SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 9/14/2020 1193358 Bruins 2020: A year-end report card 1193359 Giordano salutes predecessor Iginla after winning Mark Messier Award Columbus Blue Jackets 1193360 Plenty of high marks on Blue Jackets’ season report card Dallas Stars 1193361 Stars notebook: Andrew Cogliano makes impact in return to lineup; Andrej Sekera becomes key part of ki 1193362 The Stars have run into trouble in closeout games, but history’s on their side entering Game 5 vs. Golden Knig 1193363 Stars notebook: Another Alex Tuch infraction goes uncalled; Dallas getting comfortable in close games 1193364 Lowetide: Oilers approach 2020 draft with increased depth in important positions 1193365 Q&A WITH KINGS TV ANALYST JIM FOX: PART 2 1193366 Quick-strike Lightning beat Islanders, on verge of final 1193367 Islanders' power-play futility costs them again in Game 4 loss to Lightning 1193368 Islanders' , Tom Kuhnhackl injured and will miss rest of playoffs 1193369 Top line's inability to match Lightning counterpart costly for Islanders 1193370 Islanders lose Game 4 to Lightning, nearing elimination from Eastern Conference finals 1193371 Brayden Point returns as Lightning win Game 4 of Eastern Conference final, but will he stay? 1193372 ‘Ultimate compliment’: Lightning need Ondrej Palat on their top line 1193373 Lightning-Islanders Game 4 report card: Fun, in more ways than one 1193374 Lightning, Islanders rivalry heating up in Eastern Conference final 1193375 Lightning’s : Give up a , go get a goal 1193376 Lightning-Islanders Game 4 live playoff updates 1193377 Lightning leaning on Luke Schenn’s toughness, tenacity and experience 1193378 Four observations: From Brayden Point’s health to Ondrej Palat’s significance 1193379 A behind-the-scenes look at how Julien BriseBois ‘transformed’ Lightning 1193380 Here’s how Golden Knights can crack Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin 1193381 Elimination games come early for Knights against Stars 1193382 Golden Knights forwards lacking confidence, scoring touch 1193383 Golden Knights face elimination in Game 5 against Stars Websites 1193384 A behind-the-scenes look at how Julien BriseBois ‘transformed’ Lightning 1193385 Point keeps defying logic as Lightning move closer to Final 1193386 .ca / 7 Jets targets from 2020 NHL Draft who could help reshape future 1193387 Pushed to the brink, Golden Knights need more from forward corps to survive 1193388 Quick-strike Lightning beat Islanders, move one win away from Stanley Cup berth 1193389 Anton Khudobin, Dallas Stars take 3-1 lead on Vegas Golden Knights 1193390 Quest for the Stanley Cup: Scores, schedules in the bubble SPORT-SCAN, INC. 941-284-4129 1193358 Boston Bruins scoring areas is promising, his complete inability to finish a major concern. Like Pastrnak, Kase’s grade suffers from his bad decision to violate protocol that caused him to miss training camp.

Bruins 2020: A year-end report card Chris Wagner: C

Wagner continued to play his physical brand of hockey, leading the team By STEVE CONROY | [email protected] | Boston Herald in hits (192) by a large margin. But like his fellow fourth-liners, he never quite reached 2018-19 form. September 13, 2020 at 5:51 a.m. Anders Bjork: C

The Notre Dame product can be an NHL player. What kind? To be As Bruins management attempts to assess both a wildly successful determined. Thus far, he hasn’t shown the finishing abilities to play in the regular season and a very disappointing playoff and figure out the good top six. that should be kept and the bad to be discarded, we have made our own year-end evaluations. And in this most unique of seasons, the report card Karson Kuhlman: C- was a lot more challenging to fill out. Kuhlman made the varsity out of training camp but broke his leg early in We did our best to weigh the playoff lows against the highs of the long- the season. He never did fulfill the promise he showed in camp and late ago regular season and maintain a proper perspective. So, without last season, but the burst of speed he flashed a couple of times in the further ado, here are the grades. Please, feel free to vigorously disagree. bubble serve as a reminder that he could be a serviceable bottom-six wing in this league. FORWARDS Nick Ritchie: D Brad Marchand: A+ It seems anything higher than an F would seem like grade inflation for Once dismissed as a rat, albeit a talented one, Marchand has developed some fans after his five-minute major in Game 4 against Tampa Bay. But into a leader among leaders in the dressing room and he brought his he did start out that series fairly well, scoring a goal in the Game 2 competitiveness to the table in the playoffs,. overtime loss and playing the body at the appropriate times. But he also had to be taken out of the Carolina series because he could not keep up. Patrice Bergeron: A The theory of adding size and toughness to this roster was a sound one, Bergeron remains the consummate pro and earned another Selke it’s just not that easy to do. Trophy nomination. His chronic groin injury is always a going concern but Joakim Nordstrom: D he still managed 31 goals while missing nine games. Nordstrom was injured at the outset of the season a calendar year ago David Pastrnak: A- and never really got on track. Despite the Swede’s strong work ethic, four This grade was easily an A+ at the end of the regular season when only months off before the playoffs did little to alleviate his struggles. Tough a pandemic kept him from being the first Bruin to score 50 goals in 26 year to be a UFA. years. But his decision to return late from Europe then violate protocol, DEFENSE thus missing training camp, cost him and ultimately the team. Torey Krug: A- Charlie Coyle: B Krug was well on his way to another 50-point season when the pandemic Despite being bounced around the lineup in the early part of the year, pause hit. He continued his strong power-play work in the playoffs. On Coyle kept his head up and did what was asked. When he settled more the series-clinching goal against the Lightning, the challenge he’ll always permanently into the third-line center role his play only improved. With an face on defense was evident. But if this is it for his Bruin career, Krug can ever-changing concept for what the third line should look like, Coyle had walk out the door with his head held high. his moments in the playoffs but never got on the roll he did a year ago. Charlie McAvoy: B David Krejci: B Despite a scoring drought that lasted a mind-boggling 54 games, the The second-line center did not have as a good a year as he did in 2018- Boston University product grew further into his role as a No. 1 defender 19, but that could be chalked up to the seasons that his wings had. He and eventually did get his numbers up to a respectable total. More was dominant in the series against Carolina (the presence of a skilled offensive production is needed if he’s to be the true all-around top dog right wing was a reminder of how under-utilized he’s been in recent but, at 22, he’s got plenty of time to get there. years) but his line ran into a buzzsaw in the Tampa Bay series. Zdeno Chara: B- Jake DeBrusk: B- The ’s role has changed into being a defensive specialist and His postseason was a microcosm of his regular season, which was a penalty-killing extraordinaire. He played that role very well in the regular microcosm of his young career. After dropping from 27 goals in 2018-19 season, but never truly got his footing in the playoffs. He could still be a to 19 goals in 2019-20 (in just three fewer games), his two goals fueled valuable piece to the puzzle. the B’s pivotal Game 4 comeback win over Carolina. But there were stretches where he disappeared. Brandon Carlo: B

Sean Kuraly: C+ Perhaps as much as any player on the roster, Carlo seemed to have had the most difficulty finding his game after the pause. He followed a strong Due to injuries, the fourth line did not have a good year. It had its spurts 2018-19 regular season and playoff with an equally solid 2019-20 before of solid play but could not sustain it for any length of time. But whenever the pause, but his legs, decision-making and puck management never Kuraly was called upon to play in a different role up in the lineup, he did returned to that level in the playoffs. pretty well. His loss was a key factor in the Bruins going out in five to the Lightning. Matt Grzelcyk: B-

Par Lindholm: C Grzelcyk had some rough patches early in the season, but once he settled in with Jeremy Lauzon as his partner midway through the season, As a 13th forward, Lindholm was a decent fill-in as either center or wing. the Charlestown native regained his equilibrium. Grzelcyk could be in line But when Kuraly left the lineup in the Tampa Bay series, Lindholm was for added responsibilities should Krug depart. not able to answer the bell against a very tough team. Jeremy Lauzon: B- Ondrej Kase: C A midseason call-up, Lauzon gave the B’s exactly what they wanted and It’s anyone’s guess what this player will be. At times, Kase has been a needed at the time – size, competitiveness and bite on the back end. He crafty, speedy puck hound who could be an excellent complement to played a big part in righting the B’s ship when it was taking on a bit of Krejci as the longed-for second-line right wing. His ability to get into water at midseason. But like fellow big boys Carlo and Chara, Lauzon never got his game back after the pause.

Connor Clifton: C+

The Jersey boy is one of the few Bruins to improve upon his midterm grade with his playoff performance. With a reputation as an unpredictable gambler, Clifton started the season by playing against type almost too much before injury and under-performance cost him his job. But Cliffy Hockey returned in the playoffs.

John Moore: D

A terrific pro who is always the first on ice at practice and sets a good example for young players fighting to get in the lineup, Moore was not able to do enough to stay in the lineup when he got the rare chance to play. B’s need more from a $2.75 million cap slot, and he’s on the books for three more years.

GOALTENDING

Tuukka Rask – Incomplete

What other grade is there to give? Rask truly deserved his Vezina Trophy nomination, but the the regular season was a dry run for what was supposed to be a long playoff run as coach Bruce Cassidy carefully doled out the playing time to his starter in order for him to be ready for another Cup run. Unfortunately, a family matter forced him to leave after the second game of the Carolina series.

Jaroslav Halak: B-

Halak had a good enough regular season to allow Rask to elevate his game to a Vezina level. But when thrust into the starter’s role, he couldn’t play consistently well enough, allowing too many questionable goals. He remains a very good 1B.

COACHING

Bruce Cassidy: B+

Cassidy did a masterful job of refocusing his team after the gut- wrenching Game 7 loss in 2019. The B’s were the best team in hockey from start to finish of the regular season. His Jack Adams Award was well-deserved. But he could just never get his team back to that level after the pause. In Game 3 against Tampa Bay, he went outside the box and skated 11 forwards and seven defensemen and the results were disastrous. It was one of the rare times since taking over in 2017 that he couldn’t find the right button. Then again, after Rask left, that right button may not have existed.

MANAGEMENT

Don Sweeney: C

I’ll be the first to admit that I liked the deadline moves at the time and I still think Kase can become an important player for this team. It was a neat trick to be able to move the David Backes contract, too. But while the acquisitions of Coyle and Marcus Johansson were instrumental in getting the B’s to within a game of the Stanley Cup last year, Kase and Nick Ritchie did not give the team the jolt it needed. Had the pause not happened, maybe the results would have been different, but we’ll never know that. Throw in the failed Brett Ritchie experiment, and finding that physical, needle-moving winger might be Sweeney’s white whale. The Lindholm pick-up was another good depth move.

Boston Globe LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193359 Calgary Flames During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Giordanos quietly helped out those in need in the community. Examples include paying for groceries and purchasing a laptop for an individual who required one for online Giordano salutes predecessor Iginla after winning Mark Messier Award schooling. They also participated in the Calgary Fire Department’s drive- by birthday celebrations during the height of the coronavirus outbreak.

“I grew up here in Calgary and came here at a pretty young age,” Kristen Anderson • Postmedia Giordano noted. “My wife Lauren and I have always been a couple who have wanted to give back. We feel like this community and this city have Publishing date:Sep 14, 2020 given so much to us. We wouldn’t be where we are today in our lives if it wasn’t for the city of Calgary and the people of Calgary.”

When Jarome Iginla departed Calgary hastily in 2013, the Flames’ captaincy was vacant for the first time in a decade. Calgary Sun: LOADED: 09.14.2020 The choice to replace him that following season had been obvious — and Mark Giordano took the torch proudly, donning the ‘C’ for the franchise ever since.

Coming to Calgary as an undrafted, fresh-faced 21-year-old out of the back in 2005, Giordano saw Iginla every step of the way during the impressionable early years of his career.

So it’s no surprise that the now-36-year-old — who was named the 2020 recipient of the Mark Messier Leadership Award on Sunday (an award Iginla himself won after the 2008-09 season) — cited No. 12, the 2020 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, as one his biggest influences.

“You can’t say enough good things about Iggy on the ice. Obviously his accomplishments speak for themselves,” Giordano said. “But for the people who have never met him, the way he treats people off the ice is something I really looked up to. He treats everyone the same, with so much respect and he’s kind to everyone where it be training staff, coaches, people in the community … I really looked up to that as a young guy.”

Giordano is also one of the few NHLers left who would remember watching the award’s namesake, who himself conducted the first- intermission interview with the Flames’ captain during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Sunday.

The award is presented annually to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game in hockey.

Messier, himself, makes the selection after suggestions from team and league personnel.

“This is special,” noted Giordano, the 2019 Norris Trophy winner, afterward in a Zoom interview with media on Sunday afternoon. “I’m a little bit older, so I grew up watching Mark Messier as a player, remembering him especially during his days as a Ranger, winning the Stanley Cup with New York but also in Edmonton. To have my name on that award means a lot.

“When you think of leadership, he’s viewed as the ultimate leader in our sport.”

In Calgary, many would also view Giordano that way as the native has made a lasting impact on the team, organization and in the city following in Iginla’s footsteps.

Giordano captured the 2017 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, which is given to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a measured positive impact on their community through sports.

Giordano and his wife Lauren’s contributions are lengthy and include donating time to Habitat for Humanity, along with their initiative ‘Team Giordano,’ which promotes physical fitness and academics, as well as leadership development, at high-needs schools in Calgary.

His commitment to these schools included a ball hockey/sport court, floor hockey equipment, school supplies and new computers, along with student mentorship opportunities. This initiative has raised $500,000, impacting the lives of more than 11,000 students.

Giordano also participates in other community endeavours, including the team’s literacy program, the ‘’ project and is an ambassador for inclusion, access and development of hockey through Calgary Flames Foundation programming. 1193360 Columbus Blue Jackets Instead, he put his trust in two young players who had risen through the team’s developmental system, Joonas Korpisalo and rookie Elvis Merzlikins.

Plenty of high marks on Blue Jackets’ season report card Kekalainen also tabbed young goalies Matiss Kivlenieks and Veini Vehvilainen to split time with the Cleveland Monsters in the , as the search for Bobrovsky’s replacement began. Brian Hedger The Columbus Dispatch It could’ve easily backfired, leaving Kekalainen scrambling for a veteran Sep 13, 2020 at 5:46 AM midseason, but instead he was richly rewarded for a calculated gamble.

Korpisalo earned an invitation to the NHL All-Star Game before tearing a meniscus in his right knee Dec. 29, and Merzlikins matched him It was the longest season in team history. afterward with a stellar run to keep the Jackets in the playoff chase — The 2019-20 campaign was also important for the Blue Jackets, who lost going 12-5-5 with a sizzling .934 save percentage and five shutouts. a raft of key free agents on July 1, 2019, but kept rolling along to their Kivlenieks also impressed as Merzlikins’ backup, as the Blue Jackets’ fourth straight playoff appearance — overcoming a mountain of injuries in biggest question mark transitioned into an area of strength. the process. Korpisalo and Merzlikins also showed excellence in the postseason, The ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup wasn’t accomplished, but despite both having costly lapses, but those should be seen only as the fact they even joined the field vying for it was a surprise to most. The growing pains. season might have ended with a bitter first-round loss to the Tampa Bay Grade: A Lightning, but it’s hard to see 2019-20 as anything but another step forward in the Blue Jackets’ quest to become a championship-caliber Coaching franchise. The challenges the Blue Jackets were considerable. Here are the final grades: They not only lost a two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy — the award Forwards that goes to the NHL’s top goalie — but their leading scorer from the prior to two seasons also hit the road. Nobody outside of Columbus gave this After losing Artemi Panarin, their leading scorer each of the previous two team even a slight chance of making the playoffs, and yet they did make seasons, the Blue Jackets’ forwards were directed to make a lot of safe it back to face both the and Tampa Bay Lightning in decisions and prevent odd-man rushes by staying "above the puck" in postseason series. the offensive zone. This time, they lost to the Lightning in the first round, but that shouldn’t That, along with some key injuries, contributed to a tough season up detract from the job coach John Tortorella and his assistants did this front. Only one forward, Oliver Bjorkstrand, reached the 20-goal mark — season. The power play continued to struggle for a third straight year, but leading the team with 21 goals in 49 games — and no forward reached the Jackets’ coaching staff took a roster depleted by free agency and 50 points in the pandemic-shortened 70-game season. made it back to the playoffs — overcoming a spate of injuries, developing Pierre-Luc Dubois had a team-high 49 points (18 goals) and free-agent two promising goalies and working with a sizable crop of rookies. acquisition Gustav Nyquist met his expectations with 42 points (15 Tortorella was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for the NHL’s top goals), but it was tough sledding for everybody else. coaching performance, the fifth time in his career. Cam Atkinson finished with just 12 goals, 14 assists and 26 points in 44 Grade: A- games, struggling during an early slump and then missing extended time with a nagging high-ankle sprain. That came only a year after he set career highs with 41-28-69. Columbus Dispatch LOADED: 09.14.2020 Captain Nick Foligno finished with 10 goals, Boone Jenner added 11, Alexander Wennberg had just five and a shoulder injury ended Josh Anderson’s season in December with just one goal and three assists.

There were bright spots, including the overall play of rookies Alexandre Texier, Emil Bemstrom and Liam Foudy, but this is an area where the Jackets must improve.

Grade: C-

Defensemen

After Panarin and Matt Duchene left, the importance of this position group grew exponentially.

This was the one area the Jackets stacked up favorably, touting impressive depth and two young stars, and their wealth of talented blue- liners paid off amid an injury-plagued season.

Zach Werenski led NHL defensemen with a franchise-record and career- high 20 goals, Seth Jones’ two-way dominance was on full display until an ankle fracture ended his season in mid-February and the rest of the defensive lineup was filled out by quality depth.

Rookies Vladislav Gavrikov and Andrew Peeke proved themselves capable, Dean Kukan surged up the depth chart and Ryan Murray remained an underappreciated two-way presence when healthy.

Grade: A-

Goalies

After Sergei Bobrovsky signed a $70 million, seven-year contract with the , most assumed Jarmo Kekalainen would acquire at least one veteran goalie to offset the loss. 1193361 Dallas Stars

Stars notebook: Andrew Cogliano makes impact in return to lineup; Andrej Sekera becomes key part of penalty kill

By Matthew DeFranks

8:29 PM on Sep 13, 2020 CDT

In his return to the lineup, Andrew Cogliano made an impact for the Stars.

Cogliano, who missed Game 7 against Colorado because of an injury and then was a healthy scratch in the first three games of the Western Conference final against Vegas, picked up his first point of the playoffs in Game 4 by assisting on Joe Pavelski’s goal. Cogliano forced a turnover in the Vegas zone and then Pavelski lifted a deflected over Robin Lehner.

The goal turned the tide in Game 4, and helped the Stars open up a 3-1 series lead over Vegas in the best-of-7 series.

For Cogliano, it came after his first career postseason healthy scratches. When he was hurt for Game 7 against Colorado, Joel Kiviranta entered the lineup and scored a hat trick in his place. With Kiviranta’s spot in the lineup secure, interim coach Rick Bowness looked for a left wing to remove from the lineup: Jamie Benn, Mattias Janmark, Jason Dickinson or Cogliano.

He landed on Cogliano, the 13-year veteran.

“Not fun watching,” Cogliano said. “Whenever you’re not playing and not out there with the guys, obviously it’s disappointing, especially where we are right now and the position we’re in. That’s how it goes.”

In Game 4, Cogliano drew back into the lineup when Radek Faksa missed his first game of the postseason. Dickinson shifted to center, and Cogliano went back to his customary spot on the left wing of the Stars' line.

“We’re here to win and whatever is going to make that happen is the key for everyone involved,” Cogliano said. “We stick together and we support each other whenever anyone gets in the lineup and who’s called upon. That’s it.”

Shutting it down: The Stars iced Game 4 away with a key kill of a 70- second 5-on-3 Vegas power play, and some of the credit belongs to defenseman Andrej Sekera.

Sekera — along with Esa Lindell and Blake Comeau — was on the ice for the entire 5-on-3 situation, and he played 3:03 of the games' final 5:54 as the Stars fended off a Golden Knights rally.

On the 5 on 3, the Stars were skilled in keeping the puck away from the middle of the ice, shutting down passes to William Karlsson and Reilly Smith around the crease. That allowed Anton Khudobin to prepare for outside shots, and he read plays and got over on Vegas one-timers.

“If you you’re going to give up anything, which you are against any highly skilled 5 on 3, your preference is to make them shoot from the outside,” Bowness said. “Andrej and Esa and Blake Comeau did a fantastic job with that. We weren’t getting beat through seams. They made some good plays, which they’re going to do when you give them that much time with that much skill out there.”

Sekera has rebounded from a rough start to the postseason, when he was beat in the opening two games of the first round against Calgary. He went from a third-pairing option that simply gave Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg a breather, to an integral part of the Stars penalty kill. In Game 4, Sekera played 18:17.

“If you know where he’s going to get to eventually and you know his character and his importance to the team, you have to allow him that opportunity to get there,” Bowness said.

Dallas Morning News LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193362 Dallas Stars When asked if there was a scenario in which goaltender Ben Bishop was fit to back up but not start, Bowness said the Stars “wouldn’t put him in that position.”

The Stars have run into trouble in closeout games, but history’s on their “He’s unfit to play at this point,” Bowness said. “He’s practicing, and side entering Game 5 vs. Golden Knights that’s the way it’s going to stay until he’s cleared to play.”

By Matthew DeFranks Dallas Morning News LOADED: 09.14.2020 8:15 PM on Sep 13, 2020 CDT

The Stars have been in this position before.

They’ve pushed a team one loss away from elimination. In the first round, the Stars could send home Calgary in Game 6. In the second round, Colorado could have been sent packing in Game 5. Both times, though, the Stars were punished in the first period of the closeout game.

The Flames jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Stars roared back to scored seven unanswered goals to eliminate Calgary. The Avalanche toasted Ben Bishop for four goals in the first period in Game 5, and pushed the series to seven games.

The Stars are hoping Game 5 against Vegas on Monday night doesn’t follow a similar script.

Dallas leads the Western Conference final 3-1 after its 2-1 win in Game 4 on Saturday night, and can advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a win on Monday night.

“We know every single game in the playoffs, they’ll be tough,” Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera said. “Every single time a team faces elimination, they try to throw the best they have at you. We’ve got to be ready for it. On the other hand, we have to throw the best we have at them.”

History is on the Stars' side.

In NHL history, teams with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series win the series 90.9% of the time, including 56.5% of the time in Game 5. All four teams that held a 3-1 lead in the second round won the series.

