Ottawa Senators fans bowed to goaltender Linus Ullmark after he pulled off a save-of-the-year candidate against his former team.

With the Senators leading the Boston Bruins 5-3 late in the second period, Ullmark’s diving catch led to a stellar third frame in net that helped extend the team’s win streak to five games in a tight battle for the playoffs.

“Oh my God, he’s such a stud,” Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven told reporters after the 6-3 win.

After Ottawa led 4-1 after the first period, the Bruins scored twice in the second period to reduce the deficit to two goals. Ullmark had a 0.786 save percentage up to that point in the game with 11 saves on 14 shots.

Boston controlled possession in the offensive zone with about 90 seconds to go in the middle frame. As newly acquired center Marat Khusnutdinov and defenseman Andrew Peeke passed the puck back and forth, blueliner Mason Lohrei found an open lane to the net on the far side of the ice.

Khusnutdinov turned toward the net, which led Ullmark to challenge him at the top right corner of the crease. But Khusnutdinov found Lohrei all alone with the setup for a one-timer.

Lohrei had a wide-open net to shoot at from the faceoff dot. Ullmark was nearly out of the crease when he saw the pass, and Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot could only stick out his stick and skate to try to block the chance.

As Lohrei connected with the puck, Ullmark pivoted to angle himself diagonally toward the left post and swung over. He stretched out his glove hand quickly enough to get in front of the biscuit right before it entered the crease.

By the time Ullmark completed the grab, he was almost standing on his head, his left leg sticking up over his body.

pic.twitter.com/cEDV51Vr6C

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 14, 2025

“I was laughing,” Ullmark told the media post-game, as reported by Graeme Nichols. “Sometimes I wonder, how did that happen?”

Ullmark stopped all eight shots after that as the Bruins outshot the Senators in the final 20 minutes. He even tried to score a goalie goal on the empty net but missed wide.

“He’s such a big part of this team, and he wins us a lot of games,” Kleven said. “I’m honestly not even surprised that that happened – I see it all the time. He’s an awesome guy off the ice and an even better teammate on the ice.”

It wasn’t a perfect game for the 31-year-old Ullmark, who finished with a .880 save percentage and minus-1.24 goals saved above expected, but the game’s second star beat the team that traded him last June for the second time this season.

His former tandem-mate, meanwhile, only lasted one period in net on Thursday.

Jeremy Swayman allowed four goals on 15 shots for a .733 SP as Shane Pinto, Kleven, Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig got on the board. Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco pulled him in favor of Joonas Korpisalo, who went the other way in the Ullmark trade with Ottawa. Korpisalo stopped 14 of 15 shots to keep his team in the game, but it wasn’t enough for the Bruins to complete the comeback.

The Bruins still sit two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot, while the Senators are now five points ahead of Columbus for the first wild-card place.

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

It was only last year that Vancouver Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet was on top of the coaching world. 

He led the Canucks to the top spot in the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record. The NHL recognized Tocchet for his success, winning the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year.

Things are notably different for Tocchet's team this season. 

The Canucks fell to fifth place in the Pacific, and they’re behind the Calgary Flames for the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference. 

That makes Tocchet’s future a little hazier than expected heading into the campaign. 

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported in January that the Canucks have a team option to keep Tocchet for one more season, but the coach reportedly has the right to decide whether or not he would sign. Injuries have been a factor in the team’s drop in the standings this season, but there have also been a fair share of distractions, including the rift between J.T. Miller and center Elias Pettersson and Pettersson’s drop in production this season leading to more trade rumors.

On Sportsnet 590, Canucks journalist Rick Dhaliwal pointed out there’s no extension in place for Tocchet down to the homestretch of the season, even though he's the reigning coach of the year.

“I know the media’s getting to Tocchet, because he made a couple of comments in the last two games that tells you the media’s getting to him,” Dhaliwal said.

“It’s been a really trying year,” he added. “He’s had to babysit Miller, Pettersson, the feud. Media’s all over him now. If this team doesn’t make the playoffs, what’s going to happen then? But he’s got a decision to make, Rick Tocchet.”

Another factor that could decide Tocchet’s future is that his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, could be looking for a new coach if they decide to move on from longtime bench boss Mike Sullivan. The Penguins have been committed to Sullivan since 2015 and gave him a vote of confidence early this season. His job on Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off also shows why Pittsburgh values him so much.

But Pittsburgh’s inability to make the Stanley Cup playoffs for likely three-straight years could put Sullivan’s job in jeopardy.

If the Penguins do part ways with Sullivan, Tocchet would be an excellent fit with the Pens. Tocchet won a Cup as a player with Pittsburgh in 1992 and as an assistant coach in 2016 and 2017, so he’s very familiar with the organization. As good a coach Sullivan has been for Pittsburgh, changing things up could spark the club. Tocchet could give the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson a real bump, the same way he did for Canucks players last season.

