Thursday's hockey: Wings prospect Augustine named MVP; NHL playoff matchups set
Detroit Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine was named Michigan State's team MVP and top freshman after backstopping the Spartans to Big Ten regular-season and post-season titles.
The youngest starting goaltender in college hockey, Augustine posted a .918 save percentage (fourth B1G/15th nationally), 2.96 GAA (fifth B1G), and 23-9-2 record.
The South Lyon native led the nation in saves (1113), ranked fifth in victories (23), ninth in winning percentage (.710) and eighth in shutouts (3).
Senior captain Nash Nienhuis was voted the team’s outstanding defensive player, outstanding senior and the senior with the highest grade-point average.
Nienhuis surpassed his career best in points (24) and scored more goals (9) than he had in his first three seasons combined, while matching his career best in assists (15) and finishing +20.
A Big Ten All-Tournament Team pick, Neinhuis boasts a 3.625 cumulative GPA as an advertising management major, earning College Sports Communicators (CSC) academic All-District honors.
Thursday's NHL games
Seattle 4, (at) Minnesota 3: Tye Kartye tipped in a slap shot by Oliver Bjorkstrand for the tiebreaking goal with 2:40 remaining, and the Kraken and Wild wrapped up the regular season for two teams that missed the playoffs.
Ryan Hartman scored 6-on-4 on a power play for the Wild with 1:05 left and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury pulled, but Kraken goalie Joey Daccord – who had 21 saves – and the defense held up.
Kirill Kaprizov scored his 46th goal of the season on a power play in the first period, and Mats Zuccarello had the tying goal midway through the third period for the Wild.
Matty Beniers (Michigan) tied the game for the Kraken in the second period on a power play tip-in before Gourde’s short-handed breakaway. He later scored on an empty-netter.
(At) Winnipeg 4, Vancouver 2: Nikita Chibrikov scored the game-winner in his NHL debut and Cole Perfetti added two goals as Winnipeg beat Vancouver in the regular-season finale for the playoff-bound teams.
The Jets finished the regular season giving up 199 total goals, the fewest in the league and one less than the Florida Panthers, to earn the William M. Jennings Trophy. They also extended their win streak to eight games, tying the franchise record. Their 52 victories (52-24-6) also matched the franchise record for wins in a season with the 2017-18 squad.
Winnipeg’s 110 points secured second place in the Western Conference behind Dallas and home-ice advantage in the first three rounds of the playoffs against teams other than the Stars.
Gabe Vilardi also scored for the Jets, who won won two of the three games against the Canucks this season. Laurent Brossoit made 18 saves for his 15th win of the season in his 23rd game.
(At) Colorado 5, Edmonton 1: Valeri Nichushkin scored twice, Nathan MacKinnon added two assists to break the franchise’s single-season points mark and Colorado cruised into the playoffs with win over Edmonton.
MacKinnon wrapped up the regular season with 140 points (51 goals, 89 assists) to top Peter Stastny’s franchise record of 139 set in 1981-82 when the club was in Quebec.
The speedy MacKinnon couldn’t catch Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the race for the Art Ross Trophy, which goes to the leading points scorer. Kucherov wound up with 144 points.
Mikko Rantanen, Josh Manson and Zach Parise also scored to help the Avalanche snap a two-game slide. Colorado jumped out to a 4-0 lead midway through the first period and never looked back in a game where the Oilers rested several of their starters, including Connor McDavid.
Justus Annunen made 25 saves for the Avalanche, who finished with a league-best 31 home wins. Colorado opens the playoffs at Winnipeg on Sunday.
(At) Calgary 5, San Jose 1: Blake Coleman scored his 30th goal and MacKenzie Weegar netted his 20th as Calgary beat San Jose.
Adam Klapka posted his first NHL goal and Oliver Kylington, and Kevin Rooney also scored for Calgary (38-39-5). The Flames missed the postseason for the second straight season.
Dustin Wolf had 16 saves and lost his shutout bid with nine seconds left in the game. The 23-year-old rookie closed the season with four straight wins and a record of 7-7-1.
Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose (19-54-9), which finished with the worst record in the NHL. The Sharks have missed the playoffs the last five seasons. Mikael Granlund had an assist and finished the season with a 13-game point streak (two goals, 13 assists).
