Kings Recall Tobias Bjornfot And Cal Petersen
With their AHL affiliate in Ontario being eliminated on Friday, Los Angeles has elected to bring a couple of extra players up. They announced that defenseman Tobias Bjornfot and goaltender Cal Petersen were recalled from the Reign while also loaning goaltender David Hrenak to Greenville of the ECHL with the Swamp Rabbits still playing at that level.
Bjornfot is no stranger to being recalled this season as this is the ninth (and final) time that he is getting promoted. The 22-year-old played in ten games with the Kings during the regular season, the fewest appearances at the top level he has had in the last three seasons. In those contests, Bjornfot picked up an assist along with 11 hits and 12 blocks while logging a little over 14 minutes a night.
At the minor league level, Bjornfot was a bit more productive but certainly didn’t light up the scoresheet either, collecting five goals and seven helpers in 50 games. It should be his final season in the minors as he’ll be waiver-eligible next season and it’s unlikely that Los Angeles will want to risk losing him for free by trying to send him down again.
As for Petersen, it has been a year to forget for the 28-year-old. After a rough start to the year that saw him post a save percentage of just .868 in 10 appearances, he cleared waivers at the beginning of December and was sent down to the minors. He fared a bit better down there, putting up a .904 SV% in 40 regular season contests but that type of performance won’t be enough to see him pushing for playing time in the postseason. Instead, he’ll likely serve as the third-string option, allowing Hrenak to go back to the ECHL where he spent the majority of his season.
Nikolaj Ehlers Skating As He Waits For Medical Clearance
TSN’s John Lu is reporting that winger Nikolaj Ehlers is skating with the Winnipeg Jets healthy scratches while he waits to see if he can get a medical clearance to return. The 27-year-old suffered an upper body injury in a game against the Minnesota Wild back on April 11th and hasn’t played since.
The Denmark native missed a great deal of the regular season with multiple injuries including a sports hernia that required surgery. He played the first two games of the regular season and then missed nearly three months before returning in January.
Ehlers was productive this season when healthy, he had 12 goals and 38 points in 45 games despite playing the lowest average ice time of his entire eight-year career. He’d been on a heater in the games leading up to his injury, having scored seven points in the five games prior to getting hurt.
Ehlers will be assessed on Monday while he waits to see if he can get that medical clearance to return to the Jets lineup. Winnipeg has battled hard in their series with the Vegas Golden Knights, including a massive comeback that resulted in an overtime loss in game three. They’ve already lost defenseman Josh Morrissey, and should Ehlers remain out, the underdog Jets will have an even bigger hill to climb if they want to survive the first round.
Joel Eriksson Ek Will Miss Game Four
Saad Yousuf of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason has ruled center Joel Eriksson Ek out for their game four matchup against the Dallas Stars tonight. Evason didn’t give many more details about his availability for the rest of the series, but to say that he wouldn’t be playing this evening.
The 26-year-old Swede missed six games including games one and two of the Dallas series before he returned in game three where he played 19 seconds on the opening shift and left the game. Minnesota has yet to comment on whether Eriksson Ek re-aggravated his previous injury.
Eriksson Ek had an offensive breakout this season for the Wild this year scoring 23 goals and 38 assists in 78 games. His goal totals dipped from 26 to 23, however he demonstrated a different gear when it came to his playmaking. The former first round pick also continued the defensive excellence that has seen him garner Selke consideration the past two seasons.
Minnesota will have an opportunity to put the Stars on the ropes if they can capture game four and take a 3-1 series lead back to Dallas.
Oilers Call Up Dylan Holloway, Olivier Rodrigue
In preparation for tonight’s Game Four between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers, Mark Spector of Sportsnet reports that the Oilers have recalled forward Dylan Holloway and goaltender Olivier Rodrigue from their AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors.
Due to the undisclosed injury to forward Mattias Janmark, Holloway could find himself in the lineup tonight if Janmark is expected to miss a second straight game. If Holloway does find his way into the lineup, it will be the first NHL playoff game of his career.
