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Canada’s Power rewrites record book in World Junior debut – Sportsnet.ca

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EDMONTON — There is something about a defenceman like Owen Power that makes hockey people drool. Something that screams pillar, or building block. A player on which an entire franchise can be balanced. One that even the Buffalo Sabres can’t screw up.

A great young World Junior goalie? We’ve seen scads of them star here at the WJC, but then fail to pan out at the next level. For every Roberto Luongo there are two or three Jeff Glass’, for every Carey Price a Zach Fucale and a Justin Pogge.

An elite forward like Mason McTavish? Hey, don’t get me wrong. The Anaheim Ducks aren’t complaining about adding this year’s phenom forward at the WJC to a team also featuring Trevor Zegras, who was the same thing here a year ago.

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Power, however, is different. Defencemen are different.

The world in which Power does not become a 1,000-game, 25-minute defenceman in the NHL is, frankly, nonexistent right now.

He is Chris Pronger. He is Alex Pietrangelo.

He is the rare No. 1 defenceman who will one day dictate the pace of NHL games the way Larry Robinson once did, or Brad Park.

“The passing, the skating, the shooting, it speaks for itself. It’s elite,” said Team Canada head coach Dave Cameron, after Power became the first Canadian defenceman ever to notch a World Junior hat trick in a 6-3 win over Czechia. “But it’s his calmness. The whole balance that he brings. He’s able to keep that even keel, and he’s done it at the Worlds, he’s done it at Michigan, and he’s done it now here at the World Juniors.

“The ability to play that high performance game, with a calmness. I’m not sure you can teach that.”

Teach?

The combination of Power’s assets are not described in any text book, or mapped out in any coaching drills.

Can you teach six-foot-five and 214 pounds? Can you teach a stride like Darnell Nurse, or puck-handling with the aplomb of a 750-game NHL veteran? In Power’s first game at the World Juniors, he scored three times, had six shots on goal and played 21:48, all game highs.

Think of all the great defencemen who have pulled a Team Canada sweater over their heads at this tournament, from Shea Weber to Scott Niedermayer, from Larry Murphy to Duncan Keith. None have authored a hat trick in this tournament, and Power did it in his first game.

“I was pretty surprised. There has been a ton of pretty good players come and play in these tournaments. I had no idea that no one had got a hat trick,” he said after the game. “It’s the first hat trick I’ve ever had. To do it on this stage and wearing a Canadian jersey is pretty special.”

This will be Power’s last season at the University of Michigan, before joining a team in Buffalo that has had as many swings at the proverbial “first overall draft” plate as the club that calls Rogers Place home. He may detour through Beijing however — it’s hard to imagine a collection of non-NHL Canadian players among whom the 19-year-old Power would not be their best blue-liner.

“He came as advertised. His poise with the puck, he has a real low panic threshold. He can protect pucks…” began Cameron. “To be compared to Chris Pronger, Chris had that mean streak. I don’t see Owen getting to that level. I coached against, and had Pietrangelo on a World Junior team, and I see a lot of similarities there. That ability to escape under pressure.”

Speaking of which, this was as close as Canada has come to having to escape from a serious test by Czechia in a long while, forcing Cameron to use an early timeout when Czechia went ahead 3-1 just 12:23 into the game.

Canada had not trailed for a single second at last year’s World Juniors until the gold-medal game. In Game 1 this season, the Czechs scored three times in a single period against the Canadians, the first time in WJC history for Czechia.

“That timeout was huge,” Power said. “It settled us down, and we just did a better job at keeping guys in front of us. Not trying to force anything and cheat for offence.”

Cameron is a veteran of these things — this is his fourth tournament behind a Canadian bench as either an assistant or head coach.

“One of the things we discussed all week as a coaching staff was, we didn’t know what the hell to expect in the first 10 minutes,” he said. “We’d played one game, they had not played any. We knew it would be a bit of an adventure. Junior hockey at its finest.”

The good news? Often times, the first adversity Canada faces doesn’t come until the medal round — when failure to overcome means going home, sometimes empty-handed. This was a nice little bump in the road, unexpected but not unwelcome by Cameron and his staff.

“It’s always great to have adversity when you win the hockey game,” the coach said. “This is my fourth World Juniors, and the thing I’ve learned is, expect the unexpected. It never goes the way you draw it up. It’s your team’s ability to be able to adapt.

“The adversity was good, because we won. Hopefully we can learn and grow from that.”

