Jamie Benn acknowledged his Dallas Stars got what was coming to them when the Seattle Kraken dominated Game 3 for a 7-2 win in their second-round playoff series Sunday night.

"I think we got what we deserved tonight," Benn said postgame, according to The Athletic's Saad Yousuf. "We're going to move on."

Neither team scored in the first period, but the Kraken erupted for five goals in the second, four of which were unanswered in a span of just over six minutes.

Dallas outshot Seattle 26-25 in the game and 17-8 in that second period. But skilled Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen left the game in the middle frame and didn't return after taking a deflected puck to the face, while typically dependable Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger gave up all five of those second-period goals on only eight shots in the frame before Scott Wedgewood replaced him for the final 20 minutes.

The Stars went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Kraken converted one of their two opportunities with the man advantage. Seattle commanded play in terms of expected goals, outplaying Dallas by a margin of 58.04 to 41.96 for the duration of the game, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Seven different Kraken skaters provided the goals for the victors Sunday night, helping the second-year squad take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday night in Seattle.

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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov departed Game 3 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers in the second period after teammate Luke Schenn slid into him while trying to prevent a goal.

Joseph Woll came into the contest to replace Samsonov, and Panthers forward Anthony Duclair tied the game on the power play shortly thereafter.

Samsonov turned aside all eight shots he faced before exiting. The 26-year-old Russian started all of the Leafs' previous playoff games this spring. He entered Sunday's contest with a .895 save percentage in the playoffs after posting a .919 mark during the regular season.

Woll, who'll turn 25 in July, made his second appearance of the postseason Sunday. He relieved Samsonov for the third period of a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their first-round matchup. The American spent most of the campaign with the AHL's Toronto Marlies.

Matt Murray is Toronto's third goaltender.

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Evander Kane had a simple explanation for why he went after Keegan Kolesar during the Edmonton Oilers' 5-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series Saturday night.

Kane went on the defensive when a reporter mentioned the rarity of body shots in hockey fights like the ones he hit his counterpart with in the second period.

"You also don't see a lot of guys getting jumped from behind and headlocked," the Edmonton winger said postgame. "When you want to fuck around, sometimes you've got to find out, so that's what happened."

The hostilities began when Brett Howden and Brett Kulak squared off, but they continued elsewhere. Kolesar peeled Kane off a scrum with two hands from behind, and Kane later punched Kolesar repeatedly while the Vegas player was lying on the ice.

The officials handed Kane a 10-minute misconduct along with a pair of roughing minors for the incident. It was the first of two misconducts for Kane in the game. Kolesar got a roughing minor of his own but nothing further. When the dust settled, the officiating crew assessed 30 minutes in total penalties over the melee.

Golden Knights winger Mark Stone wasn't happy with how the officials handled the situation.

"It's frustrating, right? The ref's standing right there," Stone said. "We've only got four guys on the ice (and the Oilers had) five ... You never want to see a teammate getting suckered down like that, especially one who's stuck up for his teammates all year.

"I would've liked to have seen the refs maybe do a little bit better of a job to help out Keegan."

Game 3 is scheduled for Monday night in Edmonton.

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The New York Rangers and Gerard Gallant have agreed to end his tenure as head coach, the club announced Saturday.

More to come.

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Matty Beniers, Owen Power, and Stuart Skinner are the 2022-23 finalists to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.

Beniers tied for the league lead among the class in goals (24) and led all rookies in both points (57) and even-strength points (46).

The 20-year-old also ranked second in average ice time (17:06) among rookie forwards who played at least 35 games. Beniers is already centering Seattle's top line, and his play was a major reason the Kraken made the playoffs for the first time in their second season.

Power led the entire class in average ice time with 23:48, outpacing second-place Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators by nearly two minutes. The Buffalo Sabres blue-liner, who's also 20 years old, led all rookies at the position in assists (31), points (35), and even-strength points (26).

Skinner grabbed the job as the Edmonton Oilers' starting goaltender away from offseason signing Jack Campbell, and Skinner was certainly deserving of the role. The 24-year-old authored a .914 save percentage and a 29-14-5 record and got the majority of starts for his club over the latter half of the campaign.

It should be noted that Vancouver Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko is ineligible for this award despite having just played his first NHL season. The Russian turned 27 on Feb. 4, so he does meet the requirement for being no older than 26 by Sept. 15 of his debut campaign.

However, the other rule is that a player can't have played more than 25 games in any single preceding season, nor in six or more games in each of any two preceding seasons, in any major professional league. Kuzmenko played eight years in the KHL, suiting up for 315 contests in that span.

The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on the Calder Trophy at the end of the regular season. Detroit Red Wings rearguard Moritz Seider won it last summer.

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Gerard Gallant doesn't think he should be held responsible for his New York Rangers bowing out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round.

The Blueshirts head coach insisted Wednesday that he's done enough to keep the job and added that he hasn't yet spoken to general manager Chris Drury about his future.

Gallant took aim at reporters for mentioning the notion that he could be fired.

Gallant gave credit to the New Jersey Devils, who ousted the Rangers with a 4-0 victory in Game 7 on Monday night. The 59-year-old also noted the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins and defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche came up short in their first-round matchups in these playoffs.

