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Vegas Blown Away: Like a Hurricane

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LAS VEGAS — Rod Brind’Amour captained the Carolina Hurricanes to their first Stanley Cup in 2006.

Twenty years later on Sunday night, Brind’Amour got to pick up and hold the trophy again on the ice at T-Mobile Arena after coaching the Hurricanes to another Stanley Cup victory.

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Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi, a waiver-wire pickup from Florida in October, made 22 saves to win his third straight start and record his first career playoff shutout, and Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 on Sunday night.

Taylor Hall and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Carolina, which won the best-of-seven series, 4-2.

“I think it was just our time,” Brind’Amour said. “We weren’t going to be denied.”

Carolina captain Jordan Staal, who tied a Stanley Cup Final record with goals in five straight games to start the series and totaled six goals in the finals, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

According to Sportsnet Stats, Brind’Amour became just the fourth person to both captain and coach a franchise to a Stanley Cup, joining Toe Blake (Montreal Canadiens), Hap Day (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Cooney Weiland (Boston Bruins).

“It felt great (to lift the Cup again),” Brind’Amour said. “I’m so happy for everyone. That’s what this is about. That’s what hockey is about. It’s the ultimate team sport.”

Brind’Amour was asked to compare winning the Stanley Cup as a player and a head coach.

“It’s different, because as a player, I really wanted it for myself,” Brind’Amour said. “Now, sitting back behind (the bench) watching, I really wanted it for these guys because there’s no harder-working group. I see it every day. It’s just like a proud dad watching his kids go to work. Just couldn’t say enough good things about this group.”

At 37 years and 277 days, Staal became the oldest winner of the Conn Smythe. Goaltender Tim Thomas (2011) of the Boston Bruins was the previous oldest at 37 years and 61 days.

Staal also won the Stanley Cup in 2009 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“That’s a lot of years,” Staal said. “I mean, it’s amazing. It’s something I’ve been going after ever since I got the first one. You want to win it again and again and again.”

Carter Hart finished with 20 saves for Vegas, which lost in the finals for the second time in the team’s nine-year history. The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

Hall gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at the 3:47 mark of the first period. Jaccob Slavin set up the score with a stretch pass from blue line to blue line. Hall was open as he took the pass and broke in on the left wing, beating Hart with a wrist shot past his glove side for his seventh goal of the playoffs and second in the finals.

Vegas, which outshot the Hurricanes 11-8 in the opening period, had several excellent chances to tie the game later in the period. Brett Howden broke in alone down the slot midway through the period, but Bussi made a stick save on his five-hole try.

The Golden Knights had a flurry of chances near the end of the period, including two close-in tries by Mark Stone and a one-timer by Pavel Dorofeyev from the bottom of the right circle that Bussi made a diving save to stop.

Carolina tightened up on defense in the second period, holding Vegas to just three shots on goal. The Hurricanes extended the lead to 2-0 at the 13:31 mark when Logan Stankoven fed Blake alone on the edge on the right circle, and Blake blasted a one-timer past Hart’s glove side for his seventh goal of the playoffs.

Vegas had a chance to cut the lead in half midway through the third period when Carolina forward Eric Robinson went to the penalty box for high-sticking Nic Dowd. On the ensuing power play, Stone crossed a pass to a wide-open Jack Eichel at the bottom edge of the left circle, but Eichel’s snap shot against a stickless Bussi went off the crossbar.

The Golden Knights pulled Hart for an extra attacker with three minutes to go, and Ehlers intercepted a pass and sealed the win with an empty-netter with 68 seconds to play, his eighth goal of the playoffs.

“As I’ve always said, it’s a find-a-way league,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “All the games were close, and it was just try to find a way, and they did tonight, and they beat us.”

Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb, who played the final four  games with a full cage after taking an Ehlers slap shot on the nose that needed 30 stitches to repair, said he was proud of his team.

“We came together late in the year and we battled our asses off,” McNabb said. “I’m proud of how we got here. We just came up a little bit short.”

Slavin joined Ken Morrow (Islanders, 1980) as the only American-born players to win Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup in the same year.

–Steve Guiremand, Field Level Media

 

NHL: Stanley Cup Final Preview

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RALEIGH – (Wire Service Preview) – The Vegas Golden Knights know that the bookmakers in their own city have them as the underdogs in the Stanley Cup Final.

All that matters to the Golden Knights is what happens on the ice during the best-of-seven finals that begin Tuesday when they face the Carolina Hurricanes in Carolina.

“I honestly don’t really think I care or it matters to us,” Vegas defenseman Shea Theodore said on Monday. “We have belief in our room from the first game of playoffs up until now. Whatever is said is said. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who picks who. The better team ends up winning.”

The Golden Knights, who are riding a six-game winning streak, and the Hurricanes, who are looking to become the first NHL team to go 16-1 in the postseason, are both chasing a second Cup title in franchise history.

Carolina — the former Hartford Whalers franchise which became the Hurricanes for the 1997-98 season — for the won its only Cup in 2006 and had not reached the finals since. Vegas, which won in 2023, is in the finals for the third time in its nine-year history.

Thirteen players on this season’s Vegas roster played on that 2022-23 team.

“You can draw from your experience, knowing what to expect, having done it before and knowing what this is gonna look like,” said forward Jack Eichel, a member of that Cup-winning team. “But I think every series and every season has its own story, so we’re trying to write that now.”

Although Carolina’s run is garnering more headlines, the Golden Knights have been just as hot since the final few weeks of the regular season. After John Tortorella was hired in a late-season coaching change, Vegas posted a 7-0-1 mark down the stretch to claim the top spot in the Pacific Division and has marched through its opponents with a 19-4-1 record since he took over.

