Gregg Popovich stepped down.

Florida captain Aleksander Barkov missed the final 10:09 of the Panthers’ win in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series at Tampa Bay on Thursday night, after taking a hit from the Lightning’s Brandon Hagel.

Home-ice advantage hasn’t really existed over the past couple of years in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Matthew Tkachuk returned to the lineup and was back to his old self quickly for the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

It’s starting to feel like an annual tradition: Panthers vs.

The 4 Nations Face-Off was a one-off, a tournament with no past and no future, a trimmed-down version of the World Cup of Hockey staged because the NHL’s best players have waited so long for something of its kind.

The 4 Nations Face-Off has already delivered an instant classic international hockey game with the fight-filled preliminary round matchup between the United States and Canada last week in Montreal.

Victor Wembanyama has already gone up against the U.S. in international events, most notably last year’s Paris Olympics when he led France’s march to the gold medal game against the Americans.

Connor McDavid played in the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, but it was with the 23-and-under Team North America, not Canada.

Canada defenseman Shea Theodore is out for the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off because of injury.

The U.

The biggest controversy so far in the NHL playoffs came in the first round when the Tampa Bay Lightning on the wrong end of a couple of questionable goaltender interference rulings in the game they were eliminated by Florida in the first round.

Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided elimination with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff matchup Saturday night.

John Tavares scored 4:35 into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 for their first NHL playoff series win in nearly two decades.

The Toronto Maple Leafs wiped out a three-goal deficit in the third period, then beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 on Alexander Kerfoot’s power-play goal at 4:14 of overtime to take a commanding 3-1 series lead in their first-round NHL playoff matchup.

Dallas coach Peter DeBoer hasn’t been shy to point out Minnesota was one of the most penalized teams in the NHL this season,.

Garnet Hathaway scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and the NHL-best Boston Bruins wrapped up first place in the Atlantic Division with their sixth straight victory, beating Tampa Bay 2-1.

Edmonton forward Evander Kane was cut on the left wrist by a skate blade and taken to the hospital with a frightening injury during the Oilers’ 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Orlando’s training camp schedule is no match for Hurricane Ian.

The Detroit Red Wings have hired two-time Stanley Cup-winning assistant Derek Lalonde as coach after a lengthy search process.

Nathan MacKinnon saved his best performance in the Stanley Cup Final for when it mattered most.

The Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t relinquish their stronghold on the Stanley Cup without a fight.

The Colorado Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup after dethroning the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

If this is Ondrej Palat's final playoff run with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he's certainly making it count.

The Colorado Avalanche face their biggest task yet in the Stanley Cup Final looking to close out the back-to-back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 on the road.

The Colorado Avalanche were stymied in their quest to close out the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday night.

The Tampa Bay Lightning spoiled Colorado’s party and they are still in the hunt for a third straight Stanley Cup title after beating the Avalanche 3-2 in Game 5.

Nazem Kadri scored at 12:02 of overtime — perhaps with too many Colorado players on the ice — and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final to move within a victory of dethroning the two-time defending champion Lightning.

Steven Stamkos, Pat Maroon and Ondrej Palat each had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning scored four times in the second period and beat the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

It’s no secret Tampa Bay has played more hockey over the past two years than any other team in the NHL.

The fast-flying Colorado Avalanche have zoomed out to a 2-0 series lead over Tampa Bay in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Tampa Bay Lightning shrugged off their overtime loss to Colorado in the opener of the Stanley Cup Final.

The Tampa Bay Lightning say they are unfazed after losing Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche.

The Colorado Avalanche are expected to stick with goaltender Darcy Kuemper in goal for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

For much of the game it looked as if the Colorado Avalanche and not the Tampa Bay Lightning were the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Stanley Cup Final is a showdown between the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the high-scoring Colorado Avalanche.

At 32 and wrapping up his 14th season, Steven Stamkos is no longer one of the NHL’s most prolific scorers or even the second- or third-best player on his own team.

The two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning face the best in the West Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final beginning Wednesday in Denver.

The Tampa Bay Lightning know what type of effort it will take to finish off the New York Rangers.

Ondrej Palat scored with 42 seconds left and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Sunday to cut their deficit in the Eastern Conference finals to 2-1.

There’s no panic in the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The New York Rangers’ third line has been making valuable contributions all season, and the trio’s success in Game 1 against Tampa Bay is a big reason the team finally has a lead during a postseason series.

Andrei Vasilevskiy has won a Vezina Trophy and two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Joe Thornton’s career may be over.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are headed to the Eastern Conference finals for the sixth time in eight years after sweeping the Florida Panthers in four games.

The Florida Panthers are on the brink of getting swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the back-to-back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Tampa Bay Lightning don’t want to get ahead of themselves in their bid to become the first team in 40 years to win three consecutive Stanley Cup titles.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy remained red-hot with 34 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning topped the Florida Panthers 4-1 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The New York Rangers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Comebacks are hard to come back so far in the NHL playoffs after they were so commonplace during the regular season.

The NHL playoffs are missing the close games and comebacks that seemingly comes annually with all the postseason intensity.

So much for the notion that goals are hard to come by in the playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven't been through struggles like this in many years.

Marc-Andre Fleury may have been the biggest winner at the NHL trade deadline.

