Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele won't play in his team's do-or-die Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday due to an upper-body injury suffered in Game 4, head coach Rick Bowness announced, per TSN's John Lu.

Bowness added that the main issue with Scheifele's injury is his limited range of motion. However, he's not yet ruled out for Game 6 if the Jets can extend the series, which they currently trail 3-1.

Scheifele played just 1:40 in Game 4 before departing after a shot attempt on the power play.

But earlier in the contest, he crashed hard into the boards after getting tripped by Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit.

Scheifele led the Jets with a career-high 42 goals during the regular season.

The Jets are already without top blue-liner Josh Morrissey, who was ruled out for the remainder of the series after getting hurt in Game 3. Winger Nikolaj Ehlers has yet to play this postseason, but he's a game-time decision for Game 5.

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Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper denied what his former assistant, Derek Lalonde, said about Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on national TV in Canada earlier this week.

Lalonde, now the Detroit Red Wings head coach, has provided in-studio analysis for Sportsnet during these playoffs. He said Monday night that the Lightning coaching staff restructured its defensive coverage during his tenure to compensate for Vasilevskiy's apparent weakness in tracking shots from long range.

Cooper suggested Lalonde conjured up the anecdote when asked about it Wednesday.

"Sportsnet is paying him well to go give an opinion, so he's got to make something up about that kind of stuff," Cooper said.

"He's there because he was an assistant coach on this team, so he's trying to offer insight and trying to give the fans something, and so he should be doing that," the bench boss added. "He's just got to make sure it's accurate what he's saying."

Cooper reiterated his stance when asked whether he felt Lalonde gave out too much inside information.

"Well, it's got to be accurate before you say it, that's my only (criticism)," he said.

Lalonde was an assistant coach under Cooper for the previous four seasons. The Red Wings hired him as head coach last July.

Vasilevskiy has allowed a handful of goals from long range during the Lightning's first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which Tampa trails 3-1.

Vasilevskiy has surrendered a league-high 19 goals with a .856 save percentage - the lowest among all netminders who've played at least three games - in this postseason. The 28-year-old posted a .915 clip over 60 games during the regular season for his lowest pre-playoff save percentage since 2015-16.

Cooper, Lalonde, and Vasilevskiy won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships together in 2020 and 2021 and reached another final in 2022.

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Following a three-game suspension, Toronto Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting will be a healthy scratch for Thursday's Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed Wednesday.

"It's not an easy decision," Keefe said, according to The Athletic's Joshua Kloke. "The message was he'll get back in, just not tomorrow."

Bunting received a three-game ban from the NHL's Department of Player Safety for an illegal check to the head of Erik Cernak during Toronto's Game 1 loss. The Leafs have reeled off three straight victories in his absence.

"We're comfortable with the group that’s won three games in a row," Keefe added.

During Wednesday's practice, the Leafs rolled out the same line combinations the club used to finish Game 4's overtime win.

Bunting finished fifth on the Leafs in goals (23) and points (49) in 82 games during the regular season. But rookie Matthew Knies has carved out a top-six role for himself in Bunting's absence.

"My job is to be a good teammate in all aspects," Bunting said. "That's what I'm going to keep doing, and I'll wait for my number to be called."

Bunting is no stranger to waiting for his opportunity. After all, it took until last season, his age-26 campaign, before he became a full-time NHLer.

"I've gone through adversity my whole life, and I made it here," he said. "So, it's just another day for me."

Bunting has proven to be a solid third wheel on Toronto's top line over the last couple of campaigns, but his effectiveness has waned the further he's been pushed down the lineup. Over the last two seasons, his five-on-five expected goals share is 47.36% when he's not playing on lines centered by Auston Matthews or John Tavares, per Natural Stat Trick. For comparison, he's posted a 61.07% xGF% with Matthews, and a 52.49% share with Tavares.

The Scarborough, Ontario, native is a pending unrestricted free agent after inking a two-year deal worth $950,000 annually with the Leafs in 2021.

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It was another good night on the ice for our best bets. We once again cashed a healthy road underdog in the Islanders and split our player props, giving us a profitable evening.

We'll set our sights on another one with three more plays for Wednesday's pint-sized slate.

Kraken (+155) @ Avalanche (-180)

The Kraken have been impressive thus far. They've controlled better than 55% of the high-danger chances at five-on-five, which is the second-highest output of all playoff teams.

That stems largely from their ability to generate quality opportunities in bulk. They're averaging better than 3.0 expected goals per 60 minutes at full strength and are testing Alexandar Georgiev.