“He’s a big personality guy,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “So it’s very easy to get comfortable right away. He tells you exactly what he wants from you and it’s all black and white.

“He came in and preached the right things and got us playing better and better as a team.”

That said, the Hurricanes are worthy of their favorite status. Carolina reached this point by sweeping its opponents in the first two rounds — the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers — and then knocking out the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the conference finals, which it concluded with a pair of dominant victories.

The Hurricanes are the first team since the 1976 Montreal Canadiens to win 12 of 13 games to open a playoff run. That Montreal team claimed the Stanley Cup, and the Hurricanes are looking to duplicate the feat.

“We went through so much … now we’re here,” forward Andrei Svechnikov said. “But still the job is not done. This is the biggest stage, we all know that, but now we have one more step.”

Reaching this point was a huge achievement for a Carolina club that reached the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four years and fourth time in eight seasons, but was becoming known for falling short.

A key to the Hurricanes continuing their success, beyond the club’s stifling defensive play, will be to embrace the situation. After all, hockey history is loaded with clubs that managed to reach a new point but then failed to reload.

“We’ve been knocking on the door for this for a while. To be in this moment now, I think everyone is extremely grateful and super excited,” forward Seth Jarvis said.

“We’re competing for the Stanley Cup with 20 of my best friends. Twenty guys I’ve spent a lot of time with. To be here in this moment with this group of guys, I can’t ask for anything more.”

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | May 31

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The Studio Wall at Turner Sports (Photo by T. Peter Lyons)

 

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – Earlier this month, upon his death, WWYI paid tribute to Ted Turner.Earlier this week, the baseball team Turner once owned came to town for a three game set against the Red Sox. There were Atlanta Braves fans everywhere you looked, and it was all a credit to Turner’s vision to place his Braves on a SuperStation that reached every corner of the United States.

For the youngsters in this column’s readership group, let’s go back to the days of black and white television when there were 13 slots for television channels. Quite a number of them went unused. There were three networks with national programming (ABC, CBS, and NBC). In each local market, there were a handful of others. As an example, in New York, there was Channel 5 (Metromedia, as FOX TV was yet to be a thing), then WOR TV – Channel 9 (which carried the Mets, Knicks and NHL Rangers), WPIX-TV 11 (which carried the Yankees), and Public Broadcasting, Channel 13 (Sesame Street and Mister Roger’s Neighborhood were just about to unfold.

When cable tv first made its way through suburban and city households and apartments, the channel selection increased to a maximum of 33 slots, many were used by teletype messaging and music, as broadcasters had yet to adjust to the new availability and the eventuality that one day, there’d be an unlimited universe of cable tv channels.

Home Box Office (HBO) was an early adapter and with it came first run movies and some sports. HBO launched on November 8, 1972 with a New York Rangers vs Vancouver Canucks game, live from Madison Square Garden. By 1980, HBO launched Cinemax and the whole concept of premium channels to headline “basic cable” came about.

Turner was smart enough to grab a slot on basic cable and broadcast a signal to a larger number of households basic cable served. The Braves and, to some extent, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, became regular programming in homes all over the United States. With that exposure, Turner had created his SuperStation TBS, a golden opportunity for advertisers and, little did we know – fans – all over the States.

Of course, along with Superstation TBS (that’s Turner Broadcast System), came a little gem called Cable News Network – “CNN” – and then CNN Headline News, TNT (Turner Network Television), and a host of other channels which originated in Turner’s burgeoning Techwood Drive and Peachtree Street studios in Atlanta. Along with the multitude of programming, along came “man’s best friend,” the remote control. In fact, in our “household,” we lovingly call our remote control, “Ted,” as in … “Can you please pass “Ted” to me?”

With all of that as background, let us examine a little, three-game set at Fenway Park this week.

The ballpark was packed with Braves fans. In some cases, there might’ve been three generations of Braves fans in various groups, and most of them were not from Georgia. Braves fans are everywhere. The oldsters can be identified because of their Greg Maddux or Chipper Jones uniform tops and sometimes you might even see a HenryAaron (pictured) or a Rico Carty replica. Then come the John Smoltz or Phil Niekrouniforms, and don’t forget Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.

It all added up to national fandom, and to a great degree, the Braves earned the respect and admiration of their massive fanbase. The Braves posted 14 consecutive divisional crowns, and a couple World Series banners, to boot.

The Braves’ faithful enjoyed the series opener, an exciting 7-6 Braves’ win on Tuesday night at Fenway.

On Wednesday, maybe the TV audience changed channels to TruTV for the Carolina vs Montreal NHL Stanley Cup Playoff game? If they stayed for the Red Sox game, the fans would’ve seen Boston’s biggest inning at Fenway since a September 14, 2025 opening stanza against the New York Yankees.

In the bottom of the 4th inning of that game, the Sox’ bats awoke. The outburst, combined with a stellar effort by Boston starter Connelly Early, resulted in an 8-0 Red Sox win.

Base hits, walks, a couple Braves’ errors, a wild pitch, a stolen base and three consecutive singles by Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu placed six runs on the scoreboard, five of them earned and the barrage sent Atlanta starter Bryce Elder packing before reliever Dylan Dodd walked to the mound to ease the pain. Elder lasted only 3.1 innings and gave up nine hits.

On the flip side, Boston’s promising pitcher, Early, tossed seven innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only four hits with three walks. He struck out seven Atlanta batters and threw an efficient 97 pitches of which 65 were strikes. He earned his fifth win of the season (5-2).

