Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov will return to the lineup in Game 4 with a chance to sweep the Carolina Hurricanes, head coach Paul Maurice confirmed Wednesday.
Barkov was a full participant in the morning skate.
The 27-year-old sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of Monday's Game 3 after taking a hit from Hurricanes forward Jack Drury and was unable to return to the contest.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) May 23, 2023
The Panthers secured the win in Barkov's absence, with Sam Reinhart scoring the contest's only goal in the second period and Sergei Bobrovsky holding down the fort with a 32-save shutout.
Barkov has logged four goals and eight assists in 15 games this spring, with two of those tallies coming against the Hurricanes. He has 32 points (13 goals, 19 helpers) in 33 career regular-season clashes versus Carolina.
The Panthers are zeroing in on their first-ever four-game sweep in franchise history, and their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final since 1996.
In a bizarre twist - given the usual parity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the tight pre-series odds in both conference finals - the Hurricanes and Stars are on the brink of being the first two sweeps of the 2023 postseason.
More to our expectation of a close series, it took until the sixth cumulative game of Round 3 for any team to take a two-goal lead. When the Golden Knights chased Jake Oettinger in the first period on Tuesday, that was the first real inclination of a one-sided game result despite the decisive series leads.
What's left for bettors to do with two series that could go the minimum but involve matchups where no team has been given even a 60% chance to win an individual game based on the moneylines?
If this were a blind-resume test, it would take a while before you got to "Panthers 3-0" for your guess as to the status of this series - even though unusual results aren't out of the question for a matchup that was priced tightly. The Panthers have essentially won three straight coin-flip games - two overtime finishes and via a lone power-play goal in Game 3.
Florida has taken a commanding lead thanks to Sergei Bobrovsky. Even with the assistance of four extra periods of scoreless action in Game 1, Bobrovsky's 11.14 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), according to Evolving-Hockey, and the Hurricanes' 1-for-51 high-danger chance conversion rate are both jaw-dropping stats. In 2833 regular-season minutes, Bobrovsky totaled 2.92 GSAx.
Could Bobrovsky's fortunes turn at any moment? It's not impossible, which means the possibility exists for a Canes comeback. If that's something you're interested in, we have to compare the current series price to rolling over the Carolina moneyline for the remaining four games.
GAME
ML (*Projected)
ROLLOVER ODDS
4
-105
-
5
-140*
+235
6
-105*
+550
7
-140*
+1020
Even with two potential weighted coins in favor of the Hurricanes (-140) at home, you may get a better price by taking an initial stake and continuing to add profits from each moneyline win to the following game's bet.
Don't want to commit to a full-blown Canes comeback? You can lock in fair prices on Carolina +2.5 games at +240 or Carolina +1.5 games at +550. But rolling over moneylines allows the bettor a chance to pull their money off the table should something change in either team's available personnel.
I've joked about how - all postseason - it feels like if the Golden Knights get a high-danger scoring chance, it's going in the net. Just 71 seconds into Game 3, Vegas got its only even-strength high-danger chance, and Jonathan Marchessault converted.
Then 42 seconds later, Jamie Benn took an unconscionable five-minute cross-checking major. For a moment, it looked like the Stars might get a crucial penalty kill and even had a scoring chance short-handed. Seconds later, Vegas got its one good chance on the extended power play, and sure enough, the Golden Knights converted. While not an even-strength situation, Ivan Barbashev's goal exemplified how the Golden Knights have put the "danger" in high-danger chances this postseason.
In fairness to Vegas, after a soft goal on an innocuous backhanded shot that was the last straw for Oettinger and his minus-6.02 postseason GSAx, the Golden Knights didn't need to press the Stars late, only getting six shots in the final two periods.
In the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Golden Knights converted even-strength high-danger chances at a seemingly unsustainable 22.4% rate. They haven't just sustained that rate through three games versus Dallas - they've stretched it.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Golden Knights have converted six of 23 even-strength high-danger chances through three games - a 26% rate. By comparison, here's how three teams fared in this category during the regular season:
The highest-scoring team in the league: Oilers (11.1%)
The all-time regular-season wins record-holder: Bruins (12.6%)
Golden Knights (12.6%)
As we outlined with the Hurricanes and Panthers, the best path in betting on a Stars comeback would be to have the same attitude that the trailing team should have: one game at a time. However, you would be fading a team in Vegas that already has a potentially unprecedented scoring touch going against goaltending that's been, at best, not great. That's without even addressing how the Stars' scoring has gone dry as well.
