NHL Playoffs: Latest News

TAMPA, Fla. — The Maple Leafs finally exorcised their playoff demons — and are off to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers’ season ended Sunday night at Rogers Place with a 5-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.Vegas wins the best-of-seven 4-2. They’ll play either Dallas or Seattle in the Western Conference Final.“There were two teams that were taking swings at each other in every game,” Oilers Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said.“It feels like a failure or a wasted year almost,” Leon Draisaitl said after the loss.The Golden Knights took an early lead when the puck bounced in front to Reilly Smith, who snapped a shot past Stuart Skinner 24 seconds into the game.Connor McDavid provided a quick response, 31 seconds later, when his shot from the right wing eluded Adin Hill.Just 1:48 after that, Derek Ryan centered the puck to Warren Foegele, who connected for his second of the post-season.Vegas came out strong in the second and went ahead on a pair of goals by Jonathan Marchessault in the first eight minutes of the period.“I thought we played a good first period,” Woodcroft said.

Toronto Maple Leafs are out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.Nick Cousins scored at 15:32 of overtime and Sergei Bobrovsky made 50 saves as the Florida Panthers downed Toronto 3-2 on Friday to win the teams’ second-round playoff series 4-1.Cousins buried his second goal of the playoffs off the rush shortside on Leafs rookie Joseph Woll in the extra period to send his team to the Eastern Conference final for the first time since 1996.Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe, with a goal and an assist each, provided the rest of the offence for the Panthers.Florida _ the team with the fewest points to qualify for the post-season _ took all three games in Toronto and improved to 6-1 on the road this spring after also upsetting the record-setting Boston Bruins.

Maple Leafs fans planning to attend the team’s road games in the upcoming second-round NHL playoff series against Florida may find themselves shut out of ticket options.

Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the winner late in the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday to win their first-round playoff series 4-3.

Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2020 Stanley Cup champions, hoisting the NHL’s championship trophy Monday in a near-empty Rogers Place to cap off a surreal, bifurcated, bubbled hockey season for the ages.Brayden Point and Blake Coleman scored the goals and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 shots for his first career playoff shutout in a 2-0 win, giving Tampa Bay a 4-2 triumph in the best-of-seven series.The Lightning players exploded off the bench as the seconds ticked to zero, swarming Vasilevskiy, their whoops and hollers echoing off the empty seats and capacious tarps.No fans have been allowed in to these so-called bubbled playoffs, with players isolated between contests to prevent contracting COVID-19.NHL commissioner Gary Bettman walked out to

Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, eliminating the last Canadian team from the NHL playoffs.Theodore, on the power play, fired a quick wrist shot from the blue-line that found its way under the crossbar past goaltender Thatcher Demko at 13:52 of the third.Alex Tuch and Paul Stastny scored into an empty net to seal the win in the seventh and deciding game of the Western Conference semifinal.Vegas goes on to play the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final.

league to postpone Game 1 between the Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes until Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET.

COVID-19 pandemic, a plan to allow for large watching parties for NHL games once the hockey season resumes is beginning to take shape in Edmonton.Edmonton and Toronto will serve as the hockey league’s two hub cities once it resumes play next month.Tim Shipton, vice-president of corporate communications for the Oilers Entertainment Group, said plans are in the works for the site of the old Baccarat Casino beside Rogers Place.“The number one goal of the space is to create a safe area for fans to watch Oilers hockey and Hub hockey games, respecting the very prudent and reasonable rules that are in place for outdoor social gatherings,” Shipton said in a statement.While fans may be ecstatic about the idea of an outdoor viewing area for games,