Wednesday's hockey: Leafs' Matthews falls short of 70 goals; Cossa ties Howard's record
Tampa, Fla. — Auston Matthews came up empty in his bid to become the ninth player in NHL history to score 70 goals in a season, but Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov became the fifth player to have a 100-assist season as the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4 on Wednesday night.
Matthews was denied on all seven first-period shots by 29-year-old rookie goalie Matt Tomkins, then rocketed a shot off the post midway through the second period. Tomkins finished with 35 saves, including 12 on Matthews, in his sixth NHL start.
Kucherov, the NHL’s scoring leader with 144 points, scored a first-period goal, then set up Brayden Point’s power-play goal with 2:55 left in the second for the history-making assist. He reached the milestone two days after Edmonton’s Connor McDavid did it.
Ryan Reaves, TJ Brodie, Pontus Holmberg and John Tavares scored, and Martin Jones finished with 26 saves for Toronto.
Nicholas Paul and Anthony Duclair each had a goal and an assist, and Tanner Jeannot also scored for Tampa Bay, which ended an 0-2-1 slide.
Each team is headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this weekend on the road against an Atlantic Division rival. The third-place Maple Leafs open in Boston against the second-place Bruins on Saturday, while the fourth-place Lightning, the first wild card in the Eastern Conference, begin their series against the division champion Florida Panthers on Sunday.
(At) N.Y. Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 4: Simon Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, Ilya Sorokin stopped Sidney Crosby on a late penalty shot for the playoff-bound Islanders.
Samuel Bolduc and Brock Nelson each had a goal and an assist, and Casey Cizikas and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders, who ended the regular season having won eight of their last nine (8-0-1). Ruslan Iskhakov had his first NHL assist in his debut.
Sorokin finished with 39 saves, including one on Crosby in the final minute when the Penguins were awarded a penalty shot.
The Islanders, who finished third in the Metropolitan Division, open the playoffs Saturday at Carolina.
(At) Dallas 2, St. Louis 1 (SO): Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in regulation and overtime before stopping all three attempts in the shootout as Central Division champion Dallas beat St. Louis in their regular-season finale.
When they earned one point by getting to overtime, the Stars clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They ended up with two points thanks to Oettinger and Jason Robertson, who scored on the first shot of the shootout, which held up for the victory.
The last time Dallas was the top seed in the West was 2016, also the year of its previous Central Division title. The Stars (52-21-9) finished with 113 points, the most since the franchise-record 114 they had in 1998-99 on the way to winning their only Stanley Cup title. They were one win shy of the record 53 set in 2005-06.
Fans cheered in the closing seconds of regulation knowing Dallas had already clinched the No. 1 seed in the West. Pacific Division champion Vancouver has one game left, but can only max out at 111 points with a win Thursday.
(At) Arizona 5, Edmonton 2: Arizona closed out their 28-year tenure as winners, getting a goal and an assist from Dylan Guenther in a victory over Edmonton.
The Coyotes buzzed early at Mullett Arena and closed strong in their final game before moving to Salt Lake City.
Liam O’Brien got the finale started with a goal less than three minutes in and Sean Durzi capped it with a empty-net goal to send Coyotes fans home happy – at least for one last night. Matias Maccelli and Lawson Crouse also scored, and Connor Ingram had 25 saves for Arizona.
Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele scored for the playoff-bound Oilers. Calvin Pickard had 16 saves.
Eastern Conference playoff matchups
▶ (1M) Rangers vs. Capitals (WC2)
Game 1: Sunday @ N.Y. Rangers, 3 p.m.
▶ (A2) Bruins vs. Maple Leafs (A3)
Game 1: Saturday @ Boston, 8 p.m.
▶ (1A) Panthers vs. Lightning (WC1)
Game 1: Sunday at Florida, 12:30 p.m.
▶ (2M) Hurricanes vs. (3M) Islanders
Game 1: Saturday @ Carolina, 5 p.m.