The loss of Jared McCann hurts their offense, to be sure, but the Kraken are built much more on depth than star power. They have speed and scoring ability throughout their lineup, and there are plenty of reliable contributors who can help pick up the slack.

I'm not sure the same can be said about the Avalanche. They're driven by their stars a lot more than depth, the latter of which they don't have. With Valeri Nichushkin out and Cale Makar now suspended, the Avalanche are missing two big horses at the top of the lineup. That is killer.

The Kraken are tied in this series - and have out-chanced the Avalanche - because of their depth advantage. That should shine through even further with Nichushkin and Makar out of the picture.

Although there's always the possibility of Philipp Grubauer throwing up a dud, Seattle's depth should allow the Kraken to control a lot of the play at five-on-five. Grubauer shouldn't need to excel in this game; he'll just need to be competent.

Much like with the Devils on Monday and the Islanders on Tuesday, I'm happy to take my chances on big underdogs with better underlying profiles.

Bet: Kraken (+155)

Patrice Bergeron over 2.5 shots (-140)

Bergeron is expected to make his series debut in Game 5. He'll jump right into the thick of things, centering David Pastrnak on the Bruins' top line. That certainly serves as a strong indicator that he's ready to play and will be given a full workload in this close-out game.

Assuming that's the case, it's hard not to love Bergeron in the shot prop market. He was an absolute machine at home this season, averaging 3.3 shots on goal while going over this number 73% of the time.

His shot line is often set to 3.5. Had he been healthy for the entirety of the series, that's almost certainly where the number would be for this game.

Bergeron has a strong history against the Panthers as well. He recorded four shots or more in three of four meetings this season and five of the last six dating back to last year.

Take advantage of Bergeron at a total we're unlikely to see moving forward.

Devon Toews over 0.5 assists (-115)

Makar's absence means more even-strength minutes - and the quarterbacking role on the top power play - will be on Toews' plate.

He's certainly shown the ability to take advantage of it. Makar was sidelined for an eight-game period down the stretch. In that span, Toews had a goal and nine assists while routinely playing 25-plus minutes.

That was in the regular season, too. In a playoff game where the loser gets put on the brink of elimination, head coach Jared Bednar is likely to lean even more heavily on his temporary No. 1 defenseman.

Toews is going to play extreme minutes in all situations. He's much more of a shot-creator than a shot-taker, so the likelihood of any point he tallies coming by way of an assist is quite high.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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Four NHL teams will play regular-season games at Stockholm's Avicii Arena next fall.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild are headed to Sweden as part of the NHL's annual Global Series, the league announced Wednesday.

Here's the schedule for those matchups:

It will be the first time ever that four NHL teams play regular-season games in Europe on the same trip and the first time the Maple Leafs ever go outside North America for regular-season contests. It's the second international trip for the Red Wings and Wild, and the third for the Senators.

Notably, the 'Battle of Ontario' won't be played overseas as the Leafs and Sens will not face off against each other during the trip.

Stockholm has hosted more regular-season NHL games than any other city outside North America. Twelve previous contests of that variety have taken place in the Swedish capital. A total of 32 have been played in Europe.

There are 21 players from Sweden that are expected to take part from the four clubs involved. The Wild boast eight of those Swedes, including former Senators goaltender Filip Gustavsson, forward Joel Eriksson Ek, and top netminding prospect Jesper Wallstedt. The Leafs and Wings each have six including Toronto winger William Nylander and Detroit forward Lucas Raymond, while the Sens have two in puck-stopper Anton Forsberg and defenseman Erik Brannstrom.

However, it should be noted that several of those players - Leafs defenseman Erik Gustafsson, Wild forwards Marcus Johansson, Gustav Nyquist, and Oskar Sundqvist as well as defenseman John Klingberg, plus Red Wings netminder Magnus Hellberg and blue-liner Robert Hagg - are pending unrestricted free agents who may not be with their current clubs in November.

Earlier in April, the NHL revealed plans to play in the southern hemisphere for the first time with a pair of exhibition games in Melbourne, Australia scheduled for September.

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Only 31 teams in NHL history have ever overcome a 3-1 series deficit, and Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness knows it'll be difficult to make sure his squad becomes the 32nd.

"We have to be confident, we have to be, and we will be," he told reporters Tuesday. "We'll be a very confident group going into (Game 5). We're gonna have a swagger to us that says, 'If we go out, it's gonna be one tough fight for you guys tonight.'

"If we play with that attitude, then I like our chances."

The Jets won the first game of their opening-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights but lost the next three in a row and find themselves one contest away from elimination.

