The Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New York Islanders with a 6-3 victory in Tuesday's Game 5.

The Hurricanes will face the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round.

More to come.

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Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper made his opinion on pending unrestricted free agent Steven Stamkos clear after his team's elimination from the postseason Monday.

"He belongs here," Cooper said, according to team reporter Chris Krenn. "We know it. He knows it."

Cooper added: "He's also, I suppose, in control of his own destiny. I don't know what's going to happen. He feels like a Bolt for life, but only he and (general manager Julien BriseBois) can answer that one."

Stamkos tallied 40 goals and 81 points in 79 games this season. He backed it up by netting five goals and six points in five postseason contests.

The 34-year-old said he wasn't thinking about the uncertainty around his future as the game winded down.

"No, no, that never crossed my mind," Stamkos said, per Bally Sports Sun. "I'm out there battling to try to help our team win, regardless. At the end of the game, we're trying to score, and there's some pride on the line for our group."

Stamkos has played his entire 1,082-game career with Tampa Bay. He's racked up 555 goals and 1,137 points to go with two Stanley Cups and two Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophies.

BriseBois said in October that he'd wait until the season ended before making any decisions about Stamkos' future. He added at the time that he hoped the forward would finish his career with Tampa Bay.

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The Florida Panthers pulled away in the third period to win 6-1 in Monday's Game 5 and eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It's the Panthers' first playoff series victory over their in-state rivals. Florida will play either the Boston Bruins or Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round.

"We knew this was a big game for us, coming back home," captain Aleksander Barkov said, per Bally Sports Florida. "We got a big steal in Tampa. ... Today, I think we showed up."

He added, "Of course, we know there's a history between us two. We know Tampa has won Cups and been in the finals. And they're so close to us, one-hour flight, that it almost pisses me off. At the same time, huge respect to them, they've been an unreal franchise for a long time. But this time we got the best of them."

The Panthers scored twice to make it 4-1 in the final frame before adding two empty-netters. Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each notched two goals.

Tampa Bay saw two goals called back due to goaltender interference.

The Lightning have now seen their campaign end in the first round in consecutive years. The Maple Leafs eliminated Tampa in six games last season.

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The Boston Bruins stifled the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 in Saturday's Game 4 to move one win away from the second round.

Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews didn't return after the second period. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said Matthews' absence was related to an illness and that "the doctors pulled him," per The Athletic's Joshua Kloke.

Toronto has lost six consecutive games on home ice in the playoffs dating back to last year and has been outscored 21-11 in that span.

April 20, 2023 - Game 2 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning - is the Maple Leafs' last playoff win at Scotiabank Arena.

"Nothing wrong with our effort level here tonight," Keefe said, according to The Hockey News' David Alter. "Guys are competing. It's physical hockey. Guys are trying. It's a good team over there. It's limiting us.

"You can question a lot of things, can't question the effort."

Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander - who made his series debut - were visibly frustrated on the bench during the second period.

"We're not yelling at each other because we hate each other," Marner told reporters. "We just want to be all on the same page to help each other out."

Keefe reiterated that the interaction came from a good place.

"I don't sense any frustration," he said, according to Alter. "Guys are pushing one another, guys are competitive, guys want to win. You know, it's all part of it."

Morgan Rielly said the Maple Leafs' approach hasn't been the issue.

"It's always come down to execution, work ethic," Rielly told reporters when asked if Toronto needs to change their game plan, according to Kloke.

James van Riemsdyk, Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak found the back of the net for the Bruins. Marner scored Toronto's only goal.

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves in the victory. He's a perfect 3-0 in his starts in the series. Ilya Samsonov allowed three goals on 17 shots and was replaced by Joseph Woll for the third frame. Woll made five stops in relief.

Game 5 is Tuesday in Boston.

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Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev returned to the lineup for Saturday's pivotal Game 4 win against the Florida Panthers.

Sergachev played 17:03 in the 6-3 victory and tallied an assist.

"The docs cleared me, and it was the coach's decision, so I stayed at the rink a little longer waiting for coach to say yes or no, and he said yes," Sergachev told Bally Sports Florida's Gabby Shirley. "I got very excited and, honestly, I couldn't really sleep last night.

"It felt like my first NHL game again, and then you go on the ice, and you get that from the fans in the warmup. It made me very emotional, and I am just thankful to be here and thankful for the guys."

