LAS VEGAS — You don’t make statements in Game 3 of a hockey season. There’s just too much road to be traveled.

Nonetheless … the Blues have won three consecutive road games to start a season for the first time in franchise history. And two of those victories have come against the teams widely considered the best in the West – the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Finally, the Flyers have a shoot-first forward.

With the Flyers’ third game of the season against the Boston Bruins tied early in the third period, offseason acquisition Cam Atkinson scored the go-ahead goal off the rush generated when winger Joel Farabee picked off Bruins defenseman Mike Reilly in the neutral zone.

In the ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — When Nikita Kucherov returned last postseason, he gave the Lightning the most dangerous power play in the league.

With Kucherov — not only a threat to score but also possessing the rare ability to execute pinpoint passes to open teammates — running things from the right half wall, Tampa Bay’s power play became a pick-your-...Read more

The most loyal audience for professional sports in the Twin Cities is the one that follows the Wild in St. Paul. This could be argued by Vikings zealots, but they only have to prove that loyalty eight or nine times annually, and generally on Sunday afternoons.

What else do people have to do on Sunday afternoons?

Wild customers have to prove ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks home opener began with a tribute to the late Tony Esposito and a standing ovation for Jonathan Toews, but the Hawks couldn’t cap off the night at the United Center the way they wanted to — with a win over the New York Islanders.

Both teams entered the game winless and desperate, but the Islanders scored ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Wild's season started days ago, but this felt like the official coronation.

A sellout crowd played narrator, buzzing after goals and passes and hits.

Kirill Kaprizov skated under a magnifying glass, and the opponent across the ice was a legitimate rival.

After a season of seclusion, from a jam-packed Xcel Energy Center and ...Read more

GLENDALE, Ariz. — For a while, this one looked all too familiar to the Blues when it comes to playing against Arizona.

Blues killer Clayton Keller scored the game’s first goal for Arizona. The Blues took some bad penalties (see: Pavel Buchnevich), and were having trouble with the Coyotes’ speed. But a second period outburst of offense ...Read more

Anyone who tries to say your first game as a head coach against your former team isn’t emotional is lying, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said before the Monday night’s meeting with the expansion Seattle Kraken.

Unfortunately for former Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, the emotions he walked away with were not happy, victorious ones. In an ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning have been here before, forced to overcome a lengthy absence by Nikita Kucherov, and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

But that doesn’t make it any easier for Tampa Bay, which again must prepare for life without its star forward. Kucherov will miss extended time after sustaining a lower-body injury late in Saturday�...Read more

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning do not like each other.

Whether the in-state matchups qualify as a “rivalry” now is still up for debate — and both sides might have different opinions — but there’s no question how the teams feel about each other and that’s a starting point for something.

Ask a Panther and he wi’ll say...Read more

Former NHL player Jimmy Hayes had fentanyl and cocaine in his body when he died suddenly in August at the age of 31.

Hayes, who retired after the 2017-18 season after a seven-year career, died at his home in Milton, Massachusetts, on Aug. 23.

A Massachusetts state medical examiner has ruled his death as accidental from “acute intoxication ...Read more