Wednesday's hockey: Panthers rout Bruins to tie series; Canucks edge Oilers in opener

Sunrise, Fla. — Florida showed some fight, then got in some fights. And the Panthers were thrilled by all the outcomes.

Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart added four assists and the Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 on Wednesday night to tie the second-round series at a game apiece.

Brandon Montour had a goal and two assists, and Steven Lorentz, Gustav Forsling and Eetu Luostarinen also scored for Florida. The Panthers chased Bruins starter Jeremy Swayman early in the third period after four straight goals, then added two more against Linus Ullmark.

“We did what we wanted to do,” Barkov said.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves for the Panthers. The five-goal margin matched Florida's biggest in a playoff game, tying the mark set against Tampa Bay in another 6-1 victory April 29.

Charlie Coyle had the goal for the Bruins, who lost to Florida for the first time in six meetings this season. The series shifts to Boston for Game 3 on Friday night and Game 4 on Sunday night.

And it's a series now – 146 penalty minutes getting handed out in the third period after multiple dustups created a narrative that will carry into Friday, highlighted by Florida's Matthew Tkachuk getting several shots in on Boston's David Pastrnak in a star-on-star showdown with the game already out of hand.

“You have two elite offensive players … it gets a little spicy out there and they wanted to go,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I thought it was awesome. When it was over, they both looked like they were fine. Sorry if anyone's offended by that concept. I don't care. I thought it was awesome.”

Pastrnak and Tkachuk both got 10-minute misconducts – making them the last two of 12 players to leave the game early because of scrums and scuffles.

“You had the spillovers in the third period because we did have emotion,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “A little undisciplined, but that's part of playoff hockey.”

The Bruins felt like Tkachuk got an unnecessary shot or two in during the quick tussle with Pastrnak. Pastrnak's reaction: “I'm not a very experienced fighter. I fell down. It's on me.”

Canucks 5, Oilers 4

Vancouver, British Columbia — Conor Garland broke a tie with 5:34 left and the Vancouver Canucks overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series.

Garland took a short pass from Dearborn's Dakota Joshua, faked a slap shot at the right circle and slipped a wrist shot between goalie Stuart Skinner's legs from a sharp angle for Vancouver's second goal in 39 seconds and third in 4:48.

“Everybody wants to be in that moment,” Garland said. “We understand when you have to execute and when you dig a hole like that, you got to execute if you want to get back in the game. And I think that was the biggest thing in the third, that we just executed and buried our chances.”

Game 2 is Friday night in Vancouver.

Elias Lindholm got the comeback started with 2:59 left in the second period. J.T. Miller cut it to 4-3 at 9:38 of the third, and Nikita Zadorov tied it with 6:13 remaining.

“Maybe four or five months ago, or maybe last year, you might have seen some frustration, some laziness or when something frustrated us, we take a bad penalty,” coach Rick Tocchet said. “If you look at it, when they’re 4-1, I thought we still stayed disciplined. We weren’t pinching, we weren’t selling the farm. And I think that’s maturity of the year, how we’ve kind of built our resolve.”

Joshua scored early in the second period and assisted on Lindhom's goal.

“The belief is always there,” Joshua said. “Just to know that you got to keep playing to the end, anything can happen.”

Arturs Silovs stopped 14 shots for the Canucks.

Ex-Wolverine Zach Hyman scored twice for Edmonton to take the playoffs goals lead with nine. Mattias Ekholm and Cody Ceci also scored, and Skinner made 19 saves.

“They’re a good team and they were doing everything they could to come back and we were doing everything we could to hold on to the lead,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who was limited to an assist. “That happens in the playoffs. You try to hold on to lead and sometimes you’re maybe a little too passive.”

After getting just five shots on goal in the first period, Vancouver outshot Edmonton 19-7 in the last two periods.

“It’s a resilient group,” Tocchet said. “Sometimes we’re not pretty. Sometimes things happen. But I just feel like it’s a real close group. And this is when you need a close group, these situations. And I thought everyone had something to contribute tonight. There were no passengers.”

