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Washington – Alex Ovechkin scored on a laser of a shot off a faceoff, Logan Thompson made some spectacular saves among his 28 and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night to advance in the NHL playoffs.
It’s the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round with a spot in the Eastern Conference final at stake.
Ovechkin led the way with his power-play goal 11 minutes in, setting off chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” from the juiced up crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois delivered a perfect pass to Jakob Chychrun, who beat Jakub Dobes just over two minutes later. Tom Wilson provided a valuable insurance goal late in the second period.
Fans expressed their appreciation for Thompson with chants of “LT! LT!” when he turned aside Kaiden Guhle on a three-on-one rush and with under two minutes left when he flashed his glove to rob Nick Suzuki with Dobes pulled for an extra attacker. Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 25.6 seconds left.
Thompson was at his best at the start when the Canadiens came out with the desperation expected from a team facing elimination and then in the third when they pressed and tilted the ice toward him. Much like the final minutes of Game 2, Washington’s No. 1 goaltender kept the puck out of the net in crucial situations to pave the way to a victory – sometimes getting his masked head in the way of shots.
The Capitals asserted their dominance in the East’s 1 versus 8 series, a year after getting swept as the underdog in it by the New York Rangers. Banged up and without top goalie Sam Montembeault and scoring winger Patrik Laine, the Canadiens got a goal from Emil Heineman but ultimately ran out of steam after going on a tear down the stretch late in the regular season to be the last team to qualify for the playoffs.
Carolina and Washington meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The Hurricanes won that series in seven games on a goal in double overtime.
More Wednesday playoff games
Florida 6, (at) Tampa Bay 3: The Florida Panthers advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs on Wednesday night.
Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists. Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett all scored for the Panthers as Florida defeated their in-state rival in five games for the second consecutive season. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 26 saves to help the Panthers reach the second round for the fourth consecutive season.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers will next play the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, which Toronto currently leads 3-2.
Legacy of hope for Gaudreau brothers
Westville, N.J. – The family called him John. It wasn’t until John Gaudreau played for Boston College that he picked up the “Johnny Hockey” nickname that followed him through 11 seasons in the NHL.
His mother, Jane, gleefully recalled the “Johnny Hockey” T-shirts and sing-song chants BC fans bestowed on their beloved wizard on the ice. At home in New Jersey, younger brother Matthew, who also played hockey for Boston College, and sisters Kristen and Katie couldn’t help but tease their brother with the nickname as his popularity and All-Star career grew through stops in Calgary and Columbus.
Take one night during the NHL Awards in Las Vegas, just one family story out of thousands of favorites, when Gaudreau tried to keep a low public profile on a family outing. Katie wasn’t having it out on the Strip, shouting for all to hear, “Johnny! Johnny Hockey!”
“I can see John’s face getting redder and redder and redder,” Jane Gaudreau said with a laugh. “You walk down the street and no one knows who you are until Katie started making this whole big thing.”
Everything was fine for the family when they gathered last August for Katie’s wedding. John and Matt were the groomsmen and Kristen the maid of honor. What happened next, the typhoon of shock and grief that rippled from New Jersey through the heart of the hockey community, has been well-documented over the last eight months.
The night before the wedding, John, 31, and Matt, 29, died after they were hit by a suspected drunken driver while riding bicycles in the Delaware River country south of Philadelphia, leaving a family forever shattered, with not enough time to ever fully pick up all the pieces.
They try.
From births to hockey tributes, through Instagram pages dotted with photos from the family scrapbook and a new foundation, to a playground fundraising effort at the family’s beloved school, the Gaudreaus have pushed through dark days when even getting out of bed seemed impossible. They pull through, pull together, just as they did as a family of six in South Jersey, and try to focus on a simple mantra: Live their lives to the fullest in honor of Matt and John.
There is more hardship ahead and dark days are going to come and go. The driver charged with killing the brothers, a man prosecutors described as having a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving, still faces trial.
But as Jane Gaudreau details her dream of a new, adaptive playground for the special education students at the school where she works, it’s the good times that stir the most memories. The stories lift the spirits of Jane, husband Guy and countless friends and teammates who went through their first hockey season in decades without two men who gave so much to their growing families and to the game.
