NHL News

9:00 AM ET The NHL season is nearing its midpoint, which means teams separating out into the hopeful and the hopeless. Here are the Stanley Cup Hope Tiers as they are currently constituted. The projected points and playoff probabilities are through Monday’s games and provided by FiveThirtyEight. The Stanley Cup champion probabilities are via Money

11:29 PM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — Damar Hamlin was at the forefront in the minds of the Buffalo Sabres from the time they woke up on a game day through the end of their 5-4 overtime victory at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. It was evident from the “LOVE FOR 3” shirts

3:08 PM ET The Detroit Red Wings placed forward Jakub Vrana on waivers Tuesday, less than three weeks after he returned to the team following a stint in the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. Vrana is midway through a three-year, $15.75 million deal that carries a $5.25 million cap hit. Vrana, 26, sought treatment through the

6:53 PM ET ESPN News Services MONCTON, New Brunswick — Logan Cooley had three goals, and Red Savage and Cutter Gauthier had two each, as Team USA cruised past Germany 11-1 in the world junior championship Monday, securing a spot in the tournament’s semifinals. The win was the Americans’ third straight after a surprising loss

5:25 PM ET The NHL Winter Classic on Monday featured the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The hometown team came out on top, 2-1, courtesy of two late-game goals from Jake DeBrusk. It was the NHL’s second time playing in front of the Green Monster,

1:38 PM ET The Dallas Stars have signed 38-year-old center Joe Pavelski to a one-year contract extension through the 2023-24 season. The contract is worth a base salary of $3.5 million and includes $2 million in potential performance bonuses. Pavelski has 12 goals and 25 assists in 38 games this season. Since signing with Dallas

Dec 31, 2022 ESPN News Services MONCTON, New Brunswick — Captain Luke Hughes and forward Jimmy Snuggerud each had a goal and an assist and Team USA secured the Group B title at the world junior championship Saturday night with a 6-2 victory over Finland. The Americans improved to 3-1 at the tournament and won

8:16 PM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored almost at will against the Montreal Canadiens and moved a few steps closer to Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record. Ovechkin recorded his 30th career hat trick to speed up his pursuit of Gretzky’s mark, Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves against his first NHL team

12:21 PM ET The Colorado Avalanche have activated star center Nathan MacKinnon off injured reserve ahead of Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. MacKinnon has not played since Dec. 5 because of an upper-body injury that forced him out of a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He was placed on IR the following day.

7:00 AM ET The calendars are poised to flip from 2022 to 2023, and while it’s not precisely the midpoint of the NHL regular season, it’s a good time to take stock of where teams fall short. For this week’s edition of the Power Rankings, we identify a New Year’s resolution for all 32 clubs.

7:01 AM ET There’s always that one surprise NHL team. The success story we don’t see coming. They’ve gone from missing the playoffs — usually by a sizable margin — to beginning the following season so well that it forces an inevitable question: Are they for real? This season’s Cinderella turn has belonged to the

12:13 AM ET ESPN News Services SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov recorded a hat trick in the first period and helped his team snap a three-game losing streak with a 7-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night. Barkov scored the first two goals of the game within the first 11:50

7:00 AM ET The Winter Classic is an annual outdoor hockey game with an annual timeline for fan arguments. They begin when the venue is announced — “Fenway Park … again?” — and continue when the participants are revealed — “The Pittsburgh Penguins … again?” But the arguments reach their apex when the uniforms for

7:43 PM ET ESPN News Services MONCTON, New Brunswick — Dalibor Dvorsky, Robert Baco and Filip Mesar scored in a 3:19 span in the second period and Slovakia upset the United States 6-3 on Wednesday in the world junior championship. Libor Nemec, Peter Repcik and Alex Ciernik also scored for Slovakia, and captain Simon Nemec,

4:30 PM ET ESPN News Services The Toronto Maple Leafs were fined $100,000 by the NHL on Wednesday for a travel violation during the league’s holiday break. The Maple Leafs’ flight to St. Louis on Monday was in violation of the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association. Teams are limited

6:46 PM ET Associated Press MONCTON, New Brunswick — Oliver Kapanen and Joakim Kemell each had a goal and an assist as Finland beat Slovakia 5-2 on Tuesday at the world junior hockey championship. Jani Nyman also scored during Finland’s three-goal second period. Sami Paivarinta and Brad Lambert had the other goals for the Finns.

1:56 PM ET Associated Press ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug was placed on injured reserve Tuesday with a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated in six weeks. Krug, 31, has five goals and 12 assists in 31 games this season, his third with St. Louis. He will be a long-term IR

9:36 PM ET Associated Press HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Jaroslav Chmelar and Matous Mensik scored 33 seconds apart during a five-minute power play as the Czech Republic stunned Canada 5-2 in the opener for both countries at the world junior hockey championship on Monday. Stanislav Svozil and David Spacek had a goal and an assist