The Braves and their fans lived to see another game, a Thursday afternoon, 10-2 thrashing of the Red Sox. Braves’ pitcher Chris Sale, the former Red Sox ace, and Boston’s promising lefty, Payton Tolle settled-in to a 2-2 tie until Ronald Acuna Jr.took reliever Greg Weissert long for a Grand Slam which broke the game wide-open while breaking the Sox backs. The Atlanta Braves fans flocked to Fenway, once again, while others tuned-in on Braves Vision rather than TBS, as there’s been a lot of change for RSNs since the 1970s when SuperStations were king and Braves owner, Ted Turner, owned the throne.

Editor’s Note:

Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a pioneering figure in the media industry, passed away on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87. His death marked the end of a remarkable career that transformed how news is consumed and established Atlanta as a media hub.

Early Life and Career

Birth: November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Education: Attended Brown University and served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

Business Beginnings: Took over his father’s billboard company after his father’s death in 1963.

Media Innovations

Turner Broadcasting System: Launched in 1970 with the purchase of a UHF station, which became TBS.

CNN: Founded on June 1, 1980, as the first 24-hour news channel, revolutionizing news broadcasting around the world.

Contributions and Achievements

Sports Ownership: Acquired the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and the Atlanta Hawks in 1977, significantly impacting Atlanta’s sports culture.

Philanthropy: Donated over $1 billion to various causes, including the United Nations Foundation and to many environmental initiatives. He also launched the Goodwill Games in an effort to utilize sports to bridge geopolitical gaps between countries all around the world.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: On the night of June 3, ABC/ESPN’s No. 1 NBA commentator Mike Breen will call Game 1 of his 21st consecutive NBA Finals series. Breen recently did a podcast for the New York Post and he delved into a ton of anecdotes and memories. NYP reporter Dexter Henry did a fine job. But, there’s a few points which must be made. First: For anyone who grew up watching the 1970-73 New York Knicks (and many other sports such as the NHL’s New York Rangers, NFL games, you name it on the Six and 11 o’clock sports on WNBC TV-4, and even David Letterman’s Late Night with the Wild & Wacky, there was NO WAY anyone could be better than Marv Albert.

“No chance,” says the columnist at WWYI. As in, “There’s no chance anyone could be a better baseball player than Willie Mays,” or “No chance there’d be a better goal scorer than Mike Bossy.”

Well, “Mike Breen has gone above and beyond Marv Albert in calling the NBA.”

“Mike (Tirico) and myself and Ian (Eagle), we’re all kind of the same age, longtime NBA play-by-play man Kevin Harlan explained.

“Because Mike has been this friend in the NBA for 30-plus years, and I’ll speak for everybody of our age group,” said Harlan, “I kind of feel like we’re there calling the Finals because Mike is such a leading voice for our group of broadcasters. He’s covered this succession of Finals that will never be equaled again, I don’t think, in the industry. So I feel like I’m right in back of him, enjoying the moment with him as his voice is chronicling these great Finals that we’ve had a chance to watch.”

Aside from the likes of Harlan, Tirico, and Ian Eagle, Breen has the village of support from Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Madison Square Garden colleagues like former MSG Network head Michael McCarthy and longtime producer/director Howie Singer,among many others who helped mold Breen into being the best.

One semi-forgotten gem is the fact Breen worked the Olympic Games with the great player-coach Doug Collins and that two-man combo might’ve been the best announce team of all time.

June 3rd will be Breen’s 113th NBA Finals game, extending his own record for broadcasters by far.

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Nothing says an “Original Six” Stanley Cup Final like Las Vegas against Carolina. Not!

As a reminder, the Original Six of the National Hockey League were the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. Hey? There’s one non-stop a day, as opposed to the 72 one-stop flights. … The last time there was an Original Six Stanley Cup Final was 2013 when the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-2. … Let’s make note that Bruce Cassidy has coached his teams (Boston-2019), Vegas (2023, 2026) to the Stanley Cup Final in three of the last eight years, winning in 2023.

Darkness on the Edge of Causeway

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – The house is dark. The ghostlight is on, and Bruce Springsteen is on.

The Celtics were up three-games-to-one against a Philadelphia 76ers team that hadn’t beaten Boston in a NBA Playoff series since Billy Cunningham coached a 1982 team, and they blew it. It was so long ago, longtime Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy had just started his first “big” beat covering the NBA. The hometown team – once invincible in Game 7s – has left the TD Garden dark. The Sixers moved on to meet the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals and were mowed down by a superior team. The Knicks will face Cleveland for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

The Celtics “Owe Us One.”

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But, it gets worse.

The TD Garden was witness to a suspect Boston Bruins team losing to the once-lowly Buffalo Sabres a night before the Celtics were sent to see St. Peter. The Sabres hadn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series in 19 years, while the Sixers hadn’t beaten the Celtics in the playoffs since 1982, a mere 44 years. The Sabres lost to Montreal who are now playing Carolina for right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s understandable how the Bs lost, but how could the Celtics collapse in such epic fashion?

Let us count the ways:

o Live by chucking 3s, die by chucking 3s. In their four losses to Philadelphia, the Boston Celtics shot 49-for-191, or 25.7%.

