Mattias Janmark scored a short-handed goal in the second period to snap a tie and Leon Draisaitl tallied 51 seconds later as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars to even the Western Conference final at two games apiece on Wednesday night.

Ryan McLeod and Evan Bouchard had first-period goals and Connor McDavid set up three scores for the Oilers, who trailed 2-0 less than six minutes into the game.

The series shifts back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday night.

Stuart Skinner bounced back from consecutive losses with 20 saves.

Wyatt Johnston staked the Stars to a lead just 58 seconds into the game and Esa Lindell made it 2-0 at 5:29 of the opening period.

Dallas had a power play with eight minutes left in regulation and a chance to make it a one-goal game, but Edmonton killed its 23rd straight penalty before Mattias Ekholm’s empty-netter sealed the win.

The Oilers made three lineup changes, inserting defenseman Philip Broberg along with McLeod and fellow forward Corey Perry for Vincent Desharnais, Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick.

Stars defenseman Chris Tanev left in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return.

Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece.

Reinhart, who led the NHL with 27 power-play tallies in the regular season, found himself alone in the slot while on the man advantage. Aleksander Barkov provided the primary assist, and Reinhart beat Igor Shesterkin on the glove side.

After scoring a career-high 57 goals in the regular season, Reinhart has added eight goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including four on the power play.

Carter Verhaeghe also scored on the man-advantage for Florida, with Sam Bennett providing the Panthers’ first goal of the night.

Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, who won Games 2 and 3 in overtime. Shesterkin made 37 saves in the loss.

On Thursday, the series will shift back to New York, where the teams split the first two games of the East finals.

Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference final at two games apiece.

Reinhart, who led the NHL with 27 power-play tallies in the regular season, found himself alone in the slot while on the man advantage. Aleksander Barkov provided the primary assist, and Reinhart beat Igor Shesterkin on the glove side.

After scoring a career-high 57 goals in the regular season, Reinhart has added eight goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including four on the power play.

Carter Verhaeghe also scored on the man-advantage for Florida, with Sam Bennett providing the Panthers’ first goal of the night.

Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere scored for the Rangers, who won Games 2 and 3 in overtime. Shesterkin made 37 saves in the loss.

On Thursday, the series will shift back to New York, where the teams split the first two games of the East final.

Jason Robertson finished his first career play-off hat trick with the tie-breaking goal in the third period as the Dallas Stars rallied for a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Monday's Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.

Wyatt Johnston and Miro Heiskanen also had goals to give the Central Division champion Stars a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series despite a 2-0 deficit after one period. 

Dallas also got a lift from the return of Roope Hintz, who assisted on Robertson's first two goals in his first appearance since missing the team's last four games with an upper-body injury. 

Jake Oettinger also had a hand in the victory, as the Dallas goaltender withstood an early and late barrage of shots to record 27 saves and outplay counterpart Stuart Skinner, who stopped just 17 shots for Edmonton.

The Stars improved to 6-1 on the road in this post-season and can move a win away from their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in five years in Wednesday's Game 4, which will also take place in Edmonton. 

Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who built a 2-0 lead just 7:37 in before the Stars rallied with three straight goals in the second period.

Robertson began the comeback with a pair of goals 2:30 apart, with the second coming 8:05 into the stanza when he backhanded a loose puck over Skinner's shoulder.

Dallas, which outshot the Oilers by a 16-7 margin in the second period, needed only 63 seconds to strike again. Jamie Benn out-raced an Edmonton defender for the puck behind the Oilers' net and the Stars got it into the crease for an awaiting Johnston, who hammered home a close-range shot for his eighth goal of the post-season.

Edmonton would recover, however, to tie the game 53 seconds before the second intermission. Warren Foegele forced a turnover in the Dallas zone and teammate Connor Brown corralled the puck before delivering a centering pass that Adam Henrique knocked past Oettinger to forge a 3-3 deadlock.

Henrique was playing for the first time since May 10 after missing seven straight games with an ankle injury.

