An admission at the start:

I was a big Tristan Jarry fan. I know he was horrible in the 2021 playoffs against the New York Islanders, but I believed it was because he lost his edge after a late-season injury. I was glad he made the All-Star Game for the second time in 2022 and thought he could have been the Penguins' MVP that year because of ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Right wing Jonathan Marchessault scored twice against his former team, and the Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 7-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday at T-Mobile Arena.

Left wing Brett Howden also scored two goals for the Knights.

The Knights took a 2-0 series lead for the fourth time in franchise history. ...Read more

Long before Greg Cronin’s coaching stints in the AHL or time on the coaching staffs of the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders, as a young assistant coach, he had a brief and up-close view of an electrifying player named Paul Kariya at the University of Maine in 1993.

Nearly 30 years later, Cronin was named coach of the Ducks, and one ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — How did they take that dismal third period?

How do you think they took it?

“On the gradation of tough, root canal to eating oatmeal, it was closer to a root canal,’’ Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

He followed that good line with a purposefully deadpan stare, his flat, facial features saying it was OK for you to ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Florida Panthers waited 27 years to get back to the Stanley Cup Final and then 10 more days to actually finally play in one. Their run through the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs has been unlike any other in history and the build-up to their showdown with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, by the time they finally got to Nevada earlier ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Defenseman Zach Whitecloud scored a go-ahead goal 6:59 into the third period, and the Golden Knights defeated the Florida Panthers, 5-2, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Right wing Jonathan Marchessault, defenseman Shea Theodore, captain Mark Stone and left wing Reilly Smith also scored for the ...Read more

It had to happen sooner or later.

Unfortunately for the Florida Panthers, it happened in the club’s first Stanley Cup Final game since June 10, 1996.

The Cats lost on the road. It was almost hard to remember what that felt like, to hear an away crowd exalting as the clock expired, not struck quiet and numb.

Florida had won eight road games ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Penguins' official website does not list an individual as owning the team. Under "Name" it reads "Fenway Sports Group," and under "Role" it says "Ownership."

Can't get much more impersonal than that.

The first human being named in the team hierarchy is Mario Lemieux. Remember him? He's listed as "minority owner," but he's ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Lord Stanley of Preston never could have seen this coming.

Who knew that when the Governor General of Canada bought a trophy to be given to the country’s top amateur ice hockey team in 1893 that it one day would be guaranteed to go to a team in Las Vegas or Florida. The Golden Knights and Panthers aren’t traditional contenders...Read more

The 2023 NHL champion will either be the Florida Panthers or Vegas Golden Knights.

The Panthers, the last team into the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Golden Knights are the last two teams standing. Game 1 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final is Saturday (8 p.m., TNT) at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nev.

Florida and Vegas split a pair of regular-...Read more

The first memory Matthew Tkachuk has about hockey isn’t even actually his. It’s a story his mother loves to tell.

Tkachuk was 3 and his family had just moved to Missouri after Keith Tkachuk got traded to the Blues. He had never played a game of organized hockey before and his first one was a big event.

Chantal Tkachuk roped together a ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Penguins had to wait a few extra days to get their man, but in the end they got him and that's all that matters. Kyle Dubas was named the Penguins' president of hockey operations Wednesday, and that means he will be a lot more than just the general manager.

And that bodes well for the future, both short-term and long-term, ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Unless there is a sweep in the Stanley Cup Final, Golden Knights fans will see one of the NHL’s most whimsical traditions.

Rats.

After every Florida Panthers victory, fans throw toy rats onto the ice to celebrate, similar to the Knights’ victory flamingo.

But what does a fake version of a long-tailed rodent have to do with a...Read more

SEATTLE — More than 40 minutes of newly released Seattle Police Department body-camera video shows the Colorado Avalanche's team doctor saying forward Valeri Nichushkin was removed by the team from its downtown hotel for "his own health and safety stuff" after being found alone in his room with a heavily intoxicated woman before a playoff game...Read more

Their head coach once was locked out of team practices by the general manager. Their owner once tried to use the No. 1 draft pick on an underage player by claiming he was eligible if you factored in leap years.

They let fans in free to games one year by showing a Florida driver’s license. Another year, they set a stack of free tickets for ...Read more

PITTSBURGH —After seven weeks, dozens of interviews and inquiries and a last-minute entrant into their search process, the Penguins have their new hockey operations leader, and it is the person who was the most obvious candidate from the start.

The Penguins on Thursday named Kyle Dubas as their new president of hockey operations. The 37-year-...Read more

LAS VEGAS — There was a report recently about the routine of Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw on days he pitches, about how he has followed the same regimen for a decade now.

It is chronicled down to the minute, from eating lunch to reviewing the opponent’s lineup to team meetings to a pre-game nap to heat packs to playing catch and so on �...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner and his wife Donya are facing new allegations of fraud tied to the couple’s ongoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.

Las Vegas businessman Michael Borden claims that Lehner misled him on his ability to repay $4 million in loans he provided last year to the NHL star, according to a recent court filing...Read more