While the comeback is priced the same in both series, given what we've seen from the Stars, it certainly seems like they have a far worse recipe for a miracle comeback.
Matt Russell is the lead betting analyst for theScore. If there's a bad beat to be had, Matt will find it. Find him on Twitter @mrussauthentic.
With the Stars trailing 4-0 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, fans at the American Airlines Center littered the ice in trash after Dallas forward Max Domi received a 10-minute misconduct.
The game entered the second intermission 21 seconds early because of the chaos.
Everything started when Domi cross-checked Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague from behind into the boards and then started throwing punches. Domi received a two-minute minor for cross-checking, a two-minute minor for roughing, and a 10-minute misconduct. Hague also received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct early in Tuesday's crucial contest against the Vegas Golden Knights after cross-checking Mark Stone in the head.
Jamie Benn has been given a 5 minute major for his cross check on Mark Stone. pic.twitter.com/Ck1uCnnCgJ
The play occurred in the opening two minutes with Dallas already trailing. Vegas scored on the ensuing power play and again afterward to grab a 3-0 lead and chase goaltender Jake Oettinger.
Benn entered Tuesday's contest with 11 points in 15 playoff games this spring. Game 3 is a virtual must-win for the Stars after dropping the first two contests of the series.
Former New York Rangers bench boss Gerard Gallant will be considered a "prime candidate" for the Calgary Flames' head coaching vacancy, TSN's Darren Dreger reported Tuesday.
Gallant coached the Rangers for the last two seasons. He guided them to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 but was fired after they lost in Round 1 this season.
The 59-year-old spent parts of three seasons as head coach of the Vegas Golden Knights from 2017-20, leading them to a historic Stanley Cup Final appearance in their inaugural campaign.
Gallant also coached the Columbus Blue Jackets (2003-06) and Florida Panthers (2014-2016) for parts of three seasons. In Florida, he helped a young Jonathan Huberdeau find his footing in the NHL. Huberdeau is now the Flames' highest-paid player and struggled mightily in his first season in Calgary under Darryl Sutter, who was fired in May.
Mitch Love, the head coach of the AHL's Calgary Wranglers, is expected to get a good look for the job as well, according to Dreger.
Dan and Sat are joined by Don Taylor of Donnie and Dhali to discuss whether or not the Canucks should move down in the draft, if it's time to make a bold move, and more.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
Dan and Sat discuss the possibility of the Canucks trading down at the draft and whether or not makes sense for the team to do that. Also, hear from Irf Gaffar of The Fourth Period on that, the issues with the Leafs, and much more.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
Craig Conroy is aware that he has his work cut out for him as the new general manager of the Calgary Flames.
Several key Flames players are entering the final year of their contracts before they can become unrestricted free agents, including Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli, Mikael Backlund, Noah Hanifin, and Chris Tanev. Conroy needs some clarity before the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
"We can't go into a season with seven UFAs," Conroy said during his introductory press conference Tuesday. "It just doesn't make sense."
Conroy, who's been the Flames' assistant GM for the last nine seasons, said that Johnny Gaudreau's exit in free agency last summer taught him a valuable lesson.
"I was hoping Johnny was going to come back," Conroy said. "I thought Johnny was going to come back, but I don't think I would let that happen again."
He added: "You just lost an asset, one of your best players of all time, and you didn't get anything for him. That was a real eye-opener for me."
Extending all of his key upcoming free agents would be highly difficult, so Conroy isn't opposed to shaking the team up. One way he plans to do so is by injecting some youth.
"I think we're going to change the core a little bit," Conroy said. "Not the core pieces, but I think we're going to add some youth to the lineup."
He added: "It's easier to play veteran players, but we need to move forward. We have a salary cap. Young players definitely help the salary cap."
The Flames boasted a veteran-heavy roster last season under previous GM Brad Treliving. Head coach Darryl Sutter, who was fired in May, was particularly reluctant to count on his young players in feature roles. But that won't be the case under the next head coach, whom Conroy still has to hire.
Conroy said he intends to keep roster spots open for young players to earn in training camp instead of filling them up with veterans.
"There's going to be an opportunity next year - come to training camp and earn a spot," Conroy said. "Take a jersey."