Only twice in NHL history has a team erased a 3-1 deficit in the last two rounds of the playoffs (the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final) to win, and not since 2000, when New Jersey advanced to the Stanley Cup Final by beating Philadelphia.

The Stars have never lost a series when leading 3-1. The franchise improved to 7-0 in those series by beating Colorado in the second round.

In the Western Conference final, the Stars have ridden the strong goaltending of Anton Khudobin and timely goals from top-line players like Alexander Radulov, Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn. They’ve kept the Golden Knights largely to the perimeter of the offensive zone, and the Stars have cashed in on the minimal chances they’re generated in the Vegas end.

In Game 4, the Stars weathered an early Vegas onslaught in the first half of the game before Pavelski’s and Benn’s goals gave them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“This time of year, when you’re playing an excellent hockey club every game, you’re not going to control the tempo of the game for 60 minutes,” Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "They’re not going to control it and neither are we.

“Until you do, don’t give up too much, don’t fall too far behind. And then know that we can come back no matter what.”

Injury updates: Bowness did not provide an injury update on forward Roope Hintz on Sunday morning, saying he would meet with the Stars medical staff before Monday’s Game 5. Hintz left Game 4 in the first period Saturday after suffering an apparent injury during a collision with Corey Perry.

Forward Radek Faksa remained unfit to play, Bowness said. Faksa got hurt in Game 3 on Thursday after hitting Alex Tuch, appearing to favor his left hand shortly after.

If both Faksa and Hintz are unable to play in Game 5, Justin Dowling would be the most likely replacement. He can fill a hole at center and play on the flank on the power play, where Hintz is stationed. Dowling was also the Stars' extra forward during the warmup for Game 4. 1193363 Dallas Stars Hintz appeared to get hurt when he collided with Corey Perry in the first period.

Stars notebook: Another Alex Tuch infraction goes uncalled; Dallas getting comfortable in close games Dallas Morning News LOADED: 09.14.2020

By Matthew DeFranks

11:49 PM on Sep 12, 2020 CDT

Stars fans are getting used to seeing Alex Tuch. They’d rather see less of him.

The Golden Knights forward delivered a big hit away from the puck on Stars forward Corey Perry behind the Vegas net in the second period, leading to Perry temporarily exiting the game to fulfill the NHL’s concussion protocol. Perry was cleared and returned to the game.

Tuch’s hit on Perry was a textbook interference call since Perry never touched the puck, and a “minor penalty shall be imposed on a player who interferes with or impedes the progress of an opponent who is not in possession of the puck,” according to the NHL rule book.

“I didn’t see him coming at all,” Perry said. “He came around the net, and I was going around the net, but yeah. It was a hit, and I played a shift after, and then somebody called, and I had to go back and do all the tests or whatever, but I’m fine. Just one of those things that the spotter called out, and I had to go do it.”

Stars interim coach Rick Bowness: “I have no comment on that.”

It was Tuch’s second infraction that went uncalled by officials on the ice.

In Game 3, Tuch slew-footed Tyler Seguin behind the Vegas net after the whistle, knocking the Stars center to the ice by using his leg to wipe out Seguin’s. According to the NHL rule book, “any player who is guilty of slew-footing shall be assessed a match penalty.”

Tuch has one assist in four games against Dallas after posting eight goals and two assists in the round robin and first two rounds of the playoffs.

Momentum changer: In the Stars' loss in Game 2, Bowness said the team just needed one goal to get them going in the right direction. In Game 2, that goal never arrived. In Game 4 on Saturday, Joe Pavelski provided it.

After Nate Schmidt turned the puck over to Andrew Cogliano, Pavelski’s backhand deflected off Schmidt’s stick and floated over Robin Lehner. It was a goal completely against the run of play, and helped the Stars stabilize their game.

Between Jason Dickinson’s shot on goal with 9:18 left in the first period, and Pavelski’s goal with 11:34 elapsed in the second period, the Stars had two shots on goal in 20:52.

“We didn’t have a lot going on,” Perry said. “Our emotion was a little low, and I think we only had six shots or seven or eight shots at that point. That’s what Joe does. He comes up big at big moments, and we got a bounce, and it kind of put some life into us.”

The Stars had seven of the period’s nine shots in the rest of the second, including Jamie Benn’s power-play goal.

“Would we like better stretches at times?” Pavelski said. “Yeah, absolutely. I don’t think we’ve probably been on the positive side of power-play chances, so that can clean up for us a little bit, but we understand where we’re at, and we haven’t done anything yet. We’re in a position, we’re one step closer, but nothing’s been done, nothing’s been accomplished yet, so we’ll just stay focused, try to play our best game of the series next [game].”

Close games? No problem: The Stars improved to 9-1 in one-goal games in the playoffs with Saturday night’s win. They are 3-7 in all other games.

Dallas has not lost a one-goal game since Game 1 against Calgary.

No update on Hintz: Roope Hintz left the game with 7:18 remaining in the first period on Saturday night and did not return. After the game, Bowness did not provide an update. 1193364 Edmonton Oilers Right defence

The trade for Larsson in 2016 was a bitter pill for Oilers fans, but it did begin the process of turning a defence best described as a “leftorium” Lowetide: Oilers approach 2020 draft with increased depth in important into something that resembled balance. Larsson is one year away from positions free agency, so this might be a good time to contemplate dealing him.

Ethan Bear’s emergence as a plug-and-play top-four option changed the By Allan Mitchell world as the Oilers knew it. Suddenly, an area of constant sorrow began to look competent and more. In the time between Jan. 1 and the end of Sep 13, 2020 the regular season in 2019-20, the Oilers right defence had a five-on-five goal share of 55.56 percent (Larsson), 52.08 (Bear) and 50.00 (Matt

Benning). An NHL team will make the playoffs and push for the division In 2015, the Edmonton Oilers used four of six draft picks on defencemen. title with that kind of five-on-five performance, especially in a season The following year, the club used all three third-round picks on blueliners. when the special teams performed as admirably as Edmonton’s this past Add those items to the two first-round selections used on defenders in campaign. 2018 (Evan Bouchard) and 2019 (Philip Broberg) and the organization Bear and Benning are restricted free agents, and with Larsson one year has an exceptional amount of depth on defence from the NHL down from being restricted, Holland is going to have to make some decisions through draft-plus-one seasons. soon. If a team is offering enough for Larsson, the club could move Defensive depth gives general manager room to wheel this Bouchard onto the roster as third pair, but that’ll be a big ask for Bear offseason. He could even choose to deal from the top (Oscar Klefbom, and Benning with Larsson gone. Darnell Nurse, ) of the defensive deck, although the club Mike Green was acquired and might have been an option but he retired. will be giving up a great deal of experience in the short term, while There are some nice pieces in free agency (including Dylan Demolo, who pushing inexperienced names like Caleb Jones and Bouchard into had a strong run after coming over to the Winnipeg Jets), so if Larsson is prominent positions. dealt, Holland may look to free agency to shore things up. In creating the pipeline of quality prospects currently listed among Deal from strength? Not exactly, although Larsson’s contract puts him Edmonton’s player assets, the bet by general manager Peter Chiarelli in in play. If Larsson is dealt, expect incoming talent to help Bear in the top 2015 and Holland today is the same: When the time comes to address four. need, the Oilers will have the ability to make deals with teams based on any number of requirements. Why? Every team needs defencemen. Draft need? Beyond Bouchard, Filip Berglund is building a good resume, but the club would be helped with additional prospects at this position. If Holland has a shutdown veteran (Larsson), a two-way player who can the Oilers take an RH in this year’s draft, look for that player play well over 20 minutes per game and can flourish in all three late (Round 5 or later) or a big surprise selection (like William Villeneuve) disciplines (Klefbom) and a rugged, durable speedster (Nurse) who can of a player who is completely off the board. capably play top-four minutes and helped deliver a 51 percent goal share between Jan. 1 and the end of the regular season. Centre

Oilers fans have their own opinions about who should be sent away, but The Oilers have ridiculous quality at centre with Connor McDavid and for Holland there are other considerations. Which player would return the Leon Draisaitl, and it goes from exceptional to otherworldly when adding best fit to the Oilers? Are there injury worries that make one or more of in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. RNH will likely play left wing in the coming his current defenceman a worry in the future? How does the general season, and that means Holland doesn’t have enough depth to deal from manager want the team to play (style and pace)? All of those things strength. factor into the offseason activity. Ryan McLeod is a speedster who had a solid AHL debut in 2019-20 and How deep is the Oilers defence? Can the roster withstand the exit of one he may be NHL ready a year from now. The big question surrounding of the big three on defence? Are there any other positions that are close McLeod involves offence: Will he bring enough to play No. 3 centre? If to being areas of strength in Edmonton’s system? How many positions so, the Oilers are going to be set at the position for most of the decade. need to be addressed at the 2020 draft? Let’s have a look. Deal from strength? Edmonton’s poor left wing depth means the team will Left defence be looking to add help there and relying on players like Jujhar Khaira and Gaetan Haas to fill in after McDavid and Draisaitl. Klefbom, Nurse and Kris Russell give the left side of the Edmonton defence a veteran look. From Jan. 1 through the end of the season, Draft need? I think there’s an excellent chance Edmonton drafts a centre Klefbom (52.78 percent), Nurse (51.06) and rookie Caleb Jones (61.76) in 2020. Names like Seth Jarvis, Mavrik Bourque and Dylan Holloway all boasted solid numbers in five-on-five goal differential (via lead the way. NaturalStatTrick). Russell (46.67) appears to be the odd man out based on performance, and that may signal his being dealt. Goal

William Lagesson is ready to graduate and is one of the few defenders Believe it or not, there are signs of real growth at this position. Mikko on the team whose skill set includes shutdown ability. That makes him Koskinen had a solid year in the NHL, Ilya Konovalov is in Year 3 of his valuable to the Oilers. Philip Broberg has a range of skills and looks like KHL career and showing fantastic early in 2020-21 (a .950 save he might be NHL ready in 2021, meaning something may have to give on percentage through four games). He is a KHL free agent at the end of the the left side sooner rather than later. season. Olivier Rodrigue finished his junior career with a flourish and has promise. Dmitri Samorukov looks like he’s ready to take a step forward this season in the KHL, meaning the Oilers not only have a bona fide NHL defence Deal from strength? Edmonton doesn’t have the kind of depth required on the left side but also are stacking and racking with true quality by a team to deal a goalie in the system, but progress has been made. underneath courtesy of Lagesson, Broberg and Samorukov. Konovalov appears to be spiking and Rodrigue took a late step forward. The trend is solidly positive. Deal from strength? Holland can deal from the NHL roster, or trade a prospect and still have enough left to build on. Making room for waiver- Draft need? I think there’s a chance Edmonton takes Yaroslav Askarov if eligible Lagesson may mean more than one trade from this position. It’s he’s still on the board at No. 14 and expect the club might be intrigued by probable Holland goes the safe route and keeps Klefbom and Nurse for the good numbers of Calle Clang later in the draft. another year, but it depends on the quality of offers available. It’s a Right wing position to watch leading up to the draft and free agency. This position looks stronger than one year ago, mostly because Kailer Draft need? The Oilers have no urgency here. If Jake Sanderson is Yamamoto flourished in his third NHL audition. Yamamoto will join Zack available at No. 14 overall, they’ll draft him. Otherwise, Oilers fans should Kassian and Josh Archibald among the top-nine forwards, meaning Alex expect at least one deal from the left side, possibly on draft weekend and Chiasson could be dealt if there’s a cap crunch or wayward winger Jesse it could be from the top of the depth chart. Puljujarvi signs. The big hope bubbling under is Raphael Lavoie, who is currently a centre but likely to move over in the coming months. He has a terrific release and is a volume shooter. Edmonton would benefit from quick development from this player.

The Puljujarvi situation puts the Oilers in a tough spot at this position. JP and Yamamoto should be establishing themselves on the top three lines currently, but Puljujarvi not being on the team a year ago means he’s starting from the beginning should he sign with the team for 2020-21.

Deal from strength? Edmonton doesn’t have the depth to trade from this position but may deal Puljujarvi anyway.

Draft need? At the draft table, Jack Quinn, Jacob Perreault and Dawson Mercer are quality players and could be available when Edmonton makes its first-round selection.

Left wing

Nugent-Hopkins looks to play for the Oilers on one of the top lines, with James Neal also signed for next season. Andreas Athanasiou, a restricted free agent, may also join the left wing depth chart but his being arbitration eligible makes things complicated.

Tyler Benson is the most prominent prospect, he’ll need to pass depth winger Joakim Nygard and any free agents Holland signs (Tyler Ennis is likely a candidate).

Deal from strength? Edmonton doesn’t have the depth to trade from this spot, despite Nugent-Hopkins being one year from free agency. Athanasiou should have trade value but his arbitration status is a major consideration for any team. There’s a chance his agent asks for a high number and the arbitrator agrees to it. The Oilers (or another team) wouldn’t be able to walk the deal and that alone could derail the offseason. The margins are close this offeseason because of the flat year-over-year cap.

Draft need? Rodion Amirov and rugged Ridly Greig (who also plays centre) might be draft possibilities at this position.

What does it all mean?

The Oilers have specific needs, a small amount of cap space and a limited number of players who have high value while also being deemed expendable by management. If Holland tweaks, he might be able to acquire talent and picks for players who are not currently part of the Oilers’ foundation.

If there’s an appetite in Edmonton’s front office for a true No. 1 goaltender, a quality No. 3 centre or a bona fide sniper for the McDavid line, this is going to get expensive in a hurry.

And it’s going to come from the defence, despite improvement in quality and depth in goal and on right wing.

At the draft, chances are we see the Oilers pick in the first round. It’s unlikely they trade out but could trade down on the first night.

Expect forwards, centres more likely than wingers because they can be moved but might emerge as NHL talent in the middle.

We wait, but not for long.

The Athletic LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193365 Los Angeles Kings A: I just don’t see that happening and the biggest reason is potential injury. In theory, your idea is very intriguing, but if the NHL is going to risk injury, then I assume they will do it in games with only NHL players Q&A WITH KINGS TV ANALYST JIM FOX: PART 2 participating. Incorporating college teams into the All-Star game celebrations may take place, but I would see it as a separate game. I know the NHL is always trying to find new ways and new concepts on how to present the All-Star game experience, but due to the physicality BY JIM FOX FOR LAKINGSINSIDER.COM (body contact) involved in hockey, to expect the All-Star game to be SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 “competitive” is unrealistic. I know that you did not mention how “competitive” your concept would be, but generally speaking, I think that anyone who thinks the All-Star game can be even close the real NHL games as far as competitive nature goes, is off base and doesn’t Jim Fox answers questions from fans here at LA Kings Insider. This is understand the physical, body contact aspect and how that affects the second in a three-part series. A link to the first piece is at the bottom “exhibition” games like the All-Star game. of this story. Enjoy. Q: Are you down w/ NHL’ers in the Olympics? I’m not, as that should be Q: Did you hate the Calgary flames as much as I did in the late 80’s-early something for amateurs to shoot for and attain. Our college guys are 90’s? Always secretly liked the Oilers b/c of their style (but hated Glenn great anyway? Anderson), but the Flames made me sick. A: I have no problem with NHLer’s in the Olympics. I think that the A: The Flames were one of the most physical teams around at that time. “amateurism” ship has sailed a long time ago. To define amateurism and Big and strong and tough and skilled. They didn’t make many friends but then enforce any rules associated with the definition would be extremely that didn’t stop them from being very successful. If it were not for the difficult and I would say, impossible to do fairly. For that reason, I am for Oilers, the Flames would have won at least one more Cup. asy for me to the “best-on-best” approach that we have now. Many, many years ago, see why you would hate them. when athletics were not so much of a revenue generator, maybe, just Q: I’ve heard that had the best nightlife scene of any city in the maybe, it worked. But that is no longer the case and I don’t see it going league. is that true still with Las Vegas on board now? that way in the future.

A: I guess this depends this your definition of “nightlife” and there are Q: What do you think of the 3 v. 3 OT? I don’t like it, as it looks like probably different definitions depending on which player(s) you ask? something you do at the end of practice to work on skills, get used to Younger players may have a different perspective than players that have playing w/new guys, etc. You play 60 M 5 v. 5, then completely change been around awhile. Montreal has a very much “European” feel the game just to get a winner. NFL doesn’t go 7 v 7 in OT. compared to most other NHL cities and many times that appeals to A: There are many factors that come into play here and to compare the visitors, since it is different and could even be described as exotic. For NFL to the NHL in this area is apples and oranges. The biggest factor in the most part, Montreal’s nightclub scene has always been something this specific area that makes the NFL and NHL very different is the way that most everyone enjoys and it has more of a classy feel than most the schedule breaks down. In the NFL, 16 games with basically only one other cities. And of course, there is the “ballet”. Overall, I think that NYC game per week and time to travel between cities. In the NHL, as many as has more to offer, but Montreal is very special. I know there are many 4 games per week, with back-to-back games and add travel into the mix other things to do I Vegas than gamble, but, since I am not a gambler, and you can see why these sports should not be compared to each other Vegas really isn’t my cup of tea. when talking about breaking ties and overtime rules. The NHL must Q: Did you ever drop the mitts? With whom? worry more about game-to-game fatigue, than the NFL does, when it comes to how to decide tie games. I agree that it is a big move to go from A: As far as I know, I was only penalized with a fighting major one time in 5 on 5 to 3 on 3, but ways must be implemented to find a winner as my NHL career. It was vs. the New York Islanders and it was Duane quickly as possible, so NHL teams can get on to their next game, without Sutter. As far as I can remember, I had just scored a goal and before I taxing the players too much. But that also means, taking the tie game out knew it, Duane grabbed me started a scrap. I had also gotten into it with of the equation, which is a whole other debate. I’m fine with 3 on 3. I Laurie Boschman at one time when he was with Winnipeg, but I don’t willing to listen to other ways to break ties, but I think that many people believe we received fighting majors? One thing that I am certain of, at no overlook how much of a “physically taxing” effect prolonging games with time did I ever land a punch let alone throw a punch. I was doing my best overtime has on players who many times are playing the next in less than to just hold on. 24 hours.

Q: How about teams wear their colored unis at home the 1st half of the Q: Are there internal, organizational criteria for retiring numbers (must be year (black for us), and the whites in the second half? or vice versa. in HOF, etc.) or is that decided on just stats alone (g, a, pts., etc.)? Would like to see the white unis at home again. A: The decision lies with each individual team. You do mention the HOF A: I am a little bit traditional in this area. When I first started to watch the factor. I don’t know any team that does not put a huge amount of NHL seriously, mid-60’s, the home team worn their colors at home, like it importance on players inducted into the HOF and how that applies to, is right now. For that reason, I really don’t mind the way it is now because whether that player has their number retired. Stats always are a factor it brings me back to when I first fell in love with hockey. As you know, and one stat that you did not add to the goals-assists-points would be every team has 3rd jerseys or commemorative jerseys that they wear games played. This allows teams to honor defensive players too. As and that helps change things up a bit. I have no problem with your plan to stated earlier, each individual team does what it feels is appropriate. alternate jersey color on a regular basis, but I don’t lose any sleep over the way things are done now.

Q: Can the kings PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE wear the purple and gold LA Kings Insider: LOADED: 09.14.2020 once this year at home? just once??

A: The Kings, like all other teams look to change things up with colors or honor the past by wearing “throw-back” sweaters. I assume that will continue in the future, whether it be “purple and gold” or any of the other sweaters the Kings have worn? I can tell you this, the league must approve all these types of decisions and many times this approval is done at least two years ahead of the plans to wear the jerseys. The Kings appreciate getting feedback from their supporters, so keep letting them know your opinions. It does make a difference.

Q: How would you feel about the defending Stanley Cup Champion playing either NCAA Champion of that year. Or a college all-star team at the All-Star game? 1193366 New York Islanders Point delivered a goal and an assist while clearly playing through some pain. He didn’t play another shift after getting tangled up with Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech early in the third, and his status for Game 5 is Quick-strike Lightning beat Islanders, on verge of final a question mark after showing all the reasons he’s Tampa Bay’s leading scorer in the postseason.

“He was all over it,” Cooper said of Point. “He was in on everything and By STEPHEN WHYNO setting up goals, scoring goals and he’s a big part of our team. We have to manage him. It’s the playoffs, and these guys are playing hard, hard ASSOCIATED PRESS minutes. You watch the intensity in these games and they just keep SEP 13, 2020 AT 6:17 PM increasing with every game that’s played and every round that’s played.”

EDMONTON, Alberta — While the Islanders were celebrating Brock New York Daily News LOADED: 09.14.2020 Nelson scoring the first goal of the game, Tampa Bay Lightning center was steaming about giving it up. Coach Jon Cooper decided to keep him on the ice for some redemption.

“I’m not really happy out there after that goal,” Gourde said. “I’m like, ‘Let’s go back out there and try to have an O-zone shift where we can actually get momentum back.’”

They did more than that. Gourde set up Blake Coleman to tie it 15 seconds after Nelson’s goal, Ondrej Palat added another 12 seconds later and the quick-strike Lightning moved within a victory of the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-1 victory Sunday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

“Getting scored on doesn’t sit real well, but credit to Coop keeping us out there, giving us a shot to go get it back,” Coleman said. “Any time you can respond quickly in a game, it’s going to swing the momentum right back. Then obviously our big boys took over from there.”

Those big boys were the Lightning’s best players. Brayden Point scored in his return after missing Game 3 before leaving in the third with injury, fellow top liners Palat and set him up for that goal, defenseman Victor Hedman played 29:12 and goaltender made 26 saves.

That combination has Tampa Bay the verge of its first Cup Final appearance since 2015.

“All the guys are pretty excited to play for the big prize, but we have business to do here,” said Vasilevskiy, who has played every minute of every Lightning game this postseason. “We have to win the fourth one first.”

The Lightning won their third game of the series during the furious 27 second stretch with three goals. That’s also where the Islanders lost it

“You want to follow up a goal with a good shift and have a good response and kind of stay on it, and they had a better response than we did and got two quick ones,” Nelson said. “That was the difference: really 30 seconds there. If you hang on there for a bit, it’s a different game.”

Lightning's Brayden Point (21) celebrates his goal against Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov (40) during the third period.

Coach Barry Trotz wants strong shifts out of his players to start and end each period and following any goal. “We didn’t do it twice,” he said. “That’s on us.”

It’s also evidence of the firepower the Lightning have assembled, from homegrown talent like Palat, Point, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy and trade- deadline pickups Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. In Goodrow and free agent signings Patrick Maroon and Zach Bogosian, general manager Julien BriseBois added some muscle to all that talent, and that is giving his team confidence to go toe-to-toe with the Islanders in a series that’s getting chippy.