  • Game 5 (April 28): Shot 28.2% (11-of-39) from three in a 113-97 home loss.
  • Game 6 (April 30): Shot 29.3% (12-of-41) from three in a 106-93 loss in Philadelphia.
  • Game 7 (May 2): Shot 26.5% (13-of-49) from three in a 109-100 series-clinching loss at home.

o Nick Nurse, the head coach of the Sixers and a champ when he coached at every level, including an NBA Finals title with the Toronto Raptors, can flat-out coach. Yes, he was graced with a resurgence from one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, but Nurse guided the Sixers masterfully. NBA Coach of the Year, Joe Mazulla of the Celtics, was out-coached.

o Face facts: A starting five of: Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Ron Harper Jr., Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman could not cut it in a decisive NBA Playoff game.  That group will never be compared to Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. The team of Celtics so many NBA pundits expected for 2025-26 finally showed up. The absence of true “bigs” caught up with the team of green. Remember Al Horford? He was pretty good.

Two Boston pro teams were whooped on their home turf. They’re gone by May 2 and only Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band can bring life to the backstreets of the West End (May 24th), because on Saturday night, it seemed you could hear the whole damn city crying. Springsteen might say, “Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.”

The truth was the fact the Celtics could not endure a full season without their best player, Jayson Tatum.

While Tatum orchestrated a miraculous (and quick) return from the devastating right Achilles’ injury he suffered in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and performed quite well from his March 6 return to active duty right on through to an incredible Game 3 shooting performance against the Sixers in Philadelphia, a sore left knee and discomfort that forced him to leave Game 6, also ruled him out just hours before Game 7.

Nine years into his NBA career, the 28-year-old Tatum is feeling the effects of 729 NBA regular season and playoff games.

Boston’s wonderkid GM, Brad Stevens, cannot be blamed for inactivity.

Stevens was faced with a choice of trading one of his “Big Two” of Tatum or Jaylen Brown, and possibly dismantling the 2024 NBA championship team somewhere short of a total rebuild. Instead, being faced with an aging Celtics team and a double secret probation by far exceeding the NBA’s agreed upon maximum team salary zones – the Cs – via Stevens’ surgical strike on salaries – dipped under both the First and Second Aprons of the NBA’s salary cap structure by reducing the team payroll for the 2025-26 season to a mere $187,885,254.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors are all over $200 million and face limitations in their wheeling and dealing. Stevens and the Celtics do not.

The cost (saving) came when the Celtics jettisoned veteran bigs Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis. Both players contributed mightily in the 2024 NBA Finals with Porzingis’ astonishing Game 1 performance which won the most important game of the series at Boston.  If you remember, with Porzingis coming off the bench for just the second time in his career and playing in his first game (June 6) since he had sustained a calf injury in late April, Porzingis scored 20 points, including 18 in the first half, and added six rebounds and three blocks as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks 107-89 to send a statement to the Texans.

Horford provided even more. The veteran center was an influential presence in the locker room, an intangible for NBA teams destined for good things to come, for chemistry, for facing and conquering adversity, and for winning championships. Horford was the whole package, plus, he hit three-pointer after three-pointer, drawing opposing centers away from the basket and allowing Tatum and Brown to operate inside.

Horford was traded to the Golden State Warriors in September 2025, signing a multi-year deal, and continuing into his 19th NBA season.

Boston’s other cost-saving move was to send multi-talented guard Jrue Holiday and his $32.4 million contract to the NBA outskirts of Portland, Oregon (not Maine). Holiday was another veteran, positive influence and key contributor to the 2024 championship, especially on the defensive end of the basketball court.

All of those moves put together allowed the Celtics to avoid the NBA’s punitive luxury taxes. The more stable payroll paved the way for new ownership as the franchise was sold by the longtime ownership group headed by Wyc Grousbeck for a then-record $6.1 billion. The new group, led by Bill Chisholm, paid an amazing amount of cash considering Grousbeck bought the team for $360 million in 2002.

A look over to the Fens, just past the Longwood Medical Center, and the prognosis isn’t much better. The Red Sox are floundering in the AL East basement. The offense is anemic and the middle relievers count runs against, ERA and Whip as though they were all MIT graduates. The brown paper bags are making a fashion statement and Jason Veritek’s wife is pouring on the sarcastic quips aimed at Sox GM, head of baseball Craig Breslow. Veritek “is being re-assigned” within the organization after Breslow leveled the coaching staff, including manager Alex Cora. There’s no AC and no DC in the Sox bats. No static at all.

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But, there’s one thing worse than a dark June at the TD Boston Garden, and that was a dark May. Only Bruce Springsteen’s rock show on May 24th will bring some “glory days” back to Boston.

The memories of 2018 and a club record of 108 wins is long gone. as those were, indeed, the glory days.

And, one thing’s sure of the glory days.

They’ll pass you by.

 

 

Boston Bruins on the Brink

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BUFFALO – (Wire Service Report) – After taking a second straight home loss in “embarrassing” fashion, the Boston Bruins are on the brink of elimination as the scene of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series shifts back to Buffalo.

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The Sabres will look to land the knockout punch against their Atlantic Division rivals and earn their first playoff series win since 2007 in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Buffalo’s 6-1 win in Game 4 on Sunday quickly became a laugher. Four first-period goals were more than enough, and Alex Lyon was 39.9 seconds away from shutting out the Bruins in his second straight start in the series.

“We have an extremely high-competitive group. We all have a standard that we all carry ourselves to — and it wasn’t met,” said Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who appeared to yell at his teammates while exiting the bench after being relieved by Joonas Korpisalo in the third period.

The Bruins have never come back from a 3-1 series deficit (0-25) and the Sabres have never let such a lead slip away (7-0) in each franchise’s playoff history.

While history certainly does not favor Boston, the series is not over yet.