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Marchand says Maple Leafs are Bruins’ ‘biggest rival’ ahead of 1st-round series – NHL.com

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BOSTON – Forget Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens. 

For Brad Marchand, right now, it’s all about Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs. 

“You see the excitement they have all throughout Canada when they’re in playoffs,” Marchand said Thursday. “Makes it a lot of fun to play them. And I think, just with the history we’ve had with them recently, they’re probably our biggest rival right now over the last decade. 

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“They’ve probably surpassed Montreal and any other team with kind of where our rivalry’s gone, just because we’ve both been so competitive with each other, and we’ve had a few playoff series. It definitely brings the emotion, the intensity, up in the games and the excitement for the fans. 

“It’s a lot of fun to play them.”

The Bruins and Maple Leafs will renew their rivalry in their first round series, which starts Saturday at TD Garden (8 p.m. ET; TBS, truTV, MAX, SN, CBC, TVAS). They’ll be familiar opponents. 

Over the past 11 seasons, the Bruins have faced the Maple Leafs four times in the postseason, starting with the epic 2013 matchup in the first round. That resulted in an all-time instant classic, the Game 7 in which the Bruins were down 4-1 in the third period and came roaring back for an overtime win that helped propel them to the Stanely Cup Final. 

That would prove to be the model and, in the intervening years, the Bruins have beaten them in each of the three subsequent series, including going to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference First Round in 2018 and 2019. 

Which could easily be where this series is going. 

“Offensively they’re a gifted hockey club,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Thursday. “They present a lot of challenges down around the netfront area. We’re going to have to be really sharp there. We’re a pretty good team defensively when we stick to what our principles are. So I expect it to be a tight series overall.”

But if anyone knows the Maple Leafs — and what to expect — it’s Marchand. In his career, he’s played 146 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, 11th most of any active player. Twenty-one of those games have come against the Maple Leafs, games in which Marchand has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists).

“They’re always extremely competitive,” Marchand said. “You never know which way the series is going to go. But that’s what you want. That’s what you love about hockey is the competition aspect. They’re real competitors over there, especially the way they’re built right now. So it’s going to be a lot of fun, and that’s what playoffs is about. It’s about the best teams going head-to-head.”

But even though the history favors the Bruins — including having won each of the past six playoff matchups, dating back to the NHL’s expansion era in 1967-68 and each of the four regular-season games in 2023-24 — Marchand is throwing that out the window.

“That means nothing,” he said. 

The Maple Leafs bring the No. 2 offense in the NHL into their series, having scored 3.63 goals per game. They were led by Auston Matthews and his 69 goals this season, a new record for him and for the franchise. 

“You have to be hard on a guy like that and limit his time and space with the puck,” forward Charlie Coyle said. “He’s really good at getting in position to receive the puck and he’s got linemates who can put it right on his tape for him. You’ve just got to know where he is, especially in our D zone. He likes to loop away after cycling it and kind of find that sweet spot coming down Broadway there in the middle. It’s not just a one-person job.”

Nor is Matthews their only threat. 

“They have a lot of great players, skill players, who play hard and can be very dangerous around the net and create scoring opportunities,” forward Charlie Coyle said. “You’ve just got to be aware of who’s out there and who you’re against, who you’re matched up against, and play hard. Also, too, we’ve got to focus on our game and what we do well and when we do that, we trust each other and have that belief in each other, we’re a pretty good hockey team.”

Especially against the Maple Leafs. 

Marchand, who grew up in Halifax loving the Maple Leafs, still gets a thrill to see their alumni walking around Scotiabank Arena in the playoffs. And it’s even more special to be on the ice with them, to be competing against them — even more so when the Bruins keep winning. 

But that certainly doesn’t mean this series will be easy. 

“They’ll be a [heck] of a challenge,” Marchand said.

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NHL sets Round 1 schedule for 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Daily Faceoff

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The chase for Lord Stanley’s silver chalice will begin on Saturday.

After what could be described as the most exciting season in NHL history that saw heartbreaks and last-ditch efforts to clinch playoff spots, players and staff now get ready as 16 teams go to battle.

We saw the Vancouver Canucks have a massive year and finish first in the Pacific Division with captain Quinn Hughes leading all defensemen in points. The Winnipeg Jets set a franchise record for most points. The Nashville Predators went on a franchise-record winning streak in order to lock themselves into a Wild Card spot, and the Washington Capitals clinched the last Wild Card spot in the East after a wild finish that saw the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers see their playoff hopes crumble in front of them.

