8:35 AM ET Back-to-back early playoff exits were enough to make the Washington Capitals realize that they had made a mistake. In the two seasons since the team promoted top assistant Todd Reirden instead of giving Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz a raise, the Caps have been knocked out of the playoffs in the first
NHL
7:35 AM ET The second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs is in full swing, and we’ve already got a bit of everything: tight games, blowouts, and controversies quelled — and that was all just on Sunday! While the Boston Bruins–Tampa Bay Lightning was in some question until the finish, the Vegas Golden Knights
3:28 AM ET Vancouver Canucks agitator Antoine Roussel tried to get under the Vegas Golden Knights‘ skin in Game 1 of their series. Instead, the Knights said Roussel helped fuel their 5-0 blowout win on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta. “He’s running around out there. I don’t think he’s distracting anyone but himself,” forward Reilly Smith
2:05 AM ET ESPN News Services EDMONTON, Alberta — Robin Lehner recorded his first career playoff shutout, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 on Sunday in the first game of their second-round playoff series. Lehner turned aside 26 shots. Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty scored
8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL playoffs roll on to the conference semifinals beginning on Aug. 22 with the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Dallas Stars. The Golden Knights and Canucks played only twice in the regular season, splitting the contests both staged in December. That seems like decades ago in pandemic time, so this
1:10 PM ET Vegas Golden Knights star Marc-Andre Fleury had his agent remove a social media image depicting the goaltender being stabbed in the back with a sword engraved with coach Pete DeBoer’s name. The Knights have started goalie Robin Lehner, whom they acquired at the trade deadline, in six of their eight postseason games.
4:02 PM ET Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer has been ruled out for Game 2 of their conference semifinal series against the Dallas Stars after leaving their Game 1 loss with an injury. Coach Jared Bednar said he doesn’t “know for how long” his starting goaltender will be out of the lineup. Grubauer tweaked something
11:15 AM ET Associated Press The Washington Capitals have fired coach Todd Reirden after a second consecutive first-round exit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. General manager Brian MacLellan announced the move Sunday, three days after the Capitals lost to former coach Barry Trotz’s New York Islanders in a five-game series. Washington opted to promote Reirden
7:50 AM ET The NHL moved up Game 1 of the second round to Saturday night. We’re not sure if anyone told the Colorado Avalanche. “Dallas is a good team. But a lot of what happened tonight was self-inflicted. We didn’t get up to the standard that we have to play at,” said Avalanche forward
8:00 AM ET The 2020 NHL playoffs roll on to the conference semifinals beginning Saturday, with the Colorado Avalanche taking on the Dallas Stars. Tampa Bay won three of four regular-season matchups against Boston, as well as their contest in the round-robin portion of the postseason. Will the Bruins reverse that trend in this series?