“As far as I know, you have to win four games to move on. So they’ve got three. That means we still have a chance,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm told reporters after Sunday’s game. “I can cry about it, but I also have to push my guys for the next game and make sure our intensity is gonna be there.”

“We have a one-game mission,” Sturm added on Monday.

Buffalo’s dominant start on Sunday made Lindy Ruff one happy coach, and not just because his team scored the opening goal for the first time in the series and built a commanding lead.

“That first period was the best period we played all year,” Ruff said. “Puck pressure, scoring opportunities. We moved the puck and got the puck up ice. We didn’t spend much time in our end.”

On Sunday, six different Sabres scored goals, with four of them adding an assist as well.

One shining star in the series has been defenseman Bowen Byram, whose tally at the end of the four-goal frame marked his third in the last three games. He finished the game plus-3.

“He’s obviously been awesome all year and has brought it to another level in the playoffs,” said Owen Power, Byram’s defense partner. “It’s nice having him and all the other guys in here that have some playoff experience to lean on and have them help lead us.”

Byram won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022.

Power, Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch have all notched points in all four games of the series, with Power and Krebs logging those streaks to begin their playoff careers. Krebs scored the first goal just 4:17 into Sunday’s game.

The rock-solid team effort has extended to the net, where Lyon took over for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in relief in Game 2 and has since posted a league-best .964 save percentage in the playoffs.

The vibes are good in Buffalo, but the message is clear: The Sabres still have to finish.

“We’ve done a good job in this series, but the fourth one is always the hardest,” Byram said of the challenge of closing.

The Bruins had to shuffle their Monday practice lines with forward Viktor Arvidsson and defenseman Nikita Zadorov both off for maintenance days. Arvidsson left Game 4 due to an upper-body injury and did not return.

“We still have to check with medical, but we have to wait until probably (Tuesday) on both of them,” Sturm said of both players’ status.

Ruff expects Buffalo forwards Jason Zucker and Tyson Kozak — who both missed time in Sunday’s third period — to be available going forward.

–Field Level Media

Panthers, Bobrovsky Set Bruins Back

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SUNRISE – (Wire Service Report) – Florida goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves to lead the host Panthers to a 2-1 win over the Bruins on Thursday night in South Florida. Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett scored for Florida (37-35-3, 77 points). Samoskevich has a career-high three-game goal streak.

The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, started the day next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, although they have not yet been officially eliminated from playoff contention.

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Boston (43-25-8, 94 points) is the top wild-card team in the East. The Bruins had a four-game win streak snapped and fell to 15-15-7 on the road.

Fraser Minten scored for Boston, while Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves.

The Panthers are missing 11 injured players. That includes defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov, who went down this week.

Of the six defensemen used by Florida, only two — Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling — started the season with the Panthers. The other four are all 24 and relatively inexperienced: Michael Benning, Donovan Sebrango, Tobias Bjornfot and Mikulas Hovorka.

For the second straight game, Florida got off to a fast start, leading 2-1 after the first period.

The Panthers opened the scoring with 4:20 gone. A.J. Greer, who entered the game with a team-high 183 hits, got in on the forecheck, forcing a turnover. Samoskevich intercepted the bad pass by Henri Jokiharju. To make matters worse for Boston, Jokiharju inadvertently screened Swayman, and Samoskevich’s shot from the left circle bounced in off the left post.

Bennett’s goal with 7:39 elapsed in the first gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Greer was involved again, getting a primary assist due to his shot from the point. Bennett scored on a rebound from the slot, lifting the puck over Swayman’s blocker.

Boston got on the board with just 27 seconds left in the first. On the play, two Panthers – Sebrango and Matthew Tkachuk — lost their stick in puck battles. Minten took advantage, picking up a loose puck and lifting it over Bobrovsky’s left pad from point-blank range.

With 3:21 left in the third, Greer was penalized for tripping, but Florida killed that penalty. Boston pulled Swayman for an extra attacker, and the Panthers also withstood that for the win.

–Field Level Media

Bruins Begin Four Game Trip

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SUNRISE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Last season, the Boston Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2015-2016. They also traded away long-time star Brad Marchand to Florida and watched him win a Stanley Cup title with the Panthers.

That was rough.

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This season, however, the Bruins (43-24-8, 94 points) are currently the top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference, and they are closing in on a return to the playoffs.

On Thursday night, the Bruins will visit — ironically — the Panthers in South Florida and it’s amazing how the proverbial tables have turned.

The Panthers, the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, are 36-35-3 (75 points), which puts them in next-to-last place in the East. In fact, they are on the verge of being officially eliminated from playoff contention, possibly this week.

Marchand, meanwhile, hasn’t played since March 6 due to a lower-body injury, and his Panthers have lost six of their past nine games.

Even so, the Panthers won’t go down without a fight, and they proved that on Tuesday with a 6-3 home win over Ottawa. The Panthers led that game,  5-0, after the first period.

“We got a couple of goals, and, all of a sudden, we had juice and energy,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We haven’t had a lot of fun nights in the past month so this ignited our bench. We’re playing for that good feeling.”

But the problem for the Panthers all season has been injuries, and that issue came up again on Tuesday as defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov went down. Ekblad took a puck to the hand, and Kulikov was hit by a puck in the face.

Counting those two, there are now a dozen players on Florida’s injured list as compared to just one for Boston.

Maurice, with gallows humor, joked that there was “a line at the X-ray machine” in order to check for broken bones.

Ironically, Ekblad on Thursday would’ve broken Aleksander Barkov’s record for most games played in a Panthers uniform with 805. But Maurice admitted on Tuesday when asked about Ekblad’s injury, “I don’t think it looks great.”