What will Utah's NHL team be called?

Ownership of the NHL’s team in Utah has given fans 20 choices to vote on for the franchise’s new name, according to a survey sent out Wednesday by Smith Entertainment Group.

Owner Ryan Smith has told The Associated Press the team will have a name starting with Utah. The inaugural season will feature jerseys with the name of the state on them, with a name, logo and colors to debut for 2025-26 after work done by the branding company Doubleday & Cartwright.

“Utah’s NHL team is a community asset, and we want to make sure that the community has a say in what the name is,” said Smith, whose group also owns the NBA's Utah Jazz. “Utah has shown up for this team from the moment the NHL awarded us the franchise less than three weeks ago, and it is only fitting that our fans get the rare opportunity to help name the team they’ll be cheering for."

The options provided to choose from are Frost, Ice, Powder, Mountaineers, Freeze, Mammoth, Black Diamonds, Blast, Caribou, Blizzard, Swarm, Hive, Outlaws, Yeti, Squall, Fury, Glaciers, Canyons, Venom and HC, which stands for Hockey Club.

SEG bought the Arizona Coyotes from former owner Alex Meruelo for $1.2 million and relocated the team to Salt Lake City. Utah will start play in the Jazz's downtown arena, Delta Center, and has the sixth pick in the NHL draft after not moving up in the lottery won Tuesday night by San Jose.

Goalie interference debate is alive and well

Minutes after his team was knocked out of the NHL playoffs in a game that included two disallowed goals because of goaltender interference, Jon Cooper was careful to say those calls weren't the reason the Tampa Bay Lightning lost the series. He still had a problem with them.

Cooper, a two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach, pointed out the league has made one rule change after another to encourage offense. When Tampa Bay scored its first goal, Florida coach Paul Maurice successfully challenged to wipe it out for goalie interference; when on-ice officials ruled a later Lightning goal should not count for the same reason, Cooper challenged but the call was upheld. His team went on to lose 6-1 and he said afterward he didn't think there was enough evidence for either call.

It was clear this was the biggest controversy of the postseason so far.

At least one prominent colleague agreed with Cooper's sentiment, and many of the coaches left in the playoffs acknowledge there's a delicate balance when it comes to goalie interference, when the decision or a coach's challenge can swing a game or a series at the most important time of year.

“It’s an area they’re going to have to look at to shore up,” said Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour, who sided with Cooper on the premise about goalies being overprotected for incidental contact. “We we want to see goals, especially those ones when you’re fighting around the net. If you knock a goalie over, that’s goalie interference. But there should be a little more onus on just the common sense part of it.”

After his Panthers were on the positive end of all three goalie interference challenges so far, Maurice felt he could be more philosophical about the topic than if he were in Cooper’s chair. The veteran coach who guided Florida to the Stanley Cup Final last year felt confident enough to challenge but wasn’t entirely sure what the league’s situation room would decide.

Still, he thinks goalie interference is clearer now than it was four or five years ago because the pendulum has swung from zero tolerance to more contact and settled in the middle.

“They’ve tried to narrow it,” Maurice said. “If the goaltender can’t get to the save, it’s goalie interference. So, what I do (behind the bench) on that is truly ‘spirit of the rule.’ I try not to factor in all the things that are criteria that they tell you. Is (an opponent) in his crease to stop him from making a save I think he can save? It’s almost that simple.”

What takes some of simplicity out of the process is the punishment: a 2-minute delay-of-game penalty for any unsuccessful challenge, either for goaltender interference or offside. Challenging for offside is usually more clear since it is based on video coaches watch closely; rarely do they get it wrong.

Goalie interference has become something like the definition of a catch in football, a moving target. As such, the calculus that goes into challenging it is on a coach-by-coach, case-by-case basis.

