Canada

Brock Nelson scored the go-ahead goal on a second-period breakaway 15 seconds after Alex Ovechkin tied it, and the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series at Scotiabank Arena. Barry Trotz’s Islanders played his trademark structured, suffocating style against

Bo Horvat and the Vancouver Canucks’ power play are on fire, torching the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in the NHL playoffs. Horvat scored two highlight-reel breakaway goals, one in overtime, to lift the Canucks to a 4-3 win on Friday, good for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series. Horvat

The Montreal Canadiens say head coach Claude Julien is returning home to Montreal a day after he had a stent installed in a coronary artery. Julien was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto overnight Wednesday as he was experiencing chest pain and had surgery Thursday. The Canadiens said in a release that doctors expect

Matthew Tkachuk’s night at the office pretty much summed up the experience of his entire team Thursday as the Calgary Flames fell 5-4 to the Dallas Stars. In the first period, Dallas captain Jamie Benn speared Tkachuk in an area that really hurts. The Calgary forward gingerly stumbled off the ice and trudged down the

Dougie Hamilton slapped in the go-ahead goal with 11:30 left in the third period and No. 2 goalie James Reimer stopped 33 shots to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday and tie their playoff series at one game apiece. One day after Boston won the delayed, double-overtime

Even though Reilly Smith called it a lucky bounce, a whole lot more than luck is working right now for the Vegas Golden Knights. Smith scored in overtime, Robin Lehner made 22 saves and the Golden Knights beat Chicago 4-3 on Thursday to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series. Vegas has won all five of

EDMONTON—Troy Stecher scored an emotional game-winning goal Wednesday as the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 to take the opener of their best-of-seven NHL playoff series. The Stanley Cup champion Blues, meanwhile, served notice they are fast becoming a hot mess in return-to-play competition. Stecher broke a 2-2 tie in the third period

Troy Stecher scored an emotional game-winning goal Wednesday as the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 to take the opener of their best-of-seven NHL playoff series. The Stanley Cup champion Blues, meanwhile, served notice they are fast becoming a hot mess in return-to-play competition. Stecher broke a 2-2 tie in the third period

EDMONTON—Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher scored 10 seconds apart in the third period, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and the Colorado Avalanche opened the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday. Colorado dominated the Coyotes through the first two periods, outshooting them 29-7, yet couldn’t get anything past goalie

Claude Julien marvelled at the Philadelphia Flyers this week. The head coach of the Montreal Canadiens was impressed by their depth, team play and skill from top to bottom. Despite a disappointing result Wednesday, Julien has now seen first-hand that his roster can hang with the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Carter Hart

PITTSBURGH—The Pittsburgh Penguins’ qualifying round loss to the Montreal Canadiens cost assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi their jobs. The team announced on Wednesday it would not renew the contracts of all three assistants. The move came less than a week after the fifth-seeded Penguins fell to the 12th-seeded Canadiens in four

Want to watch a free live stream of Hockey Night in Canada playoff games? CBC will live stream Hockey Night in Canada on all digital platforms, meaning more Canadians will be able to access the games. On Wednesday the Montreal Canadiens battle the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of their playoff series at 8 p.m. ET., followed by the Vancouver Canucks vs.

The NHL’s fourth-ever longest game ended with a power play, a slew of blocked shots, and a tired, pinpoint shot from the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brayden Point. Point and the Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in “quintuple overtime” by a score of 3-2, ending the game after more than 150 minutes of playing time.

By the time he launched the last shot, Brayden Point was just trying to do anything he could to end the fourth-longest game in NHL history. “I just see a rolling puck and I just throw it on net,” Point said after scoring 10:27 into the fifth overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a

The New York Rangers were the first team to see their NHL restart bubble burst. They got a pretty nice consolation prize Monday. The Rangers won the second phase of the draft lottery, all but assuring star winger and presumptive No. 1 pick Alexis Lafrenière will be heading to the Big Apple. “Leaving the bubble

Bruising Milan Lucic is the poster child for the collective mood and mindset of the Calgary Flames as they prepare to clash with the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Back in October, the Edmonton Oilers castoff considered retiring in spite of his hefty paycheques. Snakebitten on the scoreboard, and

Revenge. A dish best served cold. In the icy arenas holding the Stanley Cup conference quarter-finals. There’s Robin Lehner, traded from Chicago at the deadline because, well, the Blackhawks weren’t going to make playoffs, were they? Now he’s in net for Vegas, taking on the … Blackhawks. There’s the Washington Capitals, who didn’t take it

The New York Rangers were the first team to see their NHL restart bubble burst. They got a pretty nice consolation prize Monday. The Rangers won the second phase of the league’s draft lottery, all but assuring star winger and presumptive No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere will be heading to the Big Apple. “Leaving the