Sergachev fractured his tibia and fibula in a game on Feb. 7. It was his first contest back from a different lower-body injury that had kept him out the previous 17 games.

Head coach Jon Cooper said earlier in April that Sergachev would miss the first round. His return comes just 79 days after undergoing surgery for his leg fractures.

Tampa Bay put Sergachev back in the starting lineup alongside partner Erik Cernak for Game 4.

However, Darren Raddysh sat out Saturday after the defenseman suffered an injury in Game 3.

Sergachev tallied two goals and 19 points in 34 contests during the regular season. The 25-year-old has 98 playoff games under his belt.

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Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon is considered day-to-day after being cut at the end of Friday's loss against the Colorado Avalanche.

"We know the gash was there, but our doctors did a fantastic job of stitching him up, and there's no damage, and that's the most important thing," head coach Rick Bowness said Saturday, according to The Athletic's Murat Ates.

Dillon was bleeding from his hand as he hurried toward the locker room.

Defenseman Josh Morrissey called it a "scary situation," according to Winnipeg Free Press' Mike McIntyre after Friday's game.

Dillon, 33, scored eight goals and 20 points in 77 games during the regular season. He has three assists through three games against the Avalanche.

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The Carolina Hurricanes took a 3-0 series lead against the New York Islanders with a 3-2 win in Thursday's Game 3.

Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov found the back of the net in the first period to give the Hurricanes a lead they wouldn't surrender.

After starting Semyon Varlamov for the first two contests, the Islanders turned to Ilya Sorokin for Game 3. He was pulled before the halfway mark after allowing three goals on 14 shots.

Varlamov stopped all eight shots he faced in relief.

Carolina has earned one series sweep since the team moved from Hartford in 1997. The Hurricanes beat the Islanders in four games in the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

New York looks to avoid elimination in Game 4 on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

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The Winnipeg Jets are looking to prove the doubters wrong in the first round against the Colorado Avalanche.

"There's been some talk, obviously, that maybe we aren't where we're supposed to be, and we know that we are," forward Nikolaj Ehlers said Sunday. "So we wanna show ourselves and prove to each and every guy in here that we got what it takes to be a Stanley Cup champion."

Ehlers confirmed the team is using a comment from the "Spittin' Chiclets" podcast as bulletin board material entering Round 1, according to TSN's John Lu.

"I had a player in the NHL on a team currently sitting in a playoff spot tell me that the Winnipeg Jets are the biggest frauds in the league and that they'll lose in the first round," podcast host and former NHLer Ryan Whitney said on the March 1 edition of the show.

Meanwhile, forward Mason Appleton reiterated his team's self-belief.

"This is the hungriest I've seen this group," Appleton said, per the Winnipeg Free Press' Mike McIntyre. "We really have a lot of belief in this room and in this team."

That belief goes all the way to head coach Rick Bowness, who noted he likes this iteration of his team more than last year's entering the postseason.

"This team is far better prepared going into the playoffs today this year than we were last year," Bowness said, according to The Athletic's Murat Ates. "As I mentioned, we were scrambling to get in, and it just felt like that scramble carried through, through the playoffs."

He added: "So again, I think it's a more confident group. It's a deeper group, it's a tighter group, and we'll see that come into play. And I just feel going into these playoffs that we're much better prepared."

The Jets face the Avalanche in Game 1 on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

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Colorado Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin will miss the entire first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets with a lower-body injury, the team announced Saturday.

Drouin scored 19 goals and a career-high 56 points in 79 games this season as he rekindled chemistry with junior teammate Nathan MacKinnon.

The 29-year-old left Colorado's regular-season finale Thursday and didn't return. The Avalanche were already locked into a matchup against the Jets.

The Colorado-Winnipeg series commences Sunday. Should the series go the distance, Game 7 is scheduled for May 4.

Drouin has played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times, most recently in 2020 with the Montreal Canadiens. He has six goals and 21 points in 33 career postseason contests.

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The 2023-24 NHL regular season was one of the best in recent memory.

With chaos in the standings until the final days, unexpected breakouts from numerous players, and dramatic storylines with long-term impacts, it was truly a campaign to remember.

Here are six surprises from the regular season as we wait for the playoffs to begin Saturday.

Canucks soar to Pacific Division title

Coming into the season, the Vancouver Canucks were viewed as potential challengers for a wild-card spot but were considered firmly behind Pacific Division rivals like the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, and L.A. Kings.