Anthony Duclair scored twice, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and four assists, and the Florida Panthers romped to a 9-3 rout of the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ondrej Palat scored 36 seconds into overtime after Tampa Bay teammate Corey Perry tied it late in the third period, and the Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in the first NHL game following an extended holiday break.

The Washington Capitals-Philadelphia Flyers game scheduled for Tuesday night has been postponed.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves, Anthony Cirelli had a goal and two assists, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Washington 3-2 to end the Capitals’ eight-game season-opening point streak.

Tristan Jarry had 26 saves, Danton Heinen and Brian Boyle scored early second-period goals, and the short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 in the regular-season opener.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed Jon Cooper to a three-year extension through the 2024-25 season, rewarding their coach after the team won consecutive Stanley Cup titles.

The NHL and international officials are now in wait-and-see mode after reaching an agreement to send players to the Beijing Olympics this winter.

NHL players are going back to the Olympics.

Expect a fast and furious NHL offseason to unfold in the coming days and weeks.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after backstopping the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive year.

Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast in what authorities described as a tragic accident on the Fourth of July.

Nikita Kucherov has led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the verge of a second consecutive Stanley Cup championship by doing a little bit of everything.

The Montreal Canadiens need more from their best offensive line in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Montreal Canadiens have finally earned respect during a remarkable playoff run that has them in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 28 years.

Andrei Vasilevskiy had 18 saves and Yanni Gourde scored a short-handed goal to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 1-0 in Game 7 of their NHL playoff semifinal series.

The Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t lost consecutive postseason games in over two years and haven’t faced a winner-take-all challenge since 2018.

Brayden Point and Ondrej Palat delivered early goals and NHL playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had three more assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rebound from a series-opening loss and beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves and the New York Islanders got goals from Mathew Barzal and Ryan Pulock to beat the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Sunday in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Experience is an invaluable ally in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos each had two goals and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 to open a commanding lead in their second-round playoff series.

The star-studded Tampa Bay Lightning beam when talking about the contributions of Barclay Goodrow, a physical third-line forward playing a largely unheralded role in the team’s bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning open their second-round playoff series Sunday.

Trade deadline acquisitions are already paying big dividends for teams that have advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

The New York Islanders have evened their series with Pittsburgh by keeping Penguins star Sidney Crosby in check.

Alex Killorn scored a pair of second-period goals and the Tampa Bay Lightning rebounded from its first postseason loss to rout the Florida Panthers 6-2 and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the first-round Central Division playoff matchup.

Postseason experience can be a valuable asset in the NHL playoffs.

There used to be a thing called the Governor’s Cup, a trophy presented to whichever team won the annual regular season series between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Tampa Bay Lightning started three Black forwards in their regular-season finale against the Florida Panthers, a rarity in NHL history — if not an absolute first.

Chris Driedger stopped 30 shots to record his third shutout of the season, Juho Lammikko scored a short-handed goal, and the Florida Panthers secured home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the regular season finale for both clubs.

Many partied while defying a local order mandating masks even be worn outdoors during Super Bowl week, and drawing sharp criticism from some public officials. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup and the Rays went to the World Series. Those guys had our backs throughout the season, both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Tampa Bay Lightning. They were rooting us on.”AdSome of the Lightning players wore Bucs jerseys on the team’s flight to Nashville, too. “We try to watch the Super Bowl every year.

It was the first day of training camp for Laviolette and the Washington Capitals and most of the NHL. Camps are now open for the league's 31 teams and they will last just 10 days. Columbus coach John Tortorella said he'd emphasize a major point to players about how to approach training and playing this season: “There is no complaining about anything." “Most players would argue that camps are a little bit long anyway," Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. “I’ve been told from our team and from the league, when a player is not on the ice during training camp, we’re supposed to say he’s not available today,” Philadelphia coach Alain Vigneault said.

After consecutive games with three-goal periods, Tampa Bay has all of the momentum and a 2-1 series lead. Dallas' top line is without a goal against Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay then went ahead in Game 3 with two goals in an 85-second span before three goals in the second period of a 5-2 win. The NHL is playing Stanley Cup Final games on back-to-back nights for the first time since 2009, when Detroit won each of the first two games against Pittsburgh, which eventually won the series in seven games. In its only back-to-back this postseason, Tampa Bay won Games 2 and 3 in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Boston.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) celebrates his touchdown with offensive tackle Donovan Smith (76) in the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. The NFL roared back to life, even if the roar was from fans who weren’t in the stadiums. For the first time since Jan. 1, 2000 — when he was a senior at Michigan — Tom Brady played a football game in something other than a New England Patriots helmet. “I know how much comes along with that,” Cubs manager David Ross said after the second no-hitter of the season. That’s a special day for us, a special day for Alec Mills.

TORONTO, ONT Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper took exception to the Columbus Blue Jackets being referred to as a blue-collar team. Is that a positive or a negative? Cooper said Monday, a day before his Eastern Conference second-seeded Lightning open the first round of the NHL playoffs against the seventh-seeded Blue Jackets. Thats in the history books forever, Cooper said, noting how both teams have made various changes to their lineups. Id call them a really good team.Familiarity is breeding respect among the East opponents entering the first round. The Islanders hold a 5-2 playoff series edge over Washington.