“It’s great to keep their memories alive,” said their sister, Kristen Venello, who rocks her Blue Jackets hoodie as a speech assistant at Archbishop Damiano School. “It is sad. But you think about all the good things they did and that’s all you can think about. And how much they can help us still.”
The project
Archbishop Damiano School was founded in 1968 for children with Down syndrome and now provides services for 125 students with special needs from ages 3 to 21. Jane Gaudreau’s brother attended the school and their mother worked there for 44 years. Jane was hired in 1984 and is still a finance associate there. Kristen, the oldest daughter, has taught at the school for almost two decades. Katie used to assist with the kids when she could and the two Gaudreau boys volunteered at the school when they weren’t playing hockey.
In death, they can perhaps leave a permanent legacy at Damiano outside family and hockey.
Kelsie Snow lost her husband, Chris, a former assistant general manager with the Calgary Flames, in 2023 to Lou Gehrig’s disease. She called Jane with a suggestion on how to navigate life through perpetual grief: Keep busy. Find a project. Jane and Guy embraced the idea and searched for the right one, until they realized the answer was right there at Archbishop Damiano.
The Gaudreaus and the staff at Archbishop Damiano threw themselves into fundraising for a modern playground that allows for everything from basic wheelchair accessibility to ramps and transfer platforms for the students. The Gaudreau Family 5K set for May 31 is expected to bring needed cash to the initiative launched by principal Michele McCloskey in 2020.
“I know the boys would be proud of us,” Jane said. “Both boys loved children, that’s why we thought the playground would be perfect.”
The Gaudreaus have another, more enduring project ahead of them as doting grandparents. Both widows have given birth since their husbands died. Meredith, who revealed during her tearful eulogy for John in August that she was pregnant, gave birth in April to the couple’s third child, Carter Michael Gaudreau. Madeline delivered her and Matty’s first baby, Tripp Matthew Gaudreau, in December.
Jane laughs when she describes how much the new additions resemble their fathers. Tripp has light hair like his dad; Carter looks like big sister Noa, and they both look like John.
“My husband keeps saying this,” Jane said, ”‘I think God sent us John and Matty back.”
The road ahead
Guy and Jane, married 42 years, almost never go out to dinner, overwhelmed by feelings of guilt over enjoying themselves, and those emotions also run deep with Katie. She told her mom, yes, she wanted to marry her fiancé, Devin Joyce, but wasn’t sure a big wedding was the way to go. Jane said she simply told her there was no wrong decision, but to let the rage and sadness settle and take as much time as necessary make a decision.
The couple eventually rescheduled their wedding for July 11. Katie wrote on her Instagram post, “I guess this year has taught me to celebrate our love everyday, every minute.”
“You know the boys, they’ll be there with us that day,” Jane said. “They would want you to have fun.”
Jane added with resolve, “This guy already took two of the most important things away from us. Don’t let him take away your wedding.”
A legacy of laughter
The 5K has filled its allotment of 1,000 runners for race day at a New Jersey park but anyone can contribute from home as a virtual participant. More than 700 people have already signed up, from New Jersey to Canada to Ireland, eager to help the cause, which includes an online memorabilia auction that stretches beyond hockey, with all proceeds donated toward the playground effort and its $600,000 goal.
The current playground doesn’t meet the needs of its students in its current shape, there are gaping holes in the turf and the swings and slides were not designed for children with disabilities. If the goal is met, the school hopes to break ground this fall and complete the project next spring.
It seems trite to call it a silver lining but the family has searched in vain to find some meaning, some good out of the senseless deaths.
So they’ll run.
For John. For Matt. For a cause the boys so robustly supported in life.
“It’s not the way I’d want to build the playground, of course,” Jane said. “I tend to believe they’ll be up there, being able to listen to the children’s laughter. They’ll just really love the fact that the children will have a playground to play in.”
Rantanen settling in as a Star
Mikko Rantanen is now really on the other side, settling in as a Star and going back to Colorado with a chance to advance in the NHL playoffs.
In his first postseason series with Dallas, against his former team no less, Rantanen broke through with first playoff goal and two assists for the Stars in their Game 5 victory that put them on the verge of eliminating the Avalanche for the second year in a row.
