Story Archive

The 21-year-old Swedish center took faceoffs against McDavid, won 57.7% of them, and scored the overtime winner that put Edmonton in a 3-1 hole. Anaheim's first second-round trip in eight years runs through him.

If you looked only at the numbers, Tampa Bay Lightning won this game: 27 shots to 24, 54.1% expected goals share, superior puck possession - everything except the one number that actually matters. The Montreal Canadiens left Amalie Arena with a 3-2 victory that defied every underlying metric, and th

Brett Howden took zero shots in 19 minutes, then scored the series-saving goal shorthanded in double overtime. That sentence tells you everything about how the Vegas Golden Knights have survived three elimination-adjacent games this series against the Utah Mammoth.

Jason Robertson finished the 2025-2026 regular season with 45 goals and 96 points in 86 games for the Dallas Stars, establishing himself as one of the league's most productive wingers. His 15.3% shooting percentage on 294 shots represented career-best efficiency, and his plus-22 rating suggested str

Kirill Kaprizov recorded three hits in Game 5 against the Dallas Stars, matching his combined total from the previous three games. The physical engagement preceded his 1G-2A performance in Minnesota's 4-2 victory - a pattern consistent enough across the Wild's three series wins to warrant attention

Matt Duchene finished the 2025-2026 regular season with 45 points in 62 games for the Dallas Stars, a 0.73 points-per-game pace that represented solid secondary scoring from the veteran center. He posted a minus-3 rating while contributing 16 goals and 29 assists, including five power-play goals and

Dan Vladař's two shutouts and 42-save Game 6 closed out a Flyers series win nobody outside the room saw coming - and a Crosby-era Pittsburgh chapter that may not get another reset.

Jeremy Swayman stopped 25 of 26 shots Tuesday night at KeyBank Center, posting a 96.2% save percentage that proved to be the difference in Boston's 2-1 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Alex Lyon stopped 27 of 29 for a 93.1% mark - solid work in most contexts, but not quite enough when the m

The worst finisher in Minnesota's lineup - a forward who's missed nearly eight expected goals this season - just assisted on the goal that gave the Minnesota Wild breathing room in their 4-2 victory over Dallas on Tuesday night. Either Minnesota got lucky, or they understand something about playoff

Evan Bouchard played 27 minutes and 30 seconds Tuesday night and never once put the puck on net. For most defensemen, that would signal a problem. For Edmonton's system, it was the plan working exactly as designed.

Leon Draisaitl scored twice in Edmonton's 4-1 win over Anaheim on April 28, pushing the series to a sixth game and keeping the Oilers alive despite trailing 3-2. The center's offensive production has carried Edmonton through a first-round matchup that has revealed a troubling pattern: The Oilers sco

The Dallas Stars have a shot generation problem, but not the kind most teams face. They're creating plenty of attempts - they just aren't creating enough danger to match their territorial control.

The puck sat frozen behind Arturs Silovs for maybe a second, maybe two. Long enough for the PPG Paints Arena crowd to exhale. Long enough for the Penguins to realize they'd just survived a middle frame that nearly buried them.

Cam York led the Philadelphia Flyers with five shots on goal Tuesday night. He's a defenseman. The next-closest Flyer managed three.

Sidney Crosby has five points. Arturs Silovs has stolen two games. The Penguins trail 3-2 with their season on the line in Philadelphia.

Jack Eichel has six points. Karel Vejmelka has a .891 save percentage. The first playoff series in Utah franchise history is tied 2-2.

Brandon Hagel has six goals in four games. Lane Hutson is the best player on the ice for Montreal. The series is tied 2-2 with three games to settle it.

Kirill Kaprizov has nine points. Jesper Wallstedt has been the better goalie. The Wild lead Dallas 3-2 and travel home for a Game 6 closeout chance.

Buffalo has not won a playoff series since 2011. They lead Boston 3-2 with a Game 6 chance to end the longest drought in the Eastern Conference.

