Thursday night marks the beginning of the 2018 Frozen Four, with Minnesota-Duluth facing off against Ohio State in one semifinal and Michigan and Notre Dame meeting in the other.

Each school fighting for this year's NCAA title has taken a unique road to Saint Paul. The Fighting Irish were here last year, the Buckeyes haven't made a Frozen Four appearance since 1998, the Bulldogs lost the 2017 national championship to the Denver Pioneers, and the Wolverines are in their first post-Red Berenson season, with one of their brightest lights also being the youngest player in college hockey.

Before the puck drops, here are two players to watch from each team:

Ohio State Buckeyes

F Tanner Laczynski: Laczynski is proving that draft position isn't what's important, it's what you do after you're drafted that matters most. Taken in the sixth round in 2016 by the Philadelphia Flyers, he leads the Buckeyes in scoring with 46 points in 40 games. He's a great skater who has developed into a reliable two-way player, and, in addition to his offensive skill, he's difficult to knock off the puck. Though when a player will turn pro is difficult to predict, Laczynski could sign with the Flyers as soon as the end of this season.

G Sean Romeo: Romeo has been a major factor in the Buckeyes' road to the Frozen Four. Per NCAA rules, he had to sit out last season after transferring from Maine, but he came back in a big way. Appearing in 36 games this season, he finished the year with a .927 save percentage, and his 22 wins are tied for second-most in program history. His focus in net is rock-solid, and if that remains the case, the Buckeyes have a solid shot at the title.

Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

F Joey Anderson: Anderson captained Team USA at the 2018 World Junior Championship, his second appearance at the tournament. While his production for the Bulldogs decreased slightly this season from last, he showed improvement after the WJC, proving he's one of the best players on the Bulldogs and a solid prospect for the New Jersey Devils. He's smart and hard-working, with both good finishing ability and a mature defensive game.

F Riley Tufte: The Dallas Stars prospect joined his Bulldogs teammate Anderson at the WJC, where his size and speed were on full display. Going forward, he needs to work on his offensive consistency, but he improved visibly over the course of this season. A big plus is that he's one of the few prospects with the "NHL size" scouts desire - he's 6-foot-6 and 209 pounds - who can also skate well.

Michigan Wolverines

D Quinn Hughes: A consensus top-10 pick for the 2018 draft, Hughes is the youngest player in NCAA hockey. He was third-best on the Wolverines in scoring during the regular season with 28 points in 34 games, evidence of the offensive skill set that has heightened expectations. His high-level hockey sense leads to good decision-making at both ends of the ice (most of the time), and it's for that reason you should expect him to see a lot of minutes Thursday night.

F Cooper Marody: Marody's rights, previously held by the Flyers, were recently acquired by the Edmonton Oilers. When you look at what he's accomplished this season, it's easy to see why the Oilers wanted him. This year is Marody's first full, healthy campaign with the Wolverines, and his 50 points in 39 games were good enough for sixth nationwide. While there are some concerns about his strength on the puck, he has terrific offensive potential. He's a cerebral, creative playmaker who's loads of fun to watch.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

F Jake Evans: Drafted in the seventh round in 2014 by the Canadiens, Evans put up 42 points in 38 games (up from 42 in 40 last season) for his second consecutive point-per-game season. He's a good example of what patience can do for development, using the last two years to establish who he is as a player and show why the Canadiens should sign him. In addition to his college play, which earned him a Hobey Baker nomination, the senior represented Team Canada at this year's Spengler Cup. He's a good skater and his playmaking ability is a significant asset for the Fighting Irish captain.

G Cale Morris: Morris stepped into former Fighting Irish goaltender Cal Petersen's crease with apparent ease, winning the starter's job over freshman Dylan St. Cyr and finishing the season with a .945 save percentage - the highest in the nation. The sophomore is poised in net, able to control rebounds, and plays behind a solid group of defensemen. Morris' stellar play hasn't gone unrecognized, as he was named the Big Ten tournament's Most Outstanding Player and is a finalist for the Mike Richter Award, which honors the top goaltender in college hockey.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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Marian Gaborik went under the knife, and he'll likely need a couple of months to recover.

The veteran Ottawa Senators forward had surgery to correct a herniated disc in his back Thursday, according to the club.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said team doctors advised them that players have been able to resume full training as soon as eight weeks after this type of procedure.

Gaborik visited a back specialist, who recommended the surgery.

The 36-year-old chipped in seven points in 16 games with the Senators after being acquired in a four-player trade with the Los Angeles Kings involving defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

Ottawa has been eliminated from playoff contention and has only two regular-season contests remaining.

Gaborik is under contract with the Senators for three more campaigns after this one at a cap hit of $4.875 million.

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If you didn't get the message last year during the team's playoff run, Nashville Predators fans are one passionate bunch.

So much so that after Filip Forsberg had a goal taken away on a controversial goaltender interference call Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers, one fan - by the name of Briley Meeks - decided to ship a dead catfish to the NHL office in Toronto.

"I was like, 'OK, I will,'" Meeks said, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski. "One minute I was sitting on my couch, the next minute I was going to buy fish and shipping it to Canada. It wasn't the refs in the game that made the call. It was Toronto. So they deserve the dead catfish."

Related - Predators' Forsberg: Overturned buzzer beater 'clearly a goal'

Meeks made sure to check with UPS, which then confirmed with Canadian Customs that she was allowed to proceed with sending the fish across the border. The total cost to ship the fish in the container came to roughly $150, and to top it all off, Meeks included a message on the inside of the container that simply read: "YOU SUCK."

"I hope they're not mad about it. It's just a prank," Meeks said. "But we got robbed. The players were stunned. Even the Panthers players and fans knew it was a bad call too.

