NHL

Stars take 3-1 series lead over Avalanche with 5-4 winEDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Radek Faksa and the Dallas Stars are one win away from the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2008.Faksa had goal and two assists and Roope Hintz scored the last of three power-play goals...

MONTREAL (AP) Alex Ovechkin knows Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard's name, mainly from the six times he won the trophy named after the Montreal Canadiens' great as the top NHL goal-scorer of the year. The name came up again Monday night when the Washington star scored career goal 544, tying Richard's total...

AP Hockey WriterBlues' Russian Two, Tarasenko and Barbashev, on verge of CupBy STEPHEN WHYNOST. LOUIS (AP) Slava Fetisov called Vladimir Tarasenko midway through the second round of the playoffs to deliver an important message.''I said, `Listen, you've got a good chance to win this year, so you're gonna...

AP Sports WriterHome is where the 'L' is? Home teams struggling in playoffsBy WILL GRAVESPITTSBURGH (AP) Having home ice is supposed to be an advantage in the NHL. So far in the 2018 playoffs, the only guarantee to playing at home is a monochrome backdrop provided by fans...

AP Hockey WritersBettman raises chance of NHL not completing regular seasonBy JOHN WAWROW and STEPHEN WHYNOFor the first time since halting play four weeks ago, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman raised the possibility Tuesday of not completing the regular season in order to squeeze in time to award the Stanley...

AP Sports WriterPenguins head home upbeat despite 0-fer in NashvilleBy WILL GRAVESPITTSBURGH (AP) The goals that came so easily to the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final - the ones that arrived in bunches and seemed to signal an emphatic end to...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Tyler Johnson scored three goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 4-3 win Tuesday night.Tampa Bay, 3-5-1 in the last nine games, also got a goal and two assists from Nikita Kucherov. Ondrej Palat had...

AP Hockey WriterCapitals, Lightning resume rivalry after different seasonsBy STEPHEN WHYNOWhen Todd Reirden and Jon Cooper spent four months looking over video of the teams they coached this season, they saw almost polar opposites.Reirden's Washington Capitals started hot before their defensive game slipped. Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning took a...

Penguins centers Malkin, Bjugstad out with injuriesPITTSBURGH (AP) Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin and Nick Bjugstad will be out indefinitely with injuries.Coach Mike Sullivan said Monday that Malkin's lower-body injury will require a longer recovery than Bjugstad's, but he added it is not season-threatening.Both centers were injured during...

AP Sports WriterWild lose Parise for multiple weeks to broken sternumBy DAVE CAMPBELLST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) The Minnesota Wild were hit with a major setback in their first-round playoff matchup with Winnipeg, a broken sternum for left wing Zach Parise suffered in the last game that will keep...

AP Sports WriterQuenneville returns to Chicago with Florida PanthersBy JAY COHENCHICAGO (AP) In some Chicago circles, certainly every one that includes a hockey rink, it's just “Q.” Only one letter is necessary for a man so revered there is a Twitter account for his mustache with more than...

Carolina signs defenseman Jake Gardiner to 4-year dealRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The Carolina Hurricanes have signed defenseman Jake Gardiner to a four-year contract.Under terms of the deal announced Friday by Carolina general manager Don Waddell, Gardiner will make an average of $4.05 million each season.''He's a great player. He's...