10:35 PM ET Montreal Canadiens forward Jake Evans was taken off the ice on a stretcher following a hard hit from Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele in the final seconds of Wednesday night’s second-round playoff series opener. With 56.9 seconds remaining in Montreal’s 5-3 Game 1 victory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Evans scored an empty-net goal

4:49 PM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — Penguins general manager Ron Hextall said he believes in the team’s core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang and is in no hurry to move on to the franchise’s next chapter. “We see a future with this core,” Hextall said Wednesday. “These guys have been here

6:45 AM ET The Montreal Canadiens just completed an unlikely and emotional upset, beating the heavily favored Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. There’s not much time to celebrate, as they’re back at it for the start of the second round on Wednesday, against a well-rested Winnipeg Jets team. Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights look

5:07 PM ET Associated Press RIGA, Latvia — Kevin Labanc and Conor Garland scored two goals apiece and the United States won its sixth straight game with a 4-2 victory over Italy in its final preliminary game at the world hockey championship on Tuesday. With the victory, the U.S. clinched first in Group B and

12:01 PM ET Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, playing in his 17th NHL season, earned his first nomination for the Vezina Trophy, given to the NHL’s top goaltender. Fleury, Philipp Grubauer of the Colorado Avalanche and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning were chosen by the league’s general managers as the award’s finalists.

6:45 AM ET Never doubt that the Toronto Maple Leafs can find new and exciting ways to disappoint their fans and fail in the postseason. Losing star John Tavares in Game 1 to injury, winning three straight games and then losing three straight games to an enormous underdog in the Montreal Canadiens, in their first

11:04 PM ET The Toronto Maple Leafs flopped in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Again. Blowing a 3-1 series lead, Toronto dropped a 3-1 decision in Game 7 of the North Division semifinals to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night on home ice, in the first playoff meeting between the rivals in 42 years. “It’s really

4:55 PM ET ESPN News Services DENVER — Vegas Golden Knights forward Ryan Reaves received a notification that no player wants to get — the league required a discussion with him. The subject: his roughing/unsportsmanlike conduct against Ryan Graves of the Colorado Avalanche during the Golden Knights’ 7-1 loss in Game 1 of their second-round

11:00 PM ET ESPN News Services OTTAWA, Ontario — The NHL and health authorities are working on a travel exemption that would allow the winner of the all-Canadian North Division and an American opponent to cross the border during the final two rounds of the playoffs, including the Stanley Cup Final, according to a report

11:46 PM ET Vegas Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer isn’t second-guessing his decision to start goaltender Robin Lehner in Game 1 of the second round — despite Lehner being hung out to dry in a 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche Sunday night. Vegas started Marc-Andre Fleury throughout the entire first-round series against the Minnesota