Thursday's hockey: MSU's Howard named Hobey Baker finalist; Habs six points ahead of Wings
Michigan State forward Isaac Howard was one of three finalists selected for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, presented annually to the top NCAA men's hockey player.
Denver defenseman Zeev Buium and Boston College forward Ryan Leonard were the other finalists.
The winner will be announced at the Stifel Theatre in St. Louis on April 11, the day before the NCAA championship game at Enterprise Center.
Howard, a first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is the 18th Michigan State selection for the award and first since Taro Hirose in 2019. MSU has had two award winners: Kip Miller in 1990, and Ryan Miller in 2001.
Howard had career bests of 26 goals and 52 points in 37 games this year. He ranks first nationally in points per game (1.42), third in goals per game (0.70) and 23rd in assists per game (0.70).
Habs move six points ahead of Wings
(At) Montreal 4, Boston 1: Nick Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist, Sam Montembeault made 18 saves and Montreal beat Boston for their third straight victory.
Christian Dvorak and Cole Caufield also scored for Montreal. The Canadiens hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the New York Rangers and six points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings will face the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday at Little Caesars Arena.
Suzuki assisted on Caufield’s goal for his 80th point of the season, then added an empty-netter for his 26th goal of the season. He’s the second Canadiens player in the past 25 years to reach the 80-point mark, joining Alex Kovalev (84 in 2007-08).
Elias Lindholm ended Montembeault’s shutout bid with 6:41 remaining.
Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves for Boston. Last in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins have lost seven in a row
More Thursday NHL games
(At) St. Louis 5, Pittsburgh 4: Robert Thomas scored a power-play goal in overtime and the St. Louis Blues tied a franchise record with their 11th consecutive win.
Jake Neighbours scored twice and Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou also scored for the Blues. Joel Hofer made 24 saves as St. Louis set a franchise record with its 10th straight home win.
Bryan Rust (Pontiac), Rickard Rakell and former Wolverine Rutger McGroarty each had a goal and an assist and Connor Dewar also scored for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 14 saves as Pittsburgh lost its fourth straight road contest.
Neighbours’ second goal was set up by Jimmy Snuggerud, who earned his first career point in just his second NHL game. Snuggerud, a first round pick by the Blues in the 2022 draft, was signed to an entry-level contract on Friday.
McGroarty tied the game for the Penguins with 23.8 seconds left with his first NHL goal.
(At) Ottawa 2, Tampa Bay 1: Linus Ullmark made 31 saves, Shane Pinto and Jake Sanderson scored and Ottawa beat Tampa Bay, with the Lightning wrapping up a playoff spot after the game when Colorado beat Columbus.
Pinto opened the scoring for the Senators with 6:15 left in the first period, and Sanderson made it 2-0 on a power play at 5:17 of the second. Brandon Hagel got one back for Tampa Bay at seven minutes of the second with his 34th of the season.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 17 shots for Tampa Bay, playing the second game of a four-game trip. The Lightning had won four in a row.
(At) Dallas 5, Nashville 1: Jake Oettinger made 28 saves and Dallas beat Nashville for their seventh straight victory.
Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment, Roope Hintz and defenseman Lian Bichsel scored for Dallas. The Stars are second in the NHL behind Western Conference and Central Division rival Winnipeg.
Stars captain Jamie Benn sat out, with coach Pete DeBoer saying before the game it was for “maintenance.” Stuck on 399 career goals for nearly a month, the 35-year-old Benn had played 371 consecutive games.
Justus Annunen stopped 22 shots for Nashville.
Colorado 7, (at) Columbus 3: Cale Makar scored to become just the ninth NHL defenseman with 30 goals in a season and Colorado clinched a playoff berth with a win over Columbus.
Makar also had two assists while Charlie Coyle, Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews also had a goal and two assists each for the Avalanche, who scored five straight times after falling behind 3-2 in the second period.
Miles Wood, Parker Kelly and Brock Nelson also scored for Colorado while Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves.
Sean Monahan, Zachary Aston-Reese and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets and Elvis Merzlikins made 21 saves before being lifted with about 14 minutes to play.
(At) L.A. Kings 4, Utah 2: Kevin Fiala and Trevor Moore scored in a 44-second span early in the third period and Los Angeles beat Utah for their third straight victory.
