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Jim Montgomery addresses the goaltending controversy in Boston.

In what has been a stunning turn of events for many, the Bruins are now staring down the possibility of being eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a dominant regular season. Making matters even worse, the Bruins are doing so after taking a commanding 3-1 lead in their opening round series over the Florida Panthers and there is now a serious controversy when it comes to the Bruins lineup.

Many have questioned the performance of Bruins starting goaltender Linus Ullmark in these playoffs, a performance that has been uncharacteristically shaky after Ullmark had such a strong campaign in the regular season. In fact many believe that Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has erred in his decision to keep going back to Ullmark, especially after how Game 6 came to an end.

On Saturday, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was asked about his goaltending situation and was questioned about who would get the start in Game 7, but the Bruins bench boss refused to give a straight answer. Montgomery did add that he had “no regrets” about his decision to go with Ullmark for 6 straight games to start this series, something that I find very hard to believe at this point in the series.

When pressed on the issue of a potential swap by Bruins reporter Jimmy Murphy, Montgomery admitted that if he did make a change in goal for Game 7 that the blame for such a decision would fall on the shoulders of Ullmark himself.

“Linus hasn’t stopped enough pucks,” admitted Montgomery. “Plain and simple.”

A big part of the reason Montgomery’s decision to stick with Ullmark has been questioned is due to the fact that the Bruins have a solid backup in Jeremy Swayman. Swayman had a strong regular season with a 2.27 goals against average and a .920 save percentage, and it sounds like there is at least a chance he may get to showcase his abilities in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

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Maple Leafs hint at two major lineup changes for Game 6.

Daniel Lea/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to break the curse tonight and advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by knocking off the Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games. The Lightning have proven to be a resilient foe however and have already staved off elimination, and of course the Leafs have the added pressure of having a gigantic monkey on their back.

It looks like head coach Sheldon Keefe intends to pull out all the stops for Game 6 in his effort to get his team over that hurdle, with the Leafs hinting at a pair of very significant lineup changes on Saturday morning.

The first hint came to us courtesy of TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, who on Saturday morning noticed that forward Michael Bunting did not remain on the ice with the extras during the Leafs morning skate. This appears to indicate that Keefe will be re-introducing Bunting into the series after he earned himself a costly suspension for a hit delivered to Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak.

Perhaps an even bigger change though was the second one hinted at during the Leafs morning skate, with Leafs defenseman Justin Holl taking part in the optional skate. This has led to a belief that he could be a healthy scratch in favor of defenseman Timothy Liljegren, a change that many expected to see Sheldon Keefe make earlier in this series.

Timothy Liljegren has been out of action for 16 days and has not appeared in a single game during this series, so this would be a risk on the part of the Maple Leafs head coach.

When he was questioned about his lineup, Keefe opted not to give any information at all.

“I’m not going to take any questions on the lineup,” said Keefe.

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Blake Wheeler fires back at Rick Bowness on Saturday.

Former Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler and his teammates were raked over the coals by their head coach Rick Bowness after being eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention, and now Wheeler is firing back.

On Saturday, Wheeler called out Bowness for publicly bashing the Jets players, implied Bowness had been dishonest, and suggested that his comments would have been better received had they been delivered in private.

“I thought Bones had an opportunity to address us as a team,” said Wheeler on Saturday. “He could’ve been honest with us, handled it behind closed doors… I didn’t like how he handled himself after the game.”

Earlier in the week, Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness unloaded on his players after they were eliminated in 5 games at the hands of the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Bowness went off on a tirade that you don’t often see from modern day coaches in the National Hockey League, one in which he made no effort to spare the potentially hurt feelings of the players in the Winnipeg Jets’ locker room.

“Overall thoughts? I’m so disappointed and disgusted right now… that’s my thoughts.” said a noticeably irate Bowness after Game 5. “No pushback, but it’s the same crap we saw in February,” said Bowness.