"Time and score has something to do with it, the way your team plays has something to do with it," said Colorado's Jared Bednar, who led the Avalanche to the Cup in 2022. “The reality of the situation often is you better be sure it’s goalie interference, if you’re going to challenge it. If it’s questionable, then you’re likely not getting the call and sometimes when you’re sure, you don’t get the call. People that say they have it figured out, I would argue and disagree because we don’t.”

Bednar added that if there was a poll of NHL coaches, he thinks it would show the league hasn't yet established a clear standard. That gray area is what drives coaches crazy.

Cooper credited Sergei Bobrovsky for duping officials to sell the calls and lamented how two skaters engaging in a net-front battle can be responsible for disallowing goals. Maurice pointed to a potential goalie interference situation in the Nashville-Vancouver series as interesting because of contact within the crease.

Brind'Amour echoed Cooper's use of the word “egregious” as a key need for evidence to reverse a call on the ice. And no one knows when the next time goalie interference will play a key role in a playoff game this spring.

“The puck’s by the goalie on some of these and you get hit and then it’s still – like, it’s a judgment call – and so it’s somebody’s opinion and my opinion and your opinion might be different on these,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s why this whole thing is tough because it does come down to opinions.”

Stars in familiar hole after Game 1 loss

The Dallas Stars are in an all-too familiar hole.

This is their sixth consecutive playoff series over three postseasons, the fourth at home, that they go into Game 2 after losing the opener.

“It's not ideal, we know that. And it's definitely not the plan,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said Wednesday.

“You’re kind of playing with fire when you put yourself in that position enough,” forward Joe Pavelski said.

When they play Game 2 of their second-round Western Conference series against Colorado on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET/TNT), the Stars will try to avoid a repeat of the opening round. Two weeks ago, they lost the first two games at home to Vegas, last year’s Stanley Cup champion, though they did fight back to win in seven games.

In the only other NHL playoff game Thursday, the Carolina Hurricanes go home in their own 0-2 hole to the Rangers. New York has won all six of its games this postseason after a 4-3 double-overtime victory Tuesday night.

Dallas twice last year lost Game 1 at home, but won the second one each series on way to rebounding to advance: in six games against Minnesota, and seven over Seattle.

The 2022 Cup champion Avalanche have won five games in a row since opening these playoffs with a wild 7-6 loss at Winnipeg. Colorado won 4-3 in overtime at Dallas, after a full week between games and then trailing 3-0 in the first period.

“I definitely feel better when I’m in a rhythm," said Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who scored the game-tying goal in the first minute of the third period. “I don’t love taking time off. But I think we’ll feel better as we play (Games) 2-3-4.”

Colorado has four players that have tallied points in every game this postseason: league MVP finalist MacKinnon, defenseman Cale Makar, former Stars first-round draft pick Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantannen. All have multiple goals.

The Stars are still waiting for some of their big scorers to get going this postseason.

Pavelski, whose 73 career playoff goals are the most ever for a U.S.-born player and the most among active players, still doesn't have one this postseason and just got his first assist in Game 1 against the Avs. Matt Duchene has only one goal, and the lone score for Roope Hintz without any assists was an empty-net goal against Vegas. Rookie Logan Stankoven had six goals his first 12 games after his NHL debut in late February, but hasn't found the net since – the last 12 regular-season games and eight playoff games.

“The strength of our team all year has been if Roope Hintz's line doesn’t score, then Matt Duchene's line scores. If Matt Duchene's line doesn’t score, then Wyatt Johnston’s line scores. If none of those guys score, our fourth line scores,” DeBoer said. “Our depth has to show up in this series.”

Toronto wins first-ever PWHL playoff game

Blayre Turnbull scored two goals to lead Toronto to a 4-0 win over Minnesota in the first-ever Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff game on Wednesday night.

Natalie Spooner, with the opening goal and one assist, and Emma Maltais also scored for top-seeded Toronto in front of 8,473 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the home of the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.