As for the Bruins, they won their fourth straight game on Tuesday, defeating visiting Dallas 6-3.

Boston’s Viktor Arvidsson recorded his fifth NHL hat trick and his first since March 4, 2022.

“It was three easy ones,” Arvidsson said. “One was two inches from the goal, and the other two were empty-netters.”

David Pastrnak leads Boston in assists (66) and points (95). His previous career high for assists was 63, and he is closing in on what would be his fourth straight 100-point season.

Morgan Geekie leads Boston with 34 goals and ranks second in points (63). And Pavel Zacha ranks third on the Bruins with a career-high 60 points.

“We put a lot of emphasis on being hard on each other and pushing each other,” said Arvidsson, who is fifth on the Bruins with 50 points. “We’re happy where we are, but we have a job to finish to get ready for the playoffs.”

One issue for Boston is its 15-14-7 road record. The Panthers are 20-15-3 at home.

The trip to Sunrise marks the start of a four-game Bruins road trip.

“We have to get the job done,” Arvidsson said. “We have to improve our game on the road.”

–Field Level Media

Bruins Rally for Big Win vs. Sabres

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BUFFALO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s David Pastrnak opened the scoring, then recorded his second assist on Pavel Zacha’s overtime goal as the visiting Boston Bruins rallied to cool off the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.

On the rush, Pastrnak pulled back then sent a pass to Zacha, who beat Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (27 saves) 38 seconds into overtime for his ninth goal in March.

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Boston (40-24-8, 88 points) trailed 3-2 when with six minutes remaining in regulation, former Sabre Casey Mittelstadt converted via a friendly carom from the end board of teammate Jonathan Aspirot’s shot and off the skate of Luukkonen.

Trying to better its playoff position in the Eastern Conference, Boston pushed its road point streak to six games (3-0-3).

Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo (44-20-8, 96 points), 33-7-4 since Dec. 9, trailed 2-1 after two periods and found itself killing a penalty early in the third.
Just after that Boston power play ended, Zach Benson took the puck from the Bruins’ Mason Lohrei, broke into the zone and got it past Joonas Korpisalo (22 saves) while crashing the net to tie the game 5:54 into the third.

Lohrei was whistled for cross-checking at the end of the play and the Sabres made him and the Bruins pay. Just 33 seconds later, Tage Thompson sent a pass from behind the net for Jason Zucker to chip in for his second goal of the night.

Boston opened the scoring with 8:53 remaining in the first period. Camped out at the bottom of the circle, Pastrnak successfully one-timed Fraser Minten pinpoint pass from behind the Buffalo net.

Buffalo equalized with 4:42 left before the initial intermission. On the power play, Thompson sent the puck between the legs of Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm and onto the stick of Zucker to beat Korpisalo.

After tripping himself up on a potential breakaway earlier in the second period, Pastrnak had a hand in giving Boston the lead back with near the midway point of the frame.

Luukkonen was able to poke-check the puck away from a net-front Pastrnak, but it was backhanded in by a trailing Viktor Arvidsson.

–Field Level Media

Bruins to Hear Music at Trade Deadline

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NASHVILLE – (Wire Service Report) – Less than 24 hours before the NHL trade deadline, the Boston Bruins take their playoff-chasing show on the road to close out the season series with the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

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Boston is on an 11-game home win streak, but treks to Nashville having won only two road games this calendar year and need to break a five-game road skid (0-2-3). Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins gave the Bruins a three-point lead for the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot.

The Bruins’ latest victory came in come-from-behind fashion, as Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittelstadt scored within a 50-second span in the first period to erase an early deficit.

Jeremy Swayman continued standing tall, making 34 saves.

“We’ve got to be comfortable in these kinds of tight games, especially down this playoff push,” Swayman said.

Coach Marco Sturm hopes that his Bruins can carry that type of effort and attitude to the road, where they will play 13 of their final 22 regular-season games.

“We feel very comfortable, very confident at home. Even down a goal, no problem,” Sturm said. “Sometimes, it feels a little different on the road. When the other team scores, the crowd gets into it and now we have to react. … We have to get better on the road.”

Thursday marks the Predators’ third  game in four nights, their first since dropping both ends of a back-to-back. Their most recent game was a 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, who are currently the first team outside the playoff cutoff in the East.

Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly lit the lamp to give Nashville a 2-1 lead after two periods before Columbus used a two-goal final frame to gain the upper hand.

Tuesday was difficult on more than just the scoreboard, though, as two Predators forwards were traded. Michael McCarron — an “amazing teammate” and “one of those glue guys,” as captain Roman Josi described him — was dealt to the Minnesota Wild during the game, while Cole Smith went to the Vegas Golden Knights after the game concluded.

“We’re going to miss two great people, two big parts of our culture in what they bring every day,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “… Sad to see them go, but at the same time, hoping for the best. They’re going to go to places that have a good opportunity to have a long run, further their career, but we’re going to miss them.”

In the midst of a playoff race, the Predators have little time to dwell.

Now five points back of the West’s final playoff spot, Nashville is 1-2-1 since returning from the Olympic break and has scored more than two goals in only one of its last five games.

“We’ve got to move on,” Josi said. “Obviously, it’s not an easy time for a lot of guys, but all we can control is our play. You have to accept the business side. It’s part of it and it’s not fun, but all we can do as players is to play and hopefully get some wins.”

O’Reilly left Tuesday’s game after taking a stick to the eye during a faceoff, but there has been no update on his status.

