PITTSBURGH — Mike Sullivan will always remember the night he found his mother, Myrna, on the back deck wearing slippers and a nightgown — and wielding a hammer.

She had asked Mike and his high school buddies to tear down the old deck at their home in the coastal community of Marshfield, Mass., and build a new one. But when summer jobs and ...Read more

For as many unusual games and moments as the Devils have experienced in 2021, Thursday night's contest was the one that players and coaches unanimously dubbed "weird."

New Jersey once again took the ice with Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri, albeit this time as opponents. The two former Devils started for the Islanders in a 2-1 New Jersey win at ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Last month, the Penguins acquired Jeff Carter, a two-time Cup-winner, in the hopes that he would bury big goals as they made a push toward another title.

They probably didn’t have Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, a last-place team playing out the string late in the regular season, in mind. But Carter’s four goals...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — As the Florida Panthers get prepared to begin a Stanley Cup playoff run with a postseason spot already clinched, a four-day break between games has come at a beneficial time.

Taking two days off following Monday’s 5-4 overtime win over the Dallas Stars, the Panthers were back at practice on Thursday morning at BB&T Center, ...Read more

DETROIT — It was disgusting and it nearly made me sick.

In today’s NHL there should be no room for the kind of wanton violence we witnessed in Wednesday night’s Washington Capitals-New York Rangers game that was shown nationally on NBCSN.

And it’s all the fault of league officials, and specifically of George Parros, a one-time enforcer...Read more

NEW YORK — In a series of events familiar to Knicks fans, the Rangers have turned what would have been a forgettable news cycle into a complete self-immolation.

After the Capitals’ Tom Wilson was slapped on the wrist for cheap shots on two Rangers, the team put out a statement calling for NHL Head of Player Safety George Parros to be fired....Read more

ST. LOUIS — A playoff spot for the Blues is pretty much inevitable. The combination of results to keep it from happening is pretty remote. So maybe for old times’ sake, the Blues revisited those days when they had trouble doing the simple things.

Against an Anaheim team long since eliminated from the playoff race but which has been throwing...Read more

It may have been the longest shift the Blue Jackets had in the offensive zone all night.

Center Jack Roslovic and his linemates, Mikhail Grigorenko and Emil Bemstrom, alongside defensemen Mikko Lehtonen and Vladislav Gavrikov, strung together an extended shift late in the third period with the game tied at two goals apiece and kept the pressure...Read more

Like many, I had the Penguins pegged as a borderline playoff team, largely because of the stiff competition in the rugged NHL East Division.

If you’d have told me they would lose important players left and right, including Evgeni Malkin, Brian Dumoulin, Kasperi Kapanen, Brandon Tanev and Jason Zucker for nearly 100 games combined — and that...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — With the regular season winding down and their spot in the playoffs already clinched, the Lightning still have something to play for.

While the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes get closer to clinching first place in the Central Division, the Lightning can still earn first-round home-ice advantage against their likely opponent, the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Penguins escaped Wells Fargo Center with a win Tuesday and have to be thrilled that they aren’t coming back to this place for a while.

The Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated from playoff contention last week but had no problem getting up for another showdown with their Keystone State rivals. In a snarling end to the ...Read more

A three-game winning streak had the Devils feeling good entering the final week of the regular season. The Devils have been able to figure out the Boston Bruins all season long, but that luck ran out in the penultimate meeting between the two teams this season.

Boston's 3-0 win over the Devils was the first regulation win by the Bruins in seven...Read more