Even the team's staunchest supporters didn't see a division title and near Presidents' Trophy campaign in the offing. But here we are.

Vancouver's turnaround has been swift. With Jack Adams favorite Rick Tocchet at the helm, the Canucks have gotten star performances from top players Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser, with the first two legitimate contenders to win major end-of-season awards.

The Canucks' 26-point improvement from 2022-23 is the most league-wide, eight more than the Florida Panthers in second. It's a drastic jump, and it means Vancouver will host playoff games for the first time in nine years.

Devils crumble with injuries, goaltending woes

The New Jersey Devils were among the most positive surprises a season ago, going from bottom five to top five in the league standings.

With a young roster boasting exciting offensive talent, most pictured the Devils to continue their rapid rise. In fact, New Jersey was the popular pick to claim the division in theScore's preseason predictions.

Progression isn't always linear, and the Devils found that out this season. New Jersey tumbled down the standings to finish the campaign with just 81 points - a massive 31-point drop from the year prior, the largest in the NHL.

Jack Hughes missed 20 games, but the key loss was ultimately Dougie Hamilton. The veteran defenseman was injured in late November and didn't play again, missing 62 games in total.

That absence, combined with abhorrent goaltending from Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid, and Nico Daws, has given New Jersey a reality check heading into an important offseason.

Reinhart, Hyman surpass 50 goals

If you asked someone in September to name the players who'd score 50 goals in 2023-24, you'd have waited a while for a mention of Zach Hyman. You'd probably still be waiting to hear Sam Reinhart's name.

The two wingers crushed their previous career bests with remarkable campaigns.

Reinhart, whose previous career high was 33, sniffed 60 with a 57-goal season. It was a contract year for the ages, as the 28-year-old finished second in the "Rocket" Richard Trophy race.

Then there's Hyman, who has netted over 25% of his career goals this year alone. The 31-year-old's 54-goal campaign is a great example of hard work paying off.

Oilers falter early, charge back into contention

The Oilers were 10 points out of a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving. A team that was expected to contend for the Stanley Cup was closer to the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks in points than the second wild-card spot.

And yet, the Oilers end the season second in the Pacific Division and will host a first-round playoff series.

It didn't come easy: Edmonton needed a near NHL-record 16-game winning streak to leap back into contention.

The early-season woes cost bench boss Jay Woodcroft his job. Connor McDavid's former OHL coach, Kris Knoblauch, was tabbed to take the reins, and the team has flourished under his watch.

As the Oilers gear up for the playoffs and celebrate McDavid's 100 assists and Hyman's 50 goals, it's easy to forget just how close 2023-24 came to utter disaster.

Welcome to the NHL ... Utah?

An Arizona Coyotes relocation isn't a surprise in itself. Most assumed it was a matter of time if an arena solution didn't come to fruition.

But Arizona seemed to be in it for the long haul just a few weeks ago when the team announced a commitment to win a land auction and build an arena.

Then, out of left field, reports emerged that the NHL was preparing two schedules for the 2024-25 season: one with the Coyotes in Arizona, and one with the team in Salt Lake City. Within days, the relocation to Utah was all but officially announced.

The franchise had been surrounded by relocation rumors in recent years, but it's the sudden nature of the move that makes it one of the season's biggest surprises and certainly the one with the biggest long-term effect on the league.

Lindgren leads Caps back to playoffs

In the summer of 2022, the Washington Capitals signed two goaltenders to multi-year contracts.

The first, Darcy Kuemper, was coming off a Stanley Cup triumph with the Colorado Avalanche. Naturally, he received the headlines with his prior success and $26.25-million commitment.

The second flew under the radar. After a stellar season in the AHL and impressive NHL results in a tiny five-game sample, the Capitals rolled the dice on Charlie Lindgren on a three-year contract at a minuscule $1.1-million cap hit, presumably to be a backup.

Fast forward two seasons and it's Lindgren, not Kuemper, who's leading the Capitals back to the playoffs.

The numbers since March, as Washington pushed to make the postseason, are telling:

Given Kuemper's experience and cap hit, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him take over if Lindgren falters early against the New York Rangers. But entering the postseason, there's no doubt it's Lindgren's crease.

Few saw the Capitals as a playoff team at the start of the season. Nobody envisioned it would be on the back of Lindgren.

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