Despite the tall order at hand, Connor Hellebuyck said his team will "take it one game at a time."

"We just need one. We don't need three, we need one. And we'll go from there," he said. "I like our team, I like the way we've been playing. A bounce here, a bounce there, and things can go well."

He added, "I think we have the character in our room to do something special, to do something great. Like we said, we're looking for one game ... and we'll move onto the next one and then we'll prepare the same way."

Hellebuyck was one of the top goalies in the regular season with a .920 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average in a league-leading 64 starts. He's posted a 1-3 record with an .895 clip and 3.21 goals against average against Vegas so far.

"If you asked me at the beginning of the series how I thought it was going to go with how my game's been and how I feel, I would not expect the results to be the way they are," Hellebuyck said.

"That being said, we're inches away from really flipping the script on this."

In order to flip that script, Bowness is certain of the game plan his team will need to deploy.

"We're not gonna go into that game hoping to win and sit back and hope things go our way," he said. "That's not how we play. ... We're gonna try to avoid playing on our heels and play as aggressive as we can, as intelligently as we can."

The Jets will have to pull off a win in Game 5 without defenseman Josh Morrissey, but Bowness is "hopeful" that star Mark Scheifele - who exited Game 4 with an upper-body issue - will be able to re-enter the fold.

Puck drops on the crucial contest Thursday in Vegas at 10 p.m. ET.

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Andrei Vasilevskiy hasn't been his typical, lights-out self during the Tampa Bay Lightning's first-round clash against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but head coach Jon Cooper defended his No. 1 goaltender.

"If I looked through this series, the (Mitch) Marner goal in Game 2 for sure (he) wants to have back," Cooper told reporters Tuesday. "But then after that, realistically, what are we saying he's done wrong other than make all the saves he's supposed to?"

Vasilevskiy owns an .856 save percentage and 4.33 goals against average through the first four games of the series.

He allowed five tallies on 37 shots during Monday's Game 4 collapse that put the Bolts on the doorstep of elimination, but Cooper argued that Vasilevskiy didn't have a chance.

"Who's stopping the (Noel) Acciari tip? Nobody's stopping that. And who's stopping the (Auston) Matthews tip? Nobody's stopping that," Cooper said. "The (Morgan) Rielly goal ... we come off our check and completely screen our goalie. And the winning goal ... who's stopping that?"

He added, "No goalie in the league - take any goalie, take the best goalies in the history of the game - they're not stopping any of those. ... Those are unbelievable, 100%-chance-of-going-in goals.

"It's just tough that they're all happening in one game. ... I think the onus is on the guys in front of (Vasilevskiy) to try and be a little bit better."

The 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy winner ranks dead last among all netminders in these playoffs at minus-6.19 goals saved above average and minus-5.51 goals saved above expected at all strengths, per Evolving Hockey.

The Lightning have allowed the third-most high-danger chances against in all situations during the postseason so far, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Vasilevskiy solidified his status as a clutch playoff performer after starting every single game for the Bolts during their three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final. He posted a combined 48-23 record during those runs to go along with a .928 save percentage and 2.09 goals against average.

Puck drops on Thursday's do-or-die Game 5 in Toronto at 7 p.m. ET.

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It appears the Calgary Flames will be getting their new arena after all.

An agreement has been made in principle between the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), the city of Calgary, the province of Alberta, and the Calgary Stampede for a new event center, Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek announced Tuesday.

The new building will replace the 40-year-old Scotiabank Saddledome.

Gondek added that the next step is to move to a definitive agreement, at which point details on a timeline, design, and construction will be available.

The project has expanded from a single facility for the Flames to an entire entertainment district, including a community rink and transit improvements. It'll cost around $1.2 billion overall, including $800 million for the event center itself, per Postmedia's Wes Gilbertson.

The city will kick in $537.3 million, the CSEC will provide $356 million, and the province will contribute $330 million.

CSEC and the city initially reached a tentative agreement in July 2019 for a new venue that would cost $550 million, split equally between the two parties. The city was also expected to handle additional funds, including 90% of the demolition costs of the Saddledome.

However, the venture's price tag increased by over $50 million in July 2021, and the situation deteriorated. The Flames opted to pull the plug in December 2021, citing unresolved issues in relation to the escalating cost of the project.

In October 2022, the Flames and city officials revived negotiations for the new arena. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced her support for the project, saying the Saddledome can't compete with newer venues.

CSEC president John Bean said Tuesday he heard from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that the new arena would put Calgary in rotation to host future drafts and All-Star Games.

The Saddledome, built in 1983, has been the Flames' home for the last four decades.

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