On Wednesday night, the Vancouver Canucks did something they previously hadn’t done at all this season — they won a game after trailing two periods. Taking the 4–3 shootout win against the Calgary Flames brings them up to 71 points on the season with 17 games remaining. Two of those games occur this weekend at Rogers Arena, where the Canucks will play the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday and Utah Hockey Club on Sunday. While Chicago is pretty much a shoe-in for a top-three draft pick this year, Utah is sneakily only two points back of Vancouver. Let’s take a look at what this weekend could have in store for the Canucks. 

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Vancouver’s first matchup this weekend comes against Chicago, who are currently sporting a 20–37–9 season record that puts them second-last in the Western Conference with 49 points. Only the San Jose Sharks have a lower point total than them. Despite their abysmal record, Vancouver can’t approach this game with the expectation of automatically gaining two points. 

Chicago’s most dangerous factor coming into this game is the newly-acquired Spencer Knight, who is sporting a 2.24 GAA and .928 SV% in his three games with the Blackhawks so far. Knight has led the Blackhawks to a win against Utah and the Los Angeles Kings. In his two losses against the Colorado Avalanche and Sharks with Chicago, he only let in two goals and three goals respectively, still posting save percentages of .900% and .875%. Prior to being traded, he registered two shutouts and a 2.40 GAA with the Florida Panthers. 

Another thing Vancouver should also be aware of is Chicago’s strong special teams. Their power play currently sits at fifth in the NHL with an effectiveness rate of 24.8%. Notably, they have scored five power play goals in their last 10 games. Their penalty kill has been steady as well, posting a killing percentage of 80.9% — 11th in the league. 

Vancouver and Chicago are the bottom-two shot producers in the NHL. They’re both also towards the bottom of the standings in goals-for. While it’s likely that this game could be a low-scoring affair, since the start of March, Vancouver has seen a significant increase in shots-for, while Chicago has not. In this case, the key to securing two points against the Blackhawks will be to play the same way they did at the end of their match against the Flames. They’ll need to control play and keep applying pressure (or should I say, meet pressure with pressure?). 

Utah has been a surprise team for many this season. A rebranded version of the Arizona Coyotes, Utah wasn’t expected to perform too well given the circumstances. However, they’ve put on quite the show for their new fanbase and have climbed up to a 29–25–11 record. This puts them at 69 points with 17 games left in their season, only a hair away from reaching Vancouver’s current position. Utah has had Vancouver’s number in both of their season matchups so far, taking both of their victories by only one goal. 

As it stands, Utah has two players at the 50-point mark and above, and five who have more than 40 points. Vancouver’s lone player with more than 50 points is Quinn Hughes, who has 61 in 51 games played. Next in line are Conor Garland and Elias Pettersson with 39. For reference, Clayton Keller (74), Nick Schmaltz (50), Dylan Guenther (48), Logan Cooley (47), and MIkhail Sergachev (43) all have more points than Vancouver’s top-scoring forwards. While Utah is not a particularly high-scoring team compared to others in the NHL, their goals-for count of 184 is still higher than Vancouver’s 176. 

One surprising stat about Utah is their corsi-for percentage, which tracks even-strength shot attempts by a team. They are currently ninth in the NHL in this stat with 51.68%, putting them higher than the Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals, and Winnipeg Jets. Vancouver is 22nd in the league with 49.03%. 

As is the case with all games at this time of year, this weekend’s back-to-back is a big one for Vancouver. They have the opportunity to escape with all four points, taking two away from a team currently chasing them in the standings. Puck drop for Saturday is at 7:00 pm PT, while Sunday’s game starts at 5:00 pm PT. 

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The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Tyson Kozak from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans. 

Kozak, 22, has played in his first 11 NHL games this season with the Sabres, where he has one goal and a minus-2 rating. His last appearance was against the Nashville Predators on Jan. 31, where he had 10:02 of ice time in 15 shifts.

Kozak has taken a step forward offensively down in the AHL with Rochester this season, posting new career-highs with eight goals and 14 points in 31 games. This is after he had five goals and 12 points in 41 games last season with Rochester.

Kozak will now look to make an impact during this latest call-up to the Sabres' roster from here. If he does well, it would help his chances of sticking around with the NHL club. 

