Tag Archives: Hockey

Oilers’ Smith yanked after Blackhawks score 5 goals

Mike Smith's first start of the postseason was relatively short-lived.

The veteran Edmonton Oilers goaltender was pulled less than seven minutes the second period against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their play-in round contest on Saturday after surrendering five goals on 23 shots.

Mikko Koskinen took over for Smith, who gave up four of those markers on 16 shots in the opening frame.

Despite his shaky start, Smith remained in goal to start the second, and Leon Draisaitl brought Edmonton within two with a goal that came a little over four minutes into the middle stanza. However, Chicago rookie Dominik Kubalik chased Smith by scoring the Blackhawks' fifth marker about two minutes later.

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews tallied twice in the first, with his goals coming just over five minutes apart. Dylan Strome and Brandon Saad also lit the lamp for Chicago in the first 20 minutes.

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Rangers’ Fast exits Game 1 vs. Hurricanes

New York Rangers forward Jesper Fast exited in the first period of Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes and is not expected to return, the team announced.

Fast took a heavy hit from former teammate Brady Skjei and headed straight to the dressing room.

The 28-year-old winger tallied 12 goals and 29 points through 69 games for New York this season and ranked third on the club with 125 hits.

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Murray to start for Penguins in Game 1

Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Matt Murray will start in goal Saturday for Game 1 versus the Montreal Canadiens, the team announced.

Murray and Tristan Jarry shared starts all season long, and although Jarry posted better stats, Pittsburgh is turning to Murray due to his playoff resume.

"Matt has shown an ability to be at his best when the stakes are high, and that should provide some confidence going into a playoff environment like this. We'll take each game as it comes but we feel good about the goaltending tandem we have," head coach Mike Sullivan said.

Murray backstopped the Penguins to a Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, and owns a .921 save percentage across 48 postseason appearances. The Penguins are hopeful he can rekindle his vintage playoff form, as Murray struggled with an .899 save percentage in 38 games over the regular season.

Jarry, on the other hand, posted a .921 save percentage in 33 starts in 2019-20, but has never appeared in a playoff game.

The Penguins-Canadiens best-of-five series begins at 8:00 p.m ET.

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Report: Conditions altered in Hurricanes-Devils deal for Vatanen

The conditional draft pick involved in the deadline deal that brought Sami Vatanen to the Carolina Hurricanes from the New Jersey Devils has some new stipulations attached.

If Carolina beats the New York Rangers in the qualifying round and Vatanen plays in 70% of the Hurricanes' games after the play-in round, New Jersey will acquire the Canes' 2020 third-round pick, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports.

Should the Hurricanes beat the Rangers and Vatanen play in less than 70% of playoff contests, it will depend on how many games he played against the Rangers. If he plays at least two games and Carolina wins the series, the Devils get a 2020 fourth-round pick. But if he makes two appearances and the Rangers win, the Hurricanes can send a 2020 or 2021 fourth-round pick, according to Friedman.

Finally, if Vatanen doesn't appear in at least two games against the Rangers, the Devils won't receive a pick, Friedman adds.

At the time of the trade, Carolina agreed to surrender a 2020 fourth-round selection if Vatanen played in five regular-season games. The pick would have become a 2020 third-rounder if he played in 12 regular-season contests or 70% of playoff games.

The 29-year-old defenseman didn't get a chance to suit up in a regular-season game for Carolina due to a lingering injury. After playing in the Hurricanes' exhibition game this week, he's expected to be in the lineup for Game 1 of the play-in round beginning Saturday.

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NHL rules Oilers owe 3rd-round pick to Flames from Neal-Lucic deal

The Edmonton Oilers will have to surrender a third-round pick to the Calgary Flames after all.

The NHL ruled the Oilers must transfer either their 2020 or 2021 third-rounder to Calgary to complete last summer's James Neal-Milan Lucic deal, the Flames announced Friday.

Edmonton will have until the third round of the 2020 draft to make its decision.

The forwards were swapped last July, and the condition attached to Edmonton's third-round pick was that it would only transfer if Neal, whom the Oilers received, scored at least 21 goals in 2019-20 and Lucic finished with at least 10 fewer markers than his counterpart.

Those conditions were extremely close to being met when the season was paused March 12; Neal scored 19 goals and Lucic had eight.

Neal potted all 19 of his goals in the first 42 games of the season before missing a month due to a foot injury. Lucic collected four over his last 15 contests, including two in his last four.

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