10:00 PM ET Columbus Blue Jackets rookie Elvis Merzlikins will make his return in goal Sunday night against the Canucks in Vancouver, British Columbia, coach John Tortorella announced. Merzlikins, a surprise standout this season for the Blue Jackets who has the most shutouts among rookie goalies, has been out since Feb. 24 with a concussion.
NHL
9:17 AM ET The Nashville Predators‘ midseason coaching change from Peter Laviolette to John Hynes didn’t cause the kind of immediate impact that some had hoped, but the team has lingered in the playoff mix through much of the second half. With Saturday’s 1-0 win over the Dallas Stars, they jumped back into the second
7:43 PM ET Associated Press SUNRISE, Fla. — Roberto Luongo wore the No. 1 jersey primarily because he thought the number signified being the best at everything. For the Florida Panthers, there was never anyone better. “No. 1 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts,” Luongo said. And now, his No. 1 is the
8:50 AM ET It appears that the Pacific Division title is going to come down to the final games of the season. The top three teams are now within three points of one another after the Calgary Flames dispatched the Arizona Coyotes in a 3-2 win on Friday night. The Flames are behind the Vegas
8:05 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — The NHL has sent a memo to teams urging players to limit contact with fans because of the coronavirus outbreak. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed the league issued the memo in an email to The Canadian Press on Friday. The move follows a similar directive this month
10:05 AM ET When the Minnesota Wild fired coach Bruce Boudreau and traded Jason Zucker shortly thereafter, some surmised that this was more of a rebuilding season for the club than a contending one. But a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night gave the Wild seven wins in their last nine
10:33 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — Mika Zibanejad scored five goals to match the New York Rangers‘ record, capping the scoring spree 33 seconds into overtime in a wild 6-5 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. Zibanejad is the second player in NHL history to score his fifth goal in
7:00 AM ET Now that the NHL trade deadline has passed, there are only so many ways teams in the playoff mix can improve their rosters between now and the postseason. Aside from a magical late-season call-up of a young impact player, which comes once in a blue moon, most clubs will instead have to
7:00 AM ET Seattle’s NHL expansion franchise doesn’t start playing in the league until 2021-22, but we might only need to wait a little bit longer before we can stop referring to it as “Seattle’s NHL expansion franchise.” Remember when the Vegas Golden Knights were going to be the Desert Knights? Or the Red Hawks?
7:00 AM ET It’s hard to believe, but we’re staring down the final month of the 2019-20 NHL regular season. For this week’s ESPN power rankings, we identified the X factor for each team down the stretch. How we rank: The ESPN hockey editorial staff submits selections ranking teams 1-31, and those results are tabulated
8:58 AM ET In recent seasons, every game between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning has seemed bigger than most others, as the two have been perennial powerhouses in the Eastern Conference. Tuesday night’s matchup was no exception, and the Bruins’ 2-1 win opened up their lead in the Atlantic Division to nine points
10:16 PM ET Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk left Tuesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Canadiens after he was hit in the face by the skate of Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen. Both players were in front of the New York net when Lehkonen appeared to lose his balance and fall forward, causing his legs to kick back
7:00 AM ET Dimitri Filipovic Close Special to ESPN Dimitri Filipovic writes about the NHL and other hockey leagues. He lives in British Columbia. Greg Wyshynski Close ESPN Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer. The Tampa Bay Lightning are once again among the wagering favorites for the 2020 Stanley Cup. Which must be comforting,
10:57 PM ET ESPN News Services DETROIT — Captain Gabriel Landeskog withstood a crunching hit while making a pass that sprang Logan O’Connor for a breakaway goal in the second period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Monday night for their seventh straight victory. Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the
7:00 AM ET The rookie hype this preseason rightfully surrounded the top two picks of the most recent NHL draft. Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko were the two new stars of the biggest media market in the world, so it was only natural they were going to get most of the attention. Yet as we
7:00 AM ET It’s undeniable that NHL awards campaigns can be made or abandoned in the last month of the season. Recency bias is very much a thing, considering that the ballots aren’t sent out until near the end of the season and the votes are sent in right up until the first game of
9:47 AM ET Heading into the 2019-20 season, most expected the Philadelphia Flyers to be poking around the playoff mix, and the team’s hire of Alain Vigneault as coach indicated faith from management that the team was ready to make a run. With 17 games remaining, the team is not only in the playoff mix
7:00 AM ET As a season of high turnover for NHL coaches heads down the final stretch — seven head coaches have been fired thus far, and one resigned — one person who has a front seat to the hiring process is calling for reform in how NHL teams go about their searches. Neil Glasberg,