The Oilers then owned a 13-3 shot advantage in the third period, but still fell behind when Robertson jammed the puck past Skinner with 8:06 remaining to complete his hat trick.

Oettinger made the lead hold up before Heiskanen scored into an empty net with 1:52 left shortly after Skinner was pulled for an extra attacker.

Edmonton got the game off to a flying start when Zach Hyman deflected McDavid's chance on net past Oettinger just 2:02 in. The goal was Hyman's league-leading 13th of this post-season.

McDavid increased the lead just 5:35 later by knocking in a loose puck sent to the Dallas net by teammate Mattias Ekholm.

Alex Wennberg scored 5:35 into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 2-1 series lead on the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final with a thrilling 5-4 win on Sunday.

Wennberg deflected a shot from teammate Ryan Lindgren past Florida netminder Sergei Bobrovsky to move the President's Trophy-winning Rangers within two victories of the Stanley Cup Final, despite the Panthers recording a 37-23 shot advantage for the game.

New York was able to get another standout performance from Igor Shesterskin, however, as well as two goals each from Alexis Lafreniere and Game 2 hero Barclay Goodrow. Shesterskin made 33 saves to outplay Russian counterpart Bobrovsky, who stopped just 18 of 23 shots. 

Sam Reinhart had a pair of power-play goals for the Atlantic Division-champion Panthers, who trailed 4-2 after two periods before forcing overtime on goals by Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling in the third.

Florida will attempt to even the series when it hosts Game 4 on Tuesday.

The Rangers registered the two lone goals of the second period - a highlight-reel score from Lafreniere and a short-handed tally by Goodrow - to snap a 2-2 tie, but the Panthers roared back with a dominant third period in which they outshot New York by a 13-4 margin.

Barkov tipped in a shot from Carter Verhaeghe 5:04 into the period to get Florida within 4-3. Less than two minutes later, Forsling skated in untouched before ripping a shot by Shesterskin to tie the contest. 

After the series opened with a pair of low-scoring games, each team scored twice during the first period Reinhart began by depositing a backhand into the Rangers' net with Florida on a power play 2:50 in.

Lafreniere and Goodrow scored 25 seconds apart to send the Rangers ahead with under eight minutes elapsed, but Reinhart knocked in another backhander with the Panthers on the power play to forge a 2-2 tie with 5:14 left in the period.

New York regained the lead when Lafreniere split two Florida defenders before slipping a shot under Bobrovsky's pad with 4:37 left in the second. The Panthers had a golden chance to pull even soon afterward, though, when Rangers' defenseman Jacob Trouba was called for a double-minor penalty 2:25 before the second intermission.

Florida failed to control the puck on the ensuing power play, however, and Vincent Trocheck fed Goodrow - who scored the game-winner in New York's 2-1 overtime victory in Game 2 - for a one-timer that extended the lead to 4-2.

Mason Marchment scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Jake Oettinger made it stand up with 28 saves as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 to even the Western Conference final at a game apiece on Saturday night.

Marchment deflected a shot that went through the legs of Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais and bounced on the ice past Stuart Skinner at 3:41 of the final period. It was Marchment’s first goal since the playoff opener on April 22.

Jamie Benn opened the scoring for Dallas 3:39 into the game and Connor Brown answered for Edmonton just 44 seconds later.

Esa Lindell tallied into an empty net with 2:03 remaining.

The series shifts to Edmonton for Game 3 on Monday night.

Stuart Skinner stopped 22 shots as the Oilers were held to fewer than two goals for just the second time in 14 playoff games. The other was a 1-0 win over Los Angeles in Game 4 of the first round.

Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl was held pointless, ending his playoff-opening point streak at 13 games. That was one short of matching Mark Messier’s franchise record set in 1988.

Dallas failed to capitalise on its only power play of the game after going 0 for 5 in Game 1. That extended the Oilers’ streak of 20 penalties killed over six-plus games since giving up a power-play goal in Game 3 of its second-round series against Vancouver.

Barclay Goodrow scored with 5:59 left in overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Friday night, evening the Eastern Conference final at a game apiece.

