NHL
With plenty of pressure already on him from injuries and only scoring 30 and 31 points in his first two seasons in Philadelphia, Nolan Patrick has much to prove in the upcoming 2019-20 season.
The Boston Bruins swept out the Carolina Hurricanes in four games to reach their third Stanley Cup Final in the last nine seasons. The St. Louis Blues defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games, reaching the Final for the first time since 1970.
The Boston Bruins have vaulted to a 2-0 series lead with a pair of wins at home on the wildcard Carolina Hurricanes. The San Jose Sharks took the first game of the Western Conference Final, but the St. Louis Blues bounced back in Game 2 to even the series.
Four teams remain with a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final: the Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks/Colorado Avalanche. How we got here in Around the NHL.
The Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes both made the playoffs in the two wildcard spots in the East and pulled off upsets of the two division winners in the first round. Now, both teams hold the lead in their respective second round series after three games.
Last week, it was already known that the President’s Trophy winners, the Tampa Bay Lightning, were eliminated, as were the Pittsburgh Penguins. Six other teams have joined, and many of them were near the top of the regular-season standings.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that tied an NHL record with 62 wins in the regular season, were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games. The Pittsburgh Penguins, the Stanley Cup champions in 2016 and 2017, were also swept by the New York Islanders in four games.
On Thursday, the NHL officially announced that the Flyers will face the Chicago Blackhawks to open the 2019-20 season in Prague, Czech Republic.
While the Flyers playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread, we look at other teams surrounding the playoff picture in this week’s Around the NHL.
While showing promise earlier on in the season, David Kase is trying to get back to where he was prior to his upper-body injury that kept him out from Dec. 7 to March 2. If he finds his scoring ability again, the Flyers will have yet another young star in the making.