“We’re not going to back down from anybody,” Coleman said.

Players from each team had some discussions during pregame warmups, Trotz inserted tough guy into the Islanders lineup for more tough toughness and tensions rose at times. The Isles’ Matt Martin shot the puck at the first period horn, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and inciting some pushing and shoving, but the result hinged more on the play for 27 seconds and two big Tampa Bay shifts.

“It’s a game — it’s not a shift,” Cooper said. “Part of my job is make sure they’ve got the confidence to go do their job, and I have full confidence in them and they delivered.” 1193367 New York Islanders

Islanders' power-play futility costs them again in Game 4 loss to Lightning

By Colin Stephenson [email protected] @ColinSNewsday

Updated September 14, 2020 2:02 AM

Playing with a man advantage proved no advantage for the Islanders on Sunday in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference final series against Tampa Bay.

Down a goal midway in the second period, they needed their power play to come through for them when it got the chance. Then, down two goals late in the third, they needed it even more.

But when the Islanders needed their power play to produce in a couple of critical times, it couldn’t. And now they face elimination for the second time in the playoffs after losing to the Lightning, 4-1, in Edmonton to fall behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 5 is on Tuesday.

The killer for the Islanders in Game 4 was a 27-second span midway through the second period immediately after opened the scoring at 11:27 of the period.

Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman shocked the Islanders by tying the score 15 seconds later, and things got worse when Ondrej Palat gave Tampa Bay the lead 12 seconds after that.

Barry Trotz deflected criticism of the Islanders’ power play, preferring to point to the sequence in which they allowed Coleman and Palat to score so quickly after Nelson’s goal as the key to the game.

"I think for the most part, we’ve been keeping fairly even [on special- teams play],’’ Trotz said. "Take the first game [an 8-2 loss] out, I think we’ve been pretty close to even against a very good power play. Today, they didn’t get one, we didn’t get one, so the game was [decided by] five- on-five. In a 27-second span they had two quick goals, and our response after our goal was not good and put us in a hole.’’

But the Islanders had chances to get back in the game.

Former Ranger Kevin Shattenkirk took a penalty at 13:06 of the second period for shooting the puck over the glass, giving the Islanders their second power play of the game. They managed just one shot on goal with the man advantage, however, before Mathew Barzal negated the power play when he took a holding-the-stick penalty with 17 seconds left in Shattenkirk’s penalty.

Then, after Brayden Point’s goal early in the third period put Tampa Bay up 3-1, the Islanders got another chance on the power play when Palat was sent off for hooking Nelson at 13:52. They got three shots on goal on that one but couldn’t get anything past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Islanders went 0-for-3 on the power play Sunday and are 1-for-14 with the man advantage in the series, including a 2-1 loss in Game 2, when they went 0-for-4 and failed on a five-minute major and a 38- second five-on-three.

"I think we’ve had a couple chances,’’ defenseman Nick Leddy said when asked about the power play’s futility. "Capitalizing on them is one thing. I know for me, I’ve got to be better at getting pucks to the net, getting pucks through. I think we’ve all just got to be a little better. It starts with us, and we can create a lot of momentum for our team and we need to start doing that.’’

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193368 New York Islanders

Islanders' Casey Cizikas, Tom Kuhnhackl injured and will miss rest of playoffs

By Andrew Gross [email protected] @AGrossNewsday

Updated September 14, 2020 2:00 AM

The Islanders’ losses started even before their 4-1 loss to the Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday pushed their season to the brink.

Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnhackl left the Edmonton bubble because of undisclosed injuries and will not return. The Islanders said any further updates will not be made until after their postseason run ends.

"You have to have that next-man mentality," right wing Josh Bailey said. "Those guys are a big part of our team. I think every team goes through different injuries. It’s not something you can dwell on or that we even need to talk too much about."

Losing Cizikas, the identity-setting fourth-line center, obviously is an enormous blow for the Islanders. He had two assists in 18 postseason games but is a key penalty-killer, and his line with Matt Martin and typically establishes the team’s forecheck.

Cizikas also missed the Isles’ 5-3 win in Friday night’s Game 3.

Kuhnhackl was in the lineup for the first three games of the Islanders’ best-of-five qualifying series against the Panthers but has not played since.

"They both mean a lot to our team," defenseman Nick Leddy said. "We need guys to step up in our locker room and I have faith we’ll do that."

Unfriendly rivalry

Game 3 Friday night ended with 60 minutes in penalties in the final 36 seconds, including a fight between Martin and Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow.

The animosity continued Sunday during warm-ups, with Martin and teammate Ross Johnston, inserted into the lineup for Michael Dal Colle, jawing with the Lightning’s and Zach Bogosian.

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193369 New York Islanders Palat had scored the go-ahead goal for Tampa Bay — 12 seconds after the Lightning had tied it at 1-1 — off a feed from Kucherov.

"They’re all great players, I think we all know that," Bailey said. Top line's inability to match Lightning counterpart costly for Islanders "Obviously, off the rush, we can probably do a better job against them. They’re dangerous. They’re quick. So we have to find a way to limit those opportunities, and then in the d-zone, you try to find a way to be hard and By Neil Best take away those second opportunities.

@sportswatch "You can’t keep those guys away from getting a scoring chance throughout the game, but you’ve got to do a good job taking away those Updated September 14, 2020 1:48 AM second and third ones."

The margin for error is gone. Game 5 is Tuesday. The Islanders pride themselves on their four-lines-deep balance, and it is not just lip service. It has been a vital feature of their recent success. Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 09.14.2020 But there are times when stars must shine, usually in deep playoff runs, and, well, that has become a dire problem for the Islanders in the Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning.

That is because Tampa Bay’s top line has won the production battle with its Islanders counterpart in a blowout, which has played a key role in the Lightning’s 3-1 series lead.

After the latest example, in a 4-1 loss in Game 4 on Sunday, coach Barry Trotz did not sugarcoat the issue.

When a reporter asked if the first-line production mismatch explains the state of the series or whether that is too simplistic, he said this:

"I think you’re pretty right on on that . . . Their first line has put a mark on us in a couple of games here."

And how.

On Sunday, the Lightning line of Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov accounted for both goals and every assist on Tampa Bay’s second and third scores, which broke a 1-1 tie.

That gave the trio a total of nine goals and 12 assists in the series, even with Point missing portions of Games 2 and 4 and all of Game 3 with an injury. Kucherov’s goal with 8.8 seconds left in Game 2 was a backbreaker.

The Islanders’ top line of Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle has six points in the series. Three came on the team’s first goal of the series, by Eberle on a power play in Game 1. In the past three games, they have been limited to one secondary assist by Barzal.

Asked in particular about the frustrations of Barzal and Eberle, Trotz said: "They’re getting a lot of attention and they’ve gotten some looks, but they haven’t found the back of the net enough for us, especially five-on-five . . . We’re going to have to get some production there.

"We’re best when we get production up and down our lineup. We will."

Lee, Barzal and Eberle have had numerous chances, so they cannot be accused of lack of effort. And the second line of Anthony Beauvillier, Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey has picked up some of the scoring slack.

But watching the Lightning stars have their way illustrates a frequent criticism of the Islanders’ roster: lack of elite scoring punch.

"They’re all good players; they’re outstanding players," Trotz said of the Lightning line. "They can make plays, they go to hard areas and their windows of execution. They’ve got some guys who can pull the trigger pretty quick.

"They’re high-level, elite players and you can’t give them an inch. And we’ve given them too many inches."

One play that annoyed Trotz came on the third Tampa Bay goal. Kucherov made a gorgeous play to set up Palat near the net, and he found Point in front.

Semyon Varlamov stopped his first shot, but Point put in the rebound while the backchecking Barzal drifted to Point’s outside and helplessly past the net.

"You’ve got to be on the right side of them," Trotz said. "Even their third goal, we go by the net and they get a second whack at it and it goes in the net.

"So you’ve got to stay in between them and your goal. It doesn’t matter who’s on the ice." 1193370 New York Islanders Point gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead at 3:33 of the third period, finishing an odd-man rush off Palat’s feed to the crease as Barzal overskated and wound up leaving Point open at the net. Pat Maroon added an empty- Islanders lose Game 4 to Lightning, nearing elimination from Eastern netter at 17:36 of the third period. Conference finals The Islanders did not get off to the strong start they wanted as they were outshot 11-5 in the first period and out-chanced 27-8. The Lightning took the game’s first four shots and hit the crossbar in the By Andrew Gross opening minute.

The Islanders took the lead. Two shifts and 27 seconds later, they were Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 09.14.2020 trailing.

And so they may have lost their chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final after a 4-1 loss to the Lightning on Sunday at in Edmonton put them in a 3-1 series hole in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Lightning scored four unanswered goals — two within 12 seconds of each other — after Brock Nelson gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 11:27 of the second period.

"The most important shift is probably the shift after a goal, and we failed it twice," defenseman Scott Mayfield said.

Game 5 — and the potential end of the Islanders’ season after their first trip to the conference finals since 1993 — is Tuesday night.

"We have one life left," coach Barry Trotz said. "I know this group has invested too much to not give their best effort on Tuesday."

"I think you become more desperate," Mayfield said. "It’s an elimination game. It changes a little bit. The focus is always on winning. We need to win the next one."

There certainly was more that went into the Islanders’ loss than a bad 27 seconds.

The Lightning had top-six forwards Brayden Point and Alex Killorn back in the lineup after both missed the Islanders’ 5-3 win in Friday night’s Game 3. Point missed that game with an undisclosed injury — and again hobbled to the bench late in Sunday’s third period — and Killorn was serving a one-game suspension for his boarding major on Nelson in Game 2.

Point’s top line with Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat combined for two goals and four assists. The Islanders’ top trio of Mathew Barzal between Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle totaled eight shots, 14 chances and no points.

"Their first line has put a mark on us in a couple of games," Trotz said. "They’re high-level, elite players. You can’t give them an inch and we’ve given them too many inches."

The Islanders’ power play was 0-for-3 with eight shots and is 0-for-9 in the last three games and 1-for-14 in the series.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning as the Islanders did not force him to go side-to-side as much as they had in Game 3. Semyon Varlamov stopped 32 shots for the Islanders.

Blake Coleman beat Varlamov on a breakaway 15 seconds after Nelson’s goal and Palat made it 2-1 only 12 seconds after that, lifting a shot at the left post off Kucherov’s feed.

"You want to follow up a goal with a good shift, have a good response and kind of stay on it," said Nelson, who skated in and around Lightning defenders and beat Vasilevskiy over his glove. "They had a better response than we did and got two quick ones, and that was the difference. Really, 30 seconds, if you hang on there a bit, it’s a different game."

Lightning coach Jon Cooper kept Yanni Gourde’s line with Coleman and Barclay Goodrow on the ice after Nelson scored. The strategy paid off quickly.

"I’m not a big believer in just because you got scored on, go to the bench and think about it," Cooper said. "Like, get out there and get it back. Now I can’t sit here and say I thought they’d get it back in 15 seconds or whatever it was. Part of my job is make sure they’ve got the confidence to go do their job, and I have full confidence in them and they delivered. That was obviously a huge goal for us."

"Getting scored on doesn’t sit real well," Coleman said. "Credit to Coop keeping us out there, giving us a shot to get it back." 1193371 Tampa Bay Lightning

Brayden Point returns as Lightning win Game 4 of Eastern Conference final, but will he stay?

Staff

Tampa Bay’s top center missed Game 3 with an injury. And he sat out the final minutes of the Lightning’s 4-1 victory Sunday after appearing to be hurt.

The Lightning are better when Brayden Point is in the lineup.

He was back as their top center when Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final against the Islanders started Sunday and made an immediate impact.

Point returned after missing Game 3 with an injury and was in on two of the Lightning’s goals, assisting Ondrej Palat in the second period and then scoring in the third as Tampa Bay won 4-1 at Edmonton to move one win from the Stanley Cup final.

The Lightning can earn a Cup final spot in Game 5 on Tuesday.

“(Point) was all over it,” coach Jon Cooper said. “He was in on everything and setting up goals, scoring goals, and he’s a big part of our team.”

Said Palat, who also assisted on Point’s goal: “He has been our best player, and he’s a huge part of our team. When he’s on the ice, he’s playing great. We’re very happy he could play (Sunday).”

But his status for Game 5 was thrown into question late in the game.

He took a hit from Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech in the third period and clearly favored his right leg as he hurried to the bench. He spoke with head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan and then sat out for the final eight minutes.

The hit wasn’t especially hard, but he took the contact to his hip/groin area with one leg extended in front of the other midstride. Point appeared to have tweaked his hamstring or hip when he left Game 2 with the problem that cost him Game 3.

Asked about Point’s health after Game 4, Cooper said the Lightning have to “manage” Point. As to whether Point would be able to play Tuesday, Cooper said, “Oh, gosh, that game’s two days away. So let’s give us a breath here, and we’ll circle back come game time in two days.”

#GoBolts Brayden Point gets tangled with #Isles Adam Pelech here. Trainer speaking with him on the bench. pic..com/soBJbUwbKC

— Here's Your Replay (@TheReplayGuy) September 13, 2020

Point and linemates Palat and Nikita Kucherov combined for the goal that gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 11:54 of the second period, 12 seconds after forward Blake Coleman had tied the score at 1. That’s a franchise record for the fastest two goals in a postseason game. The previous record was 15, set in Game 3 of this year’s conference semifinal against the Bruins, a 7-1 win.

In the third period Sunday, Point put the Lightning up 3-1. He beat fellow speedy center Mathew Barzal to the post and outmaneuvered him for the inside position. Goalie Semyon Varlamov made the first save, so Point took another whack at the puck to put it in.

The Lightning knew they’d be getting their most dynamic player back well before they shared the news with anyone else. When Cooper was asked Sunday morning, he said, “We’ll … see in a couple of hours.”

The Lightning had assistant equipment manager Jason Berger put towels over the sticks after he set them up on the bench before the game so the Islanders couldn’t see whose were lined up. Cameras for ’s Sportsnet TV network caught Point’s name on a couple before the towel was in place.

The questions will continue because Point couldn’t play the whole game.

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193372 Tampa Bay Lightning

‘Ultimate compliment’: Lightning need Ondrej Palat on their top line

By By Jason Hills

EDMONTON — Ondrej Palat isn’t the first player you think of when it comes to clutch playoff performer for the Lightning — but his team has sure seen it over his eight-year career.

Palat scored his eighth goal of the playoffs and third game-winning goal. His goal in Game 3 and his second-period goal that gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon was his 29th playoff goal of his career, surpassing Vinny Lecavalier and for fifth all-time in Lightning history.

For a guy who doesn’t get a lot of accolades, Palat is passing some elite company in Lightning playoff history.

“I’m just trying to play the same way (every shift),” said Palat. “A hard game, 200-feet and just play hard.”

The 29-year-old, who was a seventh-round selection and fourth-to-last player selected in the 2011 draft also made a beautiful pass to Brayden Point for Tampa’s insurance marker for his 13th point of the playoffs.

“I’ve had the pleasure to coach Palat. ... I guess I’ve been his only coach as a pro, and that third goal was everything that Ondrej Palat is about,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “He stays above pucks. Where a lot of guys may have skated away, he just does all those things that go unnoticed. But lines don’t survive without him.”

Palat will likely set a new career-high in goals in a single postseason as he’s matched his career high of eight, set in the 2015 playoffs, when Tampa went all the way to the Stanley Cup final.

So much of the talk often surrounds his linemates, Nikita Kucherov and Point, but Palat has been just as dynamic in these playoffs.

He scored the OT winner in Game 2 of the series against Boston, he major turning point in the series.

He scored five goals against the Bruins and has scored three in four games against the Islanders.

For a player that’s scored 20 goals in a regular season just once over his seven years in the league, he sure knows how to elevate his goal-scoring to another level come playoff time.

Palat isn’t a player that gets noticed a lot of times on the ice for his flash or dazzling moves with the puck. He plays a simple game and does so many good things away from the puck, it’s what’s allowed him to be a regular top-six forward among stars like Kucherov, Point, Stamkos and Martin St.Louis over the years.

He’s a perfect fit to play among the Lightning’s elite skill in the lineup, and he’s showing that he can be counted on and be considered one of Tampa’s big guns.

After falling behind 1-0 on a goal by Isles forward Brock Nelson, the Lightning struck twice in 12 seconds and took the lead just 27 seconds after Nelson’s goal.

Palat streaked into the zone and was able to get a quick shot off a nice backhand pass from Kucherov to beat Varlamov.

Palat’s goals may not always be highlight-reel material, but he makes goaltenders pay with his quick, lethal shot.

“I’ve watched it every year, and he just doesn’t get the attention that some of the other guys he plays with get, because of the caliber of players they are, but you need a Palat on your line,” said Cooper. “I’m sure Kuch and Point would be the first ones to tell you we need a Palat on our line, and I think that’s your ultimate compliment as a player.”

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193373 Tampa Bay Lightning The funniest moment of the game came in the first period, when the stick of Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow got caught in the feet of Islanders forward Brock Nelson in the neutral zone. Nelson flipped the stick into the Islanders' bench, to Goodrow’s consternation. As Lightning forward Pat Lightning-Islanders Game 4 report card: Fun, in more ways than one Maroon leaned over from the Lightning bench to retrieve the stick, New York forward Mathew Barzal tried to push it out of Maroon’s reach. The

exchange ended with Maroon recovering the stick, then the two jabbing Staff at each other with their sticks.

Grade: A, for sheer fun

Offense. Defense. Physicality. Goaltending. Tampa Bay had it all in a 4-1 Making amends win that pushed New York to the brink of elimination. Lightning wing Blake Coleman got caught looking up the ice when What was more fun? Nelson made a U-turn with the puck in the Tampa Bay zone, beat his pursuers to the left circle and whipped a shot over Vasilevskiy’s glove in The three goals in 27 seconds of the second period, including two in 12 the second period. But Cooper left Coleman on the ice for the ensuing seconds from the Lightning? faceoff and was repaid for his confidence 15 seconds later. Coleman got behind the Islanders defense, took a flip pass from linemate Yanni The gamesmanship between the Lightning and Islanders, starting with Gourde and beat goaltender Semyon Varlamov with a beautiful pregame chitchat at center ice, carrying over to the Islanders' bench in backhand shot as Varlamov tried to poke the puck off his stick. the first period and then behind the Lightning net at the end of the period? Grade: A-plus, because we love redemption stories

The sight of Brayden Point back flying around the ice? Sick skill

Or the impressive skill that Tampa Bay’s top line of Point, Nikita We know the Point-Kucherov-Palat line is extremely skilled, but did you Kucherov and Ondrej Palat exhibited during a third-period goal? see what it did on one of the Lightning’s third-period goals?

Do we have to pick? Bogosian chipped the puck up the boards to Palat, who deflected the bouncing puck to Point in the neutral zone. Point one-timed a pass to The Lightning had it all Sunday in winning Game 4 of the Eastern Kucherov, who let the puck pass through his legs, then played it with his Conference final 4-1 and moving within one win of advancing to the right skate up to his stick. Kucherov carried the puck into the offensive Stanley Cup final for the first time in five seasons. zone, pulling up just above the right circle, then passed across the ice to Here is how we graded the Lightning’s performance: Palat in the left circle. Palat fed Point in the crease, and Point knocked his own rebound past Varlamov to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead. Hard feelings The sequence made their second-period goal — Kucherov passing off Friday’s Game 3 ended with five misconduct penalties, and the ill will the rush to Point on the outside of the right circle, back to Kucherov on clearly was carried into Game 4. It started before the game, as Tampa the inside part of the circle, over to Palat just below the left circle — look Bay’s Luke Schenn, Pat Maroon, Zach Bogosian and Mikhail Sergachev pedestrian by comparison. exchanged words with New York’s Ross Johnston, Matt Martin and Scott Mayfield at center ice. No line in hockey is more fun to watch right now.

The players kept their tempers under control until the end of the first Grade: A-plus period, when Martin shot the puck at goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy off a Defending the net rush after the horn sounded. Tampa Bay defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk went after the forward, setting off a scrum behind the Lightning net. Yanni The Lightning defense was staunch throughout the game, taking away Gourde and New York’s Cal Clutterbuck were penalized for roughing, time and space from the Islanders’ forwards and keeping highly skilled and Martin received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Barzal to the outside, where he is considerably less dangerous. Tampa Bay’s defensemen were particularly strong late in the game, avoiding If you’re Lightning coach Jon Cooper, you love the way your defense turnovers and flipping pucks out of the zone to relieve pressure and keep stood up for your goaltender. And you’re even more thrilled with the the clock moving. power play you got to start the second period. The few times there might have been breakdowns on defense, Grade: A Vasilevskiy was there to bail out his defensemen, stopping 26 of 27 shots Obvious impact on goal. The goaltender never lost focus, even during a first period in which he faced only five shots. He was busier in the final two periods and Point didn’t score until the third period, but he made an impact from the made a couple of strong saves on defenseman Ryan Pulock, one on a moment he stepped on the ice after missing part of Game 2 and all backhand chance in front of the net and another going post to post after Game 3 with an injury. The Islanders were aware of his presence, hitting losing his stick. him at every opportunity, but it didn’t prevent the Lightning’s top-line center from skating freely around the ice, possessing the puck and Grade: A setting up teammates for scoring chances.

He raised the pulse of Lightning fans with a rush through the neutral zone Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 in the first period and drew a tripping penalty from defenseman Adam Pelech later in the period. He assisted on Palat’s second-period goal and added a goal of his own in the third. How good was it to have him back? It was so obvious, Cooper laughed off the question following the game.

Grade: A-plus

All powered up

Victor Hedman or Sergachev on the top power-play unit? How about both? The defensemen joined Point, Palat and Kucherov on the first unit. While they didn’t score on three chances with the man advantage, you have to love the possibilities moving forward.

Grade: B

Gamesmanship 1193374 Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020

Lightning, Islanders rivalry heating up in Eastern Conference final

By Jason Hills

EDMONTON — Rivalry isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of the Lightning and Islanders.

But that changes with a chance to play for the Stanley Cup on the line. A rivalry is starting to brew as the Eastern Conference final between the team continues along.

The Lightning won Game 4 by a score of 4-1 on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

The rivalry started to heat up with the hit by Lightning forward Alex Killorn on Islanders forward Brock Nelson in Game 2 that resulted in Killorn’s suspension for Game 3. It got hotter with Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov taking a wicked slash to the ankles of Islanders forward J.G. Pageau as Pageau deposited an empty-net goal at the end of Game 3.

“I don’t know if it’s a rivalry,” Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said after Game 3. “But they don’t like us, and we don’t like them.”