The Penguins clearly would still want an experienced hand as they try to retool on the fly, and that describes Tocchet to a ‘T.’ That said, there are no guarantees the Penguins would pursue Tocchet or that the Canucks would even make him available.

Vancouver still has time to keep Tocchet around. Despite being caught battling for a wild-card spot instead of first place in the Pacific Divsion, the Canucks’ power-play percentage under Tocchet is still about as good as last season, and their penalty-kill rate is slightly better, at 82.1 percent compared to 79.1 percent in 2023-24. But with Demko’s injury issues, the team’s goals against per game increased from 2.70 last season to 3.03. The goals-for per game also fell from 3.40 to 2.71.

It’s tough to overly fault Tocchet for his team’s struggles, but the closer we get to the off-season with no extension, the more talk there will be about his future. The NHL’s coaching carousel spins fast these years, after all, with teams having less patience than usual for their bench bosses. 

The Canucks might be squandering the improvement Tocchet created in Vancouver if they don’t bring him back, whether it’s their choice or the coach’s. Either way, the Penguins may want to stay tuned to his situation.

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

The Detroit Red Wings desperately needs the type of scoring they had against the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night.

Detroit beat the Sabres 7-3, with Patrick Kane recording two goals and five points and Alex DeBrincat getting a goal and four points.

The win ended a six-game losing streak that caused them to flail in the standings – they’re now sixth in the Atlantic Division and fifth in the race for two wild-card spots. But the Red Wings scored more goals on Wednesday than in their previous four games combined.

This team was imploding because it couldn’t score. The Red Wings scored only 11 times during the six-game skid, and they’re now 18th in the NHL with 2.86 goals-for per game. 

“We still got to figure out how to score some goals,” Detroit winger Alex DeBrincat told reporters after the Red Wings’ loss on Monday – a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. 

The Wings seemed to “figure out” how to score some goals on Wednesday. It came at a good time because the lack of offense was starting to look like a condemnation of where Detroit is as a team. That came after Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman looked at his roster at last week’s trade deadline and decided to acquire only a bottom-six forward in Craig Smith and a subpar goaltender in Petr Mrazek despite having the cap space for a bigger move.

For a while after the Red Wings changed coaches after Christmas, they looked like they’d finally turned the corner as a team and were on pace to make the playoffs. But they’ve gone 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, essentially squandering all their gains leading up to that point. Not only did their offense drop, but their goals against increased by more than a goal per game between the beginning of Todd McLellan’s time as Wings coach and Feb. 8 onward.

NHL Trade Deadline 2025: The Five Biggest LosersNow that the NHL’s trade deadline has come and gone, it’s as good a time as any to examine the deals that were made – and the ones that weren’t – and identify winners and losers at the deadline. We might have a different list of winners and losers months and years from now, but we’re still going to take some time and do our best to point out winners and losers at the moment, 

There are encouraging signs from Wednesday’s game that suggest the Red Wings could recover from the two-point deficit and retake a wild-card spot. Marco Kasper got three points after going six outings without a point, and five players had multi-point nights.

But they faced the Sabres, which have allowed the third-most goals against per game in the league and sit last in the Eastern Conference by six points. The Sabres have conceded four or more goals seven times in their last eight games. 

The real challenge is whether Detroit can carry that momentum into games against the Carolina Hurricanes, Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals, which all sit in the top 10 for fewest goals against per game. The Red Wings don’t have Buffalo to beat up every night, and they still have the most difficult schedule in the league in their remaining 17 games, according to tankathon.com.

The Wings will have a tough time to make up for their slump, even though Wednesday was a good start. If they figured out how to score goals for good this time – and how to shut the door a bit more on defense – then ending their lengthy playoff drought looks far more probable. But if they fail again, the responsibility will fall at the feet of Yzerman. 

Detroit must now prove whether they’re a playoff team or whether they’re a flawed group that desperately needed an infusion of talent by the deadline. They didn’t get it, and they could end up paying the price for it.

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

It's time for bite-sized NHL topics in The Hockey News Wraparound Show.

Can Penguins' Sidney Crosby Break A Wayne Gretzky NHL Record? by The Wraparoundundefined

Here's what Emma Lingan and Michael Augello discussed in this episode:

0:00: After extending his stay with the New York Rangers, which performance bonus is Jonathan Quick most likely to achieve next season?

3:59: Should Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams be concerned about Rasmus Dahlin’s future?

7:29: How soon could Berkly Catton fill a top-six role with the Seattle Kraken?

10:43: Can Sidney Crosby beat Wayne Gretzky’s record for consecutive point-per-game seasons?

13:31: Which NHL team will regret not being active at the trade deadline?

15:25: Which winger will be more important for the Dallas Stars in the playoffs: Jason Robertson or Mikko Rantanen?