Kristen Campbell posted a 26-save shutout. Nicole Hensley stopped 16 shots for fourth-seeded Minnesota.

Game 2 in the best-of-five semifinal is set for Friday in Toronto.

Eastern Conference playoff matchups

Second round

Eastern Conference

Carolina vs. N.Y. Rangers

(Rangers lead 2-0)

▶ Game 1: Rangers 4-3

▶ Game 2: Rangers 4-3 (2OT)

▶ Game 3: Thursday @ Carolina, TBA

▶ Game 4: Saturday @ Carolina, TBA

▶ Game 5: May 13 @ New York, TBA

▶ Game 6: May 16 @ Carolina, TBA

▶ Game 7: May 18 @ New York, TBA

Boston vs. Florida

(Series tied 1-1)

▶ Game 1: Boston 5-1

▶ Game 2: Florida 6-1

▶ Game 3: Friday @ Boston, TBA

▶ Game 4: Sunday @ Boston, TBA

▶ Game 5: May 14 @ Florida, TBA

▶ Game 6: May 17 @ Boston, TBA

▶ Game 7: May 19 @ Florida, TBA

Western Conference

Colorado vs. Dallas

(Avalanche lead 1-0)

▶ Game 1: Avalanche 4-3 (OT)

▶ Game 2: Thursday @ Dallas, 9:30

▶ Game 3: Saturday @ Colorado, TBA

▶ Game 4: May 13 @ Colorado, TBA

▶ Game 5: May 15 @ Dallas, TBA

▶ Game 6: May 16 @ Colorado, TBA

▶ Game 7: May 19 @ Dallas

Edmonton vs. Vancouver

(Canucks lead 1-0)

▶ Game 1: Canucks 5-4

▶ Game 2: Friday @ Vancouver, 10

▶ Game 3: Sunday @ Edmonton, TBA

▶ Game 4: May 14 @ Edmonton, TBA

▶ Game 5: May 16 @ Vancouver, TBA

▶ Game 6: May 18 @ Edmonton, TBA

▶ Game 7: May 20 @ Vancouver, TBA

Eastern Conference

First round

Rangers vs. Capitals

(Rangers win 4-0)

▶ Game 1: Rangers 4-1

▶ Game 2: Rangers 4-3

▶ Game 3: Rangers 3-1

▶ Game 4: Rangers 4-2

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs

(Bruins win 4-3)

▶ Game 1: Bruins 5-1

▶ Game 2: Leafs 3-2

▶ Game 3: Bruins 4-2

▶ Game 4: Bruins 3-1

▶ Game 5: Leafs 3-2 (OT)

▶ Game 6: Leafs 2-0

▶ Game 7: Bruins 2-1 (OT)

Panthers vs. Lightning

(Panthers win 4-1)

▶ Game 1: Panthers 3-2

▶ Game 2: Panthers 3-2 (OT)

▶ Game 3: Panthers 5-3

▶ Game 4: Lightning 6-3

▶ Game 5: Lightning 6-1

Hurricanes vs. Islanders

(Hurricanes win 4-1)

▶ Game 1: Hurricanes 3-1

▶ Game 2: Hurricanes 5-3

▶ Game 3: Hurricanes 3-2

▶ Game 4: Islanders 3-2 (2OT)

▶ Game 5: Hurricanes 6-3

Western Conference playoff matchups

Dallas vs. Vegas

(Series tied 3-3)

▶ Game 1: Vegas 4-3

▶ Game 2: Vegas 3-1

▶ Game 3: Dallas 3-2 (OT)

▶ Game 4: Dallas 4-2

▶ Game 5: Dallas 3-2

▶ Game 6: Vegas 2-0

▶ Game 7: Sunday @ Dallas, 7:30

Winnipeg vs. Colorado

(Avalanche win 4-1)

▶ Game 1: Jets 7-6

▶ Game 2: Avalanche 5-2

▶ Game 3: Avalanche 6-2

▶ Game 4: Avalanche 5-1

▶ Game 5: Avalanche 6-3

Vancouver vs. Nashville

(Canucks win 4-2)