Michigan-area hockey this week
Wednesday
▶ Grand Rapids 3, Iowa 2 (SO)
Friday
▶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8 (AHL/96.1)
Saturday
▶ NTDP U18s vs. Sweden in Finland, world U18s exhibition
Sunday
▶ Milwaukee at Grand Rapids, 5 (AHL/106.9/1300)
Tuesday
▶ Red Wings 5, Montreal 4 (OT)
Monday
▶ Red Wings 5, Montreal 4 (OT)
Cossa ties Howard's goalie record
Grand Rapids goalie Sebastian Cossa tied Jimmy Howard's record of 10 consecutive road contests with a point on Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
Cossa made 27 saves in the Griffins' 3-2 shootout victory against the Iowa Wild at Wells Fargo Arena.
Matt Luff scored two goals and Jonatan Berggren had the shootout-winning goal. Berggren added two assists and has 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) in his last 27 games.
Simon Edvinsson and Zach Aston-Reese were reassigned to Grand Rapids and will join the team for Friday's game against Iowa.
The victory restored a three-point gap between the Griffins and Rockford IceHogs for second place in the Central Division. Grand Rapids will face Rockford in a best-of-five semifinal next week.
Coyotes end tenure in the desert
Tempe, Ariz. — Mullett Arena buzzed like few times in the three years since the Arizona Coyotes moved in, the fans amped for one last desert hurrah.
For 60 minutes, they got one last chance to watch the team they came to love before the franchise as they know it is no more.
The Coyotes are moving to Salt Lake City in a deal that could be signed less than 24 hours after Wednesday's 5-2 win against Edmonton. Hockey could return, perhaps within five years, but the stark reality is this is the end for the foreseeable future.
“It's sad, it's upsetting,” said Ryan Travis, a Coyotes season-ticket holder since 2001. “I can’t believe it's finally come to an end, I can’t believe this is how it’s going to end.”
Coyotes fans had been dreading this moment, hoping it never would happen.
They remained loyal through multiple ownership changes. They followed the team to three different arenas. They shrugged off the near-constant relocation rumors.
Reality hit this week.
There will be a new owner. Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is expected to buy the franchise from current owner Alex Meruelo in a $1.2 billion deal through the NHL, as early as Thursday.
The team is moving. The deal, once signed and approved by the NHL Board of Governors, will turn over the franchise's hockey operations to Smith, who intends to move it to Salt Lake City.
There could be a new arena – eventually. Meruelo had been pursuing a tract of land in north Phoenix to build it. When delays pushed the land auction until June, the NHL and the players' association got cold feet about continuing to play at Mullett Arena, the loud-but-bandbox-sized venue shared with Arizona State University.
Meruelo was adamant about not selling the team despite constant offers since he bought in 2019, but also didn't want the players stuck playing in a 5,000-seat arena – by far the NHL's smallest – that wasn't up to league standards.
With no guarantee he would have an arena and with no other options, Meruelo agreed to sell the franchise.
The caveat: Arizona will get an expansion team if a new arena is built within five years.
A small light at the end of what will likely be a very long tunnel, but with far more darkness than hope.
“It’s been a hard 20-25 years, not knowing where home is going to be,” said Coyotes rookie Josh Doan, who grew up in the Valley during his father Shane's long tenure as Coyotes' captain. "It’s one of those things where you want to send them off on the right note and get the win tonight for them.”
AP picks NHL's award winners
Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Toronto's Auston Matthews are all in the running to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.
MacKinnon has carried the top-heavy Avalanche into the playoffs, Kucherov has played a role in half the Lightning's goals, McDavid got the Oilers back in it after a horrid start and Matthews is on the verge of becoming the first to player to hit 70 goals in a season in more than 30 years.
McDavid also became just the fourth player to record 100 assists in a season, and Kucherov is one away with a game left.
“There’s a lot,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman said. "These kind of numbers have not been reached in a long time. … It’s going to be close, but you obviously know who has my vote.”
Here is who AP's hockey writers think will take home the hardware on these regular-season awards in June (all stats through Tuesday):
Hart (MVP)
Lage: MacKinnon. It’s time for the superstar to win the award. Five times he has finished in the top six, and he has crushed his career highs in goals, assists and points for one of the NHL’s best teams.
