TORONTO (AP) — Brendan Shanahan got his housekeeping out of the way quickly.
In the wake of another playoff failure, the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs told reporters at the team’s annual post-elimination media availability — once again far earlier on the calendar than anyone associated with the organization hoped — that general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe would keep their jobs.
As soon as the NHL expanded to more than six teams, and television sets started showing games in color, the Toronto Maple Leafs were in trouble.
Once again, the hockey playoffs are moving on to the second round without the Maple Leafs, who will be watching the rest of the postseason from a familiar spot.
A few minutes after his New York Rangers moved on to the second round of the NHL playoffs by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, Gerard Gallant had not mentally moved on to what’s next.
“I don’t even know who we play,” Gallant said with a chuckle.
TORONTO (AP) — Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday night to win their first-round playoff series.
TORONTO (AP) — Nick Paul came through with the best playoff performance of his career when the Tampa Bay Lightning needed it most and the two-time defending champions are moving on again.
Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday night to win their first-round playoff series.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Florida Panthers faced their first real adversity of the season trailing their playoff series against the Washington Capitals, players held a meeting to set things straight.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jonathan Huberdeau couldn't remember what it was like to be on the smiling side of a handshake line.
The feelings were so strong after he and the Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime Friday night to win Game 6 and move on to the second round that Huberdeau wants to replicate it over and over.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Binnington made 25 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 on Thursday night in Game 6 of their series to advance to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning saved their season, keeping their bid for a three-peat alive.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions rallied to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in overtime on Thursday night, staving off elimination and forcing a winner-take-all Game 7 in the first round playoff series between the Atlantic Division rivals.
NEW YORK (AP) — Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid are two of the finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the NHL’s most valuable player award.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is also in contention for the prize awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”
Kori Cheverie reflects fondly on the conversations she had with her grandfather growing up in Nova Scotia, where he encouraged her to believe anything was attainable in sports.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Connor McDavid has stood on this precipice several times before, and he does not care for the view.
The Edmonton Oilers are one loss away from their third consecutive opening-round playoff exit after back-to-back losses to the upstart Kings.
TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:06 left in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from an early two-goal deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Tuesday night and take a 3-2 lead in the first-round playoff series.
TORONTO (AP) — Jason Spezza stood up in the Toronto locker room in the wake of another disastrous start.
The veteran forward — potentially in the midst of a final Stanley Cup shot in his 19th NHL season — spoke about the margin for error getting smaller and smaller against two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay.
Kevin Fiala has often let his frustration show if he's not producing up to his star potential, and the Minnesota Wild left wing was in a tense mood after another flat performance in St. Louis.
Four games into the first round against the Blues, with the teams tied at two games, Fiala has not scored.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Talk about resilience.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning haven't lost consecutive playoff games in nearly three years, rattling off 17 consecutive victories following a postseason loss since the start of their 2020 title run.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jack Campbell didn't flinch.
Not when the Tampa Bay Lightning began cutting into a three-goal deficit, and especially not when the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions made a late push to really put some heat on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
NHL teams are taking different approaches to crossing the U.S.-Canada border during the first round of the playoffs with the U.S. still requiring a negative COVID-19 test for all passengers arriving on international flights.
TORONTO (AP) — Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the first-round series.
TORONTO (AP) — Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for his first four-point playoff game and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday night in Game 2 to even the first-round series.
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford has been given a one-game suspension for a boarding incident in Toronto’s playoff-opening win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The NHL’s department of player safety issued the suspension on Tuesday following a hearing with Clifford.
So much for the notion that goals are hard to come by in the playoffs. If the opening night of the chase for the Stanley Cup is an indication of what’s to come, the NHL is in for another wildly unpredictable postseason.
TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist and Jack Campbell made 23 saves in the second playoff shutout of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 Monday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoffs series.
TORONTO (AP) — Toronto coach coach Sheldon Keefe predicted a “borderline violent” playoff series against Tampa Bay.
That turned out to be the case early and late in Monday's opening game of the teams' first-round playoff series.
Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning understand the difficult challenge that lies ahead for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
The team’s quest for a third straight NHL title begins on the road Monday night against the Auston Matthews-led Toronto Maple Leafs, who had a terrific regular season but have yet to prove they have what it takes to be successful in the playoffs.
Two months after the eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference were locked in before the NHL even reached the All-Star break, Rod Brind’Amour set Carolina’s lineup for a game against Pittsburgh with the future in mind.
Auston Matthews is having the best season of his career, and that’s quite a feat.
Toronto's No. 1 overall pick from the 2016 NHL draft has lived up to the hype from the start of his rookie year through last season, averaging a little more than a point per game while turning around a long-suffering franchise.
It took until the final game on the final night of the NHL regular season to set the matchups for the first round of the playoffs.
Naturally, the battle for the Stanley Cup starts in less than 72 hours.
TORONTO (AP) — William Nylander scored twice and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 on Friday night in a regular-season finale with both teams resting most of their stars.
“We’ve got 82 games in the books,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Oliver Bjorkstrand led Columbus with a goal and an assist in the Blue Jackets' 5-2 win over Tampa Bay on Thursday night that kept the Lightning from clinching the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Division.
TORONTO (AP) — Auston Matthews looked a little sheepish after scoring his 50th goal into an empty net last month. How the Maple Leafs sniper bagged No. 60 was a lot more like it.
Matthews scored twice, the second on one of his patented snapshots, to become just the third player in the NHL’s salary cap era to register 60 goals in a season as Toronto defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 on Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin missed a game because of injury for just the 25th time in his 17-year NHL career.
All of those have come in the regular season. He has never missed one in the playoffs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Ovechkin was injured, and the Washington Capitals missed a major opportunity to move up in the standings on Sunday by blowing a lead and losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s much for the Washington Capitals to evaluate after a tough loss late in the season and an injury that could cloud their entire playoff outlook.
Alex Ovechkin was injured early in the third period of a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night, crashing into the boards and getting ruled out with an upper-body injury.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and the NHL-leading Florida Panthers extended their win streak to a franchise-record 13 games by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and the NHL-leading Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored his 34th goal of the season and became Tampa Bay’s all-time scoring leader as the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-1 on Thursday night.
Stamkos, the first overall pick in the 2008 draft, fired a one-timer from the left circle off a feed from Nikita Kucherov for the record-breaking 954th point of his career.