The Bruins won 3-2 in overtime when the teams played Jan. 27 in Boston. David Pastrnak scored the game-winning goal.

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notebook | Feb 22nd

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk and PGA Tour Brunch

BOSTON – There have been “big goals” in ice hockey games of the past, but just where does Megan Keller’s gold medal winning overtime goal for Team USA vs. Canada stand in the pantheon of greatness?

First, let us state the obvious.

There are big goals and then there are “BIG GOALS.”

Keller’s goal was a “BIG GOAL,” as it resulted with a game-winning gold medal clinching moment for the United States women’s Olympic ice hockey team. It came in overtime after an amazing come-from-behind, late third period comeback by the USA to tie Team Canada which had out-played the Americans throughout the final game of competition.

Keller’s goal, which won the game in 3-on-3 wide-open overtime, also prompted a While We’re Young (Ideas) core question. Where does the goal fit if a list of the “BIGGEST” goals were to be compiled. That is a very difficult task of you consider the complete work of art that is ice hockey, meaning men’s and women’s Olympics, NHL regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs.

Here’s a quick list, off top of head and no in-depth research from yesteryears of NHL, International  and Olympics ice hockey competitions.

  1. Mike Eruzioni’s game-winning goal against the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the 1980 Men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament.
  2. Mark Johnson’s game-tying goal in the third period of the USA vs. USSR game at Lake Placid that same tournament.
  3. Mark Johnson’s first goal, a game-tying (2-2) last second goal in the first period of the gold medal game.
  4. Megan Keller’s goal in the 2026 Olympics, described above.
  5. (Considering my lifetime) – Bobby Nystrom’s Stanley Cup-winning goal (May 24, 1980) to clinch the Cup for the New York Islanders in a hard-fought seven-game series against the Broad Street Bullies – the Philadelphia Flyers.
  6. New York Islanders’ J.P. Parise’s overtime and series-clinching goal, coming 11 seconds into overtime against the New York Rangers (at Madison Square Garden) in 1975. That goal marked the Islanders arrival from expansion team to contender.
  7. Boston Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr’s iconic 1970 Stanley Cup winning goal against the St. Louis Blues when Orr soared through the air after depositing the gmae/series winner.
  8. The 1976 Canada Cup final was a best-of-three series which was played between Czechoslovakia and Canada, as the vaunted Soviet Union sent a young, less experienced club to the tournament. After the Canadiens won game one 5-0, Czechoslovakia led, 4–3 in game two, with four minutes remaining in the third period. Canada’s Bill Barber scored the game-tying goal, and in overtime, Toronto’s Darryl Sittler received a pass from Marcel Dionne, faked and scored the series winner.
  9. Alex Ovechkin (Washington) beat G Ilya Sorokin (NY Islanders) on April 6, 2025 to score the 895th goal of his NHL career, passing “The Great One,” Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. Coincidentally, the Islanders were the team Gretzky was playing against when he scored his final NHL career goal (No. 894) in 1999, setting the mark for Ovechkin to chase.
  10. And, then, there was “The Goal” in the 1972 Summit Series between NHL greats from Canada and the Soviet Union national club.

“Cournoyer has it on that wing. Here’s a shot. Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot. Right in front, they score! Henderson has scored for Canada!”

— Foster Hewitt, calling the play-by-play description of Henderson’s goal.

The play was captured on film and by still photo (Frank Lennon/Toronto Star) in the days long, long before digital photography. In fact, it was a time stuck in a decades old Cold War that seemed more insurmountable than the great Russian goalkeeperVladimir Tretiak.

To set up “The Goal,” Team Canada had eventual Hall of Famers and their top goal scorers – Phil Esposito (Boston Bruins), Yvan Cournoyer (Montreal Canadiens) and Peter Mahovlich (Montreal Canadiens) – on the ice, but Toronto’s Paul Hendersoncalled off Mahovlich in a line change. Henderson bolted from the bench to the action in front of the Russian goal, as Cournoyer attempted to pass the puck along the boards. Henderson fell behind the net, then returned to his skates and sought position in front as Esposito took a shot that Tretiak went down to stop. with only :34 seconds remaining, Henderson spotted the rebound and slid the puck under Tretiak for the series winner, with Canada taking a 4-3-1 final game lead with the 6-5 victory.

After the ‘72 Summit Series there would be other competitions, including the Canada Cup in 1976. At the time of the ‘72 series, Team Canada had been boycotting the Olympics and the World Championships in protest of NHL professionals being banned from participating by the International Ice Hockey Federation.

It would take until 1998 at the Nagano Winter Olympic Games for NHL players to be made eligible to play in the Olympic Games.

Canada’s Paul Henderson celebrated the series winning goal with Russian goalkeeper Vladimir Tretiak sprawled down in his crease. (photo by Frank Lennon)

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The NHL (National Hockey League) and the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) could not have asked for more in these 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Although the time change will always be an issue with many an international event (Reminder: The men’s gold medal game starts at 8:00am Sunday morning, February 22), the NHL and PWHL will both look to capitalize on the success of the teams supplying the most talent to their respective leagues. The age-old question: Will the 2026 Winter Olympics provide a boost to the NHL’s and PWHL’s bottom line – via ticket sales, merchandise, international TV deals and better USA and Canadien TV ratings?

In the sport of soccer, the World Cup will be staged in North America and the powers-that-be within MLS (Major League Soccer) and NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) are hoping for a major boost in awareness and attendance.