“It’s reality, I guess,” Rantanen said with a grin Wednesday, the day before Game 6 of the series.
After being in the playoffs with the Avs each of the past seven years and playing with them during 10 seasons, including their Stanley Cup title in 2022, Rantanen was traded twice in a six-week period – first to Carolina on Jan. 24, then to Dallas on March 7 in a deadline deal completed after he agreed to a $96 million, eight-year contract extension.
Playoffs included, the 28-year-old Rantanen has now played 25 games with the Stars.
“That’s the biggest thing, I think, is settling in and playing with instinct,” Rantanen said. “The systems and everything, it’s in the back of my mind now, so I don’t have to think about anything on the ice, like where I have to go. It comes with instinct and it’s going to come even more the more games go by. … Settling is a good word to say, which is always key to playing well.”
It was in Game 6 at Colorado last season that the Stars wrapped up a second-round series on Matt Duchene’s goal 11:42 into the second overtime for a 2-1 victory. Rantanen had the lone Avalanche goal in that game.
In Game 3 of this series, his first in the playoffs as an opponent in Colorado, Rantanen had the secondary assist on Tyler Seguin’s overtime winner. That was Rantanen’s only postseason point for Dallas until Game 5, when his goal came on a 2-on-1 break and some nifty back-and-forth passing with Roope Hintz. He did have 12 shots on goal the first four games.
“He is settling and I think he’s a lot closer than the numbers say. I thought he’s had two or three really good games in this series so far,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “He played great that night in Colorado (Game 3). … I think he’s stringing together more and more games here where he looks comfortable, and he’s going to make an impact even if the points aren’t showing it.”
In 81 career playoff games for Colorado, Rantanen had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists). His last game with the Avalanche was Jan. 22, but the regular season ended with him still as their third-leading scorer with 64 points (25 goals, 39 assists) in his 49 games there, behind Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
After six points (two goals) in his 13-game stint with Carolina, Rantanen had five goals and 13 assists over the final 20 regular-season games for Dallas, giving him an 82-game total of 88 points (32 goals). It was the seventh time in eight seasons to average more than a point a game, the lone exception in that stretch being 41 points in 42 games in 2019-20.
He is on a line in Dallas with fellow Finnish players Hintz and Mikael Granlund. Hintz, the same age as Rantanen, has played all seven of his NHL seasons with Dallas. The 33-year-old Granlund was acquired from San Jose in a trade on Feb. 1, and has only 11 more games in Dallas than Rantanen.
“They have a history together as Finnish players and national teams and things like that,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know if they played together as a line before, but I think that always speeds up the chemistry when you have a familiarity like that and you know, they’re countrymen, they speak Finnish to each other, they can communicate really easily.”
Duchene played his first eight-plus NHL seasons with Colorado, where his final full season was when Rantanen was a rookie.
“Having him in the room is good,” Duchene said. “You know he’s a great player because he behaves like a great player. So, easy guy to bring in.”
Capitals’ Raddysh testifies remotely
Washington Capitals forward Taylor Raddysh on Wednesday became the first active NHL player to testify in the Hockey Canada sexual assault case taking place in London, Ontario.
Raddysh, a member of Canada’s 2018 world junior team who was in London the night of the incident but not charged in the case, testified remotely from Arlington, Virginia. He was a healthy scratch for Game 5 of the Capitals’ first-round playoff series against Montreal on Wednesday night.
Raddysh took part in the morning skate and extra work after, which is typical for players not expected to be in the lineup. He was the odd man out with Aliaksei Protas returning from missing more than three weeks with a skate cut to his left foot.
The court dismissed him at 4 p.m. because of the game with the plan for Raddysh to return and answer more questions Thursday morning. He was not on the ice for pregame warmups.
Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton all pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges. McLeod has also pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of being a party to the offense of sexual assault.
Jurors on Wednesday were shown a screenshot of what prosecutors allege is a group chat between members of the team around 2:10 a.m. that day. In it, prosecutors allege, McLeod asks if anyone wants to be in a “three-way,” then follows up with his hotel room number and Hart replies, “I’m in.”