Brandon Hagel has established himself as a consistent offensive contributor for Tampa Bay this season, recording 36 goals and 38 assists across 75 games. His 74-point campaign represents solid production from the left wing position, providing the Lightning with reliable scoring depth as they prepare

Jackson LaCombe's penalty kill positioning isn't just neutralizing the Edmonton Oilers' power play - it's weaponizing it. The Oilers have scored three power-play goals in four games against the Anaheim Ducks, which sounds like success until you realize LaCombe has turned two of those sequences into

Shea Theodore's overtime goal at 11:48 salvaged what could have been a franchise-defining collapse for the Vegas Golden Knights, who overcame a 4-2 third-period deficit to defeat Utah 5-4 and tie their first-round series 2-2.

He played his final game in a building full of the men he once beat for a championship. Then they led the handshake line. That tells you everything about what Jonathan Quick was.

Carolina swept Ottawa in four games and never trailed for a single second. A series-by-series breakdown of how Frederik Andersen, Logan Stankoven, and the league's best penalty kill turned a competitive matchup into a definitive statement.

Colorado swept LA in four, but the games told a more complicated story. A series-by-series dissection of how the Avalanche won, where the Kings broke, and what it actually reveals about Colorado's championship credentials.

The greatest Los Angeles King who ever lived played his final game on a Sunday afternoon in April. Anze Kopitar walks away with 1,316 points, two Stanley Cups, and the largest shadow in franchise history.

The Buffalo Sabres scored four goals in the first period and never looked back in a 6-1 demolition of the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday. Six different players found the net for Buffalo in a performance that showcased the depth scoring advantage that has defined this matchup.

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 behind Nathan MacKinnon's two goals and one assist. MacKinnon's three-point performance anchored an offensive display that saw five different Avalanche players find the net, demonstrating the depth that has made Colorado a formidable opponent

The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a 2-0 deficit with three unanswered third-period goals to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2, but Brandon Hagel's two-goal comeback performance cannot obscure the troubling pattern that nearly cost Tampa Bay another game: an inability to generate consistent offense ag

Anaheim defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in overtime through Jackson LaCombe's structured disruption of Edmonton's power-play connections, positioning himself to cut off cross-ice passing lanes rather than challenging puck carriers directly. Ryan Poehling's overtime goal at 2:29 capped a game where

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-2 Friday night at Canadian Tire Centre, completing a four-game sweep to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Sebastian Aho's two third-period goals provided the decisive margin after Logan Stankoven's power-play strike at 9:1

Matthew Boldy's overtime winner with 29 seconds remaining gave the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 victory over Dallas, evening their first-round playoff series at 2-2 despite being outplayed on special teams. The Stars scored twice on the power play through Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen, yet the Wild fou

Pittsburgh's 4-2 victory over Philadelphia in Game 4 showcased both the promise and peril of their playoff construction. While the Penguins extended their series life, the underlying dynamics that led to this deficit remain unchanged - a reliance on depth players in situations that typically demand

The Ottawa Senators were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs, ending their first postseason appearance since 2017. The series exposed the gap between regular-season success and playoff execution, as Carolina's experienced core proved more effective in tight-check

With 14 blocked shots, the Tampa Bay Lightning did exactly what their defensive system demands - and it cost them the game. Lane Hutson's overtime winner capped a 3-2 Montreal Canadiens victory that revealed how Tampa's playoff-tested approach becomes a liability against teams built for transition.

Jack Eichel scored at 13:20 of the second period to cut Utah's lead to 4-1, but the goal came too late to spark a meaningful comeback as the Utah Hockey Club controlled the game from start to finish in their 4-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at Delta Center.

The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 7-4 despite Edmonton converting at an impressive 16.7% shooting rate, highlighting a concerning trend in the Oilers' ability to generate sustained offensive pressure. While Edmonton's four goals on 24 shots represents efficient finishing, their inabilit

Alex Lyon's 40-game regular season sample with the Buffalo Sabres reveals a goaltender whose technical profile could translate effectively to playoff hockey. His 2.77 GAA and .907 save percentage across 20 wins represent solid production, but the underlying mechanics of his game suggest capabilities