Brad Marchand put the finishing touches on one of the prettier goals scored on semifinal Saturday at the World Championship, using trailing defender Cody Ceci to break down the United States' last line of defense.

The Boston Bruins forward, who's campaigning to represent Canada at the World Cup of Hockey's rebirth in September, now has four goals and six points in eight-plus games of competition.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

John Chayka says a new contract for captain Shane Doan is inevitable.

"It's just a matter of going through that process to reach a deal, because Shane wants to be back," the new Arizona Coyotes general manager told Sarah McLellan of The Arizona Republic. "We want him to be back, and we're going to get something done. It's just a matter of time."

Doan and his agent, Terry Bross, met with Chayka and head coach/executive Dave Tippett earlier this week, and the two sides are in the early stages of the negotiating process.

"We're going to continue to talk and work things out, I hope," Bross said.

Doan is in the final season of a four-year, $21.2-million deal that carried a cap hit of $5.3 million. He'll be an unrestricted free agent if he's not signed by July 1.

He told the NHL Network earlier this month that he decided to return after his initial meeting with Chayka, the 26-year-old analytics expert who was named the youngest GM in NHL history on May 5.

Doan had one of his most productive seasons in 2015-16, scoring 28 goals in 72 games.

The 39-year-old has spent his entire 20-year career in the Coyotes organization, which drafted him seventh overall in 1995 - as the Winnipeg Jets - before moving to the desert one year later.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL's creative team turned out a winner with this Nyquist-on-Nyquist mashup of the Detroit Red Wings forward's overtime winner versus the Ottawa Senators from last season to acknowledge Saturday's Preakness Stakes.

Nyquist the horse is named after Gustav Nyquist the talented hockey player, and the former has a chance to move one step closer to the Triple Crown with a win at Pimlico Race Course after his Kentucky Derby victory.

The Preakness starts at 6.45 p.m. ET.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Patrik Laine will forever cherish the moment he was pasted by Alex Ovechkin.

The top-ranked European-born draft-eligible prospect was on the receiving end of a heavy collision with the superstar he's drawn comparisons to in Finland's 3-1 semifinal win over Russia at the World Championships Saturday.

And he doesn't plan on tainting the moment.

"I think I won't ever wash this jersey," Laine said, remaining ever quotable, according to TSN's Ryan Rishaug.

Long after shaking off the contact, Laine set up Finland's go-ahead marker with a cross-crease pass to Jussi Jokinen from halfway below the goal line.

Win or lose, Laine will earn his second international medal of the season in Sunday's gold medal final.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Sebastian Aho scored twice and Mikko Koskinen stopped 28 of 29 shots as Finland defeated Russia 3-1 in their semifinal at the World Hockey Championship in St. Petersburg on Saturday.

Finland moves on to the gold medal game, in which they'll meet the winner of Saturday's other semifinal between Canada and the United States.

All three Finnish goals came in the middle stanza. Jussi Jokinen notched the eventual game-winning goal and Aho fired home his second power-play goal of the period, seeing Finland score twice in a span of 2:25 to take a two-goal lead before the intermission.

Finland returns to the gold medal game for the first time since 2014, when they lost to Russia. The Finns last won gold in 2011, when they defeated Sweden.

Russia outshot Finland 13-2 in the third and 29-16 in the game.

Sergei Bobrovsky allowed three goals on 16 shots for Russia. Sergei Shirokov opened the scoring for the tournament hosts less than three minutes into the game.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The San Jose Sharks officially plunged deeper into the Stanley Cup bracket than they ever had in the largely successful Todd McLellan era with their second conference final win in Game 3.

Part of the reason? Swag.

No, not the showy suits, beards, cars, or general laissez-faire attitude seen from some of the more important players on the roster, but a leader with aplomb.

"It may not be what people consider your typical Puff Daddy swag," Joel Ward said of coach Pete DeBoer, according to Paul Gackle of the San Jose Mercury News. "But he definitely has a good amount of swag."

DeBoer's swag comes from poise and an unwavering confidence that has rubbed off on a team, and organization, reaching new heights in his first year at the helm.

"It flows through our lineup," defenseman Brenden Dillon said. "After the triple OT game in Nashville, that was a big point in the series where it could have gone either way. We were able to regroup and just kind of had that continuous, hey, we're OK, we're fine."

And that's a marked change from what we've seen previously. Long considered little brothers to their California rivals, the Sharks seemed well on their way to completely bottoming out after missing the playoffs for the first time in 11 years the season following their shattering first-round collapse at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.

"If the leader of the group is confident, it's hard as players not to feel the same way," said Tommy Wingels.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Ken Hitchcock's decision to start Jake Allen over Brian Elliott in Game 4 against the San Jose Sharks was puzzling, but not at all surprising.

The St. Louis Blues head coach gave a predictable explanation for the switch that will take effect Saturday night.

"We're playing a team that's got a bead in their game and focus in their game that's been around for seven games now," Hitchcock told reporters Friday. "We've got to change momentum here. They've been dialing in with this game for seven games now.

"I think if we expect to trot out with just a little bit better effort and expect to see a change, I think that would be misleading. We're not going to change that. We're going to have to change momentum in a real positive way with probably a little bit more drama to it, and we're going to have to find people that can help us do that."

Hitchcock used the word "momentum" nine times in Friday's media availability, and it's easy to understand why.

The Blues need to do something, as they trail the Western Conference final series 2-1 after being shut out in back-to-back games. They were outscored 7-0 in those losses, and 8-2 in the series, but their problem is not between the pipes.

St. Louis outshot San Jose in Games 2 and 3, but Sharks goalie Martin Jones stopped all 48 attempts he faced in the two contests combined. The Sharks and Blues were virtually even in shot attempts in all situations in Game 2, with St. Louis having more than San Jose at even-strength as well as in all situations in Game 3.

The Blues' power play has gone ice-cold, failing to score in eight consecutive opportunities since David Backes' opening goal in Game 1.

Vladimir Tarasenko was held without a point in all three contests after notching seven points in six games against the Dallas Stars, while Alex Steen has been held off the scoresheet in his last four and has only a single point in his last six games.

Elliott has started all 17 games for the Blues in these playoffs, going 9-8 with a 2.34 GAA, a .925 save percentage, and one shutout.

Allen ceded the starting job to Elliott when the veteran returned from injury late in the regular season, and Allen has made only two postseason appearances this spring, adding up to less than a full game in the crease.

Changing the starting goalie is an all too familiar NHL coaching tactic, but the only goaltending problem the Blues currently have is figuring out how to solve Jones.

(Analytics courtesy: HockeyStats.ca)

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Inside the Pittsburgh Penguins room after Game 4, most would rue at least one decision, play, or moment after the club narrowly fell short in their crusade to erase a four-goal third-period deficit.

Of course, this task wouldn't have been a challenge for Kris Letang.

The premier defender, and arguably the Penguins' most important skater, briefly lost his mind in a scrum with Brian Boyle and others Friday after touching up on a delayed penalty by rimming a puck high along the glass near two Lightning forwards.

A rough, and a cross check later, and the Penguins were in defense of a double-minor penalty they only successfully defended for three minutes.

"He's too important to our team, and that's what I told him," head coach Mike Sullivan said.

"We would like him to respond differently to that circumstance, and he will moving forward."

Just seconds before Letang's blow-up, his importance illuminated further.

Pittsburgh lost the player who logs the second-most ice behind Letang, Trevor Daley, when he was helped off the ice after suffering a potentially serious lower leg injury.

As a result, and even after sitting for a three-minute stretch in the second, Letang racked up almost 32 minutes.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.