8:34 AM ET Emily KaplanESPN COLUMBUS — When Blue Jackets winger Nick Foligno first arrived in Columbus in 2012, he instantly bonded with goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. After every win, the team skated over to congratulate the goaltender. Usually guys tapped Bobrovsky on the helmet or shoulder. Foligno usually lurked by the end of the line

7:06 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews underwent a procedure Thursday to remove hardware from a 2014 surgery. The team said the procedure won’t affect Matthews’ offseason training. The Maple Leafs did not give further details on why Matthews required surgery in 2014, but he had a broken femur

5:03 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The Rangers have agreed to terms with defenseman Adam Fox on an entry-level contract. New York acquired Fox on Tuesday in a trade with Carolina for its second-round pick this year and a conditional third-round choice next year. Fox played in 33 games for Harvard this past

10:43 AM ET NHL InsidersESPN The 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs have been an unrelentingly wild ride thus far, so much so that it feels like ages ago that the Columbus Blue Jackets swept the juggernaut Tampa Bay Lightning out in the first round. We gathered our roundtable of scribes to break down their favorite storylines

8:32 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN San Jose Sharks coach Peter DeBoer wouldn’t rule out star captain Joe Pavelski returning to his lineup during their series against the Colorado Avalanche. Pavelski has missed the first three games of the series, which San Jose leads 2-1, following a gruesome injury he suffered when he head slammed to

6:15 PM ET Associated Press OTTAWA, Ontario — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told the Parliament of Canada on Wednesday that it would be impossible to ban all hits to the head and maintain hockey as a physical game. Bettman said in testimony that larger players would inevitably land blows on smaller players’ heads in the

7:02 AM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN Great goaltending and timely scoring were the name of the games on Tuesday night, as the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks took 2-1 leads in their respective series. Here’s what happened in the NHL last night (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to