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The Vegas Golden Knights have signed goaltender Adin Hill to a six-year, $6.25M AAV contract extension.

The 28-year-old is enjoying his third season with the Golden Knights, posting a career-high in games played with 17 games remaining on the schedule.

In the 39 games he's played, Hill has posted a .906 SV% and a 2.53 GAA. The save percentage is the lowest of his three years in Vegas, but the numbers have been steadily rising as the season has progressed. 

The Golden Knights defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets last night, and Hill recorded his fourth shutout of the season, turning away 27 shots. 

The Golden Knights and GM Kelly McCrimmon placed a lot of trust in Hill when they elected to trade away Logan Thompson. Thompson has been enjoying a great season with the Washington Capitals, but the recent performances by Hill have put fans at ease about the decision the franchise made. 

McCrimmon has been busy this season with re-signings. Last season, he watched multiple integral players leave in free agency and seems determined to avoid doing so this season.  During the 2024-25 campaign, McCrimmon has re-signed Brett Howden, Keegan Kolesar, Brayden McNabb, and Shea Theodore. He's also handed out entry-level contracts to Trent Swick, Kai Uchacz and Braeden Bowman. 

With the salary cap rising, McCrimmon has put the Golden Knights in a better position to chase after free agents, instead of replacing key players. 

Stay updated with the most interesting Golden Knights stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favourites on Google News to never miss a story.

You can never have too many defensemen.

This is what Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman says to himself as he falls asleep every night (probably). A little healthy competition never hurts anyone, and there is competition for ice time on the Red Wings' blueline.

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features. 

Things don’t seem to be budging at the NHL level, but the AHL scene is getting a bit crowded.

Yesterday, the Red Wings announced the signing of prospect Anton Johansson to a three-year entry-level contract. The 6-foot-4 and 196 lb defender has spent this past year in the SHL.

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The contract includes performance bonuses and signing bonuses for each of the three years.

The fourth-round pick in the 2022 entry draft has had a solid two years in Sweden. Johansson played full-time SHL last season and is doing so again this season. 

He played 46 games for Leksands IF this year, recording 10 points, 98 shots, and 50 penalty minutes. Johansson averaged 16:38 of ice time per game.

This represents a big step forward for the defender. In 46 games last season, he only recorded eight points, 59 shots, 16 penalty minutes, and 13:32 ice time per game.

The right-handed defender will report to the Red Wings AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, on an amateur tryout. The ice in North America is smaller than in the SHL. This is a bigger deal for defenders than it is for forwards.

Defenders must react quicker and be more aggressive on the smaller ice surface. The AHL is a great place for a young Swede to acclimate to making faster decisions.

It remains to be seen whether or not Johansson has an NHL future ahead of him - but at the very least, he’s one step closer.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Was it wise to sign Johansson at this point?

How long will it take Johansson to make it to the NHL? Please answer the question by voting in our poll!

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The Columbus Blue Jackets were shut out by the Vegas Golden Knights 4-0 on Thursday night. 

Elvis Merzļikins stopped 25 of 28 Vegas shots, but it was the Columbus offense that couldn't get anything going in the loss.

Elvis made some really good saves on Thursday, including a few show-stoppers. The first two goals he gave up weren't on him, as he did everything he could to keep the Jackets in the game against a very good VGK team. 

Vegas didnt even have a shot attempt until they scored their first goal with 8 minutes left in the first. Up to that point, shot attempts were 14-0 in favor of the CBJ. 

As for the rest of the game, and as former HC John Tortorella would say - "Burn the Tape!" 

Dean Evason said after the game that defenseman Jake Christiansen suffered an upper-body injury and has already been ruled out for Saturday. Christiansen had played every game of the season up to this point. 

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Elvis Merzļikins stopped 25 of 28 Vegas shots.
• Zach Werenski led the team with 4 shots and 27:53 of ice.

Team Stats

• The CBJ PP went scoreless on three tries which included a double minor.
• The Jackets PK stopped 2 of 3 Vegas power play's.
• Columbus won 59.5% of the faceoffs.

What's Next: The New York Rangers visit Nationwide Arena on Saturday. 

