Wednesday's hockey: Berggren, Cossa named top two stars in Griffins' victory
Jonatan Berggren scored the winning goal and Sebastian Cossa made 22 saves in the Grand Rapids Griffins' 3-1 victory against the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
Trailing 1-0 in the third period, Zach Auston-Reese tied the game, Berggren scored the go-ahead goal and Austin Czarnik added an empty-net goal for the Griffins, who've won three straight games with three-straight, third-period comebacks.
Cossa has now won four of his last five games while going 5-2-1 in his last eight games while Berggren has a four-game scoring streak with two goals and two assists.
Czarnik's goal marked his 100th goal in the AHL. Since returning from Detroit, he has 10 points (2+8=10) in nine games with the Griffins, who will face the Belleville Senators on Friday and Saturday, both games starting at 7 p.m.
Wednesday's NHL games
St. Louis 4, (at) Vancouver 3 (OT): Brayden Schenn scored at 1:54 of overtime to lift St. Louis past Vancouver.
Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist for St. Louis. Alexey Toropchenko and Pavel Buchnevich also scored and Joel Hofer made 29 saves.
Ex-Red Wing Pius Suter had his second career hat trick for Vancouver, scoring three times in the third period to push the game into overtime. He tied it with 52 seconds remaining in regulation.
Buffalo 5, (at) Los Angeles 3: JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist, Alex Tuch scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Buffalo rallied to beat Los Angeles.
Jack Quinn had a goal and two assists and Dylan Cozens had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who trailed 3-1 midway through the first period. Devon Levi stopped 37 shots in Buffalo’s first victory this season when trailing by at least two goals after the first period.
Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for Los Angeles.
(At) Seattle 5, Chicago 2: Jared McCann scored his 19th goal of the season early in the first period, Joey Daccord made 34 saves and Seattle handed Chicago its 18th straight road loss.
Tomas Tatar scored twice to help Seattle snapped a four-game losing streak. Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev also scored.
Joey Anderson and Nick Foligno scored for Chicago. The Blackhawks are tied for the fourth-longest single-season streak in NHL history, along with Pittsburgh (1982-83), Quebec (1989-90) and San Jose (1992-93).
Carolina 3, (at) Boston 2: Jordan Martinook snapped a tie on a breakaway with 2 1/2 minutes left, Spencer Martin stopped 25 shots and the Hurricanes ended the Bruins’ winning streak at six games.
Brad Marchand scored two third-period goals to tie Ray Bourque on the Bruins’ career list as Boston rallied from a two-goal deficit. But Martinook took a feed from Martin Necas and wristed the puck through Linus Ullmark’s legs for the lead.
Necas and Teuvo Teravainen also scored for the Hurricanes, giving them a 2-0 advantage after two periods.
Marchand has 395 goals – all with Boston. Bourque, the Hall of Fame defenseman, scored 395 of his 410 career goals with the Bruins.
(At) Florida 6, Arizona 2: Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and Florida beat Arizona in a game that started with fights off the first two faceoffs.
Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell and Jonah Gadjovich also scored for the Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves. Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley scored for the Coyotes.
The game kicked off with the two fights in the first seven seconds, first between Ryan Lomberg and Jack McBain, then Gadjovich and Liam O’Brien.
Players from both sides met at center ice during pre-game warmups prior to the game, with the Panthers contingent unhappy after Arizona forward Jason Zucker left Florida forward Nick Cousins with a concussion after hitting him from behind in the last meeting between the two teams Jan. 2.
(At) Toronto 1, Winnipeg 0 (OT): Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 39th goal at 4:13 of overtime to lift Toronto past Winnipeg in the opener of a home-and-home set.
Matthews took a pass from Morgan Rielly at the lip of the crease and redirected the puck past goalie Laurent Brossoit. Ilya Samsonov made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Brossoit stopped 29 shots. Winnipeg has lost two straight for the first time since late November. The Jets fell 4-1 in Boston on Monday night.
(At) Colorado 6, Washington 2: Nathan MacKinnon scored three of his four goals consecutively in the second period for a natural hat trick and added an assist.
MacKinnon, the NHL scoring leader with 82 points, had his second four-goal game of the season and eighth career hat trick. He ran his home points streak to 24 to break a tie with Joe Sakic for the franchise record.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and four assists for his first five-point game, Cale Makar set the franchise record for goals by a defenseman with his 76th and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves.
Charlie Lindgren stopped 27 shots and Dylan Strome had two goals for Washington, The Capitals have lost three straight, falling 5-3 at Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Five NHL players take leave of absence
Five players from Canada's 2018 world junior team have taken a leave of absence from their current clubs in recent days amid a report that five members of that team have been asked to surrender to police to face sexual assault charges.
NHL players Michael McLeod and Cal Foote of the New Jersey Devils, Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers, Dillon Dube of the Calgary Flames and former NHL player Alex Formenton, who is now with a team in Europe, all have been granted indefinite leave, with the absences announced over the past four days.
