7:25 AM ET Wednesday didn’t bring us any five-overtime games. But it did bring us brunch hockey, double overtime, two unreal saves, a $25,000 fine and a lot of heat in postgame Zoom calls. Check out the ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily every day of the postseason until the Cup is handed out in October.
NHL
7:00 AM ET For Robin Lehner, the situation would have been comical had it not been so maddening. The blade popped off the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender’s skate — twice — against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series on Tuesday night. At one point, he was scrambling on the ice to
8:54 PM ET ESPN News Services New York Islanders captain Anders Lee knocked Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom out of Wednesday night’s first-round series opener, setting the tone with a big hit that Washington coach Todd Reirden called “late” and “predatory.” Reirden didn’t have an update afterward on Backstrom, who appeared to be looking the
6:48 PM ET Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was fined $25,000 by the NHL after he criticized the officiating in Wednesday’s 4-3 double-overtime loss to the Boston Bruins in Toronto. In a statement, the league also assessed a conditional fine of $25,000 to Brind’Amour “which will be collected, in addition to any subsequent discipline, in
11:41 AM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins‘ qualifying-round loss to the Montreal Canadiens cost assistant coaches Sergei Gonchar, Jacques Martin and Mark Recchi their jobs. The team announced on Wednesday that it would not renew the contracts of all three assistants. The move came less than a week after the fifth-seeded Penguins
6:58 AM ET The start of the NHL’s Stanley Cup quarterfinals set the bar rather high. Like, five overtimes high. Before the next day of competition, please check out our staff picks for each series, including the uncomfortable number of us predicting that the best team in the NHL during the regular season will get
7:00 AM ET The fans’ volume increased as Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch raced into the Colorado Avalanche zone during overtime. They let out a jubilant roar when he snapped a shot over goalie Philipp Grubauer to win the game and earn his team the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference half of
3:44 AM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Zero players testing positive for COVID-19 in the two weeks since NHL teams arrived at their two respective playoff hub cities. And a powerful opening night statement on social and racial justice issues made by the league and its players. Given the uncertainty professional hockey faced in putting
9:01 PM ET ESPN News Services The Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes will wait another day before starting their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, as their game was pushed to 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the NHL announced. The two teams had been scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday night in Toronto,
9:59 PM ET The first game of the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs began at 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday, between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Columbus Blue Jackets. It didn’t end until the fifth overtime, which was 6 hours, 24 minutes later in real time. Along the way, playoff records for