crucial game in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs against his Vancouver Canucks with six seconds remaining in regulation. Under normal circumstances, this would have been emotionally crushing for a young road team, as the Blues would have ridden an

3:05 AM ET Moments after the Golden Knights eliminated the Blackhawks in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, Vegas’ Robin Lehner was hugging the Chicago players one by one in an emotional postgame handshake line. Lehner made 23 saves in the 4-3 win on Tuesday night, which gave Vegas a 4-1 series victory. Chicago