Columbus drafted Gavrikov in the sixth round of the 2015 draft and has been working to bring him to North America since his season with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL ended earlier this week.
"Vladislav is an outstanding defenseman who excels at both ends of the ice," Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen said. "He is big, strong, and mobile and has enjoyed a successful career in the KHL and in international competition, including winning an Olympic gold medal last year. We are very excited about his future with the Columbus Blue Jackets."
Gavrikov, a 23-year-old left-handed shot, notched five goals and 15 assists in 60 KHL games this season.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid suffered a small tear of the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee during his violent crash into the net in the club's season finale, and won't require surgery, sources told TSN's Darren Dreger.
McDavid should be ready to start the 2019-20 regular season, Dreger adds.
Late Friday, the Oilers announced they've determined a rehab plan for their superstar, which he will begin immediately.
McDavid was tripped by Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano on April 6, and spiraled leg-first into the post at top speed. He, along with the hockey world, immediately feared the worst, and the 22-year-old said he thought his leg was in "two pieces" after the collision.
Any sort of major injury to McDavid would have added serious concern to an already critical offseason for the Oilers, who are searching for a new general manager and potentially a head coach after missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Aside from the injury scare, McDavid had a marvelous campaign, ranking second in the league with a career-high 116 points in 78 games.
In an unexpected plot twist, Tampa is down 2-0 in its opening-round playoff series against the upstart Columbus Blue Jackets. Making matters worse, they will be without the services of presumptive league MVP Nikita Kucherov for Sunday's Game 3 in Columbus.
Mark LoMoglio / Getty Images
Not exactly exemplary work thus far from the Lightning, a tremendously skilled and deep squad that just authored the greatest regular season in recent memory. Realistically, they must get their act together overnight, as only four teams in NHL history have clawed back from a 3-0 series deficit and advanced to the next round.
So, what’s going on here? Let's dig into Tampa's troubles.
The unsettling trends
Atop head coach Jon Cooper's list of worries: the Lightning's star power has been a giant net-negative through two games.
Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, and Victor Hedman - the tone-setting skaters in Tampa's lineup - have combined for zero points and 32 penalty minutes. Their lack of production is a major reason why the Lightning have been outscored 9-1 since the first period of Game 1.
Kucherov, who quietly goes about his business most nights, racked up half of those PIMs Friday. He justly received a tripping minor, boarding major, and 10-minute misconduct for upending and then plastering Markus Nutivaara into the halfboards late in Game 2. The incident deserved supplementary discipline.
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Overall, the Jackets have done a terrific job irritating Kucherov and limiting his wizardry with the puck. The usual gaps between the Russian winger and opposing defensemen have been narrowed, while the passing lanes he typically feeds have been swallowed up by a defensive structure rooted in puck support.
Kucherov has been unable to draw a single penalty, while Point, normally a disciplined two-way center, felt the need to fight Jackets blue-liner Zach Werenski late in the first period of Game 2. Clearly, Columbus is straddling the fine line between productive and unproductive aggression. Can't say the same about Tampa.
Hedman, meanwhile, hasn't looked sharp at all in his 37 minutes at 5-on-5. His skating, for starters, seems off and hindered by something. Perhaps the upper-body injury that sidelined the stud defenseman for the final four regular season games is contributing to some uncharacteristic output.
Another concern: Hedman and his teammates are losing 50/50 puck battles like it's going out of style. Columbus' Josh Anderson and David Savard, in particular, have proven to be too powerful and quick. This has led to an inordinate amount of breakaways, partial breakaways, and odd-man rushes.
Moving forward, the Lightning can't be caught sleepwalking, regardless of the score. The final goal Friday was a pretty sad display of positional awareness and effort. Sure, it happened in the latter stages of a 5-1 game, but c'mon:
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Andrei Vasilevskiy has faced the same amount of shots (53) as the Jackets' Sergei Bobrovsky and both goalies deserve praise for their work between the pipes through 120 minutes. Plain and simple, though, Columbus is capitalizing on their high-percentage shots right now, and Tampa isn't.
The excusable trends
Among the handful of underperforming stars, Stamkos deserves the most slack.