In his rookie season, Holloway, unfortunately, did not impress as much as the Oilers may have liked him too. In 51 games for Edmonton this season, Holloway posted three goals and six assists. He did achieve a positive Corsi For % of 54.2, but averaging just a touch over nine minutes a night, Holloway never really got that much of an opportunity for the Oilers this season. He was sent down to the AHL on February 17th, but injured himself for one month, getting cleared to return on March 15th.
In his first full season in the AHL, Rodrigue posted a solid season, going 14-14-1 in 29 games played, carrying a SV% of .912 and a GAA of 2.77. As both regular goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell should be ready to play for Edmonton tonight, Rodrigue will likely be serving as the emergency backup goaltender for the Oilers.
David Krejci Expected To Miss At Least Two Games
Center depth for the Boston Bruins will continue to be tested in their opening-round matchup against the Florida Panthers, as Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe reports that Bruins’ center David Krejci will miss Game Four, and will not be expected back for Game Five either. This will be the team’s second straight game without either Patrice Bergeron or Krejci in the lineup.
In the point-scoring category, Krejci and Bergeron were two of Boston’s top centers this season. Scoring a collective 114 points in 148 games, these two veteran leaders sparked the Bruins’ historic run to the President’s Trophy this season. Their defensive attributes should be included as well, as they collectively put together a Defensive Point Share of 4.8.
When discussing the absence of both Bergeron and Krejci, anyone would be remiss if Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle were not brought up in the conversation. So far in this series, Zacha has two assists in the first three games, and Coyle has scored one goal. Both centermen have averaged over 16 minutes a night, showing the rest of the league how deep the Bruins really are.
With a 2-1 lead in the series before the start of Game Four, the Bruins will look to closeout the Panthers over the next couple of games. This would be the best scenario for Boston, moving on to the second round early, and allowing their two veterans to recover fully before their next series.
Jack Drury Will Not Return To Game Four
Shortly after the first period began in Game Four of the playoff series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders, Islanders’ defenseman Ryan Pulock delivered a sizeable hit to Hurricanes’ forward Jack Drury. Drury would not return for the rest of the period, and Carolina has announced that he will not return to the game today due to an upper-body injury.
Initially, because Drury’s back was turned to Pulock, and due to his distance away from the boards, the referees initially gave Pulock a major penalty, which would have put Carolina on the powerplay for five minutes. Instead, the referees decided to downgrade the penalty to a minor, and Pulock was only sentenced to two minutes in the penalty box.
Although Drury’s numbers in the AHL have not yet transferred over to the NHL, he still has become a decent depth forward for the Hurricanes. In 38 regular season games this year, Drury scored two goals and six assists. More importantly, Drury managed strong possession numbers throughout the entire season, posting a Corsi For % in all situations of 65.9.
In this year’s playoffs, Drury has played in all four games for Carolina up to this point, without recording a point but winning all nine faceoffs that he has taken. Although not producing the points that the Hurricanes may need come playoff time, Drury’s ability to help the team possess the puck while he is out there will be something that Carolina will miss if he is unable to play in any more games this series.
Winnipeg Jets Reassign Danny Zhilkin To AHL
The Winnipeg Jets organization has announced that prospect forward Danny Zhilkin has been reassigned from the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers to the Jets’ AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. This reassignment comes after the Rangers fell in their second-round playoff series to the London Knights in five games.
The move allows Zhilkin, 19, to be with the Moose as they embark on what they hope will be a long Calder Cup playoff run. The Moose begin their first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday, and while it’s somewhat unlikely that Zhilkin actually sees the ice, he will get a firsthand experience to see what playoff hockey looks like at the professional level.
Zhilkin is a 2022 third-round pick who has not yet made his professional debut. He earned the right to be a 2022 top-80 selection off the back of a solid 2021-22 OHL season, where he scored 55 points in 66 games for the Guelph Storm, while also serving as an alternate captain. This season, he scored 26 points in 25 games for Guelph before being dealt to the Kitchener Rangers.
Zhilkin scored 17 goals and 30 points in 35 games in Kitchener and helped them achieve one of the most significant upsets in recent CHL history. Zhilkin and the Rangers swept the first-seeded Windsor Spitfires, who were led by 2022 fourth-overall pick Shane Wright.