Although Bowness did not specifically call out any players by name during his rant, he made it clear that he wasn’t directing his ire at the team’s fourth liners.

“Their better players were so much better than ours, it’s not even close,” said a genuinely disgusted Rick Bowness. “Their better players were so much better than ours tonight, they deserved to win. They were the better team in the regular season, they were the better team in this series.”

It would come as a surprise to no one if Wheeler was included among the group of players that Bowness was calling out in his tirade and it may even be a sign that Wheeler, who was stripped of the captaincy prior to the start of the season, has worn out his welcome in Winnipeg.

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Hurricanes could make major lineup switch for Game 6

ESPN

The Carolina Hurricanes were unable to close the deal against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, dropping a 3-2 decision that forced a Game 6 back in New York tonight. 

And while the Hurricanes have gotten a strong performance in net from goaltender Antti Raanta, it looks as though they could be making a change. Frederik Andersen, who has yet to make an appearance in the playoffs due to injury and an illness, could be getting the nod between the pipes, according to head coach Rod Brind’Amour. 

Raanta, who had a spectacular regular season record of 19-3-3 with a 2.23 goals against average and a .910 save percentage, has posted a 2.59 goals against average in the first five games of the postseason.

Meanwhile, Andersen amassed a 21-11-1 record with a 2.48 GAA and a .903 save percentage during the regular season. 

Game 6 between the Islanders and Hurricanes will get underway tonight from UBS Arena starting at 7:00 PM EST. 

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Latest video of Connor McDavid worries Oilers fans

The Guardian

Edmonton Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid, who has eight points in the five games played so far in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings, doesn’t appear to be completely healthy in a recently released video of him in practice. 

As everyone knows, the postseason can bring considerable wear and tear on an athlete’s body, and typically after a series is over, the full truth comes out about the extent of injuries they were playing through – and the reports are often astonishing. 

For McDavid, he was seen noticeably laboring during practice with what looks to be a lower body ailment:

Take a look at this theory from Will Naut on Twitter: 

“I would think this relates back to the big hit he took from Doughty in Game 3. Broadcast showed him shaking off the left leg multiple times after the collision. Two-day break obviously doesn’t hurt but would think you want to wrap it up Saturday and avoid a G7 for some more rest.”

Here is the hit in question from Game 3, a Kings overtime win that at the time gave them the series advantage prior to the Oilers winning the next two: 

Game 6 between the two teams is Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Can the Kings force a Game 7 back at Rogers Place? 

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Flashback: Leafs fans celebrate last playoff series win

YouTube

It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently mired in a lengthy postseason victory drought that hasn’t seen them advance past the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since prior to the invention of YouTube. To be exact, it was 19 years ago that Toronto last celebrated a series win, a 4-1 triumph over the Ottawa Senators at the then-named Air Canada Center. 

It was veteran forward Joe Nieuwendyk who electrified the crowd with two 1st period goals against an extremely leaky Patrick Lalime en route to a series win and a date in Round 2 with the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Take a look back the game itself and the subsequent celebrations that followed: 

Tonight, the Maple Leafs have the chance to advance to Round 2 for the first time since that night, and Toronto is ready to party like it’s 2004 again. Will they get the chance to? 

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Lightning could make surprising lineup change

The Tampa Bay Times

The Tampa Bay Lightning were in prime position, only 20 minutes away from being able to return back to Toronto having tied their series at two games apiece with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who are facing enormous scrutiny and pressure to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004. 

However, the Lightning got a bit too comfortable with their three goal lead, which began to evaporate midway through the third period dissolve thanks to a furious comeback effort by the Leafs, capped by the stunning power play goal in overtime by Alex Kerfoot. Coming into tonight’s pivotal Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena, it’s not the Leafs with their backs up against the wall, but rather the Lightning. 

And ahead of tonight’s game, it appears as though they could be making a key lineup change. Forward Tanner Jeannot, whom the Lightning acquired from the Nashville Predators at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline for a massive haul of draft capital along with defenseman Cal Foote, could be a healthy scratch. 