Anaheim 4, (at) Vegas 1: Frank Vatrano scored three goals and Anaheim ended their season on a high note, Las Vegas.
Vatrano’s goals gave him 37 for the season, a career high. It was his third hat trick this season and the sixth of his career.
Jackson LaCombe had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who finished 27-50-5 for 59 points. Ryan Strome had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 29 saves. Cutter Gauthier had an assist in his first career game.
Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg, who played his final NHL game after 12 seasons in the league, shook hands with Golden Knights players after the game.
Jack Eichel scored his 31st goal for the Knights, and Adin Hill made 19 stops.
(At) L.A. Kings 5, Chicago 4: Viktor Arvidsson scored the tying goal with 1:21 left in regulation, and Los Angeles earned a playoff rematch with Edmonton by jumping into third place in the Pacific Division with an overtime victory against Chicago.
The Kings’ comeback and the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights’ loss to Anaheim propelled Los Angeles into a third straight postseason meeting with the Oilers, who beat the Kings in both of their previous two first-round matchups. Los Angeles (44-27-11) finished with 99 points, one ahead of the Knights (45-29-8).
Los Angeles took a two-goal lead into the third period against Chicago, but promptly blew it when the Blackhawks scored three times in five minutes. The Kings finally evened it when Arvidsson scored his second goal of the night with goalie Cam Talbot pulled for an extra attacker.
With third place secured by the single point for reaching overtime because of the Kings’ advantage in a tiebreaker, Adrian Kempe won the game with an unassisted goal just six seconds into OT.
Tyler Johnson, Joey Anderson and Ryan Donato scored in the third-period flurry by the Blackhawks, with Donato getting the tiebreaker with 13:32 to play in the final game of the NHL’s regular season.
Eastern Conference playoff matchups
▶ Rangers vs. Capitals
Game 1: Sunday @ N.Y. Rangers, 3 p.m.
▶ Bruins vs. Maple Leafs
Game 1: Saturday @ Boston, 8 p.m.
▶ Panthers vs. Lightning
Game 1: Sunday at Florida, 12:30 p.m.
▶ Hurricanes vs. Islanders
Game 1: Saturday @ Carolina, 5 p.m.
Western Conference playoff matchups
▶ Dallas vs. Vegas
Game 1: Monday @ Dallas, 9:30 p.m.
▶ Winnipeg vs. Colorado
Game 1: Sunday @ Winnipeg, 7 p.m.
▶ Vancouver vs. Nashville
Game 1: Sunday @ Vancouver, 10 p.m.
▶ Edmonton vs. Los Angeles
Game 1: Monday @ Edmonton, 10 p.m.
Michigan-area hockey this week
Friday
▶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8 (AHL/96.1)
Saturday
▶ NTDP U18s vs. Sweden in Finland, world U18s exhibition
Sunday
▶ Milwaukee at Grand Rapids, 5 (AHL/106.9/1300)
Tuesday
▶ Red Wings 5, Montreal 4 (OT)
Monday
▶ Red Wings 5, Montreal 4 (OT)
Caps' Strome never good at losing
Dylan Strome was never good at losing, whether it was playing baseball in his front yard or stick hockey in the basement with his brothers.
“He hated losing more than he loved winning,” younger brother Matt Strome said. "He was never satisfied unless he won, and if he lost you would definitely know about it. I was on the wrong end of that a couple times.”
Strome won the Ontario Hockey League championship and the Memorial Cup at the junior level, was the third pick in the 2015 draft behind Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, bounced around as a pro, and up until now had only experienced the NHL playoffs in the 2020 pandemic bubble. He doesn't count that as the real thing.
“Losing in this league can wear on you a little bit,” older brother Ryan Strome said.
It wore on Dylan so much that he worried he was the problem and wondered if he'd ever play for the Stanley Cup again, through its true, grinding 16-team format. He will get that chance with the Washington Capitals when they face the New York Rangers in the first round, and Strome's play looking like a man possessed down the stretch is a big reason they beat the odds and made it.