17:43: Will Tomas Hertl be the Vegas Golden Knights’ X-factor heading into the playoffs?

19:43: Could Utah Hockey Club captain Clayton Keller be a 100-point player next season?

22:02: Was it the right time for the Chicago Blackhawks to call up Artyom Levshunov?

23:58: Does Logan Stankoven have a better chance of breaking out with the Carolina Hurricanes?

See below for where to subscribe to the show for future episodes.

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Podbean

iHeartRadio

Amazon

Remember when the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins rivalry was arguably the best in the NHL, matching hated cross-state rivals who were usually among the league’s elite?

Well, now the Pennsylvania teams are near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and in the middle of rebuilds.

Unsurprisingly, Flyers and Penguins fans are getting restless.

Entering Thursday, the aging Penguins were 26-31-10 (.463 points percentage), and they figure to miss the playoffs for the third-straight season, the first time that has happened in two decades.

The Flyers were 27-31-8 (.470 points percentage) and should miss the playoffs for the fifth-straight year, matching an unwanted franchise record. Out of the 16 Eastern Conference teams, only Buffalo has a worse points percentage (.444) than the Flyers and Penguins.

So, which Pennsylvania team will rebuild more quickly and become a Stanley Cup contender again?

It will probably come down to which team makes better selections in the next few drafts.

Both teams are loaded with several high draft picks, and both have similar needs: adding a quality center and upgrading their defense and goaltending.

Both teams appear at least two or three years away from challenging for a Cup. Maybe longer.

Both teams have a decent amount of projected cap space for 2025-26. According to PuckPedia, the Flyers will have $27.54 million in cap room based on contracts committed to 17 players, while the Pens will have $25.56 million available based on contracts to 17 players. Theoretically, both could speed up their rebuilds by adding a key piece in free agency. As for how the teams currently look, Philly has an advantage over the Penguins in that it has more core players on the younger side.

The Flyers’ cornerstones are Matvei Michkov (20 years old), Travis Konecny (28), Owen Tippett (26), Tyson Foerster (23), Noah Cates (26) and Travis Sanheim (28). Cam York (24) and Jamie Drysdale (22) have been slow to develop but could be key players at some point. The jury is still out on goalie Samuel Ersson (25), and Sean Couturier (32) is now more of an expensive role player.

Pittsburgh’s core revolves around veterans Sidney Crosby (37), Rickard Rakell (31), Bryan Rust (32), Erik Karlsson (34), Evgeni Malkin (38) and Kris Letang (37). One or two of those vets could be moved in the off-season.

So, the Flyers have much more NHL-ready youth than the Penguins and are in a better position in the upcoming draft.

Penguins Top Prospect McGroarty On Tear In AHLThere are several Pittsburgh Penguins prospects making some noise at the AHL level this season.

The draft, which takes place June 27 and 28, will be critical for both teams.

The Flyers have a staggering seven picks in the first two rounds, including three in Round 1. The Penguins could have six picks in the first three rounds – two in the first (though one could slide to next year), one in the second and three in the third. They also could have six picks in the opening three rounds in 2026 and 2027.

The Flyers have lost five straight, all at home, and their fans seem to want them to continue to lose and get a higher draft selection. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh both figure to draft in the top seven and could climb into the top five. With the lottery, they could climb even higher – or not.

Philadelphia will also pick around 22nd overall (from Edmonton) and 25th (from Colorado), thanks to trades. The Penguins could have a second first-rounder, originally owned by the New York Rangers. It is top-13 protected and could slide to 2026.

The Penguins, which have some promising AHL prospects and own more draft picks in the next three years (30) than any NHL team, should get a marquee player with their initial pick. Ditto the Flyers.

2025 NHL Draft Rankings: Ferrari's Mid-Season Top 64It's 2025 NHL draft rankings time again as we're about to see the class playing some of its highest-level hockey.

Below are the players expected to go in the top 10, based on a study of numerous draft experts. Keep in mind that the player ranked in a particular spot may not get drafted there because of teams’ needs.

Top 10 Draft Hopefuls

1.   Matthew Schaefer, D, Erie (OHL)

2.   James Hagens, C, Boston College (NCAA)

3.   Michael Misa, C/LW, Saginaw (OHL)

4.   Porter Martone, RW, Brampton (OHL)

5.   Anton Frondell, C/RW, Djurgarden (Sweden)

6.   Victor Eklund, LW, Djurgarden (Sweden)

7.   Roger McQueen, C, Brandon (WHL)

8.   Caleb Desnoyers, C, Moncton (QMJHL)

9.   Jackson Smith, D, Tri-City (WHL)

10. Carter Bear, C/LW, Everett (WHL)

Bottom line: The Flyers and Penguins are far from being relevant again, but Philadelphia’s future looks brighter because of this year’s draft, making it imperative they strike gold with their three first-round selections.

Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.