Adrian Kempe scored his 33rd of the season for Los Angeles and Drew Doughty added an empty-netter. Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves.
Lawson Crouse and Jack McBain scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 15 saves in his 19th straight start. The streak is the longest by an NHL goalie since Kuemper started 22 in a row for Arizona in 2019.
(At) Calgary 4, Anaheim 1: Blake Coleman scored twice, Dustin Wolf made 26 saves and Calgary beat Anaheim.
Yegor Sharangovich and Kevin Rooney also scored for Calgary.
Olen Zellweger scored for Anaheim. Ducks goalie John Gibson left after the second period because of a lower-body injury.
Winnipeg 4, (at) Vegas 0: Backup Eric Comrie made 26 saves for his second shutout in two months as Winnipeg beat Vegas in a matchup of Western Conference divisional leaders.
The Jets took a step toward securing the Central Division and home-ice advantage for the Stanley Cup playoffs. They have three more points than Washington in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy and four more than Dallas in the Central.
Vegas, after back-to-back losses this week, finds its once solid grip on the Pacific Division more tenuous. Los Angeles is within three points after beating the Utah Hockey Club 4-2 on Thursday night.
Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry, Colin Miller and Cole Perfetti scored and Nino Niederreiter had two assists. Comrie, who backs up Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck, got his first shutout since Feb. 4 against Carolina.
Edmonton 3, (at) San Jose 2: Jeff Skinner tipped in the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and Edmonton overcame an injury to Leon Draisaitl and beat San Jose.
Skinner scored just a few minutes after Draisaitl went to the locker room with an undisclosed injury. He never returned to the game.
Connor Brown and Viktor Arvidsson also scored to give the Oilers their third straight win. Calvin Pickard made 27 saves.
Edmonton kept pace with Los Angeles in the race for second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Oilers trail the Kings by two points headed into their game Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Jack Thompson and Tyler Toffoli scored for San Jose. Georgi Romanov made 35 saves.
Stanley Cup: What to watch for
The Stanley Cup playoffs are coming up fast, with the first series set to begin Saturday, April 19.
The regular season has seen the stirring chase by Washington's Alex Ovechkin to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL scoring record, a mark that has stood for 31 years and many thought would never be broken. The Capitals have also been one of the best teams in the league, vying with Winnipeg, Dallas and others for the Presidents' Trophy.
The matchups
A handful of teams have clinched playoff berths, but the wild-card spots and first-round matchups are not set yet in either the Western or Eastern Conferences.
The top three teams in each division make the playoffs, and the other four spots go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division.
The teams with the best record in each conference open against the wild-card team with the worst record; the other wild-card plays the other division winner. Teams that finish second and third in their division play each other in the bracket headed by their respective division winner. The second round thus carries a higher prospect of division foes matching up ahead of the conference finals.
All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-7; the first team to 16 victories wins the Stanley Cup.
How to watch
Every game of the Stanley Cup playoffs will be nationally televised in the U.S on an ESPN or Turner network. The NHL schedule is here and a streaming guide is here. Much of TNT's coverage, which includes the Stanley Cup Final, will be simulcast on truTV and available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. In Canada, games will be showcased on Sportsnet and CBC.
Who to watch
All eyes have been on Ovechkin's pursuit of Gretzky's record, but the NHL is filled with compelling efforts by star players.
Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl are considered the top MVP candidates. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck seems a runaway favorite for the Vezina Trophy, while rookies Lane Hutson of Montreal and Macklin Celebrini and San Jose are considered Calder Trophy favorites.
Who are the favorites?
With two weeks left in the regular season, the betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup are (in order): Dallas, Florida, Colorado and Edmonton, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
When is the Stanley Cup Final?
The playoffs begin April 19 to open three rounds of seven-game series before the final starts in early June. If the final goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 23.
Ovechkin connects Washington and Moscow
The goal horn went off at Bugsy's Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar as it does every time the Washington Capitals score a goal. Bar manager Armenia Marconi was working downstairs and scurried up to see who it was.
Sure enough, Alex Ovechkin. Goal 891 to move closer to breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL record. Marconi grabbed the remote control for the goal counter hanging above the bar, and fans inside the popular neighborhood hockey bar who were waiting in anticipation erupted again.
