CONNOR MCDAVID

The Edmonton Oilers have fired coach Jay Woodcroft after a team that was supposed to be a Stanley Cup contender lost 10 of its first 13 games.

Some early trends are showing in the NHL.

One of the NHL's biggest stars and one of its newest stars will meet for the first time when Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins face Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener.

The Chicago Blackhawks have selected Connor Bedard with the first pick in the NHL draft.

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson can begin building up his roster again after spending much of the past year tearing it down.

Connor McDavid has won his third Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after the highest-scoring season by a player in more than a quarter-century.

The details of how much time Connor Bedard has devoted to developing his game and imposing shot have become the stuff of lore.

Marty Walsh was less than halfway through his term in the Biden administration as labor secretary when the phone rang with an interesting opportunity.

Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid each scored twice and the Edmonton Oilers tied their Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece with a 5-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

Ivan Barbashev scored two goals and the Golden Knights overcame Leon Draisaitl’s four goals to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 in Game 1 of the second-round series.

Zach Hyman scored at 10:39 of overtime as the Edmonton Oilers rallied from three goals down late in the first period to beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 to even their first-round series at two games apiece.

The NHL playoffs are going on without Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin for the first time since their rookie year in 2006.

It took until the final day of the NHL regular season to set all eight matchups for the first round of the playoffs.

David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins has scored 60 goals in a season for the first time in his 9-year NHL career.

Connor McDavid became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season when he had a goal and an assist in the first period of Edmonton’s game against the San Jose Sharks.

NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid limped off the ice late in the third period in the Oilers' game against the Boston Bruins.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' run of 16 straight playoff appearances could be in jeopardy.

David Pastrnak scored twice and Linus Ullmark stopped 30 shots to lead the Boston Bruins past the Ottawa Senators 3-1 and net their fourth straight victory.

The NHL took advantage of holding All-Star Weekend in South Florida by holding two Skills Competition events outside in the sun.

Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin will again be big parts of NHL All-Star Weekend.

Several prominent names from the world of sports supposedly have tweeted out what would count as big news — except none of those posts are real.

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.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 787th career goal to break Gordie Howe’s record for scoring with one team, but the Arizona Coyotes scored three times in the third period to rally for a 3-2 win against the Washington Capitals.

The Colorado Avalanche are making Nathan MacKinnon the highest-paid player in the NHL’s salary cap era.

Nathan MacKinnon expects to sign contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche soon.

Duncan Keith is retiring after 17 seasons in the NHL, three Stanley Cups and two Norris Trophy awards as the league’s top defenseman.

Cale Makar has won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after leading the Colorado Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup title since 2001 and third in franchise history.

Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, beating out Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers to win the award for the first time.

Andre Burakovsky scored 1:23 into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche opened the Stanley Cup Final with a 4-3 victory over the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.

The Colorado Avalanche didn't need to be fully healthy to sweep the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference final.

Nazem Kadri had three assists in a 2:04 span in the second period, backup Pavel Francouz stopped 24 shots for his second career playoff shutout and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.

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

The Los Angeles Kings rebounded from back-to-back blowout losses to even their first-round playoff series with a 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4.

Evander Kane picked up his first hat trick in a Stanley Cup playoff game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman each had two goals, and the Edmonton Oilers dominated the Los Angeles Kings for the second straight game, posting a 8-2 victory in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

The first-round matchups are set for the NHL playoffs that begin Monday.

Brandon Montour scored 2:26 into overtime and the NHL-leading Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Saturday night.

Aleksander Barkov scored his 38th goal of the season and the Florida Panthers tied a franchise record with their 12th straight win, beating the Detroit Red Wings 5-2.

Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux scored three goals and the Metropolitan Division beat the Central Division 5-3 in the final 3-on-3 match of the NHL All-Star Game.

Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot competition and St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou was the Fastest Skater during an NHL All-Star skills competition with a distinct Vegas flavor.

Washington star Alexander Ovechkin and high-scoring Edmonton teammates Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl headline the rosters for the NHL All-Star Weekend announced Thursday.

Edmonton captain and reigning league MVP Connor McDavid has been placed on on NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.

A handful of NHL players are voicing frustration over the decision not to allow them to go to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Some NHL players say they are unsettled by word that a positive COVID-19 test during the Winter Olympics in China could lead to a long quarantine.

NHL forward Jack Eichel arrives in Vegas with a set of questions for the Golden Knights.

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers for young defenseman Caleb Jones and a third-round draft pick.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid ran away in the voting to win his second Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after leading the league in points.

Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon have been named finalists for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.

Many draft-eligible prospects and NHL teams attempting to pick them face an uncertain future after many leagues were unable to hold full seasons or play at all because of the pandemic.

“I’m feeling quite well but, of course, scarred by the experience.”The first month of the NHL's pandemic-shortened season has been a bumpy one. From Jan. 13 through Saturday, 120 players from 26 of 31 teams have spent at least one day on the COVID-19 list. Minnesota and New Jersey are scheduled to return Tuesday, while the Philadelphia Flyers, who currently have seven players on the NHL COVID-19 list, are on pause until at least Thursday. AdThe NHL had 22 players on the COVID-19 list on Jan. 30, and that number ballooned to a season-high 59 on Friday. Rapid tests return results within a half hour and augment the PCR daily tests which were already taking place.

San Jose's Erik Karlsson (65) handles the puck against Minnesota Wild's Nick Bjugstad (27) in the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in St. Paul, Minn. San Jose won 5-3. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)With an outbreak delaying the Dallas Stars' opener, Rick Bowness got to watch a lot of hockey in the first couple of nights of the NHL season. “It was entertaining hockey, but it was a little sloppy,” Bowness said. “We’re staying in 5-star hotels, get to play hockey, so I can’t complain,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. Ad___Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The New York Rangers selected Canadian forward Alexis Lafreniere with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Tuesday night. Lafreniere joins a young, developing Rangers team that features one of his favorite players, Hart Trophy finalist Artemi Panarin. 1 pick for the first time since the NHL established the universal draft in 1969. They became the first NHL team to select first following a postseason appearance since the then-Minnesota North Stars in 1983, who acquired the No.

EDMONTON, AB – Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid has tested positive for COVID-19. The NHL made it through its postseason in bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton without one positive test in August and September. Two more positive tests were reported during training camp, which was considered Phase 3. Six members of the Ottawa Senators organization tested positive for COVID-19 after the team made a trip through hard-hit California just before the league suspended its season in March. The NHL stopped releasing the names or teams for positive tests earlier this year.

1 pick in the NHL draft while also coming off an appearance in the expanded 24-team playoffs. The Rangers only made the playoffs because the NHL expanded the format to 24, rather than 16 teams. 1 pick is going to be a very good hockey player, there’s no question, maybe even a great player, hopefully. “To be maybe having the chance to play with him, it would be an honor,” Lafreniere said. General managers are bracing for a hectic weekend with numerous teams having to shed payroll this offseason with the NHL salary cap staying at $81.5 million.