Game 4 had some shenanigans, too — starting with words exchanged during warmups — but one thing is certain. The Lightning aren’t allowing teams to push them around in these playoffs.

“Obviously, there are high emotions in a conference final," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said. "But there have been a lot of changes to this team with guys that have been brought in and guys who’ve stepped up and played big roles in a physical series.

“We’re not going to back down from anybody. We’ve played our game, but any of that extra stuff after the whistles, we’re not getting too sucked into it. We want to beat them between the whistles, and I think our team has stayed focused and kept with our game plan. It’s been fun.”

As the first period came to an end Sunday, Islanders forward Matt Martin took a long slap shot on goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy as the buzzer sounded.

Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk took exception, leading to a scuffle. From high above the rafters inside Rogers Place, you could hear Martin tell the referee and whoever was listening on the Lightning, “I shot the puck as the horn was going. … Relax.”

Martin received a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the Lightning weren’t able to cash in on the power play at the beginning of the second period.

Earlier in the first period, Lightning forward Barclay Goodrow’s stick got caught up in the skates of Nelson, and Nelson decided to toss Goodrow’s stick into the Islanders bench. When Lightning forward Patrick Maroon tried to retrieve it, forward Mathew Barzal wasn’t going to give it back.

These are all little games within the game the Lightning and Islanders are having fun with. Throughout this series, if players haven’t been getting their chirps in on the ice, they’ve been getting their shots in after the game.

Pageau had a colourful response to Kucherov’s slash on his empty-net goal.

“He’s a competitor. I think he was trying to get his stick on the puck, but he wasn’t very close and got my leg. We’re going to battle and compete,” said Pageau.

But while the rivalry is building, there is a great deal of respect between the teams.

“I don’t think it’s anything personal. We’re in the conference final,” said Pageau.

“You have to expect both teams to go out there and go as hard as they can and play for each other. One thing about our group is everyone is stepping up for each other.”

1193375 Tampa Bay Lightning

Lightning’s Jon Cooper: Give up a goal, go get a goal

By Diana C. Nearhos

After the Islanders scored the first goal of Sunday’s Game 4, Lightning coach Jon Cooper didn’t bench the players who gave it up. He threw them back out on the ice for the faceoff and told them to get a goal.

“I’m not a big believer in just because you got scored on, you sit on the bench and think about it,” Cooper said after the 4-1 win over the Islanders in the Eastern Conference final at Rogers Place in Edmonton. “Go out there and get it back. Now, I can’t say I thought they’d get it back in 15 seconds.”

But that’s what they did, part of a stretch of three combined goals in 27 seconds, tying the third-quickest in Stanley Cup playoff history.

New York center Brock Nelson started it all. He stuck with the puck, even as center Yanni Gourde tried to bat it away, then sniped a shot top shelf past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“As a player that prides myself, and our line, on being two-way guys and reliable guys, obviously getting scored on doesn’t sit real well,” wing Blake Coleman said. “Credit to Coop for keeping us out there, giving us a shot to go get it back.”

Gourde said he wasn’t “really happy” after that goal. He just wanted a chance to get the momentum back.

Vasilevskiy played the puck to Gourde from behind the net, while Coleman slipped behind the Islanders. Gourde threw a long, one-hop outlet pass to Coleman. The winger switched the puck from forehand to backhand as he slid the puck past goalie Semyon Varlamov’s pads.

Three goals in 27 seconds, as scoring by the Lightning and Islanders and clipped for your enjoyment by @faiello_mari, whose feed right now is essentially a full recap of both the Bucs and Lightning games. pic.twitter.com/3TC6u7MA0U

— Diana C. Nearhos (@dianacnearhos) September 13, 2020

Earlier in the series, Coleman, who hasn’t scored at the same clip with the Lightning as his 21 goals in 66 regular-season games with New Jersey, quipped that the Lightning had three-and-a-half lines that can score.

“It’s big," Coleman said. "Anytime you can respond quickly in a game, it’s going to swing the momentum right back.”

Ondrej Palat added another goal 12 seconds after that, finishing on a nice play from both Kucherov and Point.

The Lightning notched two more goals — one from Point and an empty- netter by Pat Maroon — but that 27 seconds was the swing that determined the game. They now have a chance to finish out the series on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 1193376 Tampa Bay Lightning #TBLightning's McDonagh takes a delayed penalty for holding #Isles' Brassard. Islanders on the PP for the first time this afternoon. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/mGUQM7AiPZ

Lightning-Islanders Game 4 live playoff updates — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020

Varlamov stops Alex Killorn shorthanded chance from the left circle after Jordan Eberle lost his footing in the neutral zone and turned over the By Frank Pastor puck.

Lightning clear the puck out of the zone.

Brayden Point and Pat Maroon score in the third period as the Lightning Lightning kill the penalty. Islanders do not get off a shot. beat the Islanders 4-1 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final to move to within one victory of the Stanley Cup final. Johnston shot from the slot misses wide left.

After a scoreless first period, the Islanders' Brock Nelson and the Mayfield chance ricochets wide off Brayden Point. Lightning’s Blake Coleman and Ondrej Palat scored within a 27-second Islanders with all sorts of opportunities after giveaways by Kevin span of the second period. The Tampa Bay goals, which came 12 Shattenkirk and Nikita Kucherov in the Lightning zone. Johnston shoots seconds apart, gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead. wide. Mayfield shot deflects off Point’s skate, and Kucherov blocks Adam Here’s more on how it happened: Pelech shot.

Third period Anthony Cirelli knocks stick out of Andy Greene’s hands, but no penalty called. Victor Hedman shot blocked by Brock Nelson. Islanders goal. Brock Nelson whips shot over Vasilevskiy’s glove after Brayden Point wrist shot from the slot sneaks behind Semyon Varlamov, skating toward the blue line, then making a U-turn and skating to just but Jordan Eberle clears the puck from the crease. inside the left circle. Islanders 1, Lightning 0.

Nikita Kucherov slapshot saved by Varlamov. #Isles get on the board and open the scoring with a goal halfway through the second period. #TBLightning trails 1-0 in Game 4. #TBLvsNYI Lightning goal! Brayden Point rebounds his own shot past Varlamov after pic.twitter.com/lGmBLqDhRQ a pretty pass into the crease from Ondrej Palat. Nikita Kucherov skated the puck into the zone and passed from the top of the right circle to Palat — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 in the left circle. Lightning 3, Islanders 1. Lightning goal! Blake Coleman scores off his backhand 15 seconds later #TBLightning gets their third of the night from Point to take 3-1 lead over as Varlamov tries to poke the puck off his stick. Lightning 1, Islanders 1. #Isles. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/cZNJaYrUFz And just like that #TBLightning evens it up 1-all against #Isles with a goal — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 from Coleman. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/eynLCE1Ou0

Cal Clutterbuck took an errant stick to the face. — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020

Cedric Paquette has a chance in front of the net, but Varlamov fends it Lightning goal! Ondrej Palat from low in the left circle, the Lightning’s off. second goal in 12 seconds. Point and Kucherov with the assists. 8:06 left in the period. Lightning 2, Islanders 1. Ondrej Palat penalized for hooking Brock Nelson. #TBLightning's Palat makes it a 2-1 lead for #GoBolts against #Isles. Eberle walks in on Vasilesvkiy, but his shot is turned aside. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/m9HvphksVy Islanders pull Varlamov with 2:45 remaining. — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 Lightning goal! Patrick Maroon scores on a backhander into an empty net Kevin Shattenkirk penalized for delay of game with 6:54 left in the period. after Yanni Gourde gets the puck out of the Lightning zone with 2:24 remaining. Lightning 4, Islanders 1. Devon Toews shot rings off the post.

#TBLightning's Maroon with the empty-net goal for the 4-1 lead over Mathew Barzal called for holding Luke Schenn’s stick, negating the rest #Isles with 2:24 remaining in Game 4 #TBLvsNYI of the Islanders' power play. pic.twitter.com/WwlgN0q8R2 Lightning nearly goes up 3-1, but Varlmov makes right pad save on — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 Ondrej Palat at the left post after a beautiful cross-crease pass from Point. That’ll do it. Lightning win, 4-1. Point to Palat. Cross-crease play. Varlamov stops it #GoBolts | #Isles Second period pic.twitter.com/mViWS9BRC9 Lightning start the period on the power play. Yanni Gourde and New — Omar (@TicTacTOmar) September 13, 2020 York’s Cal Clutterbuck were penalized for roughing at the end of the first period, and Martin received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Ryan Pulock backhand shot from the low slot stopped by Vasilevskiy. possibly for shooting the puck on Andrei Vasilevskiy after the horn sounded. Vasilevskiy catches Brock Nelson shot from low in the left circle in his arm pit. Victor Hedman shot turned aside. Anthony Beauviller shot off the faceoff from the left circle goes off the Islanders kill the penalty. Lightning spent most of it passing the puck glass. around the perimeter. First period Mathew Barzal steals puck from Ryan McDonagh, who catches up with Barzal in the Lightning zone and pokes the puck off his stick. Anthony Cirelli shot from just above the right circle goes off the crossbar.

Yanni Gourde nearly has a chance in front of the Islanders net but Nikita Kucherov shot blocked by Adam Pelech. overskates the puck. Erik Cernak snapshot saved by Varlamov. Ross Johnston chance from the left circle misses wide. Brayden Point skates through the neutral zone with a head of steam but Islanders go on the power play for the first time as McDonagh is is driven into the boards in the Islanders zone. penalized for holding Derick Brassard. Yanni Gourde wrist shot saved by Varlamov. Cirelli wrist shot stopped by Varlamov. Well this just got a bit more interesting @FriedgeHNIC @DailyFaceoff #gobolts #isles #nhl pic.twitter.com/jHP98pSrsX Cal Clutterbuck off the rush blocked by Cedric Paquette low in the left circle. — Ryan Moir (@rmoirstats) September 13, 2020

Wide-open Kucherov can’t control pass from Ondrej Palat in the slot. Islanders center Casey Cizikas reportedly has left the Edmonton bubble.

#TBLightning's Point passes to Palat and then shuffles it out to Kucherov, #Isles announce that Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnhackl have sustained who misses the shot on #Isles #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/f5AjNuOBXN injuries and have both left the Edmonton bubble. They will not return for the remainder of the playoffs. — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 — Mollie Walker (@MollieeWalkerr) September 13, 2020 Lightning go on the power play as Adam Pelech is penalized for tripping Brayden Point. With Point and Killorn back in the lineup, Carter Verhaeghe and Mitchell Stephens, who played in Game 3, are scratched. #Isles penalty on Pelech for tripping #TBLightning's Point. #GoBolts on the power play (4-for-10 in series). #TBLvsNYI Your #TBLvsNYI Game 4 starters! pic.twitter.com/EX5emdDjk3 Coburn, Joseph, Rutta, Stamkos, Stephens, Verhaeghe, Volkov, — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 Wedgewood

Kevin Shattenkirk shot deflects out of the offensive zone. Vasilevskiy vs. Varlamov

Brayden Point shot blocked by Ryan Pulock. Brayden Point is IN.#GoBolts pic.twitter.com/0XmNp9eKOO

Mikhail Sergachev slapshot stopped by Varlamov. — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 13, 2020

A great shot by #TBLightning's Sergachev on the PP, but it's no good Defenseman Victor Hedman and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy are ready against #Isles' Varlamov. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/X0M9Z81U5U to go.

— 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 Heddy flow check: Still good. #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/ttrQoaFC5O Islanders kill the penalty. — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) September 13, 2020 Mathew Barzal tip stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy. Take a lesson from Andrei Vasilevskiy here... never ever forget to Luke Schenn hits Derick Brassard. stretch. #StanleyCup

Ross Johnston hits Sergachev. : https://t.co/ZVeMfXIzLF @NHLonNBCSports

Mathew Barzal hits Blake Coleman. : https://t.co/hjMjryWO8p @Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/1M4uDUBYj9

Varlamov with pad save on Victor Hedman slapshot. — NHL (@NHL) September 13, 2020

Barclay Goodrow’s stick gets caught in the feet of Brock Nelson in the Setting the scene neutral zone, and Nelson tosses it into the Islanders' bench. Pat Maroon reaches over from the Lightning bench to fish it out, as Barzal tries to Oh, right, that’s what that feels like. keep it away from him. It had been so long between Lightning losses — 19 days from a 3-2 loss #TBLightning's Maroon tries to retrieve Goodrow's stick from #Isles to the Bruins on Aug. 23 to Friday’s 5-3 loss to the Islanders — we’d bench but Barzal isn't lending a helping hand. #TBLvsNYI almost forgotten. pic.twitter.com/PrfpVAGop8 After having its six-game win streak snapped, Tampa Bay aims to start a — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 new one when it plays New York this afternoon in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final. Ryan McDonagh shot goes off the end boards, then off Clutterbuck’s skate to the left post, where it is covered by Varlamov. Lightning think the The Lightning will get left wing Alex Killorn back from a one-game puck might have crossed the goal line, but the whistle had blown. suspension, and injured top-line center Brayden Point practiced on Saturday, so there is optimism there, as well. The puck was THIS close to going in... #TBLightning #Isles #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/8WuLVLvAqG Whether Point plays or not, we can probably expect to see defenseman Luke Schenn in the lineup, as he’s been a fixture since Game 2 of the — 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020 Boston series.

Palat drive from the left faceoff dot goes high off Varlamov’s shoulder. Follow along, starting at 3 p.m., as Tampa Bay aims to take a three- games-to-one series lead and move one step closer to the Stanley Cup Matt Martin shoots the puck at Vasilevskiy after the horn and Kevin final. Shattenkirk goes after him, setting off a scrum behind the Lightning net.

#TBLightning's Shattenkirk gets into it with #Isles' Martin after the buzzer for shooting on Vasilevskiy. Gourde and Clutterbuck also exchange Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 words and fists... #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/qVzBSB4M85

— 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020

Pregame

Brayden Point is on the ice for pregame warmups and back in the Lightning lineup.

For those who haven't heard, #TBLightning's Point is back for Game 4 against #Isles. #TBLvsNYI pic.twitter.com/tYoqs4EGuA

— 홼횊횛횒홵횊횒횎횕횕횘 (wears a mask) (@faiello_mari) September 13, 2020

Lightning players Luke Schenn, Pat Maroon, Zach Bogosian and Mikhail Sergachev exchanging words with the Islanders' Ross Johnston, Matt Martin and Scott Mayfield before the game. Make of that what you will. 1193377 Tampa Bay Lightning “He’s done an unbelievable job standing up for guys. Him fighting Martin was huge for us,” said Maroon.

“We love having him in the lineup.” Lightning leaning on Luke Schenn’s toughness, tenacity and experience Playing the role of a depth defenceman likely wasn’t the role Schenn envisioned when he broke into the league as a 19-year-old, but it’s now become a role he’s thriving in as an experienced 30-year-old. By By Jason Hills Schenn only had 12 games of NHL playoff experience before this deep run with the Lightning. Now, he’s trying to do whatever it takes to help bring Tampa a Stanley Cup. EDMONTON — It was in the late stages of the Lightning’s big 8-2 win in Game 1 over the Islanders when Jon Cooper sent out Luke Schenn for “It’s great to have guys like him in our lineup,” said Cooper. an opportunity on the power play. “He’s world-class in the locker room and as a human. You can’t have Up six goals, Cooper wasn’t looking for a goal from the rugged stay-at- enough of those guys around.” home defenseman. It was likely a sign of Cooper “calling off the dogs,” so to speak, but it also could be viewed as a nice reward for the 12-year NHL veteran. Tampa Bay Times LOADED: 09.14.2020 It’s been a rough ride for Schenn over the last several years. Bouncing back and forth between the NHL and the minors, he’s played on five different teams in the last four seasons.

But since being inserted in Tampa’s Bay’s lineup in place of injured Ryan McDonagh in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal against the Bruins, Schenn hasn’t come out of the lineup.

Not when McDonagh returned in Game 5 of that series, and in Friday night’s Game 3 loss when the Lightning were without the services of Alex Killorn (suspension) and Brayden Point (injured), Cooper still went with seven defensemen, keeping Schenn in the lineup.

He may not be logging a lot of minutes on the blueline as the seventh defenseman, but Cooper and the Lightning are leaning on his tenacity, toughness and experience.

“He makes us an inch taller on the bench. He’s big, he’s physical and he plays hard against teams that have a little bite like the Islanders do,” said Cooper.

“Schenner keeps them in check. You don’t see too many of their guys lined up to anywhere close to Schenner.”

When Schenn broke into the league with the Maple Leafs in 2008, much was expected of the former star who went four picks after Lightning captain Steven Stamkos in the 2007 draft.

He spent four years with the Leafs before being dealt to the Flyers, and again expectations were high for Schenn in Philadelphia.

But as the years went on, Schenn’s role continued to decrease. He wasn’t a top pairing defenseman many thought he may be. He wasn’t a second-pairing defenseman either. After the Flyers traded him to the Kings as part of the Vinny Lecavalier deal in 2016, he had stops in Arizona, Anaheim and Vancouver before signing a one-year deal at the league-minimum $700,000 with the Lightning just a few weeks after he watched his brother Brayden lift the Stanley Cup with the Blues.

Schenn didn’t make the Lightning out of training camp and was back to riding buses in the AHL with Tampa’s farm team in Syracuse for a short stint. When he got his call back up he got into 25 games.

Now, he’s been given this opportunity to be a big part of the Lightning’s playoff run and he’s making the most of his chance.

“He brings that different element to our lineup. He’s physical, he’ll stand up for his teammates and he knows his role. He’s become a voice in our locker room,” said Lightning forward Pat Maroon.

“He’s getting better every game and he’s a guy we need in the lineup.”

Schenn’s game isn’t flashy by any means. A lot of what he does on the ice can go unnoticed, but it’s certainly not undervalued by his teammates and the Lightning coaching staff.

While he’s hit some road bumps over his career, he’s now dishing out a lot of bumps and bruises for the Lightning.

He has no issue sacrificing his body to block a shot. He punishes guys in front of the net as they battle for space in front of his goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

In Game 2, he fought Matt Martin early in the second period after the Islanders agitator was trying to stir it up. 1193378 Tampa Bay Lightning Terrific top line It’s time for a fun debate.

Which Lightning line was better? The 2015 “Triplets” or the current trio of Four observations: From Brayden Point’s health to Ondrej Palat’s Ondrej Palat, Point and Nikita Kucherov? significance Both were dominant and dynamic, and both included Palat and

Kucherov. In this case, it’s Point replacing Tyler Johnson, who had a By Joe Smith Conn Smythe-caliber performance in 2015. I remember former Lightning assistant coach George Gwozdecky saying he’ll go to his grave believing Sep 13, 2020 that if Johnson hadn’t broken his wrist in the Cup Final against Chicago, they would have won the Cup.

But it’s hard to argue against this year’s line, with a matured and When Brock Nelson scored on a perfect wrist shot with eight minutes left improved Palat and Kucherov, who is now the reigning Hart Trophy in the second period, it ticked off the Lightning’s Yanni Gourde line. winner. And, this is no slight on Johnson, but Point has emerged as one Tampa Bay had controlled play for a good part of the game — up 18-8 in of the game’s top forwards. shots at the time — yet they trailed by a goal in a potentially swinging Watching Point’s goal on Sunday showed how special they are together. Game 4. They combined for six points, 13 shots on goal, swinging the momentum Blake Coleman had taken an aggressive approach up top, going for the most of the time they were on the ice. steal, allowing Nelson to fly by. “You can’t give them an inch,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “And “Getting scored on didn’t sit well,” Coleman said. we’ve given them too many inches.”

“I’m not happy out there,” Gourde said. I think it’s beyond time to recognize the importance of Palat. Remember that Triplets line? Palat was the engine of that trio, doing all the dirty work Coach Jon Cooper put the line right back on the ice. And 15 seconds in the corners and making countless smart, small plays that loomed later, Gourde connected with Coleman for a game-tying and changing large. You ask Point or Kucherov, and they love playing with him. He’s so goal, the first of two goals in 12 seconds for the Lightning in a 4-1 win. responsible, so skilled. Tampa Bay now leads the best of seven series 3-1 with Game 5 on Tuesday. “That goal is everything Palat is,” Cooper said. “He stayed above pucks here. Lot of guys might have skated by. He just does all the things that “I’m not a big believer in just because you scored, you don’t just go to the are unnoticed but a line doesn’t survive without him. I’ve just watched bench and think about it,” Cooper said. “Get out there and get one back. I him every year. He doesn’t get the attention that some of the other guys didn’t think they’d get it back in 15 seconds. Part of my job is to make he plays with, but you need a Palat on your line. I’m sure guys like Kuch sure they have the confidence to do their job. I have confidence and they and Point will be the first to tell you, ‘We need a Palat on our line.’ That’s delivered. A huge goal for us.” the ultimate compliment.”

It started with a simple dump-in by the Islanders. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stands tall Vasilevskiy, who has vastly improved as a puck-handler, fed a pass in the left corner to Gourde, who flipped a long stretch pass to a streaking It’s hard to imagine a 6-foot-2, Vezina Trophy winning goaltender flying Coleman. Coleman scored on a breakaway, doing a great job to corral under the radar. the puck and slow down enough to put it in. But it feels like Vasilevskiy has been doing that, especially with “Heck of a play from Gourde, and a nice assist from Vasy, from what I’m Kucherov’s heroics in Game 2 and Point’s play. But Vasilevskiy made hearing,” Coleman joked, as Vasilevskiy sat next to him in the Zoom call. several big-time saves in this game while it was still 0-0 and 2-1, etc. “You do everything you can to respond quickly in a game. And our big Vasilevskiy is 13-4 in these playoffs with a 1.93 goals-against average, boys took over from there.” .930 save percentage. He’s the only goalie in the playoffs to play in every Point’s status minute of his team’s game, and continues to be their backbone. Crazy to think back to when he was a rookie and filling in for Ben Bishop in the The fact Brayden Point returned to the lineup for Game 4 was Stanley Cup Final in 2015. Now Vasilevskiy is one win away from getting encouraging for the Lightning, especially after missing the last game with back to the Cup Final, only this time, it’ll be his net. an undisclosed injury. How much has he changed since? And Point was dynamic with a goal, an assist and five shots on goal in 18:24. We’ve written about Point’s path to becoming a superstar in this “I’ve grown up,” he said, smiling. “I’m a big boy now.” league, and it’s become clear to everyone who is the early Conn Smythe favorite. The Athletic LOADED: 09.14.2020 “I’ll go as far as to say he’s the most dangerous guy in the playoffs this year,” Coleman said. “He’s a special talent. He tilts the ice every time he’s out there. Every time you have that guy on the ice, you have a better chance at winning hockey games. It’s huge to have a guy like that. It really elevates the rest of our game.”

