There doesn't appear to be anything tongue-in-cheek about Brad Marchand's response to reports that he was asked to stop licking opposing players.
The talented Boston Bruins pest replied with denials Friday to a couple of tweets documenting the NHL's request.
On Thursday night, an NHL spokesman confirmed to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski that the league demanded Marchand not repeat his apparent lick of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov's neck in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
The longtime hockey executive and current Flames president of hockey operations will be "stepping back" from the organization effective May 1, the club revealed Friday.
It was a mutual decision between Burke and Ken King, the Flames CEO said in a statement, adding that they had discussed a four- to five-year timeline for Burke's role when he joined the team's front office in September 2013.
WASHINGTON - It is said that a two-goal edge is the most dangerous lead in hockey - and while that isn't really the case, it has been particularly troublesome for the Washington Capitals so far in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Enjoying a 2-0 third-period lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Thursday night, the Capitals watched as the Penguins stormed back with three goals in less than five minutes to steal the win, stun the sold-out Capital One Arena crowd, and snag home-ice advantage in the process.
This isn't a new problem for the Capitals, who have squandered a two-goal advantage four times so far this postseason. Two of those blown leads resulted in overtime losses to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and forced Washington to rally from a 2-0 series deficit to ultimately prevail in six games.
"To be honest, we handle it much better than we (handled) it against Columbus,” Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov said after the game. “But you know, those three shifts, they score. I feel like they got momentum and then they score again and again. But then it's pretty tough to get that goal back.
"But the good thing is there's more games coming. We have to regroup, we have to re-focus and we have to play (the) second game."
The Capitals needed just 17 seconds to seize the lead on Kuznetsov's fifth goal of the postseason. And after Alex Ovechkin scored 28 seconds into the third period, Washington looked primed to take the opener - until those three fateful shifts led to their demise.
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Patric Hornqvist responded less than three minutes after Ovechkin's tally, redirecting a point shot from the left circle. Sidney Crosby evened things less than two and a half minutes later, and Jake Guentzel scored the eventual game-winner - on another deft deflection - at 7:48.
"Those three shifts changed the game, and it's again our third period," Kuznetsov said. "We have to be better over there."
When the question was posed to coach Barry Trotz postgame, he said he didn't think any of the games with blown leads had anything in common; more that it was a combination of not finishing on their chances - Ovechkin fanning on an open net in the first loomed large - and losing focus for just a few minutes late in the game that led to things getting out of control.
"We played pretty good," defenseman Matt Niskanen said. "Pretty good. We gave up some good chances and Holts (Braden Holtby) was really good early. But we played a pretty good game. They scored on Crosby’s three shifts in a row in the third period to win the game. Otherwise we played pretty good so I don't think you need to over-analyze that."
A short memory comes in handy in the playoffs, and the Capitals have already moved on from Game 1.
"It's all about the next game," Niskanen said. "We lost Game 1 last series and we had one heck of a response. That was probably one of our better games of the season, really. We'll look to do that again. You've got to have a short memory, boy. You can't dwell on things. Just get ready for the next game."
As NHL teams are eliminated from Stanley Cup contention, theScore NHL freelance writer Katie Brown looks back at the highs and lows of their seasons, along with the biggest questions ahead of 2018-19. The 18th edition focuses on the Minnesota Wild.
The Good
The resurgence of Eric Staal. Staal paced the Wild with 42 goals, the second-highest total of his career and his best since 2005-06. He became the second player in NHL history to record 40-goal seasons nine years apart. At 33, Staal is two years removed from his least productive season and one year into his three-year, $10.5-million deal.
Devan Dubnyk. After the Wild were knocked out of the playoffs in five games by the Winnipeg Jets, coach Bruce Boudreau didn't blame goalie Devan Dubnyk, who was pulled within the first 12 minutes of Game 5 for allowing four goals. Dubnyk had a good regular season by all accounts, with a 35-16-7 record, 2.52 goals-against average, and .918 save percentage.
Jordan Greenway's taste of the playoffs. Greenway scored his first postseason point in his first NHL playoff game and scored his first playoff goal a few days later in Game 3. Signed to an entry-level contract by the Wild soon after his NCAA season ended, the 20-year-old Boston University product - who also represented the USA at PyeongChang - played in the last six games of the regular season. These experiences can only help his confidence grow, and that’s a good thing for the Wild.
The Bad
No Zach Parise or Ryan Suter. Suter fractured his ankle a few weeks before playoffs, and in what might have been the fatal blow to the team, Parise fractured his sternum in Game 3 and was out for the rest of the series. He'd scored in each of the first three games.
Scoring struggles. The Wild were shut out in their last two games against the Jets. After losing Parise, it seemed like their offense just dried up. They were overmatched in many areas, but their inability to generate any kind of offense after their 6-2 win was truly their undoing.