According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, it appears that Jeannot is the odd man out for tonight in favor of Mikey Eyssimont:

“Mikey Eyssimont came off the ice early at a very optional #TBLightning morning skate — a possible indication he’ll draw back in for Game 5.

No confirmation on any changes, but Tanner Jeannot was the last forward to stay on.”

Jeannot, who has been held off the scoresheet in the three games that he’s played in so far during the postseason (he missed Game 1 due to a lower body injury), has skated in an average of 13:21 of ice time while racking up a fighting major along with a -2 plus/minus rating. 

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Sheldon Keefe reacts to Leafs once again failing in closeout game

Maple Leafs Hot Stove

The Toronto Maple Leafs missed out on their chance to clinch their first postseason series victory since 2004 tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping a 4-2 decision to give the Bolts new life and a renewed sense of swagger as the two teams head back to Amalie Arena for Game 6 on Saturday night. 

Despite taking an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Game 3 overtime hero Morgan Rielly, the Lightning would respond with three straight tallies, including the winner from Nick Paul midway through the third period. Auston Matthews would score late to give Toronto a chance at the tie, but an empty netter from Alex Killorn would seal the win.

The Bolts also got goals from rookie Mikey Eyssimont as well as Anthony Cirelli, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy rebounded from three straight uncharacteristically poor performances by making 28 saves in the win. 

This now marks the 11th straight time since 2013 that the Maple Leafs have failed to advance when a victory would have punched their ticket to the next round. 

Afterward, head coach Sheldon Keefe tipped his hat to the Lightning and their performance with their backs up against the wall while dismissing the thought that perhaps once again the moment was too big for his team. 

“Obviously, we didn’t get the result, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the moment or anything like that,” Keefe said. “It is a good hockey team we are playing against. They played as perfect of a road game as you could probably ask for if you are them.”

“We had some opportunities here tonight,” he continued. “We scored first, so you like that. We had some really good opportunities on our power play in the first period and a chance to take the lead there. We couldn’t convert on those kinds of looks. It was probably the most looks we had on one power play all series. It didn’t go for us. It is a tight hockey game all the way through. We couldn’t get the next one.”

The Lightning, who have been to the Stanley Cup Final the last three straight seasons, have no intention of breaking for an early summer. And Toronto is well aware of that as they head back down south for Game 6. 

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Phil Kessel misses first game since 2009!

Sports Illustrated

Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel is a seasoned veteran, to put it lightly. He’s not missed a single regular season or playoff game for any of the teams that he’s suited up for since November of 2009, and that includes runs with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, Arizona Coyotes, and now with Vegas; he began his career with the Boston Bruins. 

However, for the first time in nearly 15 years, Kessel will not be suiting up for a game that isn’t of the exhibition variety. He did not take warmups tonight at T-Mobile Arena, and will not be in the lineup as the rest of his Golden Knights teammates attempt to eliminate the Winnipeg Jets. 

However, his legendary iron man streak of 1,064 games is technically still alive, as it only counts towards regular season games. A silver lining!

Kessel scored 14 goals with 22 assists in all 82 regular season games this season, his first with Vegas. In the four postseason games he’s played with the Golden Knights, he’s added two assists. 

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Mark Giordano departs Game 5 after hit from Pat Maroon

Twitter

There was more rough stuff between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, this time at the end of the second period of tonight’s Game 6 of their opening round Stanley Cup Playoffs series. The melee began when hard-nosed Lightning forward trucked veteran defenseman Mark Giordano into the half wall, causing the latter to collapse to the ice in pain. 

And while on-ice officials worked to get everything sorted out, Giordano slowly made his way to the dressing room. And according to multiple reports, he has not returned to the Leafs bench for the start of the 3rd period. Meanwhile, Maroon would be assessed a two-minute minor penalty for roughing.