But will Point be available for Game 5? His status seems up in the air after he left Sunday’s game in the third period after getting checked into the boards.

Cooper didn’t provide an update on Point after the game, noting the next game isn’t for a couple of days. But what he did say was telling, indicating that this is an injury that Point will likely have to battle through.

“We’re trying to manage him,” Cooper said. “He was all over it. He was in on everything. Setting up goals, scoring goals. He’s a big part of the team. But we have to manage him. It’s the playoffs and guys are playing hard, hard minutes. Guys on both teams are fighting through things.”

With the comfort of a 3-1 series lead, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lightning sit Point for Game 5 (if he’s not feeling completely right). But it doesn’t seem like an issue that’s going away. 1193379 Tampa Bay Lightning than one). But as Yzerman would soon depart to take over as GM of the Red Wings, this was a bitter ending, something neither of them ever envisioned.

A behind-the-scenes look at how Julien BriseBois ‘transformed’ Lightning “I’m sorry we didn’t win a Cup together,” BriseBois recalled saying that night.

A few days later, BriseBois had a major meeting scheduled. He headed By Joe Smith over to owner Jeff Vinik’s sprawling South Tampa home for an end-of- season talk, which would last around two hours. There was much to Sep 13, 2020 discuss and digest, from what had just happened to what the team should do next. This would set the tone for the club’s summer, its next chapter. They sat together in Vinik’s “TV room,” with one sitting in a woke up in the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia on the morning lounger chair, the other on the couch. of the Feb. 24 trade deadline not knowing what to expect. Vinik recalls that BriseBois was strong in his opinions. Methodical. The Sharks general manager had a few players who were likely to move, Confident. such as Patrick Marleau. Wilson did not want to trade Barclay Goodrow. He wasn’t shopping him. But Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois “We weren’t going to make any rash decisions,” Vinik said in a phone had been persistent about the Sharks center for the previous month, interview Saturday. “He wanted to take his time, examine what happened sparking more than a dozen phone calls between him and Wilson about during that season and why it had such a tough ending, and what to do a potential deal. about it — if anything. It was clear to him, and I agreed, that we have a really good core, we have really good players overall, who disappointed Wilson drew a line in the sand: The only way Goodrow was getting dealt last year. But blowing up this team was not an option for either of us. was if the Lightning would send the Sharks a first-round pick. It might have sounded steep, especially with Tampa Bay having already dealt a “It’d be a panic move.” first-rounder and top prospect Nolan Foote to the Devils a week earlier Coach Jon Cooper had just signed a three-year extension a few weeks for Blake Coleman. before the playoffs, and they decided he wasn’t going anywhere. As But Coleman, 28, and Goodrow, 27, had been BriseBois’ top targets BriseBois told the media that week, “No point in looking for the next Coop since the organization’s January meetings at . They were when I have the original. I like the original.” two forwards who could add needed snarl and sandpaper to a skilled “He gets the blame for the performance, the players do, the managers lineup. They were hard to play against and would make the Lightning a do, so does the owner,” Vinik said. “We all share the blame. It wasn’t a harder out in the playoffs. They were also hard to get, with both boasting reason to make an impulsive decision and get rid of the longest-tenured team-friendly contracts for another year. BriseBois, who had watched coach in the NHL. Clearly, he was one of the best coaches and despite Goodrow’s final 20 games with the Sharks, either on TV or computer, the disappointment, I think we’ve won more playoff series than any other needed to be “really aggressive.” team the last six, seven years. We’ve got to win the big prize and we’re With the deadline approaching, BriseBois told Wilson he’d give up the getting close, but none of that to me says, ‘Fire the coach.’ All it says to first-round pick. The deal got done around 2:37 p.m., just before the 3 me is that the coach is going to continue to get better and this will be a p.m. deadline. learning experience.”

“You have to know your team, the phase they’re in, and you swing when Former NHL GM Neil Smith, who won a Cup with the Rangers, said you’re in that position,” Wilson told The Athletic. “And Julien took a swing. keeping Cooper was BriseBois’ smartest move. Smith said it’s important It was not an easy deal for me to make, and probably wasn’t an easy to ignore the outside noise — the fans, the media — when making these deal for him to make, either. Those are the right type of deals.” types of decisions. It helps to have a supportive owner such as Vinik, he said, as the absence of that steadiness can throw a wrench into your BriseBois finished runner-up for for the NHL’s GM of the Year Award on plan. Saturday, finishing behind Islanders’ in an honor voted on by fellow GMs and a panel of executives and media. It wasn’t just Smith pointed to many of the Cup teams over the past few decades, from because of BriseBois’ bold moves at the deadline — taking the “damned his 1994 Rangers to the mid-1990s Red Wings to the Penguins and if you do approach” — to bolster his team. It was the things he didn’t do, Kings. They all had to go through heartbreak first. The scars were almost vowing not to “blow up” his roster or fire coach Jon Cooper after his a precursor to the Cup, a rite of passage of sorts. team’s historic and humbling loss to the Blue Jackets in the first round “You can’t let people on the outside tell you ‘you’ve got to blow this up’ or last spring. It took patience, resolve and persistence, with BriseBois ‘you’ve got to do this.’ You have to do what you think is right. The thing adding seven new players to the team without breaking up his core. No everyone is concerned with is, ‘Am I going to lose my job over this?’ general manager has ever had to try to pick up the pieces from a You’ve got to put that out of your mind and think about what’s best for the Presidents’ Trophy team that had just been swept in the first round. And organization. And if it turns out I lose my job because I did what I thought here was BriseBois, entering his second year as GM, charged with that was right, then so be it.” task. Former Lightning general manager Jay Feaster and Smith said an This wasn’t a one-man show, with BriseBois calling it a team effort. But if executive has to take the emotion out of decisions, whether personal you go behind the scenes of the past 14 months, you learn a lot about feelings about players or how much was given up for them in the draft or the man who took a self-described “serendipitous” route to the job. trades. That can make for a hard, honest assessment of core players. “When you’re trying to take your team to that championship-caliber level, And in the Lightning’s case, BriseBois didn’t want to break up any of his you can’t do that if you don’t have the high-end talent,” said former NHL core as long as the cap allowed him to stay the course. GM Craig Button. “You can’t do it unless you have essential pieces. They The fact that veteran Ryan Callahan was told he could no longer play had (Nikita) Kucherov, they had (Victor) Hedman, and (Andrei because of degenerative back issues meant that he could be put on long- Vasilevskiy). term injured reserve, though BriseBois was able to move his $5.8 million “But it’s about what you do on the edges. You can have this great AAV in a trade with Ottawa. That was an underrated but important move painting, but what makes the painting beautiful is framing. Julien framed to clear space for the deadline moves he’d eventually make. the painting, and it’s a perfect framing. That’s a manager’s job.” The Lightning didn’t make a big splash at the deadline, instead swapping The summer out backup goalies (in Curtis McElhinney, out Louis Domingue) and adding depth right-shot defenseman Luke Schenn. McElhinney provided The low point for BriseBois likely came in the bowels of Nationwide a stable veteran who was comfortable in the role and was under contract Arena around midnight on April 15, 2019. for the following season.

Players had just slumped in their stalls, shell-shocked after being swept BriseBois didn’t expect veterans Pat Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk by Columbus, an unthinkable end to a 62-win season. BriseBois sat in an (bought out by the Rangers) to be available in August, but when they adjacent room with . They had built this team together were, he pounced, signing both to team-friendly, one-year deals (Maroon over the previous decade believing they would win a Cup (maybe more for $900,000, Shattenkirk for $1.75 million). He saw Maroon’s impact in before him, Yzerman would always discuss big philosophical moves, the room, as Cooper could vouch for in their experiences together. ones that include spending extra money or assets. Shattenkirk’s puck-moving ability fit perfectly with Tampa Bay’s style, as did the chip on his shoulder from how his time ended in New York. Vinik’s first question is always this: Are we a serious contender for the Stanley Cup? If the Lightning aren’t, they shouldn’t give up too many “Knowing what he did with the core group of guys and having that future assets. Vinik’s goal is to win the Cup now and 10 years from now winning mentality and having that one goal to win, he wanted to change without taking a big dip. Even to him, it’s “painful” to move top prospects the locker room a bit,” Maroon said. “He brought in new faces, he wanted such as Nolan Foote or, in the Ryan McDonagh deal with the Rangers a to adapt the room a little bit. Hats off to him. We still have some couple of years ago, Brett Howden and Libor Hajek. unfinished business, we’re happy for him and hope we can get him back here.” BriseBois told Vinik the best-case plan would “address some weaknesses” with players who weren’t rentals, as Coleman and Goodrow There was no major makeover in the offseason, just subtle tweaks. were under contract for another year at $2.7 million combined.

“The general manager’s job is to see the team as it is, not as you thought “His strategy was that we had a really good team and a really good shot,” it would be, not as you hoped it would have been, but in clear reality,” Vinik recalled. “There’s no guarantees. But this is as good a time as any said Button, who won a Cup as an executive with the Stars in 1999. “You to put all the chips in and after some players who can make a huge have to have the clarity of what your team is. That’s the No. 1 essential difference to our team this year.” quality of a GM. The Coleman deal “What Julien saw clearly is a team that had challenges in certain type of games when a game got pushed in a different direction, where the team Tom Fitzgerald knew he’d be busy at the trade deadline. needed more help.” The interim Devils general manager had several players who were likely The needs to move on from a team headed for the lottery. Veteran defenseman Andy Greene got dealt to the Islanders, for example. But Fitzgerald kept The Lightning pro scouting staff, executives and BriseBois got together in getting calls about the 28-year-old Coleman, an “identity” player who was January at Amalie Arena for their annual pre-deadline meetings. versatile, a 20-goal scorer who could be a difference-maker on the Coaches were involved, too, with their input. penalty kill, too.

“What do we need?” “My phone was ringing a lot,” Fitzgerald said.

Cooper said the focus was not on adding to the top six, as they felt they Fitzgerald said top teams were telling him they felt Coleman could “help had enough firepower up front (and, at that time, they still had captain them get over the top.” It was an attractive contract, just $1.8 million AAV Steven Stamkos). They needed a couple of forwards to add to their for 2020-21. “You get the best return when there’s a bidding war, and I group, guys with “dirt under their fingernails,” as Cooper put it. BriseBois had multiple teams offering similar packages,” Fitzgerald said. said one of the forwards needed to be a big, heavy center who could play in the bottom six. Fitzgerald said BriseBois was the first GM to offer something substantial, telling him during the early February Beanpot Tournament in Boston that The two names atop the Lightning board: Blake Coleman and Barclay he’d be willing to give up the first-round pick for Coleman. BriseBois had Goodrow. two first-rounders, the Lightning’s pick and the conditional first they received from Vancouver in the J.T. Miller deal the previous summer. There was also a potential need on defense, with Jan Rutta and Ryan McDonagh suffering lower-body injuries. This is where the collaboration But the Devils, who had leverage, wanted more. Fitzgerald asked for and communication between the GM and the coach are so important. “I forward Foote, whom the Lightning had just taken 27th overall in the made 100 deals in my career,” Smith said. “You have to stay close to 2019 NHL Draft. This was a tough one. Foote, the brother of Cal Foote, your coach and be constantly talking and feeling him out. He’s the jockey another one-time Lightning first-rounder, was Tampa Bay’s top prospect on the horse. If you tell the jockey, ‘I’m going to tell you what horse you’re in their system. They didn’t have many blue-chip-caliber players up front. riding no matter what,’ you can’t expect to get the results.” Losing Foote would leave a hole.

Smith said then-Rangers coach Mike Keenan kept pushing to trade Tony Blake Coleman (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today) Amonte for Stephane Matteau, and Smith eventually did, also adding Glenn Anderson and Craig McTavish. He didn’t disrupt his core, which It was only when BriseBois agreed to include Foote that the Coleman included Mark Messier, Mark Richter, Adam Graves and Brian Leetch, deal got finalized on Feb. 16, eight days before the deadline. The but he added around the edges. Lightning agreed to send New Jersey the first-rounder they got from Vancouver, whether it would be this year (if the Canucks made the Feaster will always be remembered for his deadline deal in 2004 to add playoffs) or next year. veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor from Columbus. He traded Alexander Svitov and the team’s third-round pick that year to get Sydor and a “(Foote) was the guy that I asked for,” Fitzgerald said. “Julien wants to fourth-round pick. Feaster got the ultimate validation when he boarded win the Stanley Cup. This is their year. You can see it with the way the team bus the day of the trade and captain Dave Andreychuk they’re playing. What’s the value of winning a Cup? I don’t know. I’m not squeezed his shoulder and nodded as Feaster passed by. “You can’t fool there yet. But I hope to get there, to where I can parlay a top prospect the players,” Feaster said. “They know what you need.” and a first-round pick because we are on the verge of winning a Cup. I tip my hat to Julien. He’s a good businessman and a passionate general So does the coach. manager who wants to win. I think he showed his fan base and his team that he’s all-in.” “When you’re in a position like that, you have to make tough decisions,” Cooper said. “There’s no standing on the fence, and Julien doesn’t stand For the previous month or so, Coleman’s agents — Brian and Stephen on the fence. He listens, takes in information and makes decisions. I Bartlett — were told he wasn’t being shopped but that the Devils would at don’t think you can ever second-guess what that guy does. Maybe you least be listening. Some teams are more forthright than others. Brian can over time say that decision wasn’t right. But he makes a decision, Bartlett recalled a couple of deadlines earlier, when he asked the and he doesn’t do it by the seat of his pants. He does it with information, Rangers at 2:57 p.m. if Miller was getting moved. They said no. Shortly and it’s calculated. He doesn’t BS you. He’s upfront and will tell you like it after the 3 p.m. deadline, while Miller was on a plane to Vancouver, he is. got dealt with McDonagh to the Lightning.

“We’ve always been honest with each other. Sometimes the No matter the notice, a trade would have rattled Coleman, whose wife, conversations aren’t always the easiest. But we trust each other. I trust Jordan, was about nine months pregnant. She could give birth at any everything he does.” time. So when Coleman was told he was pulled from the lineup around 5 p.m. that Sunday, it got stressful. His dad, Rusty, was in town from Texas BriseBois knew it would take a hefty price to acquire Coleman and/or for the game and the upcoming “Dads Trip.” Blake called Jordan. Goodrow. He checked in with Vinik weeks ahead of the deadline with the plan. Vinik has said he’ll never be the one to make hockey-related “We’ve been traded,” he told her. decisions — “I let the coach coach and GM manage.” But BriseBois and, Jordan said she broke down. “Where are we going?” “I don’t know.” you’re not going to get rid of Marleau, Thornton.’ At the end of the day, that’s what makes it so hard. There’s only one parade.” They had heard rumors of different teams, from Edmonton to Boston, but nobody knew. Coleman left the Prudential Center and went home with Wilson has made deadline or summer moves to add to his core, but now his dad. They cracked open a beer and waited, starting to watch the that his Sharks knew they wouldn’t be in the playoffs, he found himself in Devils’ game. Fitzgerald called, telling Coleman it was strictly business, another position. that the Lightning had given an offer “I couldn’t refuse.” “You don’t worry about the outside world, you do what’s right for your “You’re going to win a Cup — if it’s not this year, it’s next year,” team,” Wilson said. “I’ve done it many times. You got to balance the Fitzgerald told Coleman. present with the future and take a look at where your team is at, what ingredients you need, what it might cost. If it makes sense, you go for it. I Not too long after, BriseBois called Coleman. Jordan Coleman will never admire and respect Julien for going and getting the pieces he needed.” forget what he said. Button said it reminded him of when the Stars, after an exit in the 1998 “I’m so fucking excited about this.” playoffs, decided they needed more of a scoring punch. They signed The Goodrow trade Brett Hull and won a title a year later. Button remembered that the Stars didn’t want to trade Jarome Iginla, then a prized prospect, to Calgary in Goodrow got a knock on the door of his hotel room at the Ritz in Philly on 1995, but they felt they were a championship-caliber team and needed deadline day and figured something was up. Joe Nieuwendyk. Iginla, and Nieuwendyk, are Hall of Famers, but the Stars won a Cup. He had never been traded in his career, remaining on the same junior team (Brampton in OHL) for five years, and then the next six in San Jose Vinik believed all the Lightning’s moves — the seven new players — after signing as an undrafted free agent. Goodrow didn’t think he’d get “transformed our team.” He brought up a quote by a Bruins player during moved, but he had heard some rumors. Marleau was likely leaving, and the playoffs about how Tampa Bay was tough to play against. “That’s the maybe Joe Thornton was, too. Bruins saying that to us,” Vinik said. “It’s usually the reverse.”

Goodrow looked through the peephole and saw his GM, Wilson, in the “Julien and his group clearly saw what they needed,” Button said. “That’s hall. the essence of managing. It’s not to panic or make changes for changes’ sake. Then came the awkwardness. Wilson was actually looking for Marleau, who had just been dealt to the Penguins. But Goodrow’s and Marleau’s “There’s not a person on the planet that’s going to tell you, ‘Oh, geez, room numbers on the team’s sheet were mixed up. Shattenkirk, Bogosian, Maroon and Coleman are the answers to the problem.’ But guess what: They are.” “I’m like, what are the odds of that?” Wilson recalled, laughing.

The truth was, Wilson was in talks with the Lightning about Goodrow but wasn’t sure if a trade would get done. As with Coleman, BriseBois had The Athletic LOADED: 09.14.2020 been aggressive in pursuing Goodrow. They had more than a dozen calls on the subject for the preceding month. Wilson was hesitant to trade Goodrow, a heart-and-soul type of player who was versatile and had grown up in the organization.

“I was not shopping him at all,” Wilson said. “But Julien aggressively came after him.”

Barclay Goodrow (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)

BriseBois had been with his staff all weekend at Amalie Arena, bouncing between the conference room and his office. Usually in attendance were his pro scouts and fellow execs such as Mathieu Darche, Jamie Pushor and Stacy Roest. Also, there was director of analytics Mike Peterson, not to mention scouting director Al Murray, who is helpful when picks or prospects are involved in a deal. They had conversations about multiple players at multiple positions, including defense, which they eventually addressed the night before by signing veteran Zach Bogosian to a one- year deal. Bogosian, who had been waived by Buffalo after a contentious year, was sold on the Lightning over other suitors after talks with BriseBois and Cooper, who discussed his role on a Cup-contending team.

“It was too good to pass up,” Bogosian said.

Now that they had defensive help, the Lightning kept their focus on Goodrow. Wilson insisted he needed a first-round pick in return. That was the Lightning’s decision, whether to ante up or use that first-round pick on another player/position. BriseBois ultimately told Wilson they’d deal their second first-round pick in a week.

For the second time that day, Wilson knocked on Goodrow’s door. This time, it was for him.

“At the deadline, when you’re a buyer, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” BriseBois said that day. “I decided I was going to take the risk of being damned if I do, and I did.”

Wilson has been in BriseBois’ shoes before. There was even a time years ago when he chatted with Red Wings executive and former GM Jimmy Devellano about whether he should consider breaking up his core after several playoff exits. “He was under a lot of stress, more from the fans via the media, that they should blow up their team,” Devellano said. “I said, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’

“I said, ‘Look, Doug, what, you going to get rid of the good players? You’re going to have to tweak it up, shake it up or give them shit. But 1193380 Vegas Golden Knights Dallas finished with an 8-7 advantage in high-danger chances at five-on- five, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. For the series, the scoring chances are almost even despite the Knights having nearly 60 percent of the shot attempts. Here’s how Golden Knights can crack Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin “We created enough looks with the puck in the right people’s hands that I think most times we’re getting at least three goals in a game like that and maybe four or five,” DeBoer said. “We’ve just got to stick with it.” By David Schoen 3. Run and gun September 13, 2020 - 5:07 PM One way for the Knights to test Khudobin is off the rush, which is difficult

to do against a Dallas team that is content to sit back defensively. The Golden Knights’ chance to win the Stanley Cup was nearly derailed It would mean sacrificing a couple of chess pieces to get the Stars to in the second round by a rookie goaltender making his postseason debut. bring out their queen, but that’s what Colorado did to some degree of A journeyman netminder has them on the brink of elimination in the success in the conference semifinals. Western Conference Final. The Avalanche didn’t get enough goaltending to fend off Dallas’ The Knights’ inability to solve Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin continued to counterattack, but the Knights can expect Robin Lehner to come up with overshadow all other storylines entering Monday’s Game 5 in Edmonton, enough key saves in a wide-open game. Alberta, with the Stars holding a 3-1 series advantage. And that style of play might suit the Knights better than the tense, low- “I think the worst thing we can do is analyze this to death and start scoring nailbiters that seem to get in their top scorers’ heads. changing a bunch of things,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said Sunday “There’s always little things we can do a little bit better,” DeBoer said. during a videoconference call. “If you can throw out double the amount of “But we created enough chances (Sunday) night to get three or four high-danger scoring chances as the other team on a given night, you’re goals. Some guys got to relax and stick a couple in the net.” going to win most games. And you’ve got to trust that will eventually come around and swing your way.”

Khudobin, 34, was serviceable through his first 14 games of the playoffs LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 09.14.2020 in place of starer Ben Bishop, compiling an 8-5 record with a 2.94 goals- against average and .909 save percentage.

But he’s turned into a Conn Smythe Trophy contender and Stars cult hero through four games against the Knights, posting a 3-1 mark with a 1.64 GAA, .952 save percentage and his lone shutout.

Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko nearly pulled off a similar smash-and-grab theft against the Knights when he stopped 123 of 125 shots in Games 5 through 7 of the conference semifinals.

The Knights have posted 40 or more shots five times this postseason and are 0-5 in those games. So, is it “hot goalies” or poor finishing?

Here are three areas the Knights need to improve to crack Khudobin:

1. Timing the traffic

One of the knocks on the 5-foot-11-inch Khudobin is his inability to deal with screens, and the Knights did a better job of creating traffic in front of the net in Game 4.

But too often in this series the Knights work the puck from low to high and the defenseman fires a shot from the point before the forwards arrive at the blue paint to get in Khudobin’s eyes.

The result is Khudobin has a clear look at the shot despite the appearance of there being bodies in front. When the Stars goalie gives up a rebound, the Knights haven’t been in position to pounce.

If the defensemen are able to wait a beat longer before shooting, and the forwards can get to the front of the net quicker, it will allow more chaos to develop.