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FanDuel Sports Network. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.

Let us know what you think below.

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To call Thursday a huge missed opportunity for the St. Louis Blues would be understating it.

Yes, the Blues have been on a roll and playing well, but they had the stage all to themselves with all their competitors in the Western Conference wild card idle and a chance to pull into a tie for the final spot with the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks.

The Blues came into the game with the Pittsburgh Penguins playing 12 of their final 17 games against teams outside the playoff picture, but this has been their trouble spot in not beating these opponents, and it reared its ugly head again with a 5-3 loss to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

The Blues (31-28-7), who came into the game on a 7-1-2 run (6-1-2 since the 4 Nations Face-Off), also had the chance to move two points ahead of Utah Hockey Club in the standings but give up a game in the standings and remain two points back, now with the Flames having two games in hand and the Canucks and Utah with one.

Zack Bolduc continues his strong play with a power-play goal, Dylan Holloway also scored in the power play and Alexey Toropchenko scored his second goal in three games, but the Blues could not solve a goalie [Tristan Jarry] who was placed on waivers by the Penguins (27-31-10) earlier in the season but improved to 7-1-0 lifetime against St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington (more on him below) was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots.

Let's look at Thursday's Three Takeaways:

* Binnington pulled, outplayed by Jarry -- Binnington had been strong his past eight starts, going 7-0-1 in them, including six straight wins with a 2.27 goals-against average, but he was not nearly good enough on Thursday.

With the Blues actually playing a pretty solid overall team game, average goaltending would have been good enough on this night.

On Graves' goal that made it 1-0 2:17 into the game, you can see he lost track of the puck trying to look around to the left point, and teammate Tyler Tucker was there and instead of getting out of the way, could have perhaps blocked a shot, so an argument could be made that someone in front of him could have done a better job. But you'd maybe like to see the back of the skates at the edge of the crease to take away more angle and identify where the puck is. It was Pittsburgh's first shot of the game and only shot they would get for over 10 minutes.

When Timmins scored to make it 2-0 at 2:20 of the second period, you'd like to see Nick Leddy attack the puck carrier and not allow him time and space to move into the right circle, but Binnington was off his angle and didn't look like he was square to the shooter really hugging the post and exposing the far side from a sharper angle.

The third goal by Dewar, a tap-in late in the second at 17:42 was just a missed assignmentafter Bolduc's power-play goal at 11:35 got the Blues back in it, but the goal that saw Binnington pulled, he was beat on the short side on what was changed to a Rust tip from a Rickard Rakell shot from the high slot at 7:15 that made it 4-2, but you'd like a save there, or at least cover up the near side to not give a lane for a tip to get through after Holloway's one-timer from the right circle at 1:26 of the third that made it 3-2 with the Blues' second power-play goal in as many opportunities.

Jarry, meanwhile, made 33 saves and provided the saves needed for a team that was outplayed for most of the game.

* Penguins, minus-40 at 5-on-5, score four -- The Penguins came in allowing the most 5-on-5 goals in the league this season at 163 and were 21st in the league in 5-on-5 goals for at 123, or a minus-40 on the season, which was worst in the NHL.

Yet the Blues were outscored 4-1 in that category on Thursday, and three of those goals came to players that were not named Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang. They were done in by first-time goal scorers Ryan Graves and Connor Dewar and Conor Timmins getting his third of the season.

Toropchenko's beauty, a coast-to-coast effort that saw him slice through the Penguins like hot butter, cut the deficit to 4-3 at 8:56 of the third period to account for the lobe 5-on-5 goal.

* Not leading the game after one period -- The stats said it all.

The Blues as a team actually didn't play a poor game; they came out like gangbusters and outshot the Penguins 16-5 in the first period, held a 9-2 advantage in scoring chances and had 6:05 of offensive zone time to Pittsburgh's 3:28 and forced six defensive zone turnovers, yet trailed the game 1-0.

The inability to complete the final phase of scoring on Thursday was something that was in great need, and by chasing the game the entire night, despite having a territorial edge for most of the night, was a bas recipe.

Hear what coach Jim Montgomery, Bolduc and defenseman Philip Broberg had to say postgame.