“I feel like something just switched for him,” said Matt Strome, who is with the Hershey Bears, the Caps' American Hockey League affiliate. “A couple weeks ago he said he’d never been this close to the playoffs, and ever since then I could just see that he was blocking shots, he was finishing checks, he was skating really well. I think it’s really cool to see him just completely turn it on.”
Ryan, now with the Anaheim Ducks in his 11th NHL season, could see the desperation. He beams with pride at how Dylan, an offensive player who set career highs this season with 27 goals and 67 points, has rounded out his game to play winning hockey when it mattered most.
“I saw him on the ice at the end of the game (Monday) night protecting a lead and winning big faceoffs, and that’s part of his game that’s come a long way,” Ryan said. “He’s done a really good job. It’s been a great fit for the team and for him in Washington.”
Strome is in just his second season with the Capitals following stints in Arizona and Chicago. He signed a one-year, prove-it contract, earned a $25 million, five-year extension and has become an integral part of his new team.
The only thing missing was a playoff berth, not a handout like in 2020 when Chicago got into the playoffs as a 12-seed in an expanded postseason with 24 teams. Going into the regular-season finale Monday at Philadelphia, Strome had participated in Game 82 plenty of previous years knowing that was the end.
He expressed in the Strome family group chat the feeling that this time it wouldn't be the last game he played this spring.
“It felt like the season wasn’t ready to be over,” Strome said. Then, with everything at stake, he won 13 of his 18 faceoffs, laid out to block a couple of shots and played one of his most complete games of the season to help deliver a 2-1 win that came with a playoff berth.
Afterward, T.J. Oshie said, “I don’t think anyone was more excited than Stromer.”
As first-year coach Spencer Carbery pointed out, it's one thing to want to make the playoffs and “a whole different thing to deliver in those moments.” Along with being the Capitals' leading scorer, he had five game-winning goals this season, tied for most on the team, and stepped up in the absences of centers Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
“He make a big step with his game,” captain Alex Ovechkin said. "He became a key guy for us and he makes some plays, he score goals and he did a great job.”
Now to show what he can do, fittingly starting at Madison Square Garden, where Dylan cheered on Ryan as a supportive brother during the Rangers' 2022 run to the East final. Strome has a history of raising his game in important moments, like in 2017 when he was one of the top scorers in the OHL playoffs and was named Memorial Cup MVP.
His brothers can't wait to see what's next.
“He’s been on that stage before,” Ryan said. “Obviously this is a different beast, but he’s highly motivated, he’s highly confident and it’s a great opportunity for him to continue to grow.”
Arizona officially moves to Salt Lake City
The NHL team moving from Arizona to Salt Lake City will be known as Utah, at least initially, until a long-term name is determined.
“We’ll start with Utah on the jersey and we’ll figure out the logo and everything else and what it is that we are," new owner Ryan Smith told The Associated Press. "We’re going to be Utah either way. We have the first part of the name. We don’t have the last.”
Smith Entertainment Group, which bought the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes in a deal unanimously approved Thursday by the league's Board of Governors, has already contracted ad agency Doubleday & Cartwright for rebranding efforts. Former owner Alex Meruelo keeps the Coyotes name and has the chance to reactivate the franchise if he’s able to build an arena.
The short timeline of relocating the club could mean it has a placeholder name for the first season, like the Professional Women's Hockey League did for year one or Washington's NFL team had in 2020 and '21 before becoming the Commanders.
“It’ll be Utah something, obviously,” Smith said. "It’s really important that we’re not saying, ‘Hey, this has to be ready by the fall,’ especially when it’s going to be Utah something. I think both the league feels better and we feel better to just run the process and then we’ll drop it when we drop it.”
While working on that process, Smith's first priority is physically moving players and staff to Utah and getting them set up in the state.
“There’s a good roster and a lot of young talent and we’ve got to onboard those people into Smith Entertainment Group and show them what that means and what that’s like,” Smith said. “I think that’s a good opportunity for us and introduce them to the state of Utah and also bring the community together to receive them.”
Then it'll be “full speed ahead” with the infrastructure, including potential renovations to Delta Center, home of the NBA's Utah Jazz also owned by SEG, which has 12,000 unobstructed view seats for hockey. The plan is to expand that number to roughly 17,500.