▶ Game 1: Canucks 4-2

▶ Game 2: Predators 4-1

▶ Game 3: Canucks 2-1

▶ Game 4: Canucks 4-3 (OT)

▶ Game 5: Predators 2-1

▶ Game 6: Canucks 1-0

Edmonton vs. Los Angeles

(Oilers win 4-1)

▶ Game 1: Oilers 7-4

▶ Game 2: Kings 5-4 (OT)

▶ Game 3: Oilers 6-1

▶ Game 4: Oilers 1-0

▶ Game 5: Oilers 4-3

American Hockey League playoffs

Central Division semifinal

(Griffins win series 3-1)

▶ Game 1: Grand Rapids 3-2 (OT)

▶ Game 2: Rockford 5-1

▶ Game 3: Grand Rapids 4-3 (OT)

▶ Game 4: Grand Rapids 4-2

Central Division semifinal

(Texas leads 2-1)

▶ Game 1: Texas 6-3

▶ Game 2: Texas 4-1

▶ Game 3: Milwaukee 5-3

▶ Game 4: Friday @ Milwaukee

▶ Game 5: Sunday @ Milwaukee

ECHL

Central Division Final

Toledo vs. Wheeling

(Toledo leads 3-0)

▶ Game 1: Toledo 2-1 (OT)

▶ Game 2: Toledo 5-3

▶ Game 3: Toledo 7-3

▶ Game 4: Friday @ Wheeling, 7:10

▶ Game 5: Saturday @ Wheeling, 7:10

▶ Game 6: Monday @ Toledo, 7:10

▶ Game 7: Tuesday @ Toledo, 7:10

Central Division Semifinal

(Toledo wins 4-0)

▶ Game 1: Toledo 3-2 (OT)

▶ Game 2: Toledo 5-2

▶ Game 3: Toledo 6-2

▶ Game 4: Toledo 4-2

Road to the Memorial Cup in Saginaw

(Saginaw hosts May 24-June 2)

▶ Friday, May 24: WHL vs. Saginaw, 7:30

▶ Saturday, May 25: OHL vs. QMJHL, 4

▶ Sunday, May 26: Saginaw vs. QMJHL, 7:30

▶ Monday, May 27: OHL vs. WHL, 7:30

▶ Tuesday, May 28: QMJHL vs. WHL, 7:30 

▶ Wednesday, May 29: Saginaw vs. OHL, 7:30 

▶ Thursday, May 30: Tie breaker (if necessary)

▶ Friday, May 31: Semifinal, 7:30

▶ Sunday, June 2: Final, 7:30

CHL finals in WHL, OHL, QMJHL

Western Hockey League

Moose Jaw vs. Portland

▶ Game 1: Friday @ Portland

▶ Game 2: Saturday @ Portland

▶ Game 3: May 14 @ Moose Jaw

▶ Game 4: May 15 @ Moose Jaw

▶ Game 5: May 17 @ Moose Jaw

▶ Game 6: May 19 @ Portland

▶ Game 7: May 20 @ Portland

Ontario Hockey League

Oshawa vs. London

▶ Game 1: Thursday @ London

▶ Game 2: Saturday @ London

▶ Game 3: May 13 @ Oshawa

▶ Game 4: May 15 @ Oshawa

▶ Game 5: May 17 @ London

▶ Game 6: May 19 @ Oshawa

▶ Game 7: May 20 @ London

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Baie-Comeau vs. Drummondville

▶ Game 1: Thursday @ Baie-Comeau

▶ Game 2: Friday @ Baie-Comeau

▶ Game 3: May 13 @ Drummondville

▶ Game 4: May 14 @ Drummondville

▶ Game 5: May 16 @ Baie-Comeau

▶ Game 6: May 18 @ Drummondville

▶ Game 7: May 21 @ Baie-Comeau