Josh Wegman

The Stanley Cup Playoffs start Saturday. These 16 key players - one per postseason team - will help dictate who wins and stumbles in the opening round and beyond.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rAaron Ekblad: After missing the final six games of the regular season to nurse an undisclosed injury, Ekblad is expected to return to the Panthers' lineup for Game 1 against the Lightning. Florida didn't address the blue line at the trade deadline. Without Ekblad, the Panthers don't have anybody on the right side of the defense capable of combating opposing top lines. They need Ekblad healthy, and at his best, to make another deep run.Victor Hedman: The Lightning's blue line isn't what it used to be, especially with Mikhail Sergachev ruled out for Round 1 as he recovers from a broken leg. Hedman, as he's done for much of the season, will have to do the heavy lifting. While his 76-point season may trick some into thinking he's still at the top of his game, his ugly defensive metrics tell another story. Tampa Bay needs Hedman to be a factor at both ends to have a chance of advancing. China Wong / NHL / Getty ImagesJake DeBrusk: It hasn't been the contract year DeBrusk hoped for. After producing 27 goals and 50 points in 64 games last season, the Bruins winger managed only 19 goals and 40 points in 80 games in 2023-24. But he can play his way into a big payday with a stellar postseason - and the best recipe for him to do that is with an edge to his game.Auston Matthews: Every team needs their best players to show up, but perhaps none more so than the Maple Leafs. Matthews has never truly taken over a postseason the way superstars of his ilk are capable of. He scored five times in Toronto's Round 1 win over the Lightning last year but failed to find the back of the net in Round 2 when the Leafs were eliminated. That's not a coincidence. Jared Silber / NHL / Getty ImagesMika Zibanejad: The Rangers center's production tailed off this season, with only 12 goals at even strength. The whistles tend to go away a bit in playoff hockey, so Zibanejad will have to find ways to contribute outside of the power play. Considering the opposition will place more attention on Artemi Panarin's line, the Rangers need Zibanejad to be the force he's capable of being.Tom Wilson: The Caps enter Round 1 as heavy underdogs, but Wilson can wreak havoc on the forecheck and strike fear into opposing defensemen with his physicality. The three-time 20-goal-scorer has decent hands around the net, too. Wilson also has a history with the Rangers: Remember when he punched Pavel Buchnevich and body-slammed Panarin in 2021? The Rangers and their fans haven't forgotten, and Wilson will surely relish playing the villain. Josh Lavallee / NHL / Getty ImagesAndrei Svechnikov: Many of Carolina's key forwards - Sebastian Aho, Jake Guentzel, Seth Jarvis, Teuvo Teravainen - are on the smaller side. Svechnikov, a modern-day power forward, is the outlier. He missed last year's postseason after he tore his ACL in March, which contributed to the Hurricanes' lack of scoring. Svechnikov can get to the inside and score goals from ugly areas, and that's often what it takes to succeed in the playoffs.Noah Dobson: The Islanders' 70-point defenseman missed the last three games with an upper-body injury. His status for Game 1 is up in the air. Dobson is the engine that drives the Islanders from the back end. Given the tenacity of Carolina's forecheck, New York desperately needs its top puck-moving defenseman to be healthy and at his best. Otherwise, the Islanders will constantly be hemmed in their own zone. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;rQuinn Hughes: The Canucks' dynamic, intelligent captain reached rare heights this year. He became the 11th NHL defenseman to eclipse 90 points in a season. He was the first since Ray Bourque in 1994 to record nine three-assist games. Hughes also leveled up as a shooter. His second postseason, following a fun run in the 2020 bubble, is the first in a long while that Vancouver enters as a Cup favorite.Tommy Novak: A classic secondary scorer, the Predators center supports the load-bearing quartet of Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O'Reilly, and Roman Josi. Novak put up a second straight 40-point season despite missing a month due to injury. Aside from superstars, few NHL forwards create more chances in their allotment of minutes than Novak. Recent eight-game and six-game win streaks suggest Nashville could be tough to eliminate. Andy Devlin / NHL / Getty ImagesStuart Skinner: The Oilers always rack up goals at this time of year. Can they prevent them? The decline in Skinner's save percentage from the 2022-23 regular season (.914) to his two-round playoff debut (.883) was too steep for Edmonton to overcome. Thwarting chances is a shared responsibility. That means a defense corps with ample postseason experience has to minimize slipups in front of Skinner.Drew Doughty: "Dewy" is the gap-toothed, trash-talking embodiment of what the Kings do well. The workhorse defenseman subdues top lines. He clears the crease and blocks shots for the league's No. 2 penalty kill. At even strength, L.A.'s conservative, maligned 1-3-1 defensive structure disrupts opposing breakouts. The Kings count on Doughty to retrieve dump-ins at the back of the trap and spark offense when they gain the puck. Sam Hodde / Getty ImagesChris Tanev: The Stars' scoring depth wows, Miro Heiskanen is a two-way whiz, and goalie Jake Oettinger has star potential. Trading for Tanev offset a rare weakness: Heiskanen's lack of help on the blue line. Tanev and Esa Lindell form a strong, defensively conscious second pair behind the Heiskanen-Thomas Harley duo. Following Tanev's March 5 debut, Dallas led the West in points percentage (.789), goals allowed (2.32 per game), and expected goals share (62.7%).Jonathan Marchessault: The Golden Knights' top sniper, whose 42-goal season was a significant personal best, likes to play in traffic. He ranked in the 96th percentile in goals and 87th percentile in shots generated from the high-danger low slot, per NHL EDGE. Marchessault tallied 10 of his 13 goals in the 2023 playoffs from that part of the ice. His dependability helps fuel the reigning champs. Bruce Bennett / Getty ImagesConnor Hellebuyck: The Vezina Trophy favorite uplifts a flawed Cup contender. The Jets' offense sometimes goes dormant, but Hellebuyck masked the shortcoming this season, holding opponents below three goals in the majority of his starts. His goals saved above expected total of 39.35 was the sixth-best recorded in the past 15 years, per Evolving-Hockey. When Hellebuyck's performance peaks, any team is beatable.Nathan MacKinnon: No playoff opponent has silenced the Avalanche megastar, but MacKinnon's seven points in last year's seven-game defeat to the Kraken felt like a slight letdown. More will be expected and demanded of the Art Ross Trophy runner-up against the Jets, who pummeled Colorado 17-4 across three matchups this season. The Avs are built to win track meets. They're able to run up the score when MacKinnon takes over.