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While Auston Matthews missed out on scoring 70 goals, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid and Tampa Bay Lightning standout Nikita Kucherov became the first players since 1990-91 to record 100 assists in a single season. They joined Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr as the only players to do so.

With the bracket set, it’s time to expect the unexpected. 

Here is the schedule for Round 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Eastern Conference

#A1 Florida Panthers vs. #WC1 Tampa Bay Lightning

Date Game Time
Sunday, April 21 1. Tampa at Florida 12:30 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 23 2. Tampa at Florida 7:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, April 25 3. Florida at Tampa 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 27 4. Florida at Tampa 5 p.m. ET
Monday, April 29 5. Tampa at Florida TBD
Wednesday, May 1 6. Florida at Tampa TBD
Saturday, May 4 7. Tampa at Florida TBD

#A2 Boston Bruins vs. #A3 Toronto Maple Leafs

Date Game Time
Saturday, April 20 1. Toronto at Boston 8 p.m. ET
Monday, April 22 2. Toronto at Boston 7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, April 24 3. Boston at Toronto 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 27 4. Boston at Toronto 8 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 30 5. Toronto at Boston TBD
Thursday, May 2 6. Boston at Toronto TBD
Saturday, May 4 7. Toronto at Boston TBD

#M1 New York Rangers vs. #WC2 Washington Capitals

Date Game Time
Sunday, April 21 1. Washington at New York 3 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 23 2. Washington at New York 7 p.m. ET
Friday, April 26 2. New York at Washington 7 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 28 2. New York at Washington 8 p.m. ET
Wednesday, May 1 2. Washington at New York TBD
Friday, May 3 2. New York at Washington TBD
Sunday, May 5 2. Washington at New York TBD

#M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. #M3 New York Islanders

Date Game Time
Saturday, April 20 1. New York at Carolina 5 p.m. ET
Monday, April 22 2. New York at Carolina 7:30 p.m. ET
Thursday, April 25 3. Carolina at New York 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 27 4. Carolina at New York 2 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 30 5. New York at Carolina TBD
Thursday, May 2 6. Carolina at New York TBD
Saturday, May 4 7. New York at Carolina TBD

Western Conference

#C1 Dallas Stars  vs. #WC2 Vegas Golden Knights

Date Game Time
Monday, April 22 1. Vegas at Dallas 9:30 p.m. ET
Wednesday, April 24 2. Vegas at Dallas 9:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 27 3. Dallas at Vegas 10:30 p.m. ET
Monday, April 29 4. Dallas at Vegas TBD
Wednesday, May 1 5. Vegas at Dallas TBD
Friday, May 3 6. Dallas at Vegas TBD
Sunday, May 5 7. Vegas at Dallas TBD

#C2 Winnipeg Jets vs. #C3 Colorado Avalanche

Date Game Time
Sunday, April 21 1. Colorado at Winnipeg 7 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 23 2. Colorado at Winnipeg 9:30 p.m. ET
Friday, April 26 3. Winnipeg at Colorado 10 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 28 4. Winnipeg at Colorado 2:30 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 30 5. Colorado at Winnipeg TBD
Thursday, May 2 6. Winnipeg at Colorado TBD
Saturday, May 4 7. Colorado at Winnipeg TBD

#P1 Vancouver Canucks vs. #WC1 Nashville Predators

Date Game Time
Sunday, April 21 1. Nashville at Vancouver 10 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 23 2. Nashville at Vancouver 10 p.m. ET
Friday, April 26 3. Vancouver at Nashville 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 28 4. Vancouver at Nashville 5 p.m. ET
Tuesday, April 30 5. Nashville at Vancouver TBD
Friday, May 3 6. Vancouver at Nashville TBD
Sunday, May 5 7. Nashville at Vancouver TBD

#P2 Edmonton Oilers vs. #P3 Los Angeles Kings

Date Game Time
Monday, April 22 1. Los Angeles at Edmonton 10 p.m. ET
Wednesday, April 24 2. Los Angeles at Edmonton 10 p.m. ET
Friday, April 26 3. Edmonton at Los Angeles 10:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 28 4. Edmonton at Los Angeles 10:30 p.m. ET
Wednesday, May 1 5. Los Angeles at Edmonton TBD
Friday, May 3 6. Edmonton at Los Angeles TBD
Sunday, May 5 7. Los Angeles at Edmonton TBD

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With matchup vs. Kings decided, Oilers should be confident facing familiar foe – Sportsnet.ca

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