"I do want to clarify that there was no ice in the cooler. I wanted it to be disgusting."

Luckily, the Predators sit comfortably in a playoff spot and even have a chance to clinch the Presidents' Trophy on Thursday, so the missed call should be water under the bridge soon enough.

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New York Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk will take in the final two games from the press box.

The 34-year-old has been shut down for the remainder of the regular season due to injury, head coach Doug Weight announced Thursday, according to Andrew Gross of Newsday Sports.

Weight noted it's yet to be determined whether Boychuk will require offseason surgery. Earlier this season, he missed 18 games with a lower-body injury.

In 58 games, he put up six goals and 18 points.

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The Philadelphia Flyers will likely have their most experienced goaltender in the crease for the critical penultimate game of the regular season.

Brian Elliott will start against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night, assuming there are no setbacks, according to Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The 32-year-old netminder hasn't played since Feb. 10 and underwent core muscle surgery three days later. His original timetable was five-to-six weeks.

Philadelphia enters Thursday's action occupying the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot, four points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who have a game in hand.

The Flyers can clinch a playoff berth with either a win of any kind and a Panthers loss of any kind, or a single point and a Panthers loss in regulation.

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Through the remainder of the regular season, we'll take a look at how the night's action impacts the playoff races, highlighting which teams' postseason odds went up or down significantly.

Western Conference

It was a fairly quiet night in the NHL on Wednesday with just three games on the schedule, but with the Anaheim Ducks' win, there is now just a single spot left to be had in the West.

The Chicago Blackhawks played the role of spoiler against the St. Louis Blues, delivering the club a crushing 4-3 loss on the back of Duncan Keith's game-winner with just nine seconds left in regulation.

The loss significantly hurt the Blues' chances, meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche were thrilled as their slim one-point lead in the standings remained intact.

To see percentages for the entire NHL, visit Sports Club Stats.

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The Anaheim Ducks punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win over Minnesota on Wednesday.

Not only did Anaheim clinch a spot with the win, but they also leapfrogged the Los Angeles Kings - who qualified for the postseason earlier in the night - for third place in the Pacific Division.

The Ducks are the seventh Western Conference team to clinch their playoff spot this season, with St. Louis and Colorado left to duke it out for the final wild-card berth.

Anaheim won the Cup back in 2007, and advanced to the Western Conference finals last season, losing to Nashville in six games.

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The 2017-18 season has been one to forget for Ottawa Senators fans, but the play of forward Matt Duchene has given the club a reason for optimism heading into the most important offseason in franchise history.

It took Duchene a while to get settled in Canada's capital, as he recorded just six points in 24 games, but since then, he's been one of the best players in the league.

With another goal in Ottawa's 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, Duchene now has 20 tallies and 42 points in his last 42 games, showing why general manager Pierre Dorion gave up a significant haul to get him in November.

Kyle Turris - the man Duchene was essentially acquired for in order to upgrade the Sens' No. 1 center position - has just nine goals and 22 points in his last 42 games with the Nashville Predators.

Duchene's strong second half ended up being too little, too late, but since the Sens may not have their first-round pick in 2019, having the forward for a full season could help restore the team to respectability in a year where Erik Karlsson may not be on the roster.

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The Los Angeles Kings clinched a playoff berth following the St. Louis Blues' loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

The Blackhawks stormed back to win from a 3-1 deficit, scoring the game-winning goal with just 8.5 seconds left to help their once-archrival clinch a playoff spot.

Since winning their second Stanley Cup in 2013-14, the Kings have alternated missing and making the postseason. They missed in 2014-15, lost in the first round in 2015-16, missed last season, and are now returning this year.

The Kings are also trending in the right direction heading into the playoffs, as they're 11-4-3 over their last 18 games. The return of Jeff Carter has been a key factor, as he has 13 goals in 19 games since missing over four months with an injury.

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The Calgary Flames were among the NHL's biggest underachievers this season, and general manager Brad Treliving has one potential explanation for his team's disappointing performance.

Even after a four-game sweep by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round of the playoffs last year, the Flames were perceived as a team on the rise, and the offseason additions of Travis Hamonic and Mike Smith raised expectations even more. The changes seemed to be working, too. In the middle of January, Calgary was 25-16-4, coming off a seven-game winning streak. A second-place finish in the Pacific Division didn't seem far-fetched.

Yet a poor second half that's included two losing streaks of six or more games has left the Flames more than 10 points out of a playoff spot.

There's clearly more than one reason for the Flames' collapse, but weeks after their last game of meaningful hockey, Treliving is concerned about the team's level of emotional investment.

"There's an emotional level you have to get to to assist you in winning, and we have to look into that," Treliving told Eric Francis of the Ottawa Sun. "Are we emotionally invested enough? We're missing something.

"I think we've got to find a way to be more emotionally engaged. We've got to be harder to play against. That can mean a lot of different things, but we've got to find the identity of our team."

Those comments would seem to suggest that Treliving is questioning his team's character, but he says that's not the issue.

"I don't question our character," he said. "I'm around these guys every day, and I don't buy into that. This team was praised for its character a year ago when we made the playoffs, and, all of a sudden, we lost that? I don't question whether these guys want to win. Everyone wants to win."

He admitted changes are on the way, but didn't say whether they'd include head coach Glen Gulutzan.

"I think we've got a good coach. We've got some good players, but we're all subject to scrutiny when a season goes like this," Treliving said.

Calgary has never been a hot destination for free agents, and the Flames don't pick until the third round of the draft, so Treliving could have a difficult time finding the missing pieces for his team this offseason.

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