The Rangers finished this season in third place in the Metropolitan Division, five points behind the second-place Devils. Gallant was in his second season behind New York's bench. He guided the Rangers to a second-place finish in 2021-22. They reached the Eastern Conference Final but lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Gallant has a 99-46-19 record with the Rangers, who hired him in June 2021. He coached the Vegas Golden Knights for three seasons, beginning with their inaugural campaign in 2017-18. The club fired him in January 2020.

The Prince Edward Island-born coach is under contract with the Rangers through 2024-25 and is earning $3.5 million annually, according to CapFriendly.

Gallant coached the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Florida Panthers before his stints in Vegas and New York.

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Pete DeBoer wishes his Dallas Stars hadn't squandered Joe Pavelski's big night Tuesday with an overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.

Pavelski provided all of the Stars' offense in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. He became the oldest player in NHL history to score four goals in a game - in the playoffs or the regular season. However, Yanni Gourde netted the winner in the extra frame to give the Kraken the victory.

"(It was) epic, shame we wasted it and didn't win," the Stars head coach said postgame. "That's on our group because he more than did his part. He tried to drag us to a win (Tuesday night)."

Pavelski had a remarkable game despite having been out of the lineup since Dallas' first-round series opener against the Minnesota Wild on April 17.

The 38-year-old forward, who'll turn 39 on July 11, led all skaters from both clubs with six shots Tuesday night. He also blocked three shots and won all nine of his faceoffs.

"I'm not surprised," DeBoer said. "I should be. Everybody should be. He's the oldest guy on the sheet of ice (Tuesday night) and he was by far the best player on either team. But that's just Joe."

Pavelski showed no signs of slowing down during the regular season, collecting 28 goals and 49 assists while playing all 82 contests. The American notched his 1,000th career point in a win over the Detroit Red Wings on April 10.

Game 2 of the Stars-Kraken series is scheduled for Thursday night in Dallas.

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The Boston Bruins are surprisingly turning to Jeremy Swayman instead of Linus Ullmark in goal for Game 7 of their first-round series against the Florida Panthers on Sunday night, the Bruins announced prior to puck drop.

Ullmark is the clear Vezina Trophy front-runner who's started all six of the Bruins' previous playoff games this spring. The Swede had played all but 191 seconds in the series before Sunday. However, he's struggled over his last two outings, allowing 10 goals on 57 shots for a .825 save percentage in a pair of losses.

The 29-year-old also gave up five goals in the Bruins' Game 2 defeat, but Boston head coach Jim Montgomery stuck with him for the next one, and he came through with a victory in which he allowed only two goals on 31 shots. Ullmark had an .896 save percentage in the series entering Sunday.

Swayman started five postseason games in 2021-22, going 3-2 with a .911 clip. The 24-year-old was solid during the 2022-23 regular season, authoring a .920 save percentage along with a 24-6-4 record in 37 games, 33 of which were starts.

Ullmark was brilliant this season. He went 40-6-1, tying for the league lead in wins and topping all NHL netminders with more than two games played in save percentage at .938. He made 49 appearances, starting all but one of them. He led the league in goals saved above average at five-on-five and ranked fourth in goals saved above expected in the same situations, according to Evolving-Hockey.

The Bruins won the Presidents' Trophy in 2022-23 and set numerous records amid their regular-season prowess.

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Rick Bowness will be back behind the Winnipeg Jets' bench in 2023-24, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff confirmed Sunday.

"The job that Rick did for us in coming in and taking on this task and giving him a shot at trying to win (the) Stanley Cup, I thought they did a great job," the GM said.

The Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Jets in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Thursday night. Bowness publicly tore into his team in the aftermath, saying he was "so disappointed and disgusted" with their efforts.

Jets forward Blake Wheeler criticized Bowness on Saturday, saying he didn't agree with how the bench boss handled himself after the defeat. Wheeler felt Bowness could've had those conversations with the team in private rather than airing them with the media, though Wheeler clarified Bowness did so with the team in the second intermission of Game 5.

Bowness then walked back his postgame comments. He said he regretted using the word "disgusted" and admitted he let his emotions get the better of him in the moment.

Wheeler was the Jets' captain for six seasons dating back to 2016-17. But Bowness stripped him of the "C" heading into this campaign, and Winnipeg subsequently played without a captain all season.

The Jets nabbed the second Western Conference wild-card spot with a 46-33-3 record.

Cheveldayoff said Bowness' contract is for two years plus an option. The Jets hired the veteran bench boss in July. The 68-year-old coach replaced Dave Lowry, who took over when Paul Maurice resigned in December 2021.

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One might think the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, given the way the city of Toronto and its NHL club celebrated Saturday night.

Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas couldn't contain his excitement after his team defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in overtime of Game 6 at Amalie Arena to advance to the second round for the first time since 2004.

Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews' parents took in the game live. They went wild after John Tavares' overtime winner, and then the center and his father embraced once the dust settled.

Meanwhile, back in Toronto, crowds poured onto the streets to celebrate finally getting over the opening-round hump after nearly two decades of disappointment.

The celebration was particularly jubilant at Maple Leaf Square, just outside Scotiabank Arena.

It's safe to say those fans don't want the Boston Bruins to win Game 7 of their first-round series against the Florida Panthers on Sunday night.

Leafs fans from all walks of life reveled in the victory.

Based on how Leafs Nation reacted to winning one round, planning a parade might just be the tip of the iceberg if the team claims the Cup.

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