While their run fizzled out after that victory, Zhilkin got his first real taste of being a difference-maker in playoff hockey. Now, he’ll take more of a backseat role watching Manitoba as the team attempts to defeat the Admirals and make it to the Central Division Finals.
Atlantic Notes: Point, Cernak, Panthers Goalies
Despite slamming his head into the boards in a scary-looking play in last night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning star Brayden Point returned to the ice and finished the game. Today, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper issued an update on his 50-goal scorer, via the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo Encina, stating that he is being cautious with Point’s status and hopes that he’ll be available for the next game in the series.
Any extended absence from Point would be a significant blow to the Lightning’s hopes of defeating the Maple Leafs in this series. Point is arguably the offensive engine of the Lightning since he scored 51 goals and 95 points in the regular season and firmly established himself as an upper-echelon first-line center. Should he not be available for the all-important fourth game of this series,it’s possible that his absence will be a setback the Lightning can’t overcome.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Another major Tampa Bay health-related storyline regards defenseman Erik Cernak, who hasn’t returned to the ice since he was on the other end of a vicious hit to the head from Maple Leafs forward Michael Bunting. Encina relays word from Cooper that Cernak is considered out day-to-day, and will not be able to play in Game Four, meaning Tampa will once again have to make do without one of their best defensive blueliners. That being said, he has not yet been ruled out for the series.
- The Florida Panthers could be making a swap in their crease, head coach Paul Maurice told the media (including the Boston Globe’s Matt Porter) today. Maurice said he considers most of his roster to be a game-time decision, including his netminders, meaning we could see the team give two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky the start over Lyon, whose red-hot play revived the Panthers’ playoff hopes in the regular season. Lyon’s regular-season brilliance hasn’t yet fully translated to the playoffs, and he has a .902 save percentage and 3.26 goals-against-average through three games.
Sam Lafferty Fined For Cross-Checking
While the Toronto Maple Leafs may have escaped their first game in Tampa Bay this series with a stunning overtime victory, not all of their players will leave last night’s game entirely unscathed.
Bottom-sixer Sam Lafferty, a trade acquisition this season from the Chicago Blackhawks, has been fined just over $3,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
Lafferty follows Michael Bunting (who earned a three-game suspension for a dangerous high hit on Lightning blueliner Erik Cernak) as the second Toronto player to receive supplemental discipline these playoffs.
Lafferty’s fine is for cross-checking Tampa Bay forward Ross Colton during last night’s game. Late in the second period, with the Lightning up three-to-two, a frozen puck from Ilya Samsonov prompted a relatively regular net-front scrum between Colton and Lafferty. They gave each other a shove as they jostled for position before Colton turned around and Lafferty delivered a cross-check to his head area.
The 28-year-old Maple Leaf received a minor penalty last night in addition to today’s fine. Under contract through next season, Lafferty has scored seven points in 22 total games for Toronto and served as an important defense-first role player. He’ll look to put this fine behind him and help Toronto take a commanding 3-1 series lead on Monday.
Evening Notes: Nichushkin, Helm, Geekie
The Colorado Avalanche are getting set for Game 3 of their playoff series with the Seattle Kraken but look to be without the services of a couple of players who suited up in Game 2. When the warmup began, Valeri Nichushkin and Darren Helm were surprisingly not among the players on the ice according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
- Nichushkin scored 17 goals and 47 points in 53 games this season, proving to be a reliable top six contributor for the Avalanche. He played the first two games of the series and scored one goal.
- Helm is a depth piece for the Avalanche and has also battled injuries all season. He played just 11 games in the regular season, but returned to the lineup for Game 2. Unfortunately, he won’t be ready to go for the Avalanche in Game 3.
- Also missing this game will be Morgan Geekie of the Seattle Kraken, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times. Geekie scored nine goals and 28 points in 69 games for the Kraken this season and already has one goal in this series as well. He was ruled out for a maintenance day at the morning skate, but clearly whatever he is dealing with is more serious than just a maintenance from practice.