Wawrow: Matthews. There have been only 14 times a player has scored 70 goals in a season, and none since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne had 76 apiece in 1992-93. Matthews simply approaching that number and representing 23.4% of his team's goal total is too hard to overlook.
Whyno: Kucherov. While MacKinnon winning would add an important honor to his career, Kucherov has 53 more points than his next-closest teammate.
Norris (best defenseman)
Lage: Quinn Hughes. Vancouver has had a stunning turnaround and the 24-year-old has had a lot to do with it. The Canucks have been able to count on the durable defenseman being in the lineup and producing, more than doubling his previous career high in goals.
Wawrow: Hughes. Sure, the Predators don't come close to making the playoffs without Roman Josi. But, the Canucks don't go from missing the playoffs by 12 points last year to winning the Pacific Division without Hughes.
Whyno: Roman Josi. The Predators' late 16-0-2 run was a reflection of Josi's monster play as a point-a-game player. Nashville's captain also has the most goals among defensemen with 23.
Calder (top rookie)
Lage: Connor Bedard. The No. 1 overall pick in the draft lived up to the hype, averaging roughly a point a game despite teams trying to shut him down while playing for Chicago, one of the worst teams in the league.
Wawrow: Bedard. Whatever questions faced the 5-foot-10, 185-pound, 18-year-old forward were answered in a season he led all rookies in points despite missing six weeks with a broken jaw.
Whyno: Brock Faber. While Bedard has yet to play a meaningful game because the Blackhawks are far from contention, Faber skated 25 minutes a night for Minnesota as the Wild tried to make the playoffs. That's sixth among all players, and he has 46 points.
Selke (best defensive forward)
Lage: Aleksander Barkov. The 2021 winner has finished among the top eight in voting six times. The two-way player was among league leaders in plus-minus and averaged more than a point per game for Florida, suiting up in 73 of 82.
Wawrow: Jordan Staal. Carolina has overcome a rash of goaltender injuries, and Staal's defensive-minded play contributed to the Hurricanes ranking among the NHL's top five in goals against.
Whyno: Staal. The Hurricanes captain has yet to win the Selke, and no better time than now given his central role in anchoring Carolina's shutdown line and winning 58.1% of his faceoffs.
Vezina (best goalie)
Lage: Connor Hellebuyck. The 2020 winner has been spectacular this season. Hellebuyck gave up fewer than 2.50 goals a game to lift Winnipeg to a 100-point season for the first time since 2018, when the Jets reached the conference final for the first and only time in franchise history.
Wawrow: Hellebuyck. The 30-year-old from Michigan gets the nod ahead of Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky for a few reasons, including enjoying 36 starts in which he allowed two or fewer goals. Bobrovsky did so in 32 starts and on a Panthers team regarded for being defensively responsible.
Whyno: Hellebuyck. His save percentage is best in the NHL among goalies with 50 or more starts, and his goals-against average is second only to Bobrovsky's. Just give him the trophy.
Jack Adams (best coach)
Lage: Rick Tocchet. He took over in Vancouver when Bruce Boudreau was fired midway through last season and made the most of the opportunity. The Canucks were considered a middle-of-the-pack team at best before the season started and ended up earning more points than any season for more than a decade.
Wawrow: Tocchet. The 60-year-old showed potential in making the Arizona Coyotes competitive during his four-year stint in the desert. And that's carried over in the Pacific Northwest where he's getting the best out of a talented team that underachieved last season.
Whyno: Spencer Carbery. Washington – with its minus-37 goal differential, worst of any playoff team since 1991 when 16 of 21 teams in the league made it – on paper had no business reaching the postseason but here they are. Carbery pushed all the right buttons from start to finish.
Lady Byng (sportsmanship)
Lage: Patrick Kane. The 35-year-old winger revived his career with Detroit, bouncing back from hip surgery. The three-time Cup champion and 2016 MVP was kind with everyone he crossed paths with, though goaltenders didn’t love that he still has quick hands and a slick shot.
Wawrow: Jaccob Slavin. The Hurricanes defenseman has single-digit penalty minutes despite logging nearly 21 minutes of ice time per game and in a rough-and-tumble division.
