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Gustav Elvin: The 4 Nations Face-Off was a smash hit in every sense. But can the NHL capitalize on its momentum?

Sports / Hockey /

BOSTON — At this time last year, in the middle of All-Star weekend in Toronto, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, alongside International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif, and NHL Players’ Association’s executive director Marty Walsh, made two announcements.

The biggest one, which scooped up all the headlines, was that NHL players ...Read more

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Golden Knights hold off Canucks in 1st game since break

Sports / Hockey /

LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights won their third straight game in their first action since the 4 Nations Face-Off, beating the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

Left wing Brandon Saad scored the go-ahead goal 18 seconds into the third period in his first home game since signing a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the ...Read more

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bruins lose to Ducks, 3-2 in OT

Sports / Hockey /

BOSTON — The Bruins scratched back from a two-goal deficit, but one point was all they could manage against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.

Leo Carlsson scored the game-winner with 1:21 left in overtime to lift the suddenly hot Ducks to a 3-2 win over the B’s in their return after the two-week break.

Morgan Geekie, who been stoned on ...Read more

Blues lose lead late in third period, fall to Jets in 4-3 shootout loss

Sports / Hockey /

ST. LOUIS — The Blues couldn't tiptoe their way back into play on Saturday night. Not against the team that entered the day leading the Western Conference by nine points.

Kyle Connor ensured that the Blues would emerge with just one point on Saturday night in a 4-3 shootout loss, scoring the game-deciding goal in the second round of the ...Read more

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Kraken take down defending champion Panthers in return from break

Sports / Hockey /

Jared McCann’s third-period goal and Joey Daccord’s 26 saves lifted the visiting Kraken over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, 2-1 in regulation on Saturday.

Kraken captain Jordan Eberle returned to the lineup after missing 40 games following pelvis surgery. He registered two shots on goal and a hit in 14:03 of ice time ...Read more

AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/TNS

Predators goalie Juuse Saros stones Avalanche in first game back from 4 Nations break

Sports / Hockey /

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Colorado Avalanche controlled their first game back from the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off break, but the inability to convert chances into enough goals at times returned as well.

Juuse Saros made 32 saves to help the Nashville Predators hold off the Avs in a 2-1 win Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.

Jonathan Marchessault...Read more

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Sidney Crosby returns to lineup but Penguins trounced by Capitals in return from extended break

Sports / Hockey /

PITTSBURGH — For the Penguins, Saturday started as a somber but celebratory hockey afternoon in Pittsburgh as the team paid tribute to the late Mike Lange at PPG Paints Arena.

Emotions were raw when the puck finally dropped. But instead of this being one of those wild wins when you had to be here to believe it, the Penguins got thumped by the...Read more

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Darcy Kuemper's stellar LA comeback doesn't surprise Kings

Sports / Hockey /

LOS ANGELES — The first time Darcy Kuemper played for the Kings, he played well. He just didn't play often.

As the backup to Jonathan Quick, who became the winningest American-born goalie in NHL history, Kuemper saw less ice time than the Zamboni driver in the half-season he spent in L.A. Yet he lost just once in regulation in 15 starts and ...Read more

Flyers top Oilers, 6-3, notching second consecutive win

Sports / Hockey /

PHILADELPHIA — Like a “Tale of Two Cities,” it was the best of times and the worst of times.

The best was the Flyers burying five goals and coming out with a 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers. The worst? Well, in case you were missing the All-Star Game, you pretty much got one as the defense was lacking on both sides.

Edmonton’s ...Read more

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Wild return from break with same heat as before, defeat Red Wings in overtime

Sports / Hockey /

The momentum the Minnesota Wild carried into the 4 Nations Face-off break made it out of the two-week hiatus.

They overcame Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat and a bad break to rally late for a 4-3 overtime win Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena for a third consecutive victory.

The score was tied 3-3 after late goals from Matt Boldy and ...Read more

Kate Shefte/The Seattle Times/TNS

How Kraken equipment staff deals with 'the worst smell in the world'

Sports / Hockey /

SEATTLE — Those who know, know. When the locker room door swings open at a well-loved ice rink, it’s an eye-watering assault on the senses. It conjures a thousand stinky feet, with notes of a full dumpster on an early August evening.