Woah, Nelly!Nelly Korda won the Chevron Championship by a stroke Sunday to earn her fifth straight victory, tying an LPGA record held by Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05).It's Korda's second career major title.More to come.

New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe made his presence felt in his playoff debut as much as a fourth-liner can.The rookie enforcer scored a goal, posted a plus-2 rating, and was engaged physically with three hits in the Rangers' 4-1 victory in Game 1 over the Washington Capitals."I think I'm built for the playoffs," Rempe told The New York Post's Mollie Walker postgame.Rempe added that his mom was at Madison Square Garden for the first time to watch him play. The 21-year-old was asked if her presence gave him extra juice for the game."I've always got juice," Rempe said with a big grin.Rempe, who stands at a towering 6-foot-7, 241 pounds, recorded just one goal and one assist in 17 contests during the regular season but gained popularity for his willingness to fight. He almost spent as much time in the box as he did on the ice, averaging 5:38 of ice time per game and 4.18 penalty minutes per game."I can't think of a player that's come in and had that impact on a team, on a fanbase, on a city," head coach Peter Laviolette said postgame.The fourth line in general was a major factor in New York's victory. Jimmy Vesey registered a goal and an assist, and Barclay Goodrow added a pair of helpers.Vesey was highly complimentary of Rempe postgame."Any game he's in the lineup, he's had an effect," Vesey said.

Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said Tuesday the team will pursue a top-six right-shot forward and a top-four right-shot defenseman this offseason.Anaheim enters the summer with $33 million in cap space. None of its notable restricted free agents - Isac Lundestrom, Max Jones, Brett Leason, Jackson LaCombe, and Urho Vaakanainen - project to break the bank. It doesn't have any significant unrestricted free agents.The 2024 UFA class includes several high-profile right-shot forwards who could fill a top-six role, including Sam Reinhart, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Joe Pavelski, Tyler Toffoli, David Perron, and Elias Lindholm. On the potentially cheaper - and younger - side, there's also Daniel Sprong and Jack Roslovic.The crop of right-shot UFA defensemen isn't quite as deep, but the likes of Brandon Montour, Dylan DeMelo, Matt Roy, Brett Pesce, Chris Tanev, and Sean Walker could hit the open market.Anaheim was active in free agency last offseason, signing veterans Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas as UFAs.After finishing 30th in the NHL standings this past season, the Ducks have an 11.5% chance (third-best odds) of landing the No. 1 pick. They also own the Edmonton Oilers' first-rounder as part of the Adam Henrique trade.

Florida Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe scored his fifth career playoff OT winner against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, giving the defending Eastern Conference champions a 2-0 series lead. LET'S GO HOME BABYYYYYYYYY 🚨 pic.twitter/hXAGzAaEbk— Bally Sports Florida: Panthers (@BallyPanthers) April 24, 2024 Verhaeghe is now tied for third on the all-time playoff OT goals list, behind only Hall of Famers Joe Sakic and Maurice Richard.More to come.

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was complimentary of Brad Marchand's knack for dodging the laws of hockey after the Boston Bruins' 4-2 win in Game 3 on Wednesday."He gets calls. It's unbelievable, actually, how it goes," Keefe said postgame, per TSN. "We gotta play through that stuff. I don't think there's another player in this series that gets away with taking out Bertuzzi's legs the way that he does. ... It's an art, and he's elite at it."Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi went at it on multiple occasions, including an instance in which the Bruins captain wasn't penalized for taking down his opponent behind the play right before Trent Frederic's second-period goal. Brad Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi mixed it up before Trent Frederic's equalizer 🍿Catch all the Leafs 🆚 Bruins Game 3 action on Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+. pic.twitter/P31K6lAamp— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 25, 2024 Special teams proved to be the difference in the game. Toronto had five power-play opportunities in the contest but didn't score, while Boston went two-for-three with the man advantage.Marchand was a force, recording two goals and an assist in the matchup. He was on the ice for a game-high 95.3% of the expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.All three of Marchand's points came in the third period. His first goal was a perfect top-corner snipe that gave the Bruins the lead 28 seconds after the Maple Leafs tied it up. It stood as the game-winner. WHAT. A. SHOT. 🚀The captain restores the lead for the @NHLBruins! #StanleyCup🇺🇸: @espn ➡️ https://t.co/Pp9X7OHmTu🇨🇦: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/sEijvXhJpz pic.twitter/cmOFACAKUT— NHL (@NHL) April 25, 2024 Marchand etched his name into the Bruins' record books in the process, passing Hall of Famer Cam Neely on the franchise's postseason game-winning goals list. He also tied Neely - Boston's current team president - for the club record for playoff goals.Player Playoff games Goals GWGsBrad Marchand 149 55 12Cam Neely 86 55 11Patrice Bergeron 170 50 10Phil Esposito 71 46 9Marchand has registered 134 points in his postseason career, the second most in Bruins history and 27 back of Ray Bourque.Boston holds a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 goes on Saturday.

The Vegas Golden Knights are heading back to The Fortress with a 2-0 series lead.The defending Stanley Cup champions beat the Western Conference's top-seeded Dallas Stars 3-1 in Game 2 on Wednesday for their second consecutive road victory.More to come.

The Toronto Maple Leafs ruled out center Auston Matthews for the remainder of Saturday's Game 4 against the Boston Bruins for undisclosed reasons, the team announced.Matthews played the first 40 minutes of the contest but didn't return for the start of the third period.While it's unknown if there's any correlation, Matthews has been battling an illness lately. He played through it in Game 3 and missed Friday's practice. Matthews produced a dominant three-point effort in Toronto's Game 2 win but has otherwise been held off the scoresheet in Round 1.

Toronto Maple Leafs team doctors pulled Auston Matthews from Game 4 during the second intermission because of an illness, head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame.

The Irish pair of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry rallied from behind to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans - the PGA TOUR's annual team event - in a playoff over Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer on Sunday.