The Lightning captain has been incredibly unlucky versus Columbus. One of the NHL's premier snipers has produced a series-high 11 scoring chances for himself, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, yet has nothing to show for it.
In Game 2, Stamkos whipped a hard, accurate slap shot during a second-period power play. It clanked iron. Then, early in the third, he had another glorious opportunity to bag his first of the post-season. From below the hashmarks, Stamkos fired the puck toward the yawning cage, but it struck Point's leg and trickled out of harm's way:
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Really, when you peel back the statistical layers, it's not just Stamkos who's held his own. Tampa, as a team, is actually doing alright at even-strength. They have the slight edge in shot attempts, are basically even with Columbus in shots on goal and scoring chances, and own a sizeable advantage in the high-danger chances department. Translation: Neither club is dominating.
ATTEMPTS
SHOTS
CHANCES
HIGH DANGER
TBL
82
42
36
17
CBJ
75
41
35
9
Now, from a fan's point of view, the advanced stats argument (hold tight and trust the process, because the attempts and shots and chances will eventually turn into goals) can feel rather hollow come playoff time. After all, there are no moral victories in a seven-game battle and a series can get away from even the best teams in a hurry.
Inside the Lightning dressing room, however, Cooper and his coaching staff can use data to form a positive narrative. They have some ammo, evidence to reference before saying, Guys, you're doing PLENTY right! Let's clean up the details in our game and get this thing back on track in Game 3!
Easier said than done, of course, but it's better than the alternative. And Cooper, a former lawyer with a coaching reputation built on communication skills, is the ideal guy to deliver an underlying theme of staying the course.
The 30,000-foot view
Indeed, perspective is key for the Lightning.
Sure, Columbus' 28th-ranked power play is suddenly humming. Yes, Matt Duchene, the Jackets' prized trade deadline acquisition, is finally scoring. But there's no reason why both team and player can't be brought back to earth by an opponent whose body of work is unparalleled in the salary cap era.
Scott Audette / Getty Images
If there's a group capable of rattling off four wins in the next five games, it's the 2018-19 Lightning, the same team that didn't lose three games in a row all season, and were the heavy favorites prior to Game 1 puck drop.
Two losses don't erase 62 wins, best-in-class special teams, and top-10 results at 5-on-5. Their DNA as a supremely talented, battle-tested team doesn't disappear into the abyss after a couple rough days at the office.
Let's not forget that Columbus won the first two games on the road last year against Washington, before losing the next four and exiting the playoffs after just one round. Different seasons, changed personnel. Still.
Widespread panic in Tampa should subside for now. But there's no denying the hourglass has been flipped, especially with the Kucherov discipline news.
And the sand will start falling at a feverish pace when the teams line up Sunday night in Ohio.
John Matisz is theScore's National Hockey Writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.
Jones was removed after allowing three goals on seven shots.
The change briefly inspired the Sharks, as they stormed back to tie it with Aaron Dell between the pipes in a wild first period.
San Jose became the first team in playoff history to tie a game in the first period after falling behind 3-0, according to NHL Public Relations.
Jones entered the playoffs as the Sharks' biggest weakness after posting a career-worst .896 save percentage during the regular season. He was stellar in Game 1, however, allowing two goals on 26 shots in a 5-2 win.
The 29-year-old began Friday with an impressive postseason resume, owning a .926 save percentage and 2.06 goals-against average in 43 career playoff games.
Dell also struggled during the regular season, posting an .886 save percentage in 25 contests.
Jon Cooper thinks his once-heavily favored club is in a state of emergency after its latest defeat.
The Tampa Bay Lightning head coach conveyed as much after his team lost Game 2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Friday, two nights after blowing a three-goal lead and falling 4-3 in the opener of the first-round series.
"The regular season's different from the playoffs," Cooper told the assembled media, including FOX Sports Florida, postgame Friday. "Things just happen so fast. It's zero-zero and there's a lot of excitement going into Game 1, and then, all of the sudden you're down 0-2 at home and alarms are going off."
Cooper acknowledged that Tampa Bay was rarely tested during a historically dominant regular season, but he tried to take a positive outlook on the club's predicament.