“You’ve got to put the puck in a spot for the forwards to get rebounds, too, as well. You’ve got to shoot for certain purposes,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “It’s on us to get pucks through and get them through quickly and get them through at the right times and give them a chance to have the first opportunity for a tip and obviously second chances, too.”

2. Stop settling from outside

To use a basketball analogy, the Knights have been too content operating on the perimeter and chucking up 3-pointers.

They managed seven shots on goal from inside 15 feet in Game 4, and produced one in the final 29 minutes while the game was tied or the Knights trailed.

Of their 33 total shots on Khudobin, 21 came from outside of 30 feet and 11 were from beyond 50 feet or more. That includes a 66-foot slap shot from defenseman Alec Martinez in the first period and a 107-foot wrist shot from Jonathan Marchessault in the second. 1193381 Vegas Golden Knights Stone, the Knights’ second-leading scorer in the regular season and postseason, missed the last 4:50 of the second period in Game 4 on Saturday after blocking a shot with his right foot. He appeared hobbled afterwards but still played 8:16 in the third period as his team tried to Elimination games come early for Knights against Stars erase a 2-1 deficit.

Nosek didn’t play Saturday after exiting Thursday’s Game 3 in the second period. By Ben Gotz

September 13, 2020 - 2:04 PM LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 09.14.2020

The Golden Knights have yet to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in their three-year history, but at least their coach has.

Pete DeBoer victimized the Knights with a three-game comeback last postseason. His overcame losing Games 3 and 4 by a combined score of 11-3 in the first round to advance with a 5-4 overtime victory in Game 7.

The Knights are going to need the same type of turnaround against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final. They’ve trailed 3-1 just once in their seven previous playoff series, in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

They lost 4-3 in Game 5 with the Washington Capitals.

“I think in our situation, this year, it’s stick with it,” DeBoer said. “When I look back at last year’s comeback with San Jose, one of the games was a goalie win, one was a power-play win. Whether it’s a line get hot for a night, a power-play win, a goalie win, a penalty-kill win, you’ve just got to find a way.

“For me, through four games, a big piece of this is keeping the things we’re doing really well, which is a large majority of our game. We haven’t got rewarded for that yet, but I believe we will.”

Monday’s Game 5 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta will be just the fourth time the Knights have faced elimination in their eight playoff series.

They’re 1-2 in those games, with the lone win coming in Game 7 of their second-round series against the on Sept. 4.

The Stars, on the other hand, are 2-2 this postseason when they have a chance to eliminate a team. They defeated the Calgary Flames 7-3 in Game 6 of their first-round series after falling behind 3-0 in the first period.

Dallas then lost two straight games after going up 3-1 in the second round against the Colorado Avalanche. They won 5-4 in in overtime in Game 7 thanks to a hat trick from rookie forward Joel Kiviranta in his third-ever playoff appearance.

The 24-year-old had just one goal in 11 regular-season games.

“We know every single game in the playoffs will be tough and every single time a team faces elimination, they try to throw the best they have at you,” Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera said. “We’ve got to be ready for it, but on the other hand, we have to throw the best we have on them. It will be a very good game again and we will get the best of both teams.”

DeBoer, for his part, is staring at a 3-1 deficit for the fourth time in the 17 playoff series he’s coached. His team has won Game 5 the previous three times but lost the series twice.

DeBoer’s trailed 3-1 in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final and lost in six games to the Los Angeles Kings. His Sharks also lost the 2016 Final in six games to the .

DeBoer is confident the Knights can be his second team to overcome that deficit because of the unique nature of this postseason. He noted three of the four second-round series began 3-1, and all three ended in a Game 7. All three teams that were ahead 3-1 won the Game 7.

“This isn’t unheard of and it’s a unique year, so I think with no home-ice advantage, it’s even more of an option,” DeBoer said. “We’re prepared for the battle.”

Injury news

DeBoer didn’t share any injury updates on forwards Mark Stone and Tomas Nosek on Sunday. 1193382 Vegas Golden Knights DeBoer did not have an update on Stone’s status after the game, but the Knights’ hopes of coming back from a 3-1 series deficit are diminished considerably without their second-leading scorer.

Golden Knights forwards lacking confidence, scoring touch 2. Schmidt happens

It’s been a tough two-game stretch for defenseman Nate Schmidt.

By David Schoen On the winning goal in Game 3, Schmidt was caught too far up the ice and unable to intercept an outlet pass that started the scoring play. He September 13, 2020 - 7:00 am made an egregious turnover in his own zone during the second period Saturday, leading to the tying goal.

Schmidt was pressured by Stars forward Andrew Cogliano, and his pass Max Pacioretty was one of three players in the NHL to register more than was deflected. Pavelski recovered the loose puck, and Schmidt dived to 300 shots on goal this season and rarely passes up an opportunity to test try to deflect his shot, but instead the knuckleball fluttered over the a goaltender. shoulder of Knights goalie Robin Lehner. When the Golden Knights left wing gets the puck in a prime scoring The Knights had been outshooting Dallas 22-6 to that point, but the Stars position and looks to pass like he did late in the first period Saturday, recorded seven of the final nine shots in the period and protected the something isn’t right. lead in the third. The Knights’ forwards continued to lack confidence against Dallas Stars “Their best player, Joe Pavelski, takes a backhand, rolls up the shaft of goaltender Anton Khudobin and were shut down in a 2-1 loss in Game 4 our stick and over our goalie’s shoulder,” DeBoer said. “We haven’t of the Western Conference Final in Edmonton, Alberta. gotten any of those, and we’ve got to stick with it till we do.” “I thought we created some really good looks and we hit two or three 3. Public enemy posts,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “Obviously with one goal, we’ve got to find other ways to make it tougher on him, but the effort’s there to do that. Alex Tuch hasn’t made many friends in Texas in this series. We had enough looks to extend the lead at different points. Just got to stick with it.” The Stars already were upset with the Knights forward for his slewfoot on Tyler Seguin during a Game 3 scrum and took exception to a play early Pacioretty, who led the Knights with 32 goals during the regular season, in the second period of Game 4. took a cross-ice pass from defenseman Alec Martinez on a power play with 1:53 left in the first period and appeared to have room to shoot as Here's what happened to Corey Perry. Not sure how intentional this is, Khudobin slid to his right. looks more like an accidental collision, but still no penalty for interference on Tuch. https://t.co/rC8hUpCWMw pic.twitter.com/M1R4ajuB0C Instead, Pacioretty opted to try to hit Paul Stastny with a back-door feed that would have stranded Khudobin. — NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) September 13, 2020

But Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen had the shaft of his stick flat on Tuch skated behind the net as the Knights tried to break out of their zone the ice to cut off the passing lane and deflected the puck behind the net. and collided with an unsuspecting Corey Perry, who was knocked flat and appeared to be briefly unconscious. That wasn’t the only opportunity the Knights passed up trying to do too much with the puck. Perry skated one more shift and was pulled off the ice by a concussion spotter before he returned later in the second period. During a second-period penalty kill, Reilly Smith had a two-on-one with William Karlsson but couldn’t find a pass across. Smith tried to toe-drag Tuch was not penalized for interference and will probably hear boos the the puck around Stars defenseman John Klingberg and coughed it up. next time he visits American Airlines Center.

Khudobin finished with 32 saves, but the Knights also lacked a finishing touch with 19 shots that missed the net. LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL LOADED: 09.14.2020 Smith and Jonathan Marchessault have each gone 10 games without a goal; Pacioretty hasn’t scored in his past seven games.

The Knights have 10 goals in their past seven games, which includes two into an empty net in Game 7 against Vancouver.

“All we need is to finish,” DeBoer said. “I think the effort’s there. I think we’re creating a lot of really good looks.”

Here are three more takeaways from the loss:

1. Made of Stone

Knights forward Mark Stone made a lonely stroll through the hall to the bench after the start of the third period.

Hobbled and ineffective, Stone gutted out 8:16 of ice time in the third, but was unable to rescue the Knights.

I love how dramatic this shot is. Mark Stone making his WWE entrance walking down to the ring pic.twitter.com/YmPCRd6b2S

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) September 13, 2020

“That time of year, but he’s a special character guy and you expect that out of him,” DeBoer said. “It’s that time of year. You get this deep, everybody’s playing through something.”

Stone appeared to be injured in the second period when he stuck out his right foot to block a shot by Dallas’ Joe Pavelski.

Stone didn’t play the final 4:50 of the second period and emerged from the locker room after the faceoff to start the final period. He was noticeably wincing in pain throughout. 1193383 Vegas Golden Knights Betting line: Golden Knights minus-175, Stars plus-155; over/under: 55 (minus-120, EVEN)

Golden Knights (12-7, Western Conference No. 1 seed) Golden Knights face elimination in Game 5 against Stars Previous round: Defeated Vancouver in second round, 4-3

Coach: Peter DeBoer (first season) By Justin Emerson Points leaders: Shea Theodore (18) Monday, Sept. 14, 2020 | 2 a.m. Goals leaders: Alex Tuch (8)

Assists leaders: Shea Theodore (11) The Golden Knights know what a 3-1 lead in a playoff series feels like. Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (1.93 GAA, .919 save percentage) They know how hard that fourth win can be. Stars (12-8, Western Conference No. 3 seed) Vegas trails the Dallas Stars 3-1 in the Western Conference Final, needing a win at 5 p.m. tonight in Game 5 to keep the season alive. In Previous round: Defeated Colorado in second round, 4-3 the last round of the postseason, the Golden Knights were on the opposite side of things, up 3-1 against Vancouver before dropping two Coach: Rick Bowness (first season) games to force a Game 7. And last year a 3-1 lead turned into a series Points leaders: Miro Heiskanen (22) loss against San Jose. Goals leader: Joe Pavelski (9) If it could happen to them, why can’t they be the ones to do it? Assists leaders: Miro Heiskanen (17) “There’s no quitters in that locker room,” forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “I know we’re going to battle until the end.” Expected goalie: Anton Khudobin (2.67 GAA, .918 save percentage)

The frustrating thing about the Golden Knights’ deficit is that so much of Golden Knights projected lineup everything — the eye test, the stats, the gut feeling — says they should be winning. They’ve outshot the Stars in four games and have generated Forwards more scoring chances. Their goalie is playing well and they’ve allowed Max Pacioretty—William Karlsson—Mark Stone just six goals — half of which came in one game. Jonathan Marchessault—Paul Stastny—Reilly Smith The problem is that the Stars are a punching bag, absorbing every hit without giving up an inch. They also have a goalie playing well, they’ve Nick Cousins—Chandler Stephenson—Alex Tuch also allowed just six goals, and though they trail in the possession metrics, aren’t built in a way that needs them. They are plenty content to William Carrier—Nicolas Roy—Ryan Reaves score just enough and run out the clock. It’s what they did in both Game Defensemen 1 and Game 4. Brayden McNabb—Nate Schmidt Vegas was one of the best teams in the regular season, and until this round one of the more dominant teams in the playoffs. The game plan Alec Martinez—Shea Theodore that got them here works, even if it hasn’t so far against the Stars. The Nick Holden—Zach Whitecloud Golden Knights’ best chance at winning isn’t blowing up the system and starting over, but tweaking it and making adjustments to a strong Goalies foundation. Robin Lehner, Marc-Andre Fleury “I think the worst thing we can do is analyze this to death and start changing a lot of things,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “If you can throw out double the amount of high-danger scoring chances against a team on a LAS VEGAS SUN LOADED: 09.14.2020 given night, you’re going to win most games and you’ve got to trust that’s eventually going to come around and swing your way.”

It’s worth noting that wasn’t the case in Game 4, according to Natural Stat Trick, where Vegas led 15-12 in high-danger chances, but almost was in Game 3 where Vegas led 15-9. His point though is clear. The Golden Knights have the edge 51-38 for the series, and that’s not typical of a team losing in the series.

The fact is though, that the Golden Knights are one loss from elimination while the Stars are one win from their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in two decades. Vegas reached the Final two years ago with a team widely considered to be not as good as this year’s squad, reminding everyone just how hard it is to win the Cup.

In 2018 everything broke right for the Golden Knights, and they didn’t need one Game 7 to run through the Western Conference. This year the Golden Knights have already needed one, and will need another if they’re going to make this comeback.

It will be forever remembered if the Golden Knights do indeed come back and win this series. The first step comes tonight in Game 5.

“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves or anything,” Marchessault said. “Playoffs are never over until it’s over. We can’t look at it like a big mountain right now, let’s focus on (tonight).”

Series: Stars lead 3-1

TV: NBC Sports Network (DirecTV 220, Cox 38, CenturyLink 640)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM 1193384 Websites than one). But as Yzerman would soon depart to take over as GM of the Red Wings, this was a bitter ending, something neither of them ever envisioned.

A behind-the-scenes look at how Julien BriseBois ‘transformed’ Lightning “I’m sorry we didn’t win a Cup together,” BriseBois recalled saying that night.

A few days later, BriseBois had a major meeting scheduled. He headed By Joe Smith over to owner Jeff Vinik’s sprawling South Tampa home for an end-of- season talk, which would last around two hours. There was much to Sep 13, 2020 discuss and digest, from what had just happened to what the team should do next. This would set the tone for the club’s summer, its next chapter. They sat together in Vinik’s “TV room,” with one sitting in a Doug Wilson woke up in the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia on the morning lounger chair, the other on the couch. of the Feb. 24 trade deadline not knowing what to expect. Vinik recalls that BriseBois was strong in his opinions. Methodical. The Sharks general manager had a few players who were likely to move, Confident. such as Patrick Marleau. Wilson did not want to trade Barclay Goodrow. He wasn’t shopping him. But Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois “We weren’t going to make any rash decisions,” Vinik said in a phone had been persistent about the Sharks center for the previous month, interview Saturday. “He wanted to take his time, examine what happened sparking more than a dozen phone calls between him and Wilson about during that season and why it had such a tough ending, and what to do a potential deal. about it — if anything. It was clear to him, and I agreed, that we have a really good core, we have really good players overall, who disappointed Wilson drew a line in the sand: The only way Goodrow was getting dealt last year. But blowing up this team was not an option for either of us. was if the Lightning would send the Sharks a first-round pick. It might have sounded steep, especially with Tampa Bay having already dealt a “It’d be a panic move.” first-rounder and top prospect Nolan Foote to the Devils a week earlier Coach Jon Cooper had just signed a three-year extension a few weeks for Blake Coleman. before the playoffs, and they decided he wasn’t going anywhere. As But Coleman, 28, and Goodrow, 27, had been BriseBois’ top targets BriseBois told the media that week, “No point in looking for the next Coop since the organization’s January meetings at Amalie Arena. They were when I have the original. I like the original.” two forwards who could add needed snarl and sandpaper to a skilled “He gets the blame for the performance, the players do, the managers lineup. They were hard to play against and would make the Lightning a do, so does the owner,” Vinik said. “We all share the blame. It wasn’t a harder out in the playoffs. They were also hard to get, with both boasting reason to make an impulsive decision and get rid of the longest-tenured team-friendly contracts for another year. BriseBois, who had watched coach in the NHL. Clearly, he was one of the best coaches and despite Goodrow’s final 20 games with the Sharks, either on TV or computer, the disappointment, I think we’ve won more playoff series than any other needed to be “really aggressive.” team the last six, seven years. We’ve got to win the big prize and we’re With the deadline approaching, BriseBois told Wilson he’d give up the getting close, but none of that to me says, ‘Fire the coach.’ All it says to first-round pick. The deal got done around 2:37 p.m., just before the 3 me is that the coach is going to continue to get better and this will be a p.m. deadline. learning experience.”

“You have to know your team, the phase they’re in, and you swing when Former NHL GM Neil Smith, who won a Cup with the Rangers, said you’re in that position,” Wilson told The Athletic. “And Julien took a swing. keeping Cooper was BriseBois’ smartest move. Smith said it’s important It was not an easy deal for me to make, and probably wasn’t an easy to ignore the outside noise — the fans, the media — when making these deal for him to make, either. Those are the right type of deals.” types of decisions. It helps to have a supportive owner such as Vinik, he said, as the absence of that steadiness can throw a wrench into your BriseBois finished runner-up for for the NHL’s GM of the Year Award on plan. Saturday, finishing behind Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello in an honor voted on by fellow GMs and a panel of executives and media. It wasn’t just Smith pointed to many of the Cup teams over the past few decades, from because of BriseBois’ bold moves at the deadline — taking the “damned his 1994 Rangers to the mid-1990s Red Wings to the Penguins and if you do approach” — to bolster his team. It was the things he didn’t do, Kings. They all had to go through heartbreak first. The scars were almost vowing not to “blow up” his roster or fire coach Jon Cooper after his a precursor to the Cup, a rite of passage of sorts. team’s historic and humbling loss to the Blue Jackets in the first round “You can’t let people on the outside tell you ‘you’ve got to blow this up’ or last spring. It took patience, resolve and persistence, with BriseBois ‘you’ve got to do this.’ You have to do what you think is right. The thing adding seven new players to the team without breaking up his core. No everyone is concerned with is, ‘Am I going to lose my job over this?’ general manager has ever had to try to pick up the pieces from a You’ve got to put that out of your mind and think about what’s best for the Presidents’ Trophy team that had just been swept in the first round. And organization. And if it turns out I lose my job because I did what I thought here was BriseBois, entering his second year as GM, charged with that was right, then so be it.” task. Former Lightning general manager Jay Feaster and Smith said an This wasn’t a one-man show, with BriseBois calling it a team effort. But if executive has to take the emotion out of decisions, whether personal you go behind the scenes of the past 14 months, you learn a lot about feelings about players or how much was given up for them in the draft or the man who took a self-described “serendipitous” route to the job. trades. That can make for a hard, honest assessment of core players. “When you’re trying to take your team to that championship-caliber level, And in the Lightning’s case, BriseBois didn’t want to break up any of his you can’t do that if you don’t have the high-end talent,” said former NHL core as long as the cap allowed him to stay the course. GM Craig Button. “You can’t do it unless you have essential pieces. They The fact that veteran Ryan Callahan was told he could no longer play had (Nikita) Kucherov, they had (Victor) Hedman, and (Andrei because of degenerative back issues meant that he could be put on long- Vasilevskiy). term injured reserve, though BriseBois was able to move his $5.8 million “But it’s about what you do on the edges. You can have this great AAV in a trade with Ottawa. That was an underrated but important move painting, but what makes the painting beautiful is framing. Julien framed to clear space for the deadline moves he’d eventually make. the painting, and it’s a perfect framing. That’s a manager’s job.” The Lightning didn’t make a big splash at the deadline, instead swapping The summer out backup goalies (in Curtis McElhinney, out Louis Domingue) and adding depth right-shot defenseman Luke Schenn. McElhinney provided The low point for BriseBois likely came in the bowels of Nationwide a stable veteran who was comfortable in the role and was under contract Arena around midnight on April 15, 2019. for the following season.

Players had just slumped in their stalls, shell-shocked after being swept BriseBois didn’t expect veterans Pat Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk by Columbus, an unthinkable end to a 62-win season. BriseBois sat in an (bought out by the Rangers) to be available in August, but when they adjacent room with Steve Yzerman. They had built this team together were, he pounced, signing both to team-friendly, one-year deals (Maroon over the previous decade believing they would win a Cup (maybe more for $900,000, Shattenkirk for $1.75 million). He saw Maroon’s impact in before him, Yzerman would always discuss big philosophical moves, the room, as Cooper could vouch for in their experiences together. ones that include spending extra money or assets. Shattenkirk’s puck-moving ability fit perfectly with Tampa Bay’s style, as did the chip on his shoulder from how his time ended in New York. Vinik’s first question is always this: Are we a serious contender for the Stanley Cup? If the Lightning aren’t, they shouldn’t give up too many “Knowing what he did with the core group of guys and having that future assets. Vinik’s goal is to win the Cup now and 10 years from now winning mentality and having that one goal to win, he wanted to change without taking a big dip. Even to him, it’s “painful” to move top prospects the locker room a bit,” Maroon said. “He brought in new faces, he wanted such as Nolan Foote or, in the Ryan McDonagh deal with the Rangers a to adapt the room a little bit. Hats off to him. We still have some couple of years ago, Brett Howden and Libor Hajek. unfinished business, we’re happy for him and hope we can get him back here.” BriseBois told Vinik the best-case plan would “address some weaknesses” with players who weren’t rentals, as Coleman and Goodrow There was no major makeover in the offseason, just subtle tweaks. were under contract for another year at $2.7 million combined.

“The general manager’s job is to see the team as it is, not as you thought “His strategy was that we had a really good team and a really good shot,” it would be, not as you hoped it would have been, but in clear reality,” Vinik recalled. “There’s no guarantees. But this is as good a time as any said Button, who won a Cup as an executive with the Stars in 1999. “You to put all the chips in and after some players who can make a huge have to have the clarity of what your team is. That’s the No. 1 essential difference to our team this year.” quality of a GM. The Coleman deal “What Julien saw clearly is a team that had challenges in certain type of games when a game got pushed in a different direction, where the team Tom Fitzgerald knew he’d be busy at the trade deadline. needed more help.” The interim Devils general manager had several players who were likely The needs to move on from a team headed for the lottery. Veteran defenseman Andy Greene got dealt to the Islanders, for example. But Fitzgerald kept The Lightning pro scouting staff, executives and BriseBois got together in getting calls about the 28-year-old Coleman, an “identity” player who was January at Amalie Arena for their annual pre-deadline meetings. versatile, a 20-goal scorer who could be a difference-maker on the Coaches were involved, too, with their input. penalty kill, too.

“What do we need?” “My phone was ringing a lot,” Fitzgerald said.

Cooper said the focus was not on adding to the top six, as they felt they Fitzgerald said top teams were telling him they felt Coleman could “help had enough firepower up front (and, at that time, they still had captain them get over the top.” It was an attractive contract, just $1.8 million AAV Steven Stamkos). They needed a couple of forwards to add to their for 2020-21. “You get the best return when there’s a bidding war, and I group, guys with “dirt under their fingernails,” as Cooper put it. BriseBois had multiple teams offering similar packages,” Fitzgerald said. said one of the forwards needed to be a big, heavy center who could play in the bottom six. Fitzgerald said BriseBois was the first GM to offer something substantial, telling him during the early February Beanpot Tournament in Boston that The two names atop the Lightning board: Blake Coleman and Barclay he’d be willing to give up the first-round pick for Coleman. BriseBois had Goodrow. two first-rounders, the Lightning’s pick and the conditional first they received from Vancouver in the J.T. Miller deal the previous summer. There was also a potential need on defense, with Jan Rutta and Ryan McDonagh suffering lower-body injuries. This is where the collaboration But the Devils, who had leverage, wanted more. Fitzgerald asked for and communication between the GM and the coach are so important. “I forward Foote, whom the Lightning had just taken 27th overall in the made 100 deals in my career,” Smith said. “You have to stay close to 2019 NHL Draft. This was a tough one. Foote, the brother of Cal Foote, your coach and be constantly talking and feeling him out. He’s the jockey another one-time Lightning first-rounder, was Tampa Bay’s top prospect on the horse. If you tell the jockey, ‘I’m going to tell you what horse you’re in their system. They didn’t have many blue-chip-caliber players up front. riding no matter what,’ you can’t expect to get the results.” Losing Foote would leave a hole.