“It was like he scored again,” she said. “As soon as it went down to 4, the whole bar started cheering.”
Firefighter James Mazzara, watching from home, had the same reaction. His firehouse around the corner from the Capitals' arena in Washington also has a counter out front, so he immediately texted a colleague who was working to remind him to update the number.
“We stay on top of it as much as we can,” Mazzara said.
Reminders of Ovechkin's pursuit of Gretzky's record are everywhere in the nation's capital and surrounding suburbs, including more than a dozen “GR8 Chase” goal counters in places like the original Ben's Chili Bowl and the Georgetown Waterfront, where the longtime captain and his teammates celebrated winning the Stanley Cup in 2018 by swimming in fountains. There are also 'ight-up goal counters and messages of encouragement in Ovechkin's hometown of Moscow as his pursuit of the milestone nears its end.
He was at 892, two away from tying Gretzky and three from setting the record going into a home game Friday night against Chicago.
“You’re not stopping it,” said veteran coach Paul Maurice of the Florida Panthers. “He’s going to break the record. It is an incredible record. This is beyond generational because nobody was breaking that record.”
The GR8 chase
It feels more like matter of when, not if, Ovechkin passes Gretzky's legendary mark of 894, considered by many to be untouchable. The Capitals have seven games left before the playoffs, which means Ovechkin has seven games left because the record reflects only regular-season goals. Otherwise, he would pick up the pursuit next season.
The NHL created an entire microsite to document the chase. The Capitals have an online way for people to check in from where they are watching from. There are free lawn signs to display.
“We knew when thinking about the (Washington area) and even across the world that people would want to be counting together, so digital is one thing, but there’s certainly something special about having the more traditional countdown clock,” said Amanda Tischler, Capitals senior VP of marketing. “(The hope was) these different places across the city would have fun counting down until he hits this major milestone.”
Goal counters went to more than a half-dozen youth hockey rinks in Maryland and northern Virginia, national NHL TV rightsholders ESPN and TNT and to local institutions with Capitals connections, like Ben's Chili Bowl, which has been a local staple since opening in 1958.
“We’re honored to have one of the goal trackers at Ben’s,” said Vida Ali, one of the family members who runs the restaurant. “When the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018, this is one of the places they brought the Stanley Cup. Now another exciting moment, and what an amazing time for the Caps and Ovi.”
The GR8 meaning
The Cup also visited Mazzara's firehouse, DCFD-Engine 2 & Rescue Squad 1, seven years ago, and it's still a place where the Capitals are front of mind. It is so close to the arena that the goal horn can be heard from just outside the front ramp on quiet days.
“We’ll hear that and then we’ll go running in the back or we’ll be watching it – we have a TV in the engine bay – and we’ll watch it and in the distance you can hear the horn go off,” said Mazzara, the rescue squad wagon driver for platoon No. 4. “It’s just so much fun to watch. It’s fun to see the city come together, all the fans. It takes you away from real life. You go out there, and everybody’s enjoying it.”
The mood is likewise festive at Bugsy's, the pizza place opened by former Capitals player Bryan Watson and his wife in 1983 and later rebranded with his nickname from his NHL days. Watson died in 2021, but his memory lives on.
“He’d come up here all the time and just sit down with customers – sometimes you didn’t even know he was the owner, much less a hockey player,” said Marconi, who knew Watson for a decade. “He’s still part of Bugsy’s and people come in all the time asking to see his pictures and the stories that were left behind because of him. There’s a lot of stories that I still tell that he used to tell me, and the connection there, it’s unbreakable.”
The goal counter hangs above the bar with sticks underneath from Hall of Fame legends Jean Beliveau, Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. Ovechkin passed Beliveau (507 goals) with a hat trick on Feb. 11, 2016; Mikita (541) on Dec. 31 that year; and Hull (610) on Oct. 10, 2018.
Nearby are framed jerseys of Mario Lemieux (690), who Ovechkin passed Jan. 18, 2020, and Mark Messier (694), who was passed 13 days later.
“The town is going crazy,” Marconi said. "There’s people who have been coming here for 30-plus years, but to see the new faces coming in just excited about this, it’s great to be part of it.”
At Ben's, the goal counter is on the back wall above the old-school jukebox and below the sign declaring it “Home of the original chili half-smoke.” And it has become part of the tourist attraction.
