On Sunday afternoon, New Jersey Devils' Paul Cotter received a match penalty for an illegal check to the head against New York Islanders' Adam Pelech.
The incident occurred at the six-minute mark of the second period. Following the hit, a bloody and visibly angry Pelech left the game and did not return.
"That is the kind of hit we don't like," Islanders' head coach Patrick Roy told NewYorkIslanders.com on Sunday. "The kind of hit we don't want to see happen for any team."
Cotter played 5:42 and finished the game with one shot on goal, one blocked shot, and two hits.
Hours after the Devils' 1-0 loss to the Islanders, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Cotter would have a hearing on Monday.
It was announced Monday afternoon that Cotter has been suspended for two games.
New Jersey has two regular-season games remaining before the playoffs. On Tuesday, the team will play the Boston Bruins at TD Garden and host the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday at Prudential Center.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and based on his average NHL salary, Cotter will forfeit $8,072.92. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
Before his incident, the native of Canton, Michigan, had no prior history with the NHL's Department of Player Safety.
Cotter is concluding his first season with the Devils after being acquired in a trade from the Vegas Golden Knights on June 29, 2024, for Alexander Holtz and Akira Schmid. The 25-year-old has appeared in 79 games for the Devils and has 22 points (16 goals, six assists).
While terms like “superstar” and “elite” get thrown around a lot, some players are undeniably stars for their team. The Carolina Hurricanes have Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin, but there…
Two Vancouver Canucks prospects will be making their NHL debuts against the San Jose Sharks. Both goaltender Nikita Tolopilo and defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev will be in the lineup on Monday as the Canucks play their second to last game of the 2024-25 season. Tolopilo is on the roster in place of Thatcher Demko, while Kudryavtsev is expected to take injured Derek Forbort's spot in the lineup.
Listed at 6'6", 229 lbs, Tolopilo is an undrafted goaltender who has impressed since signing with the organization. This season in the AHL, he has an 18-14-2 record, along with four shutouts. Tolopilo's last start came on April 6, when he made 35 saves in a 4-3 victory over the Laval Rockets.
"I think he's a big goalie, so something there," said Rick Tocchet after practice on Sunday. "I think last year, he knows that the work ethics got to get a little bit higher. He's got to really work on his craft. You're a big goalie. Can he work on his movements? Can he get stronger in his hip areas and core? Can his pushes off the like, these are the things. I'm not a goalie coach, but this is the sort of stuff that you want this guy to work at because he's got the frame. A big goalie that can move, those are the kind of the guys you want. Like a Thatcher Demko, big guy that can move."
As for Kudryavtsev, he was a seventh-round pick by Vancouver back in 2022. The left-shot defenceman is in his first pro season, and has 26 points in 63 games with the Abbotsford Canucks. Once Kudryavtsev steps on the ice, he will become the first player drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft to play in an NHL regular-season game.
"Means a lot," said Kudravtsev after morning skate on Monday. It was a quick phone call yesterday, so really excited. It's my first game. I know it probably doesn't mean much for the standings for the NHL team, but it means a lot for me and for Tolo (Tolopilo)."
The Canucks wrap up their season series with the Sharks
on Monday night. Vancouver is 3-0 against their Pacific Division
rivals, and will have their eyes on the season sweep. Puck drop is
scheduled for 7:00 pm PT from Rogers Arena.
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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, born in Sundbyberg, Sweden, set a new career high with his 35th goal on Sunday against the Boston Bruins.
With his latest tally, Rakell tied fellow Swede Tomas Sandström, who scored 35 during the shortened 1995-96 season. In 58 games that season, Sandström set the franchise record for most goals (35) and points (70) by a Swedish-born skater in Penguins history.
Heading into the season finale, Rakell has 35 goals and 34 assists for 69 points, one shy of tying Sandström's record. Against the Washington Capitals, the Penguins' next opponent, Rakell, has scored four goals with ten assists for 14 points in 23 career games.
Last season, Rakell became only the second Swedish player to record a 60-point season, scoring 28 goals and 32 assists. Now, with 69 points, he becomes the only one from the Scandinavian country to record two 60-point campaigns.
As mentioned, Sandström owns the franchise record for most goals in a single season among Swedish players with 35. Meanwhile, Erik Karlsson owns the top totals regarding assists. During his first season in Pittsburgh, 2023-24, he recorded 45 assists to surpass Dick Tärnström, who had 36 in 2003-04 to break Sandström's top total of 35.
Karlsson is up to 42 assists with one game left this year, becoming the only Swedish player with more than one 40-assist season in a Penguins sweater.