Whyno: Slavin previously won this award in 2021, and he deserves it again based on the defensive matchups he is tasked with, taking just four minor penalties in 81 games.
Panarin has MVP-caliber numbers
Artemi Panarin was an established offensive player before he signed with the New York Rangers in 2019. He has only boosted his numbers since then and is coming off a career year going into the playoffs.
The Russian forward averaged 29 goals and 51 assists in his first four seasons with Chicago and Columbus. Since coming to New York, he's topped 90 points every year except for the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon had higher point totals and figure to dominate the Hart Trophy discussions for NHL MVP but Panarin is right there. He finished fifth in goals (49) and assists (71) and fourth in points (120). His goals and points were both career highs.
“Those three letters describe him very, very precise,” teammate Mika Zibanejad said. “I think he the way he takes control over games, comes up with big-time goals and big-time plays, he’s always been one of the best but he’s really – in a weird way to say – he’s taken another step and it’s awesome to see.”
Panarin’s production helped the Rangers set franchise records for wins (55) and and a league-best 114 points to earn the Presidents' Trophy. Coach Peter Laviolette, in his first season leading the team, has marveled at his star left wing's steady production over his career.
“I think the elite players do that," Laviolette said. “They do it with consistency year in and year out, and I know that this is kind of a benchmark year for him, but his statistics over the last seven or eight years are incredible. They’re in the top probably eight players (that) can produce on a rate like he does. … This isn’t just a fluke, it’s just a really good one.”
Before arriving in New York, Panarin's career high for goals was 31 with the Blackhawks in 2016-17. He topped that with 32 in his first season with the Rangers in 2019-20 and then zipped past that total this year. He had 59 assists with the Blue Jackets in 2018-19, and has topped that every year since, except for the shortened 2020-21 season.
This year, he finished three assists shy of his career-best (74) set in 2021-22, and his points (120) far eclipsed his previous high of 96 set in the same season two years ago.
“He’s been an elite player offensively and this year’s obviously been his best,” Laviolette said. "But it’s not like it’s this huge jump and where did it come from? … He’s done a really good job for a really long time.”
The Rangers, seeking their first Stanley Cup title since 1994, face the division-rival Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
NHL has no appetite to expand playoffs
Sixteen teams, each one needing to win 16 games over four rounds of best-of-seven series to lift the Stanley Cup, has been the way the NHL decides its champion for nearly four decades. That isn't changing any time soon.
The NHL is the only one of the major four North American professional sports leagues not to expand its playoffs in recent years. It is content with the current format and isn't looking to add more teams, a play-in round or anything else amid plenty of discussion about doing so.
"We’re not giving any thought to expanding the playoffs," commissioner Gary Bettman said in advance of the playoffs, which begin Saturday. “We have no interest in it. What we have is working very well. When you look at how our playoffs play out, the number of six- and seven-game series, the competitiveness of it, nothing in anybody else’s playoffs rivals that.”
There is an added benefit, Bettman said: It makes the regular season more meaningful. A handful of players who have won the Cup in recent years agreed that they prefer the status quo.
“You like what you know, I feel like,” said Washington's Trevor van Riemsdyk, who won the Cup with Chicago in 2015. “It keeps the importance of the regular season and all that stuff in the right place. I think 82 games is plenty of time, ample time, to make it.”
It has been that way since 1987, and in that era 16 of the league's 21 teams qualified for the playoffs. Now the league has 32 teams and half of them make the cut.
“Where we’re at right now at the NHL, I think we’re in a good spot,” said Pittsburgh's Reilly Smith, who won with the Golden Knights last year. “There’s a lot of parity in the league, but 16 teams is plenty.”
MacKinnon races to career season
Nathan MacKinnon is so quick and so forceful on the ice that sometimes there’s a crunching noise that follows him into the offensive end.
It's a sound that alerts Colorado Avalanche teammate and childhood friend Jonathan Drouin to one thing – a goalie’s in for big trouble. Because there’s no scarier sight than MacKinnon at full speed and crunching up ice.
“That’s what’s unique about his skating, it’s so powerful you can hear it,” Drouin explained. “His playmaking is so elite.”
