NHL

9:00 AM ET Nicolas Deslauriers rose from the ice, blood trickling down his face from a cut on the bridge of his nose. He had thrown a flurry of right hands at San Jose Sharks forward Kurtis Gabriel before Gabriel threw him to the ice. It was the kind of spirited tussle that would have

7:19 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. While the playoff races for the No. 4 seeds around the NHL sometimes get more attention, tonight the spotlight will be at the teams vying for the top spot in three of the

12:43 AM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Wednesday night for their eighth straight win. Vegas, which leads the NHL with 33 wins and 68 points, became the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff berth. The

8:26 PM ET The NHL is planning to open the 2021-22 season on Oct. 12, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. That’s roughly a week later than a typical 82-game regular season would start, an understandable delay given that the Stanley Cup playoffs are expected to roll through mid-July. Sources said that training camps for NHL

7:00 AM ET Believe it or not, some NHL teams have a single-digit number of games remaining on the 2021 schedule, though many playoff positions and seedings still have to sort themselves out. For this week’s NHL Power Rankings, we identified the toughest stretch of games remaining for every team. How we rank: The ESPN

6:59 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. There was a time earlier in the 2021 NHL season when it looked like the Chicago Blackhawks had arrived back on the scene as a legitimate playoff contender. The young wave had injected

10:53 PM ET ESPN News Services Spencer Knight made 33 saves in his NHL debut as the recharged Florida Panthers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1 on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Florida. Knight, a 2019 first-round pick of Florida out of Boston College, signed his entry-level deal with the Panthers after the Eagles’ season ended

11:40 AM ET Patrick Marleau played his 1,768th game Monday night, breaking Gordie Howe’s NHL career record. Which naturally led to questions about whether anyone would ever break Marleau’s still-increasing games benchmark. “The modern game, the speed, the physicality … players are playing at a young age, but it’s very difficult to be as durable

6:54 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. For weeks, it appeared that the East Division playoff slots were all but secured, but the New York Rangers have continued to lurk in that fifth position. Tonight, they’ll look to claw one

10:11 PM ET Patrick Marleau‘s speed on the ice is legendary. His skating is a primary reason the 41-year-old San Jose Sharks forward has endured through 23 seasons to play in his 1,768th career game on Monday in Las Vegas, passing Gordie Howe for the most in NHL history. Off the ice, his speed is

6:55 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. Of the NHL’s four new realigned divisions, the Central has the tightest race among the top three seeds right now, with the Carolina Hurricanes (62 points), Florida Panthers (61) and Tampa Bay Lightning

7:00 AM ET As the Arizona Coyotes fight for a playoff spot — they’re fourth in the West Division, with a one-point lead over the St. Louis Blues — defenseman Jakob Chychrun has emerged as one of the team’s most important players. The 23-year-old leads Arizona in average ice time (23:09), surpassing captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson

6:26 PM ET Ready or not, the Vancouver Canucks will play their first game since March 24 on Sunday night at home. When they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs, however, the Canucks — who saw their season stalled by a lengthy COVID-19-related pause — will hardly have the type of lineup that Vancouver fans

7:47 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. There are six games on the Sunday schedule in the NHL this week, and four of those six matchups are within the East Division. A quick glance at the standings shows that a

8:37 PM ET ESPN News Services Patrick Marleau tied Gordie Howe’s mark of 1,767 games played on Saturday night, when the San Jose Sharks played the Minnesota Wild. On Monday night, health permitting, he will set a new NHL record, against the Vegas Golden Knights. It will add to a lengthy list of accomplishments, of

1:17 PM ET Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a broken bone in his cheek, the team announced Saturday. Okposo was injured when he was hit in the face by a puck during Thursday’s win over the Washington Capitals. The 32-year-old finishes the season

7:31 AM ET Tim KavanaghESPN.com Close Tim Kavanagh is a senior NHL editor for ESPN. He’s a native of upstate New York. Saturday brings us an 11-game slate in the NHL, and it’s a schedule that will have hockey fans reminiscing about all-day hockey from the opening rounds of the 2020 postseason. The puck drops

1:46 AM ET Associated Press Assistant coach Joel Johnson is taking over the United States women’s national hockey team after Bob Corkum abruptly stepped down less than three weeks before the world championships open in Canada. USA Hockey’s director of women’s national team programs Katie Million did not provide a reason for Corkum’s departure in