Raddysh testified that he was the one who took the screenshot but didn’t remember when the message came in or when he first saw it. He was also asked about another series of screenshots showing what he said were text messages between him and McLeod.
In one, dated June 19, 2018, at 2:15 a.m., McLeod allegedly told Raddysh to come to his room if he wanted a “gummer.” Raddysh told the court he understood “gummer” to mean “oral sex.” He did not appear to reply to the message.
Another screenshot dated June 26, 1:57 p.m. included two messages from Raddysh to McLeod. “Bully just called me,” one said, followed by, “Said there’s an investigation.”
Raddysh told the court he was referring to a Hockey Canada staff member and that he understood the investigation to relate to “that night in London.”
Raddysh said he recalled very little from that night, even after reviewing transcripts from interviews he had with police in 2022 and lawyers in 2018. He said he didn’t have any memory of going to a bar with some of his teammates after the event but did remember having a video call with his then-girlfriend once back in his hotel room, which he said was next to McLeod’s.
He said he didn’t have a “full recollection” of going to McLeod’s room or how that came about but remembered seeing McLeod in the room with another teammate, Boris Katchouk, and a woman. Raddysh said he was “pretty sure” the woman was on the bed, but he couldn’t remember how she was positioned or whether she was wearing clothes.
“Sitting here today, I don’t remember,” Raddysh said, adding he could not remember how long he stayed in the room, or why he left.
Team USA 6, Latvia 3
Team USA advanced to the semifinals of the world U18 hockey championships with a 6-3 win over Latvia on Wednesday in Frisco, Texas.
Wolverines prospect Asher Barnett had a goal and an assist and Westland’s Joey Slavick posted the win in goal.
Eastern Conference playoff scheduleTampa Bay vs. Florida
(Florida wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Florida 6-2
▶ Game 2: Florida 2-0
▶ Game 3: Tampa Bay 5-1
▶ Game 4: Florida 4-2
▶ Game 5: Florida 6-3
Washington vs. Montreal
(Washington wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Washington 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 2: Washington 3-1
▶ Game 3: Monteral 6-3
▶ Game 4: Washington 5-2
▶ Game 5: Washington 4-1
Carolina vs. New Jersey
(Carolina wins 4-1)
▶ Game 1: Carolina 4-1
▶ Game 2: Carolina 3-1
▶ Game 3: New Jersey 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Carolina 5-2
▶ Game 5: Carolina 5-4 (2OT)
Toronto vs. Ottawa
(Toronto leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Toronto 6-2
▶ Game 2: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Toronto 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Ottawa 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Ottawa 4-0
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Ottawa, 7 p.m.
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Toronto, TBA
Western Conference playoff scheduleDallas vs. Colorado
(Dallas leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Colorado 5-1
▶ Game 2: Dallas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 3: Dallas 2-1 (OT)
▶ Game 4: Colorado 4-0
▶ Game 5: Dallas 6-2
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Colorado, 9:30 p.m.
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Dallas, TBA
Los Angeles vs. Edmonton
(Edmonton leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Los Angeles 6-5
▶ Game 2: Los Angeles 6-2
▶ Game 3: Edmonton 7-4
▶ Game 4: Edmonton 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Edmonton 3-1
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Edmonton, 10 p.m.
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Los Angeles, TBA
Vegas vs. Minnesota
(Vegas leads 3-2)
▶ Game 1: Vegas 4-2
▶ Game 2: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 3: Minnesota 5-2
▶ Game 4: Vegas 4-3 (OT)
▶ Game 5: Vegas 3-2 (OT)
▶ Game 6: Thursday, May 1 at Minnesota, 7:30 p.m.
▶ Game 7: x-Saturday, May 3 at Vegas, TBA
Winnipeg vs. St. Louis
(Series tied 2-2)
▶ Game 1: Winnipeg 5-3
▶ Game 2: Winnipeg 2-1
▶ Game 3: St. Louis 7-2
▶ Game 4: St. Louis 5-1
▶ Game 5: Wednesday, April 30 at Winnipeg, 9:30 p.m.
▶ Game 6: Friday, May 2 at St. Louis, TBA
▶ Game 7: x-Sunday, May 4 at Winnipeg, TBA
x-If necessary
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