“We want to actually use our arena and really spend time creating the best dual-sport arena that exists out there because we want to keep people as close as we possibly can or as vertical as we possibly can to watch both games,” Smith said. “It’s super fun and challenging, but we’re going to do it.”
It's also a challenge to make Utah a hockey market, though 17 sheets of ice already in place and a youth hockey program give ownership a head start. Smith plans to build more rinks to make it easier for people of all ages to play the sport.
Former NHL player Ken Sabourin, who played in the minors for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the International Hockey League from 1987-91 and then again in '92-93, raves about the city but thinks success will be determined by how the team plays.
“If they put a winning product out there, it’s going to help, obviously, and maybe (Smith's group is) dedicated to do that,” Sabourin said Thursday. “It’s a good hockey market, it’s a good sports market – there’s no doubt about it. I think they have the fans. It’s whether they’ll come out or not. They’ll watch it for sure. It’ll be not a problem on TV. The first year in the building I’m sure it won’t be an issue no matter how good they are."
Smith, who can skate a little and played mostly roller hockey, isn't worried about that. He points to the sold out NCAA Tournament men's basketball games at Delta Center as evidence that fans will fill the building to watch NHL hockey.
“The one thing I do know about Utah is people show up,” he said. "It’s just different here. We’ve got 291 straight sellout games at the Delta Center (for the Jazz). I think every concert that’s come to town has sold out. It’s just what we do. We show up, and I have a lot of faith in the people in Utah.”
That faith was rewarded right away, as Smith said the organization had received 6,000 season-ticket deposits in two hours after the sale was announced.
Stars have big age gap
The Dallas Stars have quite an age gap.
Top goal scorer Wyatt Johnston is only 20 years old, and was a teenager for most of the playoffs last year. On the other end for the Western Conference's top-seeded team is Joe Pavelski, who will turn 40 this summer and has more points this season than the kid who again is living in his house.
“Joe's not an old 39-year-old. He stays pretty young with the youth in this group," six-time All-Star forward Tyler Seguin said. “It's just cool because we have so many different layers of age in here.”
The 18-year, 10-month gap between the Stars’ youngest and oldest players is the widest among the Western Conference playoff teams by 2 1/2 years, with Edmonton at 16 years and four months. Toronto is the only team going into the postseason with a wider range.
Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano is the lone 40-year-old who will be part of these playoffs. He is 19 years older than teammate Matthew Knies, the forward who shares the same birth month.
Johnston (65 points, 32 goals) and Pavelski (67 points, 27 goals) are on a Stars roster that boasts a mix of proven veterans, three standouts from the same 2017 draft class and loads of promising youngsters. Dallas players are 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34. Defenseman Ryan Suter, like Pavelski, is 39.
The 32-year-old Seguin jokes that they all have the same maturity, but maybe there is something to that on the ice and in the locker room. The young guys learn from the veterans, and the older guys are revived by exuberant youth during the grind of a long season.
“Everybody respects each other. Every line can contribute and nobody’s less than anybody else,” said Logan Stankoven, a 21-year-old forward who was the American Hockey League's leading scorer before his callup in late February. “When the leaders are talking, everybody listens.”
Leading scorer Jason Robertson (80 points, 29 goals), standout defenseman Miro Heiskanen and goaltender Jake Oettinger were all taken by Dallas in the first 39 picks of the 2017 draft. Four players drafted by the Stars since are part of the current run: Ty Dellandrea, Thomas Harley and forwards Johnston and Stankoven, their top two picks in 2021 who now skate primarily on a line with captain Jamie Benn, a 2007 draft pick who is 34.
“Over the last two, three, four years, it's been a good team. But there’s always going to be some change, and you hope it’s something that’s internal. And we’ve had that,” general manager Jim Nill said. “You start talking about Wyatt Johnston’s taken another step, Thomas Harley. Now Logan Stankoven’s come in. … And then we’ve added been lucky to add a couple of pieces.”
The newcomers this season include 26-year-old forward Sam Steel, a past first-round pick by Anaheim, 33-year-old Matt Duchene and a pair of 34-year-olds: forward Craig Smith in free agency and defenseman Chris Tanev in a trade at the end of February. Steele and Smith are on a line with 30-year-old center Radek Faksa, the Star's first-round pick in 2012.
