CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard skated on the ice before practice Monday, the first time he has been in uniform since suffering a right shoulder injury Dec. 12 in St. Louis.

Hawks coach Jeff Blashill knew it would be hard to keep his star forward off the ice for an extended period. The timeline appears to remain that Bedard ...Read more

At nearly every level of hockey, the puck is the same size, and the net is the same size, meaning that a goaltender’s job isn’t all that different from squirts to the NHL.

Still, pro goalies like Wild rookie Jesper Wallstedt have myriad resources at their disposal in terms of video and other scouting reports to help them learn opponents’ ...Read more

CHICAGO — There was no late collapse for the Penguins this time. Only what they’ll hope is momentum built toward the rest of their season coming out of the Christmas break.

Despite losing nine of their previous 10, including a few games where they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, Justin Brazeau, Bryan Rust and others ensured the ...Read more

The Lightning were just 3.8 seconds from sweeping their weekend road-home back-to-back, then allowed a young, hungry Montreal team to climb back into the game.

Tampa Bay blew a three-goal, third-period lead, which included Juraj Slafkovsky’s overtime-forcing goal in the regulation’s final moments.

It was certainly tougher than it should ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — Earlier this month, Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events, made a presentation at the league’s Board of Governors meeting, providing an update on what the Lightning’s Stadium Series outdoor game will look like.

A room full of bigwigs were floored, Mayer said, when he showed them an illustration of how the ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights earned a point against the NHL’s best team, but lost 6-5 to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.

Nathan MacKinnon scored the winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout.

Alexander Holtz, who had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game as a member of ...Read more

The San Jose Sharks are back in the win column.

San Jose had not won since Dec. 16, but the Sharks put that to rest with a hard-fought 6-3 road win over the Vancouver Canucks, taking an early 2-0 lead and hanging on despite Vancouver cutting the deficit down to one goal three different times.

Ryan Reaves opened the scoring for San Jose (18-17-...Read more

There was a chance this first game back after a three-day holiday break was going to be a difficult one for the Red Wings.

Three days off without practice or games, then fly into Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, the morning of the game.

Sure enough, the Wings never found their game while losing to Carolina, 5-2.

With the victory, the Hurricanes (23-...Read more

The Wild lightened their load as they started a season-long road trip.

They kicked off a seven-game, six-city, 14-day trek by rallying for a 4-3 overtime win against the Jets at Canada Life Centre for their first victory in three games.

Matt Boldy capped off the comeback 39 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime after Mats Zuccarello forced extra time ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — The third regular-season meeting between the Lightning and Panthers on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena had its customary flared tempers, confusing officiating and dropped gloves.

The second period ended with nine players — five from the Lightning and four from the Panthers — serving penalties from a fracas that ...Read more

After a decade and a half of the Bruins feasting on the Buffalo Sabres, the roles look like they are at long last reversed.

That’s certainly the way it looked on Saturday night in Buffalo, where the Bruins saw their losing streak reach five games (0-4-1) after they were dominated for long stretches of the game by the Sabres and lost, 4-1.

...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — The way Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser has played this season, he was eventually due a big pay day.

Moser, 25, quietly has emerged as one of the league’s top defensemen, his plus-24 ratio trailing only Colorado’s Cale Makar (plus-32) and Josh Manson (plus-25) among all NHL defensemen.

And right before the Lightning ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Untold riches awaited Adrian Kempe as one of the NHL's top unrestricted free agents next summer.

Mitch Marner, among last summer's top targets, got $12 million a season from Vegas in a sign-and-trade deal with Toronto hours before he would have hit the open market. With more goals than Marner over the last four full seasons, how...Read more

DETROIT — Just the contrast of it all was utterly amazing.

A year ago, standing in the same Red Wings' locker room, captain Dylan Larkin was attempting to explain the team's listless 4-0 loss to St. Louis, and a season that was heading downhill fast. Nothing was going right. There was a helpless feeling, in terms of turning the season around....Read more

Kevin Fiala very nearly completed a three-goal comeback for the Los Angeles Kings, but hit the crossbar above sprawled Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord in the final minute and sent relieved Seattle into the league Christmas break on a three-game win streak.

The Kraken won 3-2 in L.A. and finished a four-game road trip 3-1, with a winning record ...Read more

Bruce Cassidy has grown tired of talking about the Golden Knights’ slow starts.

The players decided to give their coach the best Christmas present imaginable.

Actually, it was more like five presents. They all came in the first period.

The Knights steamrolled the San Jose Sharks thanks to a five-goal first period and defeated their division...Read more