Goodrow fired a snap shot from between the circles over Sergei Bobrovsky’s right shoulder for his third goal in the last five games.

Vincent Trocheck scored early in the first period and Igor Shesterkin stopped 26 shots as the Rangers avoided losing both home games and now head to Florida for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon with the series tied.

Trocheck’s goal was his seventh of the playoffs and gave him four goals and nine points in seven games this postseason at Madison Square Garden.

Connor McDavid scored 32 seconds into double overtime and the Edmonton Oilers topped the Dallas Stars 3-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.

Evan Bouchard centered a pass into the low slot from the right boards and McDavid deflected it past Jake Oettinger for his third goal of the playoffs.

Game 2 is Saturday night in Dallas.

The Stars went scoreless on three power plays in regulation and failed to capitalize on four minutes with the man advantage after a high-stick penalty against McDavid early in the first overtime.

Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman scored in the second period to stake the Oilers to a 2-0 lead before Tyler Seguin drew the Stars within one les than two minutes later.

Edmonton held the slim lead until Seguin scored again with 3:23 left in regulation.

McDavid nearly won it with about 5:20 left in the first overtime, but his shot was blocked by Oettinger and defenseman Chris Tanev both putting their sticks down to keep the puck out of the net.

Dallas got 35 saves from Oettinger but lost it seventh straight playoff series opener. 

Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

Carter Verhaeghe also scored and Sam Bennett tallied into an empty net as the Panthers won for the fifth time in their last six playoff games.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 shots for the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers, who have lost three of four after opening the playoffs with seven straight wins.

Game 2 is Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Bobrovsky made five saves in the first period, seven in the second and was at his best in the third with 11 more saves to complete his second career postseason shutout.

He denied Kaapo Kakko on a one-timer with a sliding save 6 ½ minutes into the third and stopped Alexander Wennberg on two attempts in close with seven minutes left.

New York had four shots on goal in the first 1:55 of the second period, and then went nearly 14 ½ minutes without one until Adam Fox’s attempt with 3:42 to play.

The New Jersey Devils are hiring former Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe for the same position.

An official announcement will be made on Thursday.

Keefe’s deal with the Devils will be for four years, including the two years owed to him by the Maple Leafs, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Keefe, 43, was fired by Toronto after the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Boston Bruins in seven games.

Keefe led Toronto to the playoffs in each of his four-plus seasons there, but won just one round.  

He takes over a Devils team that fell well short of expectations last season, missing the playoffs after they had 112 points and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23.

Lindy Ruff was fired by New Jersey late this season and was replaced on an interim basis by Travis Green.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said at the end of the season that he would be conducting an extensive coaching search.

The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Craig Berube as their new head coach on Friday, bringing a Stanley Cup champion to a franchise that holds the longest stretch without a title in NHL history.

Berube, who guided the St. Louis Blues to their lone Stanley Cup title in 2018-19, comes aboard just over a week after the Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe following a first-round exit in this year's play-offs.

The 58-year-old Berube, a former Toronto player known for his hard-nosed and disciplined coaching approach, compiled a 206-132-44 record in six seasons with St. Louis. The Blues reached the play-offs in the first four of those seasons, but missed the post-season in 2022-23 and got off to a 13-14-1 start in 2023-24 before Berube was fired on Dec. 12.

Berube did enjoy instant success after replacing Mike Yeo behind the Blues' bench in November 2018. St. Louis was near the bottom of the Western Conference at the time of the switch, but rebounded to make the post-season before winning three play-off series prior to defeating the Boston Bruins in seven games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

He'll now take over a Toronto team that has won just one play-off series since 2006 and last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1968, a 56-year drought that stands as the longest in NHL history.

The Maple Leafs reached the play-offs in all five of their seasons under Keefe, but he won just one of six post-season series and was let go on May 9 after Toronto lost to the rival Bruins in seven games in this year's first round.

"We had gotten to a place where just a new voice was needed," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in announcing Keefe's dismissal. "And that's the unfortunate part of this business. I do not believe that you turn coaches and you keep turning coaches. I don't think that is the recipe for success at all. I just felt at the end of the day, when I look at the totality of his time here, a change was required."