Matchup problems. Though the Jets outscored the Wild 16-9 in their first-round meeting, there were problems long before that. In the regular season, Minnesota went 1-3-0 against Winnipeg. Top scorers Blake Wheeler and Patrik Laine gave the Wild fits all year and Minnesota's depleted blue line struggled to contain them in the playoffs.
The Questions
Who will be the new GM? The Wild parted with general manager Chuck Fletcher shortly after their elimination from the playoffs. Fletcher had been GM of the Wild since 2009, and was responsible for signing Parise and Suter and hiring Boudreau. Brent Flahr, the senior vice president of hockey operations, will serve as acting interim general manager.
Where do they go from here? For the third consecutive year, the Wild failed to advance past the first round of the playoffs. Owner Craig Leipold said there won't be a rebuild, but it's hard to know what he does have planned since a new GM hasn’t been hired yet. That hire might determine their direction. The Wild should certainly focus more on drafting and development, since Minnesota hasn’t selected higher than 46th overall in six consecutive drafts and Fletcher decided to fill gaps in the lineup through free agency and trades.
Will everyone be healthy? One blessing in disguise from the Wild’s early playoff exit is the fact it gives injured players more time to recover. Aside from Parise and Suter, Charlie Coyle and Nino Niederreiter were plagued by lower-body injuries most of the year, and Jared Spurgeon tore his hamstring a month before the playoffs. The Wild didn't even play 10 games during the season with a full, healthy roster.
LAS VEGAS (AP) Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 shots for his third shutout of the playoffs, and the Vegas Golden Knights went on to beat the San Jose Sharks 7-0 Thursday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Cody Eakin, Erik Haula and Jonathan Marchessault scored 1:31 apart early in the first period to get Vegas going. Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore, Colin Miller and James Neal also scored, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson each had three assists, and Marchessault and David Perron added two each.
Fleury, who improved to 5-0 in the playoffs, got his 13th career shutout in the playoffs - and second straight. He also blanked Los Angeles 1-0 in Game 4 of the first round.
The Golden Knights, the first team from the opening round to advance, showed no sign of rust after having nine days off since their first-round sweep over the Kings. From the opening puck drop, Vegas skated fast, its passes were crisp, and the players were in synch with one another. It has now outscored its opposition 14-3 in five games.
San Jose, which swept Anaheim in the first round, looked out of sorts by the time Vegas put its first three in the net just 6:02 into the game, and the Shakrs lost their cool early in the third period, when Evander Kane was ejected for cross-checking Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the face after a whistle.
Martin Jones, who stopped 128 of 132 shots in the first round against the Ducks, was pulled a little more than three minutes into the second period after allowing five goals on 13 shots. Backup goalie Aaron Dell came in and finished with 19 saves.
It was the Sharks' worst loss in playoff history. Detroit blanked San Jose 6-0 in the 1995 Western Conference semifinals.
Eakin started the scoring barrage when he deflected Brayden McNabb's wrist shot from the point past Jones 4:31 into the game. Before the public-address announcer could trumpet the game's first goal, Haula finished Tuch's rush to the net 26 seconds later with a sniper past Jones to double Vegas' lead.
Marchessault made it 3-0 when he fired a shot from inside the circle past Jones, notching his first career playoff goal. Tuch capped the scoring in the opening period when he sliced through four defenders, made a swift move to his forehand for a wrist shot that beat Jones for a power-play goal.
Jones' night ended 3:28 into the second when Smith threaded a pass to Theodore, who promptly tipped it into the twine to give Vegas a 5-0 lead.
While Kane was called for a game misconduct, Joe Pavelski went off at the same time for slashing, giving Vegas a 5-3 edge on the ice. The Golden Knights took full advantage, as Miller's one-timer blazed past Dell to make it 6-0 at 4:32 of the third.
Neal, who had a goal overturned in the second period, extended the lead to 7-0 when he took Perron's pass and wrapped it around past Dell on the power play at 8:09.
NOTES: Vegas' four goals in the first period marked the fifth time this season it netted four in one period. ... It was the third time this season the Sharks allowed four goals in a period. ... No. 1 UFC featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who fill fight champion Max Holloway for the title on July 7, was in attendance.
After a lengthy layoff following their first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings, the Golden Knights came out of the gates firing in Round 2, blitzing the San Jose Sharks for three goals just over six minutes into Game 1.
Even more impressive, all three goals were spaced out in a span of just 91 seconds.
Here's all three, starting with Cody Eakin's opening marker.
The Golden Knights skated into the first intermission with a 4-0 lead after Alex Tuch added another. It's worth noting that the Sharks only allowed four goals total in their own first-round sweep over the Ducks.
The Pittsburgh Penguins winger scored the winning goal and added two assists in a Game 1 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday, bringing his point total this postseason to a league-high 16 (seven goals, nine assists).
Thursday's three-point game ranks behind a four-point Game 1 performance against Philadelphia in the first round, and a five-point outburst in the series-clinching Game 6.
Not bad for a 23-year-old playing in only his second postseason.