The Flyers and Swiss club HC Ambri-Piotta cited personal reasons for Hart's and Formenton's leaves; the Swiss club also said Formenton has been allowed to return to Canada. The Flames cited Dube's mental health, and the Devils did not give a reason Wednesday in announcing McLeod and Foote were on leave.
Messages left for the agents representing all five players and multiple messages sent to Hart's lawyer seeking comment were not immediately returned. The NHL Players' Association declined to comment.
London, Ontario, police launched an investigation in 2022 after word emerged that Hockey Canada had settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by eight members of that gold medal-winning team at a gala. The Globe & Mail, citing unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that five players from that team were asked to surrender to police in the city halfway between Toronto and Detroit to face charges of sexual assault.
A spokesperson for London Police would not confirm the report when contacted by The Associated Press. “When there is an update to provide, we will share with media outlets,” Sgt. Sandasha Bough said Wednesday.
London Police announced Wednesday they would be holding a news conference on Feb. 5 to share further details “in relation to a sexual assault investigation dating back to 2018.”
Earlier in the day, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere opened his midseason state-of-the-organization news conference by saying: "We are aware of this morning’s press reports on a very serious matter. We will respond appropriately when the outcomes of the investigations are made public.
“The NHL has been very clear that teams should refer all investigation-related questions to them. In the meantime, members of the organization, including Flyers players, will not be commenting any further. That's all we can say at the moment, unfortunately."
The NHL opened its own investigation in 2022 and pledged to make those findings public.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press by email Wednesday the league would issue a statement when it is appropriate, adding there's nothing more he could currently say. At the Stanley Cup Final in June, Daly said an independent investigator had completed work and he expected a report by midsummer that the league would then review.
“We have been in contact with the London police, continue to want to be in contact with them, make sure that there’s visibility with respect to what our process is,” Daly said June 3. “And to the extent we can understand what theirs is, that would be the goal. And then I can’t prejudge what happens from there."
The Flyers announced Hart's leave of absence Tuesday in the aftermath of the 25-year-old coming off one of his worst starts of an otherwise strong season when he allowed five goals on 15 shots in a loss to Colorado before being pulled. Briere said he did not know if the situation contributed to Hart's recent play in any way. The Flyers will face the Red Wings on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
“I really can’t tell because we don’t know anything,” Briere said. “We’re not aware of anything. I think there’s a lot of speculation. That’s all we know.”
Asked after practice in Newark, New Jersey, if the absences of McLeod and Foote were related to the report, Devils coach Lindy Ruff said: “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
The Flames, in their Sunday announcement, about Dube said, "Dillon is under the care of health professionals, and we request that Dillon’s privacy is respected during this period.”
Formenton, 24, was a 2017 second-round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, who did not re-sign him in 2022 after his contract expired, despite holding his rights. He has played in Switzerland's National League A since.
It was not immediately clear if or when the NHL would release the findings of its investigation or what punishments may come out of it for any players involved. There was also no clarity on the three other players alleged to be involved.
Hockey Canada has made wholesale changes after a scathing independent report and lost major sponsors in the nearly two years since this and other scandals emerged. CEO Scott Smith was ousted and the board of directors also resigned in October 2022, related to how Hockey Canada handled sexual assault allegations and how it paid out settlements.
Nike last year permanently ended its partnership with the organization after earlier pausing it, along with other sponsors, given the heavy criticism of Hockey Canada leadership.
Hawks sign ex-Wings goalie Mrazek
Chicago — The Chicago Blackhawks announced another two-year contract on Wednesday, agreeing to an extension with former Red Wings goalie Peter Mrazek.
Mrazek's new deal runs through the 2025-26 season and carries a salary-cap hit of $4.25 million. He is 12-17-1 with a .907 save percentage and 3.01 goals-against average ahead of Wednesday night's game at Seattle.
“Petr is a strong goaltender who continues to display the athleticism and calming style of play that has made him so successful in this League,” Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said in a release. “He’s had an immense impact within our group, and we’re excited to have Petr back."
The rebuilding Blackhawks have been one of the NHL's worst teams this season, but they have handed out three similar contracts to veteran players since Jan. 12. Nick Foligno agreed to a two-year deal with a $4.5 million salary-cap hit, and fellow forward Jason Dickinson received a two-year contract with an average annual value of $4.25 million.
The contracts for Mrazek, Foligno and Dickinson could make for a quiet NHL trade deadline for Chicago, which is already flush with draft capital and prospects. The Blackhawks have plenty of cap space, so they could take on a bad contract in a trade with a contending team.
Mrazek, who turns 32 on Feb. 14, was acquired by Chicago in a July 2022 trade with Toronto. He went 10-22-3 with a 3.66 GAA and .894 save percentage in his