Category Archives: Hockey News

Bobrovsky starts Game 4 after replacing Driedger in Game 3

The Florida Panthers are going back to Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after starting Chris Driedger in goal for the previous two contests.

Bobrovsky is in the Panthers' crease Saturday opposite Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Bobrovsky stopped all nine shots he faced after relieving Driedger to begin the third period of Florida's 6-5 overtime win in Game 3 on Thursday.

Driedger allowed five goals on 12 shots in the second period of the victory and faced 22 shots over 40 minutes. Bobrovsky gave up five goals on 40 shots in Game 1 of the first-round series, which the Panthers lost 5-4. Driedger then started Game 2, surrendering a pair of goals on 28 shots in a 3-1 defeat.

Meanwhile, Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle was scratched for the second straight game Saturday. His ironman streak remains unaffected because these are playoff contests. Yandle is a healthy scratch, according to The Hockey News' Erin Brown.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Tavares out for 2 weeks with knee injury, no timetable for concussion

John Tavares will miss at least two weeks with a knee injury sustained on the same play in which he suffered a concussion, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Saturday, according to TSN's Mark Masters.

The GM added Tavares had been cleared of all structural damage to his head, neck, and spine. However, there's no timetable for his recovery from the concussion.

Tavares was stretchered off early in Game 1 of Toronto's playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday after taking an inadvertent knee to the head from Corey Perry. The Maple Leafs captain was taken to hospital that night and discharged the next morning. He was ruled out indefinitely due to the concussion at the time.

Dubas also took the opportunity Saturday to criticize the Toronto Sun for its cover page showing the Leafs' medical staff attending to Tavares with the headline "Captain Crunched."

"I think that situations like that garner a significant amount of coverage, but as an organization, we felt (Friday) that the Toronto Sun cover of their newspaper crossed the line and we found the cover to be disgusting," Dubas said, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

"We understand here that writers and columnists have no input into the covers of papers or headlines, but we just thought that it was extraordinarily insensitive on the part of the Sun with regards to the photo and the caption that accompanied the situation (Friday).

"Just a complete lack of compassion and respect on behalf of the Sun towards John and his family, especially for such an upstanding member of our organization and community, and his family that had to endure that."

The collision between Perry and Tavares happened in the first period of the Canadiens' 2-1 victory. Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Berube rips Blues-Avalanche refs: ‘So one-sided, it’s not even funny’

Craig Berube is resorting to a familiar tactic as his team sits on the brink of being swept out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The St. Louis Blues head coach criticized the officiating following a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche that gave the victors a 3-0 lead in their first-round series Friday night.

"Every game, we get one or two calls. It's usually late in the third period. They're getting (four or five per game)," Berube said. "(It shouldn't be) that lop-sided. I'm not sure why we don't get the calls that we deserve."

Berube was particularly perturbed about a perceived missed call involving Blues defenseman Colton Parayko, which would have ultimately prevented the Avalanche from netting a goal.

"Parayko gets tripped in the corner. (The Avalanche) go down (and) score a goal ... he gets slew-footed, and they don't call it, and it cost us a goal," Berube said. "It's terrible. It's so one-sided, it's not even funny."

The St. Louis bench boss called out the officiating during the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, saying after a 7-2 loss in Game 3 that the Blues were "the least penalized team in the league in the first three rounds (and) now all of the sudden we've taken 14 penalties in one series." Berube's team then won three of the next four games to claim the championship in seven.

Game 4 of the Blues-Avalanche series is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Brind’Amour: Hurricanes ‘fighting the refs’ in Game 3 loss

Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour voiced his displeasure with the officiating in the club's opening-round series against the Nashville Predators following Friday's double-overtime loss in Game 3.

"Nashville is a phenomenal team, but we're also fighting the refs, that's plain and simple," Brind'Amour said, according to Hurricanes beat writer Cory Lavalette. "You can't tell me two games in a row they get seven or eight penalties and we get three?

"When the game is this even? It's not right."

The Hurricanes have been whistled for 14 penalties to the Predators' six during the last two games.

Brind'Amour is proud, though, of the way his team - which owns a 2-1 series lead - has responded.

"I give my guys a ton of credit for just sticking in, going and playing their butts off, and having a good chance to win," he said.

Brind'Amour added: "Two overtimes, you know, a knick-knack penalty when there was stuff going on all over. It just flipped the momentum and they scored the next shift after because we're out of rotation. That's not how it should go."

The teams meet again for Game 4 on Sunday.

Copyright © 2021 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.