“Some of them don’t look like big moves, but they are big moves for our team because they play roles that are important and they play it the right way,” Nill said. “We've been able to supplement things in the last few years, and it's come together pretty well for us.”
Brind'Amour builds perennial contender
Rod Brind'Amour remembers those early days as a first-time head coach for a franchise that had gone nearly a decade without reaching the playoffs. He realizes now just how much he didn't know back then.
“But I didn't know I didn't know it," he said, “and that was big because I didn't have any doubt.”
And there hasn't been any doubt since, either, about Brind'Amour becoming one of the league's top coaches. He's now 6-for-6 in getting the Carolina Hurricanes to the postseason over years spent building a sturdy winning culture, one running at a self-sustaining hum through a talented, experienced and deep roster. That has turned Carolina into a regular among the league's elite and made the Hurricanes the favorite to win the Stanley Cup, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
Their first-round series against the New York Islanders starts at home on Saturday.
“You never get complacent,” Brind’Amour told The Associated Press. "You’re constantly having to kick them in the butt and keep them on track. But they understand where the road leads. They understand where we’re trying to get to.
“You’ve got to keep them on the right path. Really that’s all I have to do. … Realistically, these guys are taking care of it themselves. It’s just a matter of me letting them run with it.”
The 53-year-old native of Ottawa has become the face of the franchise with long-running ties in this so-called “nontraditional” Southern market that has blossomed. He arrived in a January 2000 trade and stayed until he retired in 2010, then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over in 2018.
The peak was his captaincy of the Hurricanes' 2006 championship winner. It's a moment immortalized in Raleigh by Brind'Amour snatching the Cup before Commissioner Gary Bettman could even put down his microphone during the presentation, giving it a long kiss and then hoisting it with a scream.
The man who proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” when he took over is in the final year of his contract, though Brind’Amour said he’s optimistic that he will reach another deal in a familiar scenario from three years ago. In the meantime, as he praises players and staff while deflecting credit for Carolina's success, there's no minimizing his role in the climb from a nine-year postseason drought to becoming a perennial contender.
“I mean, I don’t know a single guy for an organization that has more impact than he has here,” said Carolina center Sebastian Aho, a third-year player when Brind’Amour became head coach. “Obviously he’s done a lot, hopefully he gets one as a coach as well.”
Green part of Devils' search for coach
General manager Tom Fitzgerald is looking for a new coach for the New Jersey Devils and interim skipper Travis Green remains in the running for the job.
Speaking three days after the Devils ended a disappointing season by missing the playoffs, Fitzgerald said he hopes to have a full-time coach in place for the NHL draft in late June.
“Travis is well aware of my intentions,” Fitzgerald said Thursday. "I owe it to the organization to make sure I was following the coaching world with who I believe would be the perfect coach for this group moving forward for what’s available out there.”
Fitzgerald wants his coach to be a person who can communicate with his players while holding them accountable.
Green checks many of those boxes, including being a no-nonsense coach, Fitzgerald said. He said there are other coaches to be considered and others may become available, possibly after the first round of the postseason.
A year after posting a franchise-record 112 points and winning a first-round playoff series with the Rangers, the young Devils took a major step back this season, finishing seventh in the Metropolitan Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference. They went 38-39-5 for 81 points. Their goals against went from 226 in 22-23 to 283. Their goals for, goals-against differential went from plus-65 to minus-19.
They never won more than three games in a row.
It led to the firing of Lindy Ruff in March and the promotion of Green from associate head coach to interim coach. New Jersey was 30-27-4 when Ruff was relieved. Green went 8-12-1, losing eight times by a goal if open-net scores were not counted, Green said.
Green said he has talked with Fitzgerald briefly since the season ended and the two will talk more in the coming weeks.
“I want to be the head coach of the New Jersey Devils,” said Green, who previously was the head coach in Vancouver from 2017 through the early part of the 2021-22 season.
Green said he learned a lot during his 21-game stint and he thinks he will be able to do more if he can take the team through a training camp in September.
“It’s an exciting, exciting group and I think the future is bright," Green said.