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Michigan State checked in at No. 1 in national rankings after sweeping Boston University.
Michigan State checked in at No. 1 in national rankings after sweeping Boston University.
Michigan State moved up the polls to become the top hockey team in the nation this week.
After sweeping former No. 1 Boston University last week, the Spartans took over No. 1 honors, receiving 29 of the 50 possible first-place votes on USCHO.com.
Michigan-based schools are now the top three teams: Michigan State is No. 1, Western Michigan is second, and Michigan is third.
On Tuesday, Spartans captain Matt Basgall was named the Big Ten’s Third Star of the Week.
The senior defenseman had a three-point weekend against Boston University, tallying a pair of assists in game one and scoring the game-winning overtime goal in the second game.
Basgall’s goal, combined with a game-saving clearance off the goal line by sophomore Shane Vansaghi at the other end, was named the top play on SportsCenter’s Top 10 for Sunday’s show.
Broncos’ Slukynsky named top goalie
Western Michigan goaltender Hampton Slukynsky was named the NCHC goaltender of the week.
The Warroad, Minn. native helped the Broncos sweep a two-game series at UMass Lowell.
Slukynsky finished the weekend with a 2-0-0 record to go along with a 0.50 goals against average and a .973 save percentage. He posted 36 saves and one shutout across the two games.
The Los Angeles Kings draft pick opened the series with a 17-save performance in a 2-1 win over the River Hawks. He followed that up with a 19-save shutout on Saturday night.
Slukynsky and the Broncos are back in action with a home-and-home series against Michigan. They’ll play at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor on Thursday and at Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo on Friday.
Tuesday’s NHL
Edmonton 3, (at) Ottawa 2: Former Red Wing Jake Walman scored a power-play goal at 2:24 of overtime and the Oilers snapped a three-game skid.
Walman was making his season debut after missing the first six games with an undisclosed injury. The Oilers wrapped up their five-game road trip and handed the Senators their second consecutive loss on home ice.
Ottawa got on the board after winning a puck battle along the boards. Drake Batherson dished a pass to Dylan Cozens who scored on the power play past Stuart Skinner, who made 19 saves.
Florida 4, (at) Boston 3: Brad Marchand had two assists in his emotional return to Boston, and Carter Verhaeghe scored the winner with 27 seconds left for the Panthers.
Boston rallied to tie it after trailing 2-0 lead in the third period, then Marchand skated through the neutral zone and flipped the puck ahead to Eetu Luostarinen as he burst ahead of the last defender and beat Jeremy Swayman to make it 3-2 with 10 minutes to play.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 28 shots for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who snapped a four-game losing streak.
(At) Washington 4, Seattle 1: Nic Dowd, Ryan Leonard and Jakob Chychrun scored for Washington, and the Capitals defeated Seattle.
Tom Wilson also scored for Washington, into an empty net in the final minute.
Jaden Schwartz had the only goal for Seattle, which was on the second night of a back to back. The Kraken lost both in regulation after earning points in each of their first five games.
(At) Pittsburgh 5, Vancouver 1: Sidney Crosby scored his fourth goal and Kris Letang became the 20th defenseman in NHL history to reach 600 career assists as Pittsburgh beat Vancouver.
Crosby also has 1,896 career points combined between the regular season and the postseason, moving Crosby past Penguins icon and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux and alone into seventh place in NHL history.
Brazeau added two assists for the Penguins. Ex-Red Wing Anthony Mantha and Connor Dewar also scored as Pittsburgh won its third straight.
(At) N.Y. Islanders 4, San Jose 3: Matthew Schaefer had a goal and an assist, and New York beat winless San Jose to win its third straight after dropping its first three games of the season.
Bo Horvat, Casey Cizikas and Emil Heineman also scored for New York. Ilya Sorokin made 33 saves. Schaefer extended his point streak to six games and is tied with Horvat for the team lead with seven points.
Collin Graf had a short-handed goal and an assist, and Adam Gaudette and Macklin Celebrini also scored for San Jose, which fell to 0-4-2.
New Jersey 5, (at) Toronto 2: Jack Hughes scored the third hat trick of his NHL career, Cody Glass and Brenden Dillon also scored for New Jersey, and Jake Allen had 23 saves.
John Tavares and Matias Maccelli scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 30 shots. William Nylander had two assists.
Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev left with an upper-body injury during a second-period penalty kill after he collided with Devils center Dawson Mercer.
Toronto challenged New Jersey’s first goal for goaltender interference only to see the call on the ice stand. The Devils went on the power play with the ensuing delay-of-game penalty, and Glass made it 2-1 moments after Tanev skated off to the locker room.
L.A. Kings 2, (at) St. Louis 1 (OT): Adrian Kempe scored a power-play goal 1:50 into overtime to lift Los Angeles to a win over St. Louis.
Alex Laferriere also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves as the Kings snapped a four-game losing streak, two of which came in overtime.
Justin Faulk scored and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for the Blues, who lost for the third time in four home games this season.
Columbus 5, (at) Dallas 1: Columbus captain Boone Jenner had a power-play goal and an assist in the first period, and the Blue Jackets beat Dallas to hand the slumping Stars their third straight defeat.
The Blue Jackets went up 2-0 when Jenner scored from his left knee in the crease to the left of goalie Jake Oettinger after Charlie Coyle knocked the puck through the legs of defenseman Lian Bichsel and across the ice in front of the net.
Adam Fantilli, defenseman Denton Mateychuk and Dmitri Voronkov also scored for the Blue Jackets before Kent Johnson’s empty-netter with three minutes left. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 22 shots.
Anaheim 5, (at) Nashville 2: Anaheim rookie Beckett Sennecke collected his third goal of the season and the Ducks beat Nashville.