Berube, who also spent two seasons as the Philadelphia Flyers' head coach from 2013-15, inherits a talented roster that produced the second-most goals in the NHL this season. Star centre Auston Matthews led the league with 69 goals, the highest individual total by any player in a season since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux also had 69 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

A rugged forward who spent 17 seasons as an NHL player with five teams, Berube has assembled a 281-190-72 overall record as a head coach and was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award honouring the league's top coach in 2018-19.

Berube's hire leaves four teams - the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets - still with coaching vacancies. The Buffalo Sabres (Lindy Ruff) and Ottawa Senators (Travis Green) previously hired new head coaches within the last month. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have a new voice behind the bench.

The Maple Leafs fired coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday after the team suffered yet another early exit from the NHL Stanley Cup play-offs.

Hired by Toronto in November 2019, Keefe led the Maple Leafs to the play-offs in each of his five seasons at the helm, but the team only advanced out of the first round once.

His firing came five days after Toronto's season ended in the first round with an overtime Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins.

"Today's decision was difficult. Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man; however, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in a statement. "We thank Sheldon for his hard work and dedication to the organisation over the last nine years, and wish him and his family all the very best."

Under Keefe, Toronto amassed a franchise-record 115 points in 2021-22, and the 2020-21 team won the club's first division title since 1999-2000.

Although Keefe coached the Maple Leafs to a 212-97-40 record in the regular season, the team sputtered in the play-offs, going just 16-21.

An Original Six franchise, the Maple Leafs are one of the NHL's most revered clubs, but their futility in the play-offs is galling.

Toronto has won just a single play-off series in the last 19 seasons and hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 56 seasons - the longest active drought by an NHL franchise.

Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist in a four-goal first period and the Vegas Golden Knights extended their point streak to seven games with a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin also scored in the opening period and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven games to pull within three points of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.

Logan Thompson made 27 saves to win his sixth straight start in his 99th career game.

Quinn Hughes scored twice for the Canucks, who have lost three of four but are five points up on the Oilers for first in the Pacific.

Ullmark perfect in Bruins’ win

Linus Ullmark turned away 32 shots and assisted on Charlie Coyle’s short-handed, game-winning goal in the third period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.

David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist apiece to help Boston win for the third time in four games and extend its Atlantic Division lead to four points over Florida.

Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators, who dropped their third in a row following a franchise-record 18-game point streak.

Surging Penguins rally past Devils

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice during the Penguins’ five-goal third period and Pittsburgh remained in the playoff race with a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

The Devils took a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Crosby scored on a power play at 6:48 and Malkin’s first goal of the game just over a minute later tied it.

Rickard Rakell’s goal with 3:44 left put the Penguins ahead and Malkin made it 5-3 32 seconds later. Crosby’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.

Pittsburgh is 4-0-2 in its last six games and had moved within three points of Washington for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Auston Matthews scored two more goals to push his league-leading total to 62, and the Toronto Maple Leafs withstood a third-period rally from the Florida Panthers to hold on for a 6-4 win in a potential first-round play-off matchup on Monday.

Matthews added an assist to help Toronto to its third consecutive victory, which moved the Maple Leafs within four points of Florida for second place in the Atlantic Division. The two teams are currently on course to meet in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals.

Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies each contributed a goal and an assist for Toronto, which built a 5-1 lead after two periods before the Panthers scored three straight goals in the third.

Robertson and Matthews both lit the lamp in the opening period to stake the Leafs to a 2-0 advantage before Florida trimmed the deficit on Brandon Montour's goal 47 seconds into the second.

Toronto responded quickly as Tyler Bertuzzi scored off a Matthews feed just 39 seconds later, and goals by David Kampf and Knies before the end of the period increased the Maple Leafs' cushion to 5-1.

The Panthers pulled goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky at the second intermission after the veteran stopped just 11 of 16 shots.