Smith said then-Rangers coach Mike Keenan kept pushing to trade Tony Blake Coleman (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today) Amonte for Stephane Matteau, and Smith eventually did, also adding Glenn Anderson and Craig McTavish. He didn’t disrupt his core, which It was only when BriseBois agreed to include Foote that the Coleman included Mark Messier, Mark Richter, Adam Graves and Brian Leetch, deal got finalized on Feb. 16, eight days before the deadline. The but he added around the edges. Lightning agreed to send New Jersey the first-rounder they got from Vancouver, whether it would be this year (if the Canucks made the Feaster will always be remembered for his deadline deal in 2004 to add playoffs) or next year. veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor from Columbus. He traded Alexander Svitov and the team’s third-round pick that year to get Sydor and a “(Foote) was the guy that I asked for,” Fitzgerald said. “Julien wants to fourth-round pick. Feaster got the ultimate validation when he boarded win the Stanley Cup. This is their year. You can see it with the way the team bus the day of the trade and captain Dave Andreychuk they’re playing. What’s the value of winning a Cup? I don’t know. I’m not squeezed his shoulder and nodded as Feaster passed by. “You can’t fool there yet. But I hope to get there, to where I can parlay a top prospect the players,” Feaster said. “They know what you need.” and a first-round pick because we are on the verge of winning a Cup. I tip my hat to Julien. He’s a good businessman and a passionate general So does the coach. manager who wants to win. I think he showed his fan base and his team that he’s all-in.” “When you’re in a position like that, you have to make tough decisions,” Cooper said. “There’s no standing on the fence, and Julien doesn’t stand For the previous month or so, Coleman’s agents — Brian and Stephen on the fence. He listens, takes in information and makes decisions. I Bartlett — were told he wasn’t being shopped but that the Devils would at don’t think you can ever second-guess what that guy does. Maybe you least be listening. Some teams are more forthright than others. Brian can over time say that decision wasn’t right. But he makes a decision, Bartlett recalled a couple of deadlines earlier, when he asked the and he doesn’t do it by the seat of his pants. He does it with information, Rangers at 2:57 p.m. if Miller was getting moved. They said no. Shortly and it’s calculated. He doesn’t BS you. He’s upfront and will tell you like it after the 3 p.m. deadline, while Miller was on a plane to Vancouver, he is. got dealt with McDonagh to the Lightning.

“We’ve always been honest with each other. Sometimes the No matter the notice, a trade would have rattled Coleman, whose wife, conversations aren’t always the easiest. But we trust each other. I trust Jordan, was about nine months pregnant. She could give birth at any everything he does.” time. So when Coleman was told he was pulled from the lineup around 5 p.m. that Sunday, it got stressful. His dad, Rusty, was in town from Texas BriseBois knew it would take a hefty price to acquire Coleman and/or for the game and the upcoming “Dads Trip.” Blake called Jordan. Goodrow. He checked in with Vinik weeks ahead of the deadline with the plan. Vinik has said he’ll never be the one to make hockey-related “We’ve been traded,” he told her. decisions — “I let the coach coach and GM manage.” But BriseBois and, Jordan said she broke down. “Where are we going?” “I don’t know.” you’re not going to get rid of Marleau, Thornton.’ At the end of the day, that’s what makes it so hard. There’s only one parade.” They had heard rumors of different teams, from Edmonton to Boston, but nobody knew. Coleman left the Prudential Center and went home with Wilson has made deadline or summer moves to add to his core, but now his dad. They cracked open a beer and waited, starting to watch the that his Sharks knew they wouldn’t be in the playoffs, he found himself in Devils’ game. Fitzgerald called, telling Coleman it was strictly business, another position. that the Lightning had given an offer “I couldn’t refuse.” “You don’t worry about the outside world, you do what’s right for your “You’re going to win a Cup — if it’s not this year, it’s next year,” team,” Wilson said. “I’ve done it many times. You got to balance the Fitzgerald told Coleman. present with the future and take a look at where your team is at, what ingredients you need, what it might cost. If it makes sense, you go for it. I Not too long after, BriseBois called Coleman. Jordan Coleman will never admire and respect Julien for going and getting the pieces he needed.” forget what he said. Button said it reminded him of when the Stars, after an exit in the 1998 “I’m so fucking excited about this.” playoffs, decided they needed more of a scoring punch. They signed The Goodrow trade Brett Hull and won a title a year later. Button remembered that the Stars didn’t want to trade Jarome Iginla, then a prized prospect, to Calgary in Goodrow got a knock on the door of his hotel room at the Ritz in Philly on 1995, but they felt they were a championship-caliber team and needed deadline day and figured something was up. Joe Nieuwendyk. Iginla, and Nieuwendyk, are Hall of Famers, but the Stars won a Cup. He had never been traded in his career, remaining on the same junior team (Brampton in OHL) for five years, and then the next six in San Jose Vinik believed all the Lightning’s moves — the seven new players — after signing as an undrafted free agent. Goodrow didn’t think he’d get “transformed our team.” He brought up a quote by a Bruins player during moved, but he had heard some rumors. Marleau was likely leaving, and the playoffs about how Tampa Bay was tough to play against. “That’s the maybe Joe Thornton was, too. Bruins saying that to us,” Vinik said. “It’s usually the reverse.”

Goodrow looked through the peephole and saw his GM, Wilson, in the “Julien and his group clearly saw what they needed,” Button said. “That’s hall. the essence of managing. It’s not to panic or make changes for changes’ sake. Then came the awkwardness. Wilson was actually looking for Marleau, who had just been dealt to the Penguins. But Goodrow’s and Marleau’s “There’s not a person on the planet that’s going to tell you, ‘Oh, geez, room numbers on the team’s sheet were mixed up. Shattenkirk, Bogosian, Maroon and Coleman are the answers to the problem.’ But guess what: They are.” “I’m like, what are the odds of that?” Wilson recalled, laughing.

The truth was, Wilson was in talks with the Lightning about Goodrow but wasn’t sure if a trade would get done. As with Coleman, BriseBois had The Athletic LOADED: 09.14.2020 been aggressive in pursuing Goodrow. They had more than a dozen calls on the subject for the preceding month. Wilson was hesitant to trade Goodrow, a heart-and-soul type of player who was versatile and had grown up in the organization.

“I was not shopping him at all,” Wilson said. “But Julien aggressively came after him.”

Barclay Goodrow (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)

BriseBois had been with his staff all weekend at Amalie Arena, bouncing between the conference room and his office. Usually in attendance were his pro scouts and fellow execs such as Mathieu Darche, Jamie Pushor and Stacy Roest. Also, there was director of analytics Mike Peterson, not to mention scouting director Al Murray, who is helpful when picks or prospects are involved in a deal. They had conversations about multiple players at multiple positions, including defense, which they eventually addressed the night before by signing veteran Zach Bogosian to a one- year deal. Bogosian, who had been waived by Buffalo after a contentious year, was sold on the Lightning over other suitors after talks with BriseBois and Cooper, who discussed his role on a Cup-contending team.

“It was too good to pass up,” Bogosian said.

Now that they had defensive help, the Lightning kept their focus on Goodrow. Wilson insisted he needed a first-round pick in return. That was the Lightning’s decision, whether to ante up or use that first-round pick on another player/position. BriseBois ultimately told Wilson they’d deal their second first-round pick in a week.

For the second time that day, Wilson knocked on Goodrow’s door. This time, it was for him.

“At the deadline, when you’re a buyer, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” BriseBois said that day. “I decided I was going to take the risk of being damned if I do, and I did.”

Wilson has been in BriseBois’ shoes before. There was even a time years ago when he chatted with Red Wings executive and former GM Jimmy Devellano about whether he should consider breaking up his core after several playoff exits. “He was under a lot of stress, more from the fans via the media, that they should blow up their team,” Devellano said. “I said, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’

“I said, ‘Look, Doug, what, you going to get rid of the good players? You’re going to have to tweak it up, shake it up or give them shit. But 1193385 Websites A lot of that runs through Point, who is strong on his edges and comfortable going to areas of the ice that require him to engage physically. That allows him to create offence both off the cycle and off the rush, and he doesn’t skirt defensive responsibilities to do either. Point keeps defying logic as Lightning move closer to Stanley Cup Final He’s a complete weapon that gets even more dangerous when the intensity is ratcheted up, just as it was during a Game 4 that remained 0- 0 past the midway point. The Islanders didn’t miss any opportunities to Chris Johnston finish a check on him and still couldn’t slow the Tampa engine who was September 13, 2020, 9:15 PM already playing at something less than 100 per cent.

“I mean he was all over it. He was in on everything,” said Cooper.

EDMONTON — We should savour every moment of this. “He’s a special talent,” added Coleman. “He tilts the ice every time he’s out there.” Not only is Brayden Point tearing through the NHL’s return-to-playoffs at a level seldom seen, but it’s not entirely clear how much more the Tampa Imagine if he was fully healthy? Bay Lightning’s play-driving centre has left in him to give.

Somewhat incredibly, Point has three goals and four assists to show for Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 09.14.2020 the four games played in the Eastern Conference Final so far. And he’s accomplished that while being hobbled by an injury which has kept him from skating in five and a half of the 12 periods contested between the Lightning and New York Islanders during this series.

On Sunday afternoon, Point was stapled to the bench for the final 9:37 of Tampa’s 4-1 victory. His coach, Jon Cooper, would later concede “we’re trying to manage him.”

They could do so comfortably towards the end of Game 4 because of the insurance goal Point and linemates Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov created early in the third period. That one will be recorded as the ninth of the playoffs for Point, but it was the result of a dominant top-line shift where they basically passed it into the net.

In the context of his last few days, this was a sublime effort from Point.

He could barely climb onto the player’s bench after taking an innocuous- looking hit that ultimately forced him to miss more than half of Game 2. Then, after missing Game 3 entirely, he covered more ice than any member of the Lightning during the first 20 minutes here Sunday.

He picked up an assist on Palat’s second-period goal — rolling his wrists ever so slightly to send the puck safely between Brock Nelson and Adam Pelech after gaining the blue line — and is now tied with Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon for the playoff scoring lead at 25 points.

That’s more than any player managed in all of last year’s playoffs. And Point got there in the parts of 16 games he’s been healthy enough to skate in, amassing a ridiculous 4.77 points per hour played this summer — surpassing MacKinnon (4.58), Kucherov (4.22) and everyone else who stepped foot inside the NHL bubbles.

“He’s been our best player,” said Palat.

“I’d go as far as to say he’s the most dangerous guy in the playoffs this year,” added teammate Blake Coleman.

And yet there may be a case to keep Point out of Tuesday’s Game 5 even with an opportunity to move on to the Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning have some breathing room with a 3-1 series lead, and he was clearly in discomfort after Pelech leaned into him with his six-foot-three, 218-pound frame.

Point needed to use both arms to lift himself off the ice and had a long chat with a team trainer when he got back to the bench. He wouldn’t take another shift in the game.

“It’s the playoffs, and these guys are playing hard, hard minutes,” said Cooper. “You watch the intensity in these games and they just keep increasing with every game that’s played and every round that’s played. It’s no different in this series.

“It’s a tough series and I’m sure guys on both teams are having to fight through things.”

The games in this Eastern Conference Final have been tighter than the aggregate score would suggest. Islanders coach Barry Trotz acknowledged that the biggest differentiator has been the production of the respective top lines, with Palat-Point-Kucherov outproducing Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle 8-1 in goals.

“Yeah, their first line has put a mark on us in a couple games here,” said Trotz. 1193386 Websites That’s where much of the consensus comes from outside observers to a close.

Virtually every year there is a player or two chosen in the top 10 that Sportsnet.ca / 7 Jets targets from 2020 NHL Draft who could help comes as a surprise, while there’s another player or two that fall for no reshape future particular reason and land in a team’s lap.

The Jets have checked a box in each of those categories, with Mark Scheifele being one of the risers in 2011 and Kyle Connor dropping to Ken Wiebe them at No. 17 in 2015.

September 13, 2020, 10:13 AM Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it’s been said many times that the draft is an inexact science, which is only natural when you’re dealing

with projections of players at such a young age. WINNIPEG — Since the circumstances are actually unprecedented, you While you see plenty of suggestions that the Jets should simply commit can expect the 2020 NHL Draft will supply more than a few surprises to choosing a centre to help fill the need, it’s important to remember that next month. most guys chosen 10th overall are a year or two away from being an The combination of both shortened and delayed seasons, plus the NHL regular and a lot can change in that time. cancellation of several high-profile international events means there So the Jets are far more likely to commit to choosing the highest player weren’t as many live viewings available for many teams as they would on their list, rather than reach for a centre or simply lock in on choosing have in a normal year. the best blueliner on their draft board. When you pair that with the lack of a combine this year, the final lists the Of course there are going to be some quality pivots available at that point 31 NHL teams put together figure to have a bit more variance than they of the draft, but it’s best to keep an open mind. might have otherwise. The Jets could go in another direction and that’s not necessarily a bad What does this mean for the Winnipeg Jets, who didn’t win Phase 2 of thing. the NHL Draft Lottery but did move up to secure the 10th-overall pick (from being projected to pick 12th) after a couple of qualifying round With that in mind, here’s a look at seven players (in no particular order) upsets? who might be available for the Jets when it’s time to make the 10th overall selection: It was already going to be an interesting draft for the Jets, whose pool of picks is currently limited to four after a number of trades during the past Tape to Tape two seasons. Senior Writer Ryan Dixon and NHL Editor Rory Boylen always give it Following the 10th pick, provided the Jets keep it — and you have to 110%, but never rely on clichés when it comes to podcasting. Instead, believe that’s the most likely scenario — they’ve got selections in the they use a mix of facts, fun and a varied group of hockey voices to cover second (40th overall), fifth (133rd overall) and sixth (164th overall) Canada’s most beloved game. rounds. Position: Defenceman Barring any changes, it’s the lowest draft haul the Jets will have since the franchise relocated from Atlanta in 2011. Height: 6-foot-1

Does that mean Winnipeg is going to try and make a deal to recoup a Weight: 185 pounds pick or two? Chances are high that Sanderson will be the second D-man chosen and It’s certainly not a stretch to suggest a franchise that prides itself on a won’t be around when the Jets pick. So why list him? That’s easy. A year ‘draft, develop and retain’ mantra would be looking to add picks. ago, I thought the same thing about Heinola. After checking out a number of mock drafts, he was a natural guy to leave off the list. But at a time when the salary cap is going to be flat at $81.5 million for the next two seasons, the importance of being able to integrate players I won’t make the same mistake this year, even if Sanderson could go as on entry-level deals and bargain contracts is at a premium, so many high as fifth or sixth, given his skillset and pedigree. Sanderson is a teams might be reluctant to make those types of deals. smooth-skating blueliner and is expected to be a key contributor for the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks this season. He was the Unless they have a surplus of picks, like the . captain of the U.S. National U-18 team, so he’s got leadership qualities to go with his talent. So, where does that leave the Jets? “He’s a very good defensive skater. He’s good in his pivoting and his What we know is that the Jets’ prospect pool is deepest when it comes to ability laterally to close ice on people, which made him hard to play defence, with 2019 first rounder Ville Heinola and 2018 second-rounder against,” said Seth Appert, who coached Sanderson last season before Dylan Samberg headlining a group that also includes 2016 first-rounder taking the head coaching position with the Rochester Americans of the Logan Stanley, Leon Gawanke and Declan Chisholm. AHL this summer. “He’s competitive, on top of that. He’s very good at With Mikhail Berdin going into the final year of his entry-level contract taking away time and space.” and Arvid Holm signed to a contract but expected to spend the season in When it comes to his love for the game, Sanderson takes after his father, Sweden, the Jets are also in good shape between the pipes. Geoff, who played 1,159 NHL games over 17 seasons when you include So while it’s possible they take a late-round flyer, it’s pretty safe to rule the playoffs. out highly-touted Russian netminder Yaroslav Askarov. Jack Quinn, Ottawa 67s, OHL While teams have been reluctant to use a high first-rounder on a goalie in Position: Right wing recent years, there’s a belief that Askarov’s talent will tempt one to alter their approach this time around. Height: 5-foot-11

If that ends up being a team in the top nine, as many are predicting will Weight: 180 pounds be the case, that means another talented forward or blueliner could fall to the Jets. You could argue no draft-eligible player took a bigger jump last season than Quinn, who became the eighth player in OHL history to score 50- *I understand that I may withdraw my consent at any time. plus goals in their draft year. Others on that list include star Patrick Kane, Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Alexis Lafrenierre will be joining the , Tim Stutzle and Stamkos and Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares, so it’s pretty Quinton Byfield are projected to be the first centres off the board and good company. Jamie Drysdale figures to be the first D-man selected. Quinn finished second in the OHL in goals with 52 and was eighth in and GM Yanick Jean. “He plays fast and with a lot of speed. He skates points (89), but in many ways, he’s just scratching the surface when it as fast with or without the puck. He makes plays and he makes comes to his potential. And he’s not a one-dimensional player, either. everybody around him better. He’s shooting the puck a lot better this year and has more confidence with his shot. It’s noticeable. He still has work “The thing that really sticks out is that as his offensive game has to do defensively, but his offensive upside is off the chart.” blossomed, his defensive game has improved at the same rate,” said 67s GM James Boyd. “He’s an ultra-reliable, two-way 50-goal scorer, which Many scouts still remember his dominant performance at the Hlinka as we know is extremely rare. The big change this year was that he’s Gretzky Cup, where he had 11 points in five games. playing on the inside and getting to the front of the net to some of those dirty areas and those prime goal-scoring areas. 31 Thoughts: The Podcast

“He’s super competitive in puck battles, he’s got explosiveness and Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman talk to a lot of people around the hockey tremendous acceleration in his skating stride. He has phenomenal hand- world, and then they tell listeners all about what they’ve heard and what eye coordination and that shows in his goal-scoring ability.” they think about it.

Braden Schneider, Brandon Wheat Kings, WHL Seth Jarvis, Portland Winterhawks, WHL

Position: Defenceman Position: Right wing

Height: 6-foot-2 Height: 5-foot-10

Weight: 209 pounds Weight: 172 pounds

Schneider is big, he’s strong and can skate. He plays a physical game, The highly-productive Winnipegger isn’t on this list as a token local, he has a high hockey IQ and is driven to get better. His game is already finished second in the WHL in scoring last season with 42 goals 98 mature and he leads by example. points (with 65 of those coming during the final 29 games) and brings a fearless element to his ice. Jarvis gets to the difficult areas, is an One of the few concerns about Schneider revolves around whether or not excellent distributor of the puck and has impressive finishing ability. he will be able to produce much offensively at the pro level, but he projects to be an outstanding shutdown defender that is also a good “I wouldn’t call it a slow start, I would call it a phenomenal finish. His last puck-mover and should be able to chip in given his mobility. three months were light’s out. It was amazing. He was the best player on the ice every single night in the second half,” said Winterhawks head “He was probably our most improved player and the biggest thing is that coach Mike Johnston. “He’s a complete hockey player. The way he understands who he is,” said Wheat Kings head coach Dave Lowry. everybody wants to play the game is how he can play it. He carries the “He knows exactly what type of player he needs to be to be successful in puck with speed, he shoots quick off the attack and he’s got great vision. the NHL. He’s extremely consistent. For me, he’s one of the safest picks He does everything fast. in the first round because you know what you’re going to get and he’s going to have a long career.” “He plays the game with passion and he’s all business when he comes to the rink. Seth Jarvis competes really hard and he’s starting to fill out. If Kaiden Guhle, Prince Albert Raiders, WHL he’s 5-9-and-a-half or 5-10-and-a-half, it’s not going to make a difference when he plays the game because he’s going to be really strong in his Position: Defenceman lower body and he plays the game hard. He’s not afraid. If a bigger guy Height: 6-foot-3 takes him off the puck hard, you’ll see him go right back at the guy on the next shift.” Weight: 187 pounds Dawson Mercer, Chicoutimi Sagueneens, QMJHL Another D-man that can skate and also has the ability to play a physical game, Guhle put up 11 goals and 40 points last season and had 56 Positions: Centre, left wing, right wing penalty minutes. The first-overall pick in the 2017 WHL Draft is trending Height: 6-feet upward and is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his brother, Brendan, a blueliner with the who is up to 59 NHL games on his Weight: 179 pounds resume. A versatile forward who is not only comfortable, but adept at all three “He’s got a little nasty in him. He’s competitive and he would be as a forward positions, he has drawn some comparisons to Boston Bruins younger brother,” said Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt. “He’s just centre Patrice Bergeron. That’s heady praise for a player at any level. an incredible skater. Fluent, long, powerful strides, with good quickness, good agility, good laterally, good edges. On top of that, he’s a complete “What position he plays doesn’t matter for him. Nothing changes. Not defenceman. only can he play all three positions, he can play all three positions really well,” said Jean. “He does the details and does everything right on the “There isn’t a situation where our coaches don’t trust him in – whether it’s ice. He wants to play on both sides (of the puck) and he’s proud of that. a power play or it’s the last minute and you have to kill off a five-on-three His willingness to improve and to get better is unreal. He’s a sure shot.” and block a shot. Kaiden can do it all. He has all the elements. He has a great reach and probably his best asset is his demeanour, his attitude With the QMJHL playing exhibition games right now and set to open the and his character.” regular season on Oct. 2, scouts will get an opportunity to see Mercer and Lapierre playing on a line together. Chicoutimi Sagueneens forward Hendrix Lapierre. (Credit: André Émond)

Hendrix Lapierre, Chicoutimi Sagueneens, QMJHL Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 09.14.2020 Position: Centre

Height: 6-feet

Weight: 180 pounds

Viewed by many as the wild card in this draft, Lapierre could have been under consideration to be a top-five pick had he not been injured and limited to only 19 games last season. Lapierre dealt with concussion issues and a problem with his vertebrae, but the first-overall pick in the 2018 QMJHL Draft is back to full health and he could see his stock rise back up with a few extra scouting viewings this fall.

