ST. LOUIS — Stage one of the Colorado Avalanche’s return to the NHL mountaintop is complete.

The Avs suffocated the St. Louis Blues Tuesday night, dominating at the defensive end and on the shot clock en route to a 3-1 win at the Enterprise Center. The victory clinches the Central Division title and secures the top seed in the Western ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Wild will face the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs, and the Wild will go into one final dress rehearsal against their rival on a roll.

They rallied twice against the Seattle Kraken before pulling away for a 5-2 victory on Tuesday night at Grand Casino Arena for their fourth straight win and a chance to ...Read more

Detroit — The playoff chase got a little tougher for the Red Wings.

Zach Werenski won a shootout in the fifth round Tuesday, sending Columbus to a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings.

The shootout loss, coupled with Ottawa's victory, put the Wings three points behind the Senators (92-89) in the playoff chase, with Columbus (90 points) also moving...Read more

The Bruins managed to pull one point out of the fire against the top team in the Eastern Conference but they could not close the deal for the second one in a highly entertaining game on Tuesday in Carolina.

The B’s erased a two-goal deficit to tie the Carolina Hurricanes and pick up that valuable point but never touched the puck in overtime ...Read more

The group the Lightning took to Ottawa Tuesday certainly wasn’t whole. They even needed to summon a trio of reinforcements from AHL Syracuse to play against the Senators.

The Lightning were without several key forwards: Brandon Hagel missed his fourth straight game, Anthony Cirelli his second and Pontus Holmberg was ruled out indefinitely ...Read more

NEWARK, N.J. — The Flyers may have been livin’ on a prayer when the Olympic break hit, but they kept the faith and now fans have something to believe in.

Kicking off their final five games of the season, the Flyers traveled up to the turnpike and beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-1.

The Flyers have won three straight games for the sixth time ...Read more

The Winnipeg Jets scored on each of the game’s three power plays and went on to rout the spiraling Seattle Kraken Monday night.

For the second time in a week, the Kraken’s penalty kill was dinged three times in a 6-2 loss. It has killed 5 of 12 opportunities over the past three contests and allowed at least one goal in each.

The power play...Read more

BUFFALO, N.Y. — There was a lot to live up to for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres Monday night after their meeting a month ago was universally acclaimed as one of the best games in the NHL this season.

“I think we’re in the entertainment business,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper deadpanned when asked about replicating that game. ...Read more

If you’re a Florida Panthers fan studying this final stretch of games, your fear in a season where everything went wrong is there’s one final curse lurking.

Everything might, you know, go right.

They could win too many of these final, five games. The door prize to the Panthers’ star-crossed season would be a top-10 draft pick. That’s ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Every so often when you voice your opinions, especially when they are published or broadcast for public consumption, something happens to challenge those beliefs.

Such was the case last Sunday with the firing of Bruce Cassidy.

This space has long expressed admiration for the way the Vegas Golden Knights operate.

Emotions have ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins had plenty of built-in excuses Sunday. They were playing the second game of a back-to-back against the same team — who they had shellacked Saturday.

Pittsburgh’s presumed starting goalie was ruled out the day of the game. The Penguins are virtually locked into a playoff spot.

Yet they came away with ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — In case you were unsure, Sunday’s game was a big one for the Philadelphia Flyers.

How big? Lauren Hart singing “God Bless America” instead of the national anthem big.

With a win against the Boston Bruins at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the Flyers would move into a playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 12.

The result: a 2-...Read more

The Minnesota Wild are one of the best road teams in the NHL, but they have a chance to open the playoffs at home.

After staving off the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-4 nail-biter Sunday at Little Caesars Arena, the Wild hit 100 points and climbed two back of Dallas for second place in the Central Division.

Whoever finishes second and third will ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — This is an odd time for an ode, but the calendar doesn’t always run parallel to life.

So as the Tampa Bay Lightning fight for first place in the Atlantic Division, as the countdown to the playoffs begins, as talk of another scoring title for Nikita Kucherov heats up, this somehow feels like an appropriate moment to talk about ...Read more

SEATTLE — They said all the right things in the hours after their last uninspiring loss. That every game from here forward was a playoff game. That their play on the ice needed to carry a level of desperation the time of the season called for.

The Kraken as a collective said they still had a run left in them and with it would be a chance to ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Sharks finally found something that worked against the Nashville Predators.

Trailing by three after a disastrous first period, the Sharks got goals from Nick Leddy and Macklin Celebrini in the second period, and a nifty third-period goal from Alex Wennberg to tie the game and bring the capacity crowd at SAP ...Read more