That’s bacteria feeding off sweat, made worse when gear sits in its juices in a warm, unventilated bag. ...Read more

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La Velle E. Neal: Riveting final in 4 Nations Face-Off proves why All-Star Games are pointless

Sports / Hockey /

MINNEAPOLIS — Best on best. It’s a format the hockey aficionados have craved for years. And their dreams finally came true this month with a 4 Nations Face-Off that was a smash hit, in more ways than one.

Canada prevailed Thursday in a riveting championship game with a 3-2 overtime victory over Team USA that already has the Stars and ...Read more

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Jason Mackey: NHL's next mandate and more takeaways from electric 4 Nations Face-Off

Sports / Hockey /

PITTSBURGH — One of many stirring images inside TD Garden late Thursday night featured Team Canada's players with their arms wrapped around one another, standing along the blue line and singing "O Canada" as their country's flag was raised.

It was a perfect, emotional depiction of what this all meant, even if it came as the result of another ...Read more

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The latest on Matthew Tkachuk as Panthers prepare to resume season after 4 Nations

Sports / Hockey /

Matthew Tkachuk will not play on Saturday when the Florida Panthers resume their season following the 4 Nations Face-Off as he deals with a lower-body injury sustained during the tournament, coach Paul Maurice said after practice Friday.

How much more time the star winger will miss after that first game? That’s to be determined once Tkachuk ...Read more

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Bobby Hull's CTE diagnosis leaves lessons for current Blackhawks -- but they don't always help themselves

Sports / Hockey /

CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull lived in a different era than today’s players.

The Hall of Fame forward helped the Hawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup during his 15 seasons in Chicago (1957-72) and remains the franchise’s all-time goals leader with 604.

But his career came with a cost.

Two years after Hull died in 2023, a ...Read more

Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Celtics rout 76ers, 124-104, in return from All-Star break

Sports / Hockey /

In this season’s first Celtics-76ers meeting, Boston lost at home on Christmas Day. In the second, the Celtics needed a 26-point comeback to beat a Sixers team missing two of its top three players.

The third was a much better representation of where the two Atlantic Division rivals sit in the current NBA hierarchy.

The Celtics bulldozed the ...Read more

Andy Cross/The Denver Post/TNS

Sean Keeler: Avalanche can't get better at NHL trade deadline until they get real about Gabe Landeskog

Sports / Hockey /

DENVER — Will the Colorado Avalanche stop chewing their nails and twiddling their thumbs? Gabe Landeskog last suited up for Colorado 970 days ago as of Wednesday — or about 300 days longer than Jerry Lee Lewis’ first marriage.

Harper Lee wrote “To Kill A Mockingbird” in roughly 910 days. The Siege of Leningrad took 900. The Spanish ...Read more

David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS

Red Wings unfazed by rugged schedule ahead: 'I don't think we're afraid ... by any means'

Sports / Hockey /

DETROIT — The Red Wings have 27 games left this season and those 27 taken as a whole aren't easy.

In fact, the Wings own the toughest remaining schedule in the NHL, with opponents holding a .587 win percentage.

Included in those games are three against Carolina and two games each against Eastern Conference-leading Washington, Vegas, ...Read more

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Banged-up United States falls to Sweden, 2-1

Sports / Hockey /

BOSTON — Teams USA and Canada will have two days off before they play each other in the climactic championship game of the 4 Nations Faceoff at TD Garden on Thursday.

The Americans may need all of that time to get healthy for the highly anticipated rematch with the hockey power to the north.

In their 2-1 loss to Sweden on Monday night, the ...Read more

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images North America/TNS

Canada survives late push by Finland, make championship game with 5-3 win

Sports / Hockey /

BOSTON — The dream rematch is locked in.

Canada, facing the prospect of being bounced out of the 4 Nations Faceoff before the final, punched its ticket to Thursday’s championship game against Team USA with a too-close-for-comfort 5-3 victory over Finland at TD Garden on Monday.

Nathan MacKinnon led the way for Canada, potting a pair of ...Read more