“Some are curious if they’re from out of town – or from out of the country, more than out of town – and they don’t know,” Ali said. “They’re like: ‘What’s the countdown?’ What are we counting down?' And then of course those from the (area) are just proud and know and guests have been taking pictures."
For Russia, pride in Ovechkin
Billboards, signs and goal-counters around Moscow carry messages in Cyrillic that say things like “Go ahead, Alex!” or “Sasha, the Motherland is with you.” His hometown team, Dynamo Moscow, has its own arena countdown going with the message in Russian, “Alex, keep pushing.”
"He started his career here, he played for Dynamo in 2012 during the (NHL) lockout, and he is still actively participating in the life of the club,” Dynamo press secretary Nikita Bakhurov said. “We couldn’t stay aside, and spectators see this banner during every match. Everyone is following this record.”
Ovechkin being in this spotlight has become a point of national pride. Ovechkin represented Russia at three Olympics, won gold at the world juniors, played in countless world championships and may still finish his career some day in the KHL.
“He’s a great hockey player indeed,” Moscow resident Yulia Anisimova said. “Even I, who is not following hockey, know him well and have heard much about him. It’s not his problem that it didn’t work out for him here; the problem is in our country. If there had been different conditions, he would have represented our country.”
Moscow resident Sergei, who did not give his last name, said Ovechkin is “our star," adding: "I’m proud that he is Russian. I can’t wait when he breaks this record.”
Ovechkin has one more year on his Capitals contract. He has played his entire NHL career for Washington, becoming the face of the franchise who made hockey popular in the area, delivered a championship and is now on the verge of history.
“We’re blessed to have him in D.C. and with the Caps,” Ali said. "Another one of the things I’m proud of is he’s been with the same team his entire career. … It’s his time, and we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it."
Isles' Duclair excused to take time off
The New York Islanders on Thursday approved forward Anthony Duclair’s request to spend time away from the team and reflect in the wake of being publicly criticized for playing “god-awful” by coach Patrick Roy.
Duclair wasn’t present at practice with Roy saying he was excused without providing a timetable of when the player might return.
“This morning, Anthony and I had a very good conversation, a very positive one, and Anthony asked me to take some time off and reflect,” Roy said. “So I obviously agreed to that, and we’ll give him all the time that he needs.”
The two spoke two days after Roy ripped into Duclair’s performance following a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“He’s lucky to be in the lineup. Sorry if I lose it on him right now, but that’s how I feel,” Roy said. “He’s not skating, he’s not competing, he’s not moving his feet. He’s not playing up to what we expect from him.”
The 29-year-old Duclair was limited to 12:15 of ice time, including playing just four shifts in the third period against the Lightning.
Duclair is on his ninth team in 11 NHL seasons after signing a four-year $14 million contract with New York in July. He’s struggled in managing seven goals and four assists in 44 games this season, including two goals in his past 17 outings.
The Islanders, 0-4-2 in their past six, are sliding further out of the playoff race and entered Thursday 12th in the Eastern Conference standings, five points behind eighth-place Montreal. They have eight games left, and next host Minnesota on Friday.
Stars captain Benn sits out
Stuck on 399 career goals for nearly a month, Dallas captain Jamie Benn sat out against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night, with coach Pete DeBoer saying it was for “maintenance.”
The 35-year-old Benn had played 371 consecutive games. He scored his 399th goal against Edmonton on March 8.
Benn has 16 goals and 29 assists in 74 games this season.
Wild-card playoff race
Atlantic
▶ Toronto 96
▶ Tampa Bay 93
▶ Florida 92
Metropolitan
▶ Washington 105
▶ Carolina 96
▶ New Jersey 87
Wild-card spots
▶ Ottawa 86
▶ Montreal 81
Non-playoff teams
▶ N.Y. Rangers 79
▶ Columbus 77
▶ Detroit 75
▶ N.Y. Islanders 74
▶ Pittsburgh 72
▶ Philadelphia 71
▶ Buffalo 70
▶ Boston 69
Michigan schedule
Tuesday
Blues 2, Red Wings 1 (OT)
Wednesday
Chicago 4, Grand Rapids 3
Friday
Hurricanes at Red Wings, 7
Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7
Saturday
Grand Rapids at Rockford, 8
Sunday
Panthers at Red Wings, 5:30