Florida's offence came to life in the third, as Vladimir Tarasenko redirected Niko Mikkola's shot past Toronto netminder Ilya Samsonov just 2:12 into the period and Sam Reinhart cut the lead to 5-3 with 8:02 left to play on his 52nd goal of the season.

With replacement goaltender Anthony Stolarz pulled for an extra attacker, Sam Bennett brought Florida within one when his wrist shot beat Samsonov with 1:50 remaining. 

The Panthers couldn't come up with the equaliser, though, and Matthews sealed the outcome with an empty-netter with 46 seconds left.

Tarasenko ended with a goal and two assists for Florida, which has lost three of four. Stolarz stopped all six shots he faced in relief.

Samsonov finished with 26 saves.

Crosby, Penguins halt Rangers' win streak

Sidney Crosby led the way with two goals and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins put an end to the New York Rangers' five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory.

Bryan Rust also scored twice to back 28 saves from Alex Nedeljkovic as the Penguins extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2). Pittsburgh currently sits five points out of a play-off spot in the Eastern Conference.

Nedeljkovic made 10 first-period saves and Rust quickly put Pittsburgh ahead by knocking in a rebound of Crosby's shot just 18 seconds into the contest.

Crosby made it a 2-0 lead midway through the opening period and after a scoreless second, Emil Bernstrom converted a breakaway chance 9:51 into the third to increase the Penguins' margin.

The Rangers regrouped to cut their deficit to 3-2 on goals by Kaapo Kakko and Jack Roslovic, the last coming with 3:07 left to play. New York pulled goaltender Igor Shesterkin in the closing stages, but fell further behind as both Rust and Crosby scored into an empty net inside the final 2 1/2 minutes. 

Shesterkin turned aside just 15 of 18 shots to have a three-start winning streak snapped.

Blues continue post-season push with overtime win over Oilers

Brandon Saad scored 2:09 into overtime as the St. Louis Blues continued their late-season push for a play-off spot with a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

Brayden Schenn accounted for both St. Louis goals in regulation to help the Blues improve to 8-2-1 over their last 11 games. The surge has brought St. Louis within three points of the Los Angeles Kings, who were dealt a 4-3 loss by the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, for the Western Conference's final wild-card berth.

The Blues trailed 1-0 after one period, but Jordan Binnington stopped all 13 Edmonton shots in the second and Schenn tied the game with a power-play goal 8:15 into the middle stanza.

Schenn struck again 1:44 into the third before the Oilers drew back even when Leon Draisaitl stuffed a feed from Connor McDavid past Binnington with 5:25 remaining in regulation.

Edmonton committed a costly giveaway in the neutral zone during overtime, though, which led to Saad scoring on a breakaway for his fifth goal in six games.

Mattias Ekholm recorded the Oilers' first goal and added an assist on Draisaitl's 39th tally of the season. 

Binnington ended with 36 saves and Stuart Skinner stopped 26 shots for Edmonton. 

Dakota Joshua scored two goals, including the game-winner with 2:13 left to play, as the Vancouver Canucks bounced back with Sunday's 3-2 victory over the downtrodden Anaheim Ducks.

Arturs Silovs made 20 saves to win his first NHL start in over a year and help Vancouver halt a two-game losing streak as well as extend its lead atop the Pacific Division. The Canucks now own a four-point advantage over the second-place Edmonton Oilers.

The Ducks rallied from a 2-0 deficit on third-period goals from Olen Zellweger and Mason McTavish before ultimately being dealt a fifth consecutive loss and 12th in 13 games.

Silovs, whose last NHL appearance came on March 6, 2023, stopped all 17 shots he faced through the first two periods as the Canucks built a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals. Brock Boeser had the first 11:26 into the first period and Joshua backhanded a close-range shot past Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal midway through the second.

The Ducks then came to life early in the third, as Zellweger and McTavish scored 1:11 apart to even the game less than five minutes into the period. Zellweger's goal was the first of his NHL career.

The score remained 2-2 until Joshua knocked in a behind-the-net pass from Conor Garland with under 2 1/2 minutes left.

Dostal finished with 27 saves for Anaheim.