"Have we faced a ton of adversity this year? We haven't," Cooper said. "I've been in the league for six years, and it probably hasn't gotten any easier than it has this year. So now we've got some adversity, and teams face this all the time. And you face it in little pieces. This is a five-alarm fire, but it's adversity, and I don't know. Sometimes, that's good. Sometimes you have to go through stuff like this. We'll see how we respond."
Making matters worse for the Lightning is the fact that they dropped the first two games of the series on home ice, meaning the Blue Jackets will head home with a chance to earn an improbable series sweep.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) Jordan Eberle and Josh Bailey scored in the third period and the New York Islanders beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 Friday night for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Anthony Beauvillier also scored and Robin Lehner stopped 32 shots to help New York open a postseason series with two wins for the first time since sweeping Edmonton in the 1983 Stanley Cup Final for the Islanders' fourth straight championship.
Mathew Barzal had two assists in a chippy, physical game that featured a lot of hard hits and some skirmishes, especially in the first two periods - and also after the final buzzer.
Erik Gudbranson scored and Matt Murray finished with 31 saves for the Penguins, who have lost the first two games of a postseason series for the first time since the 2013 Eastern Conference finals against Boston.
Game 3 is Sunday at Pittsburgh.
After a turnover by the Penguins near their own blue line, Barzal sent the puck up to Eberle on the right side and he skated across the front and sent a backhand in at 7:54 of the third to give the Islanders their first lead of the night at 2-1.
Bailey, who had the overtime winner in Game 1 on Wednesday night, then gave New York a two-goal lead with a power-play score with 8:22 remaining on New York's sixth man-advantage of the night. Devon Toews fired a shot that hit Anders Lee, and the puck came to Bailey, who put it in from the right side.
The Penguins pulled Murray for an extra skater with 2:44 remaining, but couldn't take advantage. Lehner made a nice glove save on Phil Kessel from the right circle, drawing chants of ''Leh-ner! Leh-ner!'' from the raucous home crowd.
After a scoreless first period, Pittsburgh's Matt Cullen had an open look at a rebound from the right circle 1:13 into the second that Lehner stopped with a pad save into his glove.
The Islanders had a 5-on-3 advantage for about a minute in the second period, but couldn't beat Murray. The Penguins' goalie then had a diving stop on Matt Martin in front about 7:44 in, and a stick save on a slap sot by Ryan Pulock 10 seconds later.
Brian Dumoulin hit a goalpost for Pittsburgh at about the 9-minute mark.
Gudbranson then gave the Penguins their first lead of the series as he took a pass from Evgeni Malkin and fired a one-timer from straightaway inside the blue line that beat Lehner's blocker side and went in off the post with 9:24 remaining in the second. It was Gudbranson's first career playoff point.
Beauvillier tied it with 6:35 left in the period with his first career playoff goal as he knocked in the loose puck in front after Murray was out of position following a save on Barzal's initial try on a 3-on-2 break
While some of the Islanders began celebrating the goal, fights broke out to Murray's left. Barzal was given a double-minor for roughing, while Pittsburgh's Marcus Pettersson received a 2-minute penalty.
The Islanders outshot the Penguins 11-7 in the scoreless first period.
Lehner made a save on Sidney Crosby's backhand try in front about 4 minutes in. Toews hit the right post with a long slap shot from straightaway from the blue line a little more than 5 minutes later. Phil Kessel was denied on a shot from the left circle with just under 7 minutes remaining
NOTES: Murray has lost consecutive playoff games for the fourth time. He also did it in Games 3 and 4 of 2017 Stanley Cup Final against Nashville, and Games 2-3 and 5-6 against Washington in second round last year. ... Penguins F Jared McCann sat out due to an upper-body injury. He was replaced in the lineup by F Teddy Blueger, making his playoff debut. D Jack Johnson was back in the lineup after sitting out Game 1. He had played in all 82 games during the regular season. D Olli Maatta sat out to make room. ... The Islanders, who were 3 for 50 on the power play over the final 22 games of the season to finish 29th at 14.5 percent, are now 2 for 8 in this series. ... New York was 38-2-2 in regular season when scoring at least 3 goals, and is now 2-0 in playoffs.
UP NEXT
The series shifts Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday night.
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