The Philadelphia Flyers will be without their best shutdown center, Sean Couturier, for the remainder of their first-round series against the high-powered Washington Capitals.
The Flyers announced Friday that Couturier will miss two weeks with an upper-body injury.
Couturier was injured roughly halfway through the second period of the Flyers' 2-0 loss in Game 1 when Alex Ovechkin, one of the players he was tasked with shutting down, delivered a heavy body check from a few feet away from the boards.
He landed shoulder-first, exited the ice and failed to return for the rest of the game.
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Good news for the Anaheim Ducks, bad news for the Nashville Predators.
Forwards David Perron and Rickard Rakell will be in the lineup when the Ducks open their first-round series Friday at home, head coach Bruce Boudreau confirmed. Perron hasn't played since March 20 due to a shoulder separation, while Rakell last played March 28, before being sidelined with appendicitis.
Perron's return is more surprising, as he was expected to miss four-to-six weeks. The pending unrestricted free agent has settled in nicely with Anaheim after a midseason trade from Pittsburgh, with eight goals and 12 assists in 28 games in SoCal.
Rakell, a first-round pick, 30th overall in 2011, broke out this season, scoring 20 goals and adding 23 assists in 72 games.
Meanwhile, defenseman Kevin Bieksa, dealing with an upper-body injury, is a game-time decision, Boudreau said.
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Sorry, Rangers fans, but you'll have to wait until puck drop to know if Henrik Lundqvist will be between the pipes for Game 2 versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After Lundqvist skated with the team Friday, practicing in what's traditionally the starter's net, New York head coach Alain Vigneault labeled the goalie a game-time decision.
After being struck in the eye by an errant stick from defenseman Marc Staal, Lundqvist initially feared the worst. He said his vision was blurry after the hit, but it became clearer as the night went on.
Specialists told Lundqvist there's no damage to his eye, but swelling ensued.
Antti Raanta closed out Game 1 for the Rangers, who recalled Magnus Hellberg from the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack in case Lundqvist is unavailable.
The Rangers' injury troubles don't end in goal, as Vigneault said defenseman Dan Girardi won't play Saturday due to a series of injuries.
Vigneault on whether Girardi has upper body/lower body injury. "The whole thing."
— Will Graves (@WillGravesAP) April 15, 2016
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The Philadelphia Flyers will have to play on without Sean Couturier, who's done for the remainder of the first-round series against the Washington Capitals.
The forward was trucked by Alex Ovechkin and forced to leave the game. He's gone for at least two weeks.
The Flyers had an optional skate Friday and it appears Scott Laughton will take the defensive wizard's spot in the lineup. The 21-year-old had seven goals and 14 assists in 71 games.
"I think I can bring a little fire to the series," Laughton said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi.
Jakub Voracek joked that Scott Laughton is pretty "stupid," so he won't be nervous for his first playoff game. #FlyersTalk
— Jordan Hall (@jordan1hall) April 15, 2016
The Capitals were keeping their eyes on the story, too, before Couturier's status was updated Friday afternoon.
"If (Couturier's) out that's a huge loss (for Philadelphia)," said Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner, according to CSNwashington.com's Chuck Gormley. "He's probably the best defensive forward on that team."
The irony of the situation is tremendous. Couturier was expected to be the man to try to shut down Ovechkin. It turns out Ovechkin eliminated the guy who was supposed to eliminate him.
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The coin toss came up John Gibson.
The Anaheim Ducks goaltender was first off the ice at Friday's optional skate, and he'll be in the crease in Game 1 against the Nashville Predators on Friday night, head coach Bruce Boudreau confirmed.
Earlier this week, Boudreau joked he'd flip a coin to determine his starter, Gibson or Frederik Andersen. Truth is, Boudreau probably can't go wrong with either. The tandem combined to allow the fewest goals in the NHL, the Ducks capturing the Jennings Trophy on the last night of the regular season.
Gibson started 38 games, posting a .920 save percentage and 2.07 goals-against average. Andersen made 37 starts, and came in at .919 and 2.30. Gibson had four shutouts to Andersen's three.
The Ducks went 1-2 against the Predators this season, but all three games were played early on, before the Ducks took flight and overcame a slow start to win the Pacific Division. Andersen started two of those games, going 1-1 but posting an ugly .904 save percentage.
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Hockey fans are about to get a real-time glimpse of what it takes to win the Stanley Cup.
The NHL announced Friday that it's paired up with Showtime for a documentary series called "All Access: Quest for the Stanley Cup," which will begin airing May 20 at 9 p.m. ET.
"The docu-series will be the first of its kind to nationally televise the championship of a major North American sport as it unfolds," the league said in a release.
The series will focus on the Eastern and Western Conference finalists and the two teams that will compete for the Cup.
"The intensity, unpredictability and relentlessness of the Stanley Cup playoffs are unmatched in all of sports," Steve Mayer, executive producer at the NHL, said. "With a level of access to our players and clubs that has never before been granted during a North American pro sports league's postseason, Showtime will chronicle the amazing storylines, remarkable performances and incredible dedication required to win the most storied trophy in all of sports."
Episodes will air weekly.
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Pitted against each other in a bitter rivalry, St. Louis Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko and Chicago Blackhawks rookie Artemi Panarin are only enemies on the ice.
Longtime friends outside the rink, the show-stopping Russian snipers know each other well.
Tarasenko and Panarin were teammates for Russia at the 2011 World Junior Championships, where they won a gold medal in dramatic fashion. The two also played together for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL in 2012-13.
After Tarasenko made the jump to St. Louis, he apparently pushed Blues management to sign Panarin, who stayed in the KHL for another two seasons.
Hitchcock on Tarasenko: "He told us the day he got here about Panarin. At least once a month. ... We all look a little dumb right now."
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) April 15, 2016
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock joked Tarasenko might be better suited to St. Louis' front office based on the advice.
Hitch: "Well I think instead of giving (Tarasenko) $8 million, we should have hired him as a scout." #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) April 15, 2016
Panarin ultimately landed a deal with the Blackhawks, and stripped the hockey world of an opportunity to watch the two dynamos together in the NHL - although Panarin has certainly developed some exciting chemistry with Patrick Kane.
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After a 5-2 win in Game 1, the Pittsburgh Penguins may be getting reinforcements. And that's bad news for the New York Rangers.
Evgeni Malkin, out with an upper-body injury, was a full participant in practice Friday, working on the first power-play unit. He ruled himself a game-time decision for Saturday's Game 2.
Malkin was/is expected to miss 6 to 8 weeks from his time of injury. Today marks the end of the fifth week. #Pens
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) April 15, 2016
"I feel more confident now," Malkin said. "It's fun to skate with the team. I'm excited to play.
"I wanna play, you know?" he added.
#Pens rushes: Kunitz-Crosby-Hornqvist, Hagelin-Bonino-Kessel, Sheary-Malkin-Rust, Kuhnhakl-Cullen-Fehr.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 15, 2016
Meanwhile, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who watched Jeff Zatkoff play exceptionally well in Game 1, also took part in practice, but it appears the crease will still be Zatkoff's.
"I don't expect (to play), but I hope so," Fleury said. "It feels like it's been forever."
Fleury hasn't played since March 31, due to a concussion.
"They all had strong practices," head coach Mike Sullivan said. Status is still day to day, but it's very encouraging."
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