Like Hart Trophy-worthy elite.
MacKinnon is a favorite to take home the league's MVP award along with Nikita Kucherov, Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid. MacKinnon – nickname: “Nate Dogg” – has a ferocity that has turned him into a 50-goal scorer this season for the first time in his career. The team follows his lead-by-example approach as the Avalanche pursue a second Stanley Cup championship in three seasons.
“I don’t know what his ceiling is,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, whose team closes out the regular season Thursday against Edmonton before opening the first round of the playoffs in Winnipeg. “But I wouldn’t bet against him on continuing to improve.”
Now that’s a frightful thought for goalies around the league.
MacKinnon currently has 138 points (51 goals, 87 assists), just behind Tampa Bay's Kucherov (43 goals, 99 assists through Tuesday) in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, which goes to the player who leads the league in scoring in the regular season.
The 28-year-old MacKinnon is closing in on Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, too, moving a point away from matching Peter Stastny (1981-82) for the most points in a campaign. MacKinnon also has three hat tricks this season.
He chalks up his success to constantly evolving his game. This season, Bednar notes, MacKinnon found a new level of consistency, which was illustrated by recording a point in each of the first 35 home games this season, the second-longest home scoring streak in NHL history behind only Wayne Gretzky.
“The only way to get better is to do different things,” MacKinnon explained. “I'm always open to new ideas. The growth mindset is just never thinking you’re really there.”
Wild's Fleury signs a $2.5M extension
The Minnesota Wild signed goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to a one-year, $2.5 million contract extension on Wednesday, bringing back the veteran for his age-40 season.
Fleury, who turns 40 on Nov. 28, has had a prolific season in which he passed Patrick Roy for second place behind Martin Brodeur on the NHL 's all-time list in career goaltending wins. Brodeur (691) is still 130 ahead of Fleury, but don't expect him to stick with that long-shot pursuit.
“I’m not doing this again,” Fleury told reporters after practice. “No, this is it."
Fleury is 17-14-5 with an .895 save percentage that is the lowest of his 20-year career, and his 2.98 goals against average is his worst in seven seasons, but his performance behind a depleted group of defenseman has belied his surface-level statistics. He has two shutouts for the Wild, who were eliminated from contention for the playoffs last week. They host Seattle on Thursday to conclude the regular season.
“He’s played so well for us this season it’s too soon for him to retire,” Guerin said.
Caps prospect Leonard returning to Boston College
Ryan Leonard is not joining the Washington Capitals for the playoffs after all, and will return to Boston College for his sophomore season.
General manager Brian MacLellan confirmed that Wednesday, saying the organization's top prospect expressed a desire to play another season at the NCAA level before making the leap to the NHL.
“We support Ryan’s decision to return to one of the best programs in the nation to continue his development,” MacLellan said in a statement. "Ryan showed great leadership and made tremendous progress during his first year, which saw him score the most goals by a freshman in Boston College program history and the third-most goals in the NCAA.
"We will continue to monitor his development and progress next year and look forward to watching Ryan build upon his successful freshman season.”
Speculation swirled on social media earlier in the day about Leonard perhaps changing his mind and signing with the Capitals after they finished off an improbable late-season run to make the playoffs with a 2-1 win at Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
Leonard, 19, was the eighth pick in the draft last year and quickly looked like a big piece of the franchise's future. He had 60 points in 41 games his only NCAA season at Boston College, helping the Eagles reach the Frozen Four before losing to Denver in the final.
Canadiens commit to coach St. Louis
The Montreal Canadiens have exercised the two-year option of the contract of coach Martin St. Louis, committing him to the team for the next three seasons.
Montreal hired St. Louis on an interim basis following Dominique Ducharme’s dismissal in February 2022.
The 48-year-old Canadian was named head coach at the end of that season, taking on his first role behind an NHL bench. He has posted a 75-100-26 record as coach while the Canadiens undergo a rebuild.
The Canadiens have missed the playoffs the last three seasons. They finished last in the Atlantic Division with a 30-36-16 record this season.
Inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018, St. Louis won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, a Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in 2004. He finished his career in 2015 with 1,033 points.