Ross Johnston scored his first goal of the season and added two assists. Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry also scored for Anaheim. Jacob Trouba had two assists and Lukas Dostal made 26 stops.
Tyson Jost and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators, who have dropped four straight. Saros made 28 saves for Nashville, which has surrendered 19 goals during its slide.
Boston fans still love ‘Little Ball of Hate’
Boston – The Little Ball of Hate still has a lot of love back in Boston.
Brad Marchand appeared to be holding back tears on the ice when the TD Garden crowd gave him a standing ovation Tuesday night during his first game as a Bruins opponent. The 37-year-old forward tapped his heart, wiped his face and waved to the crowd as both teams banged their sticks against the ice and even the referee and linesmen clapped along.
“Those tears are real,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said during an in-game interview on the TV broadcast. “He just wears his heart on his sleeve. He had so many great moments here, won a Stanley Cup here. He’ll always be a Bruin at heart.”
The last remaining member of Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup-winning team, Marchand was traded to the Panthers last season for another chance at a title. He helped Florida complete its pursuit of back-to-back championships, while the Bruins plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
In his first game back as a Panther, the Boston crowd cheered him off the ice after the pregame warmups, as the TD Garden DJ played a mashup of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Marchand responded with a stick salute as he headed off via the visitor’s bench.
Fans wearing Marchand’s Boston and Florida No. 63 jerseys cheered again during introductions for the former Bruins captain. (They booed when he drew a tripping penalty just 33 seconds into the game, then gave a mixed reaction when the Panthers scored on the power play – a goal that first appeared to be Marchand’s but was credited to Mackie Samoskevich; Marchand picked up an assist.)
But things got really emotional during a commercial break midway through the first period, when the scoreboard showed a highlight reel from Marchand’s time in Boston – including shots of him being anointed with the captain’s “C” that he wore for a little more than one full season. It ended with a picture of him holding the Stanley Cup and the message, “Welcome back, Marchy.”
Marchand circled in front of the Panthers bench, waving to the fans and holding his heart. His face betrayed his emotions as he took his place on the bench, still on the verge of breaking down, and the crowd chanted his name.
The focus soon returned to hockey, with the Panthers taking a 2-0 lead in the second period. Marchand picked up a hooking penalty, drawing cheers from the crowd.
A four-time All-Star who had 422 goals and 554 assists in 16 seasons in Boston, Marchand remains in the Bruins’ top 10 for goals, assists, short-handed and overtime goals, playoff goals and points. His 1,090 games played is fourth in team history, one spot ahead of Don Sweeney, the general manager who dealt him to Florida at the trade deadline.
Marchand did play in the TD Garden as a visitor in February when he suited up for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off; although he was still a member of the Bruins, the Boston fans booed him during a time of heightened geopolitical animosity between the U.S. and Canada.
He was traded to Florida a few weeks later as Boston sold off its roster and began a rebuild. But when the Panthers visited for the Bruins’ first home game after the trade deadline, Marchand was injured and only skated on the Garden ice in practice.
NHL cancels Olympic sendoff event
New York – The NHL has canceled an Olympic sendoff event scheduled for February at the New York Islanders’ arena and plan to hold All-Star Weekend festivities there in 2027, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the decision had not been announced. ESPN was first to report the move during the network’s coverage of the game between Boston and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida.
UBS Arena was announced to host 2026 All-Star Weekend when the league figured it would experiment with the event as a jumping off point for players, coaches and staff to gather there and fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport to Milan.
The massive success of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament earlier this year led officials to wonder about how much sense it made to have a traditional All-Star Weekend with a skills competition and either a game or the 3-on-3 tournament that has become a fixture for hockey’s midseason event for almost a decade. The NBA altered its format to a U.S. against the world game as a way to mix things up.
NHL officials had said the Islanders would likely get the All-Star Game in the odd-numbered year between the return to the Olympics and the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. The hope is to use the Feb. 5-7 weekend in 2027 for that.
Kings activate Perry for his debut
St. Louis – The Los Angeles Kings have activated forward Corey Perry from injured reserve to begin his 21st NHL season.
The Kings also put captain Anze Kopitar on injured reserve after his 20th NHL season was interrupted last week by a foot injury.
The 40-year-old Perry will be in the lineup when the Kings visit the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
Perry signed with the Kings as a free agent last summer, but the 2011 NHL MVP injured his knee while skating before the start of training camp in September. He underwent surgery and managed to return before the team’s initial prognosis of six to eight weeks of recovery time.
Perry spent his first 14 seasons with the Kings’ archrivals, the Anaheim Ducks, before moving on to Dallas, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Chicago and Edmonton. He has played in the Stanley Cup Final in five of the past six seasons, but lost each time.
Perry had 448 goals and 487 assists in his career.
Kopitar is week to week after getting hit in the foot by a deflected puck during a game against Minnesota earlier this month. The Slovenian forward announced last month that he will retire at the end of the season.
The Kings are off to a rough start, going 1-3-2 with a four-game losing skid as they prepare to face the Blues on the first stop of a five-game road trip.
October schedules
Wednesday
▶ Red Wings at Sabres, 7:30
Thursday
▶ Red Wings at Islanders, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
Friday
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Niagara University, 6
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Saturday
▶ Blues at Red Wings, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Cornell, 7
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Tuesday, Oct. 28
▶ Red Wings at Blues, 8:15
▶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8
Thursday, Oct. 30
▶ Red Wings at L.A. Kings, 10:30
▶ Muskegon at NTDP U18, 7
Friday, Oct. 31
▶ Red Wings at Ducks, 10
▶ Michigan at Notre Dame, TBD
▶ Michigan Tech at Clarkson, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Augustana, 8
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