“He didn’t play a game in more than 10 months, so I was waiting to see if there were any concerns with his game, maybe shying away from traffic or not getting involved (physically) but it’s been the opposite. He’s all-in and (the injury) is completely behind him,” said Sagueneens head coach 1193387 Websites Lehner has done his part, just like Marc-Andre Fleury did when he was a bit of a surprise starter in the series opener.

Goaltending is not the issue for the Golden Knights, who have only Pushed to the brink, Golden Knights need more from forward corps to allowed six goals through four games. survive Most times, that low a goals-against number would not result in a team being down in a series, let alone hanging on for dear life.

Ken Wiebe DeBoer has been preaching patience throughout the series and you can’t really blame him. The quality scoring chances have been there on most September 13, 2020, 5:42 PM nights, as have the possession numbers.

About the only thing lacking is goals, as the Golden Knights have been limited to six during the four games — including three in Game 2. Peter Deboer has provided cover and shown his support. Now it’s up to the Vegas Golden Knights forwards to deliver the goods. As for the failed two-man advantage during the third period of Game 4, DeBoer would like a do-over but knows that’s simply not possible. So, Otherwise, there’s a strong chance the Dallas Stars will advance to the instead of focusing on what hasn’t gone well, DeBoer urged his group to Stanley Cup Final and the Golden Knights will be heading to next-year stick with it and not abandon the foundation that has made them country. successful. You can go right ahead and call it an oversimplification if you like, but “The worst thing we can do is analyze this to death and start changing a outside of an otherwordly showing from Robin Lehner in Game 5 or bunch of things,” DeBoer said. “If you can throw out double the amount of another virtuoso performance from Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights high-danger scoring chances on a given night, you’re going to win most are going to need more from their big guns up front in order to extend this games. You’ve got to trust that eventually that will come around and series. swing your way.” DeBoer wasn’t about to call out those players publicly during his Zoom This is not to ignore what the Stars have done in this series, since this session on Sunday’s off-day. isn’t exactly a Cinderella story. That’s not how DeBoer rolls and it’s not necessary in all cases, even if The Stars have done a sensational job defensively against a potent the approach seemed to work well after Stars interim head coach Rick Golden Knights team that features plenty of depth. Bowness asked for more from his top forwards following Game 2. Dallas has been knocking on the door and building toward this moment. Different strokes for different folks, as the saying goes. Can they deliver the knockout punch or will the Golden Knights find a Instead of finger-pointing or asking for more, DeBoer was simply looking way to pick themselves up off the mat? for more of the same. “We’ve positioned ourselves very nicely with this series, but as of right With one essential caveat: better finish. now it’s only 3-1 and we’re going to have to play a better game to close “I’ve said before, you can’t coach the puck into the net,” DeBoer said. out the series,” Stars left-winger Andrew Cogliano said. “When a goalie is hot, if he can’t see it, he can’t stop it. So, we have to One thing the Golden Knights won’t do is panic. get bodies there. Other than that, we created enough looks with the puck in the right people’s hands. We’ve just got to stay with it.” DeBoer doesn’t have to look far for an example of a team overcoming a 3-1 series deficit, as he was the bench boss of the San Jose Sharks outfit As the Golden Knights get set to face elimination for the second time in that did just that against the Golden Knights in the playoffs last spring. these playoffs, it’s easy to identify the biggest problem: finding a way to solve the riddle that is Stars goalie Anton Khudobin. “Whether it’s a line getting hot for a night, a power-play win, a goalie win, a penalty-kill win, you’ve just got to find a way,” DeBoer said. “Yeah, I’m If you look back over the course of hockey history, it’s littered with stories confident. You have to win in order to give yourselves a chance and of netminders who get on a roll at the right time and occasionally put the that’s what we’re concentrating on. team on their back for a dramatic run. “There were three of the four series last round where there were 3-1 This isn’t just one goalie that’s given the Golden Knights trouble, as deficits and all three ended up in a Game 7. This isn’t unheard of. It’s a Thatcher Demko delivered a heroic performance late in the conference unique year, so I think, with no home-ice advantage, it’s even more of an semifinal after Jacob Markstrom went down with an injury. option. We’re prepared for the battle.” The Golden Knights have never been a team that relies on one player or The Golden Knights have ample playoff experience they plan to lean on one line to provide offence, it’s a collective approach. as they begin the process of trying to put together a three-game winning Having said that, you don’t have to look far to find a list of guys who streak to keep their season alive. haven’t been producing at their usual levels. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves or anything. The playoffs are never Those guys don’t need the head coach to point it out for them. They’re over until it’s over,” Marchessault said. “You can’t look at it like a big well aware. mountain right now. Let’s focus on tomorrow. We have a lot of scoring chances. We’ve created a lot still. We just can’t find the back of the net. Vegas’s regular season scoring leader, Max Pacioretty, has just one That’s for everybody. It’s something we’re going to get out of it all assist during his past seven games, though he has generated 27 shots together and pushing all in the same direction, being all on the same on goal during that stretch. page. There’s no quitters in that locker room. So I know we’re going to battle until the end. Jonathan Marchessault has no goals and two assists during his past 10 games, while frequent linemate Reilly Smith has no goals and three “We’re playing the right way. We’re not giving a lot of scoring chances. assists during the same span. We just can’t bear down. It’s adversity you’re going to face in the playoffs. We’re going to face hot goalies, we’re going to face offensive Even Alex Tuch, who has been a force on many nights, has only one power, like Vancouver had a good power play, stuff like that. We’re going goal and one assist during the past eight games. to face all of that. Making matters worse for the Golden Knights, Mark Stone blocked a Joe “We know what makes us successful. We can’t look too far. We’ve got to Pavelski shot with his right foot and was labouring during the third period take care of business tomorrow and see where it brings us.” after he returned to action. While showing plenty of determination to even finish the game, it’s tough to imagine Stone being anywhere close to 100 per cent in Game 4. Sportsnet.ca LOADED: 09.14.2020 He’ll give everything he can if he can play, but other guys are going to need to step up. That’s the reality of the situation. 1193388 Websites “It’s a game – it’s not a shift,” Cooper said. “Part of my job is make sure they’ve got the confidence to go do their job, and I have full confidence in them and they delivered.”

Quick-strike Lightning beat Islanders, move one win away from Stanley Point delivered a goal and an assist while clearly playing through some Cup berth pain. He didn’t play another shift after getting tangled up with Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech early in the third, and his status for Game 5 is a question mark after showing all the reasons he’s Tampa Bay’s leading scorer in the postseason. The Associated Press “He was all over it,” Cooper said of Point. “He was in on everything and

setting up goals, scoring goals and he’s a big part of our team. We have EDMONTON, Alberta – While the New York Islanders were celebrating to manage him. It’s the playoffs, and these guys are playing hard, hard Brock Nelson scoring the first goal of the game, Tampa Bay Lightning minutes. You watch the intensity in these games and they just keep center Yanni Gourde was steaming about giving it up. Coach Jon Cooper increasing with every game that’s played and every round that’s played.” decided to keep him on the ice for some redemption. NOTES: Maroon scored an empty netter with 2:24 left. … Michael Dal “I’m not really happy out there after that goal,” Gourde said. “I’m like, Colle came out for the Islanders to get Johnston in. … Islanders ’Let’s go back out there and try to have an O-zone shift where we can goaltender Semyon Varlamov finished with 32 saves. … The Islanders actually get momentum back.’” announced injured forwards Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnackl left the NHL bubble and are out for the remainder of the playoffs. They did more than that. Gourde set up Blake Coleman to tie it 15 seconds after Nelson’s goal, Ondrej Palat added another 12 seconds UP NEXT later and the quick-strike Lightning moved within a victory of the Stanley Game 5 is Tuesday night. Cup Final with a 4-1 victory Sunday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final.

“Getting scored on doesn’t sit real well, but credit to Coop keeping us out USA TODAY LOADED: 09.14.2020 there, giving us a shot to go get it back,” Coleman said. “Any time you can respond quickly in a game, it’s going to swing the momentum right back. Then obviously our big boys took over from there.”

Those big boys were the Lightning’s best players. Brayden Point scored in his return after missing Game 3 before leaving in the third with injury, fellow top liners Palat and Nikita Kucherov set him up for that goal, defenseman Victor Hedman played 29:12 and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves.

That combination has Tampa Bay the verge of its first Cup Final appearance since 2015.

Lightning left wing Ondrej Palat (18) scored one of four Tampa Bay goals against New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) in Game 4.

“All the guys are pretty excited to play for the big prize, but we have business to do here,” said Vasilevskiy, who has played every minute of every Lightning game this postseason. “We have to win the fourth one first.”

The Lightning won their third game of the series during the furious 27 second stretch with three goals. That’s also where the Islanders lost it

“You want to follow up a goal with a good shift and have a good response and kind of stay on it, and they had a better response than we did and got two quick ones,” Nelson said. “That was the difference: really 30 seconds there. If you hang on there for a bit, it’s a different game.”

Coach Barry Trotz wants strong shifts out of his players to start and end each period and following any goal. “We didn’t do it twice,” he said. “That’s on us.”

It’s also evidence of the firepower the Lightning have assembled, from homegrown talent like Palat, Point, Kucherov and Vasilevskiy and trade- deadline pickups Coleman and Barclay Goodrow. In Goodrow and free agent signings Patrick Maroon and Zach Bogosian, general manager Julien BriseBois added some muscle to all that talent, and that is giving his team confidence to go toe-to-toe with the Islanders in a series that’s getting chippy.

“We’re not going to back down from anybody,” Coleman said.

QUEST FOR STANLEY CUP:Scores, schedules in the playoff bubble

WESTERN CONFERENCE:Stars take commanding 3-1 lead on Golden Knights

IPlayers from each team had some discussions during pregame warmups, Trotz inserted tough guy Ross Johnston into the Islanders lineup for more tough toughness and tensions rose at times. New York’s Matt Martin shot the puck at the first period horn, earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and inciting some pushing and shoving, but the result hinged more on the play for 27 seconds and two big Tampa Bay shifts. 1193389 Websites Perhaps it’s that Dallas led Colorado last round 3-1 before needing Game 7 to move on, or past playoff failures. But the Stars are treating a goaltender-led Game 4 victory like just another step along the way.

Anton Khudobin, Dallas Stars take 3-1 lead on Vegas Golden Knights “We’re staying in the moment here as a group,” Benn said. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, but we found a way to get it done.”

NOTES: Dallas forward Roope Hintz left with injury in the first period and Associated Press didnt return. Bowness expected to have an update on Hintz’s status Sunday. … Vegas winger Mark Stone took a shot from Pavelski off his

right foot in the second and left before returning in the third. Stone was EDMONTON, Alberta – Anton Khudobin gloved the puck out of the air on wincing in pain while playing, and DeBoer didn’t have any update on how Shea Theodore’s shot at the most intense moment of the game like it he was doing. … Vegas was already without injured forward Tomas was part of a leisurely morning practice. Nosek. Nick Cousins replaced him in the lineup. … Stars winger Radek Faksa was “unfit to play.” … Vegas fell to 10-2 when scoring first this “I just tried to find the puck and react to it,” Khudobin said with the same postseason. nonchalance. “I don’t know if it’s luck or whatever. Let’s call it luck.”

It’s not luck. It’s a goaltender so locked in that he has the Dallas Stars one victory away from the Stanley Cup Final. USA TODAY LOADED: 09.14.2020

Khudobin made three of his 32 saves on a crucial 5-on-3 penalty kill late, Joe Pavelski and Jamie Benn scored in the second period and the Stars locked down on the Vegas Golden Knights in the final minutes to win Game 4 of the Western Conference final 2-1 Saturday night.

The Stars won despite being outshot 33-20 and don’t seem to mind that they trail Vegas 130 shots to 92 because Khudobin has stopped so many of them

Dallas Stars goalie Anton Khudobin stops a shot from Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch.

“He’s going to battle right till the end,” coach Rick Bowness said. “That’s why the guys love playing in front of him. When he was reading the play like he was tonight, he’s making a lot of tough saves look easy. But that’s what he is: He’s a battler, he’s a competitive guy and he’s keeping us in every game.”

Khudobin also is keeping himself in the heads of the Golden Knights, who ran into the same sort of problem last round against Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko. Vegas could be dominating the West final, but instead there’s head-shaking at creating high-quality scoring chances and emerging with nothing to show for them.

“All we need is to finish,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think the effort’s there. I think we’re creating a lot of really good looks.”

Khudobin has turned aside a few of those good looks, like when he spun his body to prevent a goal by William Karlsson in the second or dived to deny Brayden McNabb early in the third. The save on Theodore and two others during 1:10 of Vegas 5-on-3 power-play time provided the emotional lift the Stars needed while clinging to the lead.

“We put ourselves in a tough situation there,” said Pavelski, whose tripping penalty set up the 5-on-3 with 6:44 left. “It’s a moment in the game that was huge for our killers to get the job done.”

On the penalty kill and at even strength, Dallas has also done a masterful job of copying the way the Canucks almost beat Vegas last round, by collapsing defensively and giving their goaltender the chance to see a vast majority of the shots from the outside.

“The way the guys are battling, the way they’re blocking the shots, they have bruises and they have bumps and they still sacrifice their bodies to go and block the shots,” Khudobin said. “Unbelievable team effort, I would say. I really appreciate that. It’s huge, huge, huge.”

After Dallas killed off that Vegas power play, the Golden Knights didn’t get much the rest of the night. They didn’t put a shot on net during the final 3:50, during which the Stars blocked three attempts – one by star center Tyler Seguin with 86 seconds left.

“When the game’s on the line and it’s a 2-1 game, you’re late, you’ve got to do whatever it takes to get that win and our guys did that,” Bowness said. “They gutted that out and they blocked the shots, they paid the price and we got the win.”

But Stars players didn’t celebrate like they’re 60 minutes away from the franchise’s first trip to the final since 2000. Pavelski was “happy to see that one go in” when his backhander deflected in off Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt’s stick in mid-air, but he and his teammates looked and sounded determined not to let this chance slip away. 1193390 Websites Game 6: Flyers 5, Islanders 4 (2OT) Game 7: Islanders 4, Flyers 0

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Boston Bruins Quest for the Stanley Cup: Scores, schedules in the bubble Lightning win 4-1

Game 1: Bruins 3, Lightning 2 USA TODAY Sports Game 2: Lightning 4, Bruins 3 (OT)

Game 3: Lightning 7, Bruins 1 Tampa Bay and Vegas were expected to go far in the playoffs last season, only to falter in the first round — the Lightning shockingly swept Game 4: Lightning, 3, Bruins 1 by Columbus and the Golden Knights blowing a 3-1 series lead and a Game 7 lead against San Jose. Game 5: Lightning 3, Bruins 2

Now, they are meeting expectations with appearances in the Stanley Cup WESTERN CONFERENCE playoffs' conference finals in the Edmonton bubble. (All times Eastern; * denotes "if necessary")

The Golden Knights take on the Dallas Stars in the West (starting Vegas Golden Knights vs. Vancouver Canucks Sunday, 8 p.m. ET, NBC) while the Lightning will face the Islanders in the East (starting Monday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN). Golden Knights win 4-3

Both Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer and Stars coach Rick Game 1: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 0 Bowness are in-season replacements. The Islanders' Barry Trotz is a Stanley Cup winner (with Washington in 2018) and the Lightning's Jon Game 2: Canucks 5, Golden Knights 2 Cooper reached the Final in 2015. Game 3: Golden Knights 3, Canucks 0

NHL PREDICTIONS:Who will win the conference finals? Game 4: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 3

CONFERENCE FINALS Game 5: Canucks 2, Golden Knights 1

(All times Eastern; x denotes "if necessary") Game 6: Canucks 4, Golden Knights 0

EASTERN CONFERENCE Game 7: Golden Knights 3, Canucks 0

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Islanders Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars

Lightning lead 3-1 Stars win 4-3

Game 1: Lightning 8, Islanders 2 Game 1: Stars 5, Avalanche 3

Game 2: Lightning 2, Islanders 1 Game 2: Stars 5, Avalanche 2

Game 3: Islanders 5, Lightning 3 Game 3: Avalanche 6, Stars 4

Game 4, Lightning 4, Islandes 1 Game 4: Stars 5, Avalanche 4

Game 5, Sept. 15: 8 p.m. (NBCSN) Game 5: Avalanche 6, Stars 3 x-Game 6, Sept. 17: 8 p.m. (NBCSN) Game 6: Avalanche 4, Stars 1 x-Game 7, Sept. 19: 7:30 p.m. (NBC) Game 7: Stars 5, Avalanche 4 (OT)

WESTERN CONFERENCE First round

Las Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars EASTERN CONFERENCE

Stars lead 3-1 #1 vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens

Game 1: Stars 1, Golden Knights 0 Flyers win 4-2

Game 2: Golden Knights 3, Stars 0 Game 1: Flyers 2, Canadiens 1

Game 3: Stars 3, Golden Knights 2 (OT) Game 2: Canadiens 5, Flyers 0

Game 4: Stars 2, Golden Knights 1 Game 3: Flyers 1, Canadiens 0

Game 5, Sept. 14: 8 p.m. (NBCSN) Game 4: Flyers 2, Canadiens 0 x-Game 6, Sept. 16: 8 p.m. (NBCSN) Game 5: Canadiens 5, Flyers 3 x-Game 7, Sept. 18: 9 p.m. (NBCSN) Game 6: Flyers 3, Canadiens 2

Second round #2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. #7 Columbus Blue Jackets

EASTERN CONFERENCE Lightning win 4-1

Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Islanders Game 1: Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2 (5 OT)

Islanders win 4-3 Game 2: Blue Jackets 3, Lightning 1

Game 1: Islanders 4, Flyers 0 Game 3: Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2

Game 2: Flyers 4, Islanders 3 (OT) Game 4: Lightning 2, Blue Jackets 1

Game 3: Islanders 3, Flyers 1 Game 5: Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 4 (OT)

Game 4: Islanders 3, Flyers 2 #3 Washington Capitals vs. #6 New York Islanders

Game 5: Flyers 4, Islanders 3 (OT) Islanders win 4-1 Game 1: Islanders 4, Capitals 2 Game 1: Hurricanes 3, Rangers 2

Game 2: Islanders 5, Capitals 2 Game 2: Hurricanes 4, Rangers 1

Game 3: Islanders 2, Capitals 1 (OT) Game 3: Hurricanes, 4, Rangers 1

Game 4: Capitals 3, Islanders 2 Florida vs. N.Y. Islanders

Game 5: Islanders 4, Capitals 0 Islanders win 3-1

#4 Boston Bruins vs. #5 Carolina Hurricanes Game 1: Islanders 2, Panthers 1

Bruins win 4-1 Game 2: Islanders 4, Panthers 2

Game 1: Bruins 4, Hurricanes 3 (2OT) Game 3: Panthers 3, N.Y. Islanders 2

Game 2: Hurricanes 3, Bruins 2 Game 4: Islanders 5, Panthers 1

Game 3: Bruins 3, Hurricanes 1 Montreal vs. Pittsburgh

Game 4: Bruins 4, Hurricanes 3 Canadiens win 3-1

Game 5: Bruins 2, Hurricanes 1 Game 1: Canadiens 3, Penguins 2 (OT)

WESTERN CONFERENCE Game 2: Penguins 3, Canadiens 1

#1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. #8 Chicago Blackhawks Game 3: Canadiens 4, Penguins 3

Golden Knights win 4-1 Game 4: Canadiens 2, Penguins 0

Game 1: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 1 Columbus vs. Toronto

Game 2: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT) Blue Jackets win 3-2

Game 3: Golden Knights 2, Blackhawks 1 Game 1: Blue Jackets 2, Maple Leafs 0

Game 4: Blackhawks 3, Golden Knights 1 Game 2: Maple Leafs 3, Blue Jackets 0

Game 5: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 3 Game 3: Blue Jackets 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)

#2 Colorado Avalanche vs. #7 Game 4: Maple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 3 (OT)

Avalanche win 4-1 Game 5: Blue Jackets 3, Maple Leafs 0

Game 1: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 0 ROUND ROBIN

Game 2: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2 Determined Stanley Cup playoff seeding

Game 3: Coyotes 4, Avalanche 2 Flyers 4, Bruins 1

Game 4: Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1 Lightning 3, Capitals 2 (SO)

Game 5: Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1 Lightning 3, Bruins 2

#3 Dallas Stars vs. #6 Calgary Flames Flyers 3, Capitals 1

Stars win 4-2 Flyers 4, Lightning 1

Game 1: Flames 3, Stars 2 Capitals 2, Bruins 1

Game 2: Stars 5, Flames 4 WESTERN CONFERENCE

Game 3: Flames 2, Stars 0 QUALIFYING ROUND

Game 4: Stars 5, Flames 4 (OT) Chicago vs. Edmonton

Game 5: Stars 2, Flames 1 Blackhawks win 3-1

Game 6: Stars 7, Flames 3 Game 1: Blackhawks 6, Oilers 4

#4 St. Louis Blues vs. #5 Vancouver Canucks Game 2: Oilers 6, Blackhawks 3

Canucks win 4-2 Game 3: Blackhawks 4, Oilers 3

Game 1: Canucks 5, Blues 2 Game 4: Blackhawks 3, Oilers 2

Game 2: Canucks 4, Blues 3 (OT) Winnipeg vs. Calgary

Game 3: Blues 3, Canucks 2 (OT) Flames win 3-1

Game 4: Blues 3, Canucks 1 Game 1: Flames 4, Jets 1

Game 5: Canucks 4, Blues 3 Game 2: Jets 3, Flames 2

Game 6: Canucks 6, Blues 2 Game 3: Flames 6, Jets 2

Qualifying round and round robin Game 4: Flames 4, Jets 0

EASTERN CONFERENCE Arizona vs. Nashville

QUALIFYING ROUND Coyotes win 3-1

N.Y. Rangers vs. Carolina Game 1: Coyotes 4, Predators 3

Hurricanes win 3-0 Game 2: Predators 4, Coyotes 2 Game 3: Coyotes 4, Predators 1

Game 4: Coyotes 4, Predators 3 (OT)

Minnesota vs. Vancouver

Canucks win 3-1

Game 1: Wild 3, Canucks 0

Game 2: Canucks 4, Wild 3

Game 3: Canucks 3, Wild 0

Game 4: Canucks 5, Wild 4 (OT)

ROUND ROBIN

Determined Stanley Cup playoff seeding

Avalanche 2, Blues 1

Golden Knights 5, Stars 3

Avalanche 4, Stars 1

Golden Knights 6, Blues 4

Golden Knights 4, Avalanche 3 (OT)

Stars 2, Blues 1 (SO)

USA TODAY LOADED: 09.14.2020