The Latest Breaking News on NHL

Bedard’s exploding fame this past season made his junior team in Regina, Saskatchewan, one of the centers of the hockey universe. The enormous attention was both thrilling and overwhelming for team employees. “There was no playbook for this,” CEO Gord Pritchard said.

DALLAS -- Before every playoff game at American Airlines Center, there has been a narration to introduce pregame festivities. The one prior to Thursday’s Game 4 pointed to the obvious for the Stars.

The whistle blew for a power play with 57 seconds left in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday and Aaron Ekblad, from his place on the Florida Panthers’ bench, thought the same thing Panthers fans — and, probably, NHL fans — across the world certainly were thinking, too.

With the seconds draining, with the moment calling, Matthew Tkachuck moved unhurried with the puck, even as everything accelerated before him. Bodies piled up. Defenders twisted to reach him.

SUNRISE, Fla. — Aaron Ekblad can admit it now: He thought his Florida Panthers were toast.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Arizona Coyotes are a team in crisis — and there’s speculation Sacramento could be an eventual option for the embattled National Hockey League club.

What a ridiculous domino effect we'll look back on for years.

The NHL was already facing a tumultuous offseason with one franchise for sale, multiple regime changes ongoing, and a half-dozen teams seeking new head coaches.

The rubber rats were falling and a long-suffering hockey franchise was rising Wednesday night. And in a packed arena full of sonic joy, fans were partying like it was 1996.

Matthew Tkachuk scored a power-play goal with 4.9 seconds left, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 36 shots to cap off a brilliant series, and the Florida Panthers earned their first trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 27 years by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 to win the Eastern Conference title in…

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Panthers barely reached the postseason, clinching their playoff berth two days before their regular-season finale. The snuck into the bracket as the No. 8 seed and were the heavy underdog against the record-setting Boston Bruins in the first round.