At this time, Rakell (179 points) is the second-highest-scoring Swede in franchise history, chasing two-time Stanley Cup champion Patric Hornqvist, who had 264 points in 407 games. Meanwhile, Karlsson already ranks fifth with 109 points in 163 games.
Jack Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo, Nicolas Hague, Victor Olofsson and Ilya Samsonov all returned to the Vegas Golden Knights' practice today.
Every rostered player besides Adin Hill participated in practice today. Hill was in goal on Saturday during the Golden Knights' 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators. The 28-year-old is likely taking a maintenance day to rest after playing in his 50th game this season.
Pietrangelo has had a difficult month, sustaining an injury before returning and dealing with an illness. The Golden Knights have been patient with his health, wanting to give the 35-year-old every opportunity to rest and return for the playoffs as close to 100% as possible.
Hague and Olofsson have been affected by the same illness as Pietrangelo, forcing them to miss several games. The pair of depth pieces will be important to the Golden Knights' success in the playoffs, albeit in different ways. Olofsson will attempt to provide depth offence, and Hague will need to use his size to be a strong defender.
Samsonov has been out since Mar. 29, last playing on Mar. 23. His injury is an upper-body ailment, and the Golden Knights will be hoping to get him into a game before the beginning of the playoffs, just in case his services are needed.
The Golden Knights have two games remaining, and both will be played on the road against the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks. With the Pacific Division locked up, the Golden Knights will likely use load management to their advantage, and it's why Jonas Rondbjerg joined the team at practice today.
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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are approaching, and teams are officially clinching playoff berths and being eliminated from contention. Here are the potential scenarios where teams can clinch or be eliminated…
Another day, another elimination scenario for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tonight marks the third time the Blue Jackets could be knocked out of playoff contention — this time if the Montreal Canadiens win their game against the Chicago Blackhawks. But the key detail here is that Montreal must win in regulation. An overtime or shootout loss won’t be enough to clinch.
If the Canadiens fail to close it out tonight and Columbus beats the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Blue Jackets will move within just one point of Montreal for the final Wild Card spot in the East.
That would set the stage for a thrilling final game of the regular season on Thursday against the New York Islanders.
The Chicago Blackhawks take on the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others. BLACKHAWKS (23-46-11) at CANADIENS (39-31-10) 7 p.m.…
For the Edmonton Oilers, that means it's decision time. With so many players injured, it's been hard to get a handle on their playoff lineup. They got some clarity on that front on Monday morning, as Kris Knoblauch issued a slew of injury updates after the morning skate. Buckle up, this one's a doozy.
The big one concerns defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who reaggravated his nagging injury on April 11th against Dallas. Knoblauch confirmed that Ekholm is ruled out for the first round of the playoffs and could be out for quite a while longer.
"Mattias will be out for a while, and he won't be returning any time soon," Knoblauch told the media. By all appearances, it seems Ekholm may not return at all during the playoffs.
The other news wasn't quite so grim. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will return to the lineup on Monday against the Los Angeles Kings after missing the past three games with an illness, while Troy Stecher will be out after leaving Sunday's game with an injury.
Connor McDavid, after picking up nine assists in three games since returning from injury, will also sit out on Monday for precautionary reasons.
"With us playing three games in four days and a back to back, we feel there's too much to lose there, so we're playing that extremely safely," Knoblauch said on Monday.
Everyone else--Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Jake Walman, and Trent Frederic--is officially day-to-day. Draisaitl and Walman are questionable for the final game of the regular season on Wednesday and ready for game one of the playoffs, while Hyman is likely in the same boat as a precautionary measure. Frederic, meanwhile, is questionable for the start of the playoffs as his timetable continues to get pushed back.
Finally came the big event: Evander Kane's first media availability since the beginning of training camp. Kane, who's been skating with the team for weeks now, seems ready to go for sometime in the first round, which will be his first game action since game two of the Stanley Cup Final.
"I'm really excited to get going here," Kane said. "As soon as we get to 100%, which should be pretty soon."
Kane also opened up about his recovery journey, describing the January knee surgery that kept him out for longer than expected. Kane's absence was originally due to a double hip adductor surgery he underwent in September.
"It was very weird. Probably ten days after surgery, I just felt [my knee] was stuck, it was sticking every day," Kane said on Monday. "So we got an MRI, and there was a benign mass kind of wrapped around my ACL and PCL, and we were able to get that removed."
The Oilers play against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night and close out their regular season on Wednesday in San Jose. The Stanley Cup Playoffs start on Saturday, April 19th.
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The Dallas Stars take on the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others. STARS (50-24-6) at RED…