But, time and time again, USA success in soccer has not ignited a firestorm of interest in the professional soccer ranks. Yes, there’s been a few nice blips on the screen – name recognition for the likes of Alexi Lalas or Landon Donovan but the huge increase in affinity has never surfaced in the United States.

In the past, the 1992 USA Basketball “Dream Team” set the standard for increased global awareness for the NBA, but other Olympic sports have enjoyed significant boosts.

  • In 1972, Russian pixie Olga Korbut did her back flip off the uneven bars and ignited a huge increase in American young women joining gymnastics programs thought the 1970s.
  • In 1996, Kerri Strug, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller and the Magnificent Seven sent another lightning rod of attention for women’s gymnastics.
  • That was backed up by Carly Patterson who took the all-around title and fueled more interest in women’s gymnastics throughout the 2000s.
  • Then came the Simone Biles era, and Biles was supported by Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney and a period of USA dominance in world gymnastics, fueled by Biles.
  • The 1996 USA Basketball women’s national team was the main attraction at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games. Among many others, UConn’s Rebecca Lobo started a new era for young women playing basketball. Counting her UConn record (35-0) and then ‘just’ the official USA Basketball exhibition games, and her first 15 WNBA games, Lobo went 60-0 during that time period and that doesn’t count another 40+ games played as scrimmages against American college teams. That promotion helped launch the WNBA in 1997.

Can ice hockey, and then later this year, soccer (Futbol) enjoy an extended boost of interest throughout the USA?

TIDBITS & NUGGETS: The Boston Bruins will hold their first post-Olympics practice at the Warrior Rink at 11:30am Sunday, just hours after the completion of the gold medal game in Milan. … On Saturday, CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz reminded viewers we’re inside seven weeks until The Masters. … Every Major League Baseball team was in action for Grapefruit or Cactus League games. … The 2026 Chairman’s Cup between the Red Sox and Minnesota Twins began Saturday with their first of eight Grapefruit League matchups, with four at Hammond Stadium and four at JetBlue Park. (Little Fenway). The clubs split the Cup in both 2024 and 2025. … The Chairman’s Cup is named in honor of the ownership chairmen of the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins, recognizing the friendly rivalry between the two clubs that share spring training facilities in Fort Myers, Florida. It’s meant as a symbolic gesture celebrating the teams’ leadership and spring training connections.

THIS JEST IN: The selection committee for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament issued their first look at potential seedings for the March Madness college basketball tourney. The top four seeds in each region were revealed on Saturday. Michigan was ranked as the No. 1 overall seed while Duke and Arizona rounded-out what the committee chair called a consensus top three. After extensive discussion, the committee settled on Iowa State to fill the fourth top seed.

UConn, Houston, Illinois and Purdue were the consensus No. 2 seeds.

*Please keep in mind, Michigan and Duke play each other (after WWYI’s deadline on Saturday night).

Gotta hope you know your college logos to decipher the rest. One hint, the two V’s are Virginia and Vanderbilt.

THINGS I WONDER ABOUT: These are things I think about now and then, and no one seems to have any answers:

  • Every now and then, our two pups cry and it’s a sound that goes right through me to the point where I’d do anything to come to their aid. My question is this: If dogs can cry, and it is so damn effective, why can’t they laugh?
  • Speaking of which, our dog Penny (Lane) can say one word in the English language, and it is “out.” Somehow, she changes her bark a bit and the sound is clear – and in the King’s English.

On another topic:

  • Who was the guy who invented the traffic circle or “Roundabout?” I’d like to get him.
  • Lastly, to decompress from watching the Winter Olympics and every ice hockey game, I plan to loop NBC hockey play-by-play man Kenny Albert’s voice forcefully stating the name – Mika Zibanejad – 45 times for each 60-minute interval for at least 10 days. “Zibanejad this, Zibanejad that. Poke check, Zibanejad. Wrist shot,Zibanejad. Everything Zibanejad and anything Zibanejad.”

EDDIE: There’s an old NBA scouting story that would relate directly to Kenny Albert’s calls on Mika Zibanejad, but you’d need to change the basketball to ice hockey. Famed New York Knickerbockers GM Eddie Donovan used to drive to many a college basketball game to scout pro prospects. Since there were no stats, no game notes (to speak of), no internet, rare TV coverage, Donovan would spend the first quarter of the games he was scouting by staying in his car and tuning into the game on radio. He would keep count of the number of times the radio announcer would mention a player’s name. Donovan would then enter the building with the tally sheet and know which players to pay the most attention to as he watched the final three quarters of the game.

As it relates to this year’s men’s Olympic ice hockey tournament, undoubtedly, the great Eddie Donovan would’ve recommended to his Madison Square Garden/New York Rangers counterpart, “You better scout this guy, Zibanejad!”

YOU CAN’T MAKE IT UP: Last weekend, as reported in Digital Sports Desk, there was quite a brawl between St. John’s and Providence after a Flagrant Foul take down of (former Friar) St. John’s forward Bryce Hopkins. In the postgame WPRO-Radio report by Providence College, color man Joey Hassett (he of Providence basketball – 1973-to-1977 – and later a three-point FG specialist with the Seattle SuperSonics where he won an NBA championship ring in 1979) actually said, referring to St. John’s transfer Hopkins, “he’s the one who started the fight.”

Said Hassett, “The (Providence) Friars had momentum at that point. They were up 41-40. That situation (brawl that saw two ejections, and a two game suspension to Providence forward Duncan Powell for his flagrant 2 take-down of Hopkins). They get four free throws,” added Hassett. “He gets the flagrant foul, and could’a just got up, but — he started the fight.”