The Stanley Cup champions from 2018 (Washington Capitals) and 2019 (St. Louis Blues) are both in an 0-2 hole after Friday. The team that won in 2016 and 2017 (Pittsburgh Penguins) has already been eliminated. It sure feels like there’s going to be some new blood winning this summer. We also got our eighth straight […]
Continue readingThe 2020 NHL playoffs officially begin on Tuesday, as the 24-team tournament — with five-game qualification round series and round-robin seeding matchups — has moved on to a more recognizable, 16-team version. This round includes several matchups where revenge will be on the mind of one team (or both, for separate reasons), and based on […]
Continue reading“You gotta be able to make a 5-foot pass and support it. It starts with that. It’s a 0-0 hockey game [in the third period], and we get a power play, and the power play stinks,” lamented the coach. “Darcy Kuemper, first star again,” Tocchet said, exasperated. “It’s Darcy, Darcy, Darcy, and that’s it.” Through […]
Continue readingWednesday didn’t bring us any five-overtime games. But it did bring us brunch hockey, double overtime, two unreal saves, a $25,000 fine and a lot of heat in postgame Zoom calls. Check out the ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily every day of the postseason until the Cup is handed out in October. All times Eastern. […]
Continue readingMy father grew up in the city. His first attempt at a pronunciation was “Lufthansa.” The Canadian hamlet of Saint-Eustache produced an exquisite French Canadian moniker — Alexis Lafrenière. On the tongues of New Yawkers, it’s going to sound like a Claude Debussy suite performed by an orchestra of accordions. The second worst thing about […]
Continue readingJones pulled one of the jerseys out of the box, poured lighter fluid on it and lit it on fire in his driveway. He continued to burn jerseys from the box, documenting the process in a series of Instagram videos posted Wednesday. “I opened up my mailbox today, and I had these jerseys in my […]
Continue readingAnd on the fourth day of bubble hockey, we got a very pretty pass, a fake punch … and a sweep. Send some congrats to the Carolina Hurricanes, the first team to qualify for the next round. The Canes also get up to a week’s rest before the next round begins. What a treat. Check […]
Continue readingDay 2 of the NHL restart was just as exciting as the opener, as hockey fans were treated to fantastic goaltending performances, more upsets and a buzzer-beater. As we head to Game 2s of the qualification round, let it be known that teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-5 series typically end up winning, […]
Continue readingThe NHL returned this past weekend to restart its season with a 24-team postseason tournament, featuring both a round-robin series for the top seeds and a best-of-five qualification round for the others. The league adopted an “All Day Hockey” approach, with puck drop of the first game on Saturday at noon ET, and start times […]
Continue readingThe first day of the NHL’s restarted season produced a few shocking moments, a few controversies and a speech that hockey fans won’t soon forget. Day 2 brings the start of the round-robin games among the top seeds and the rest of the qualification-round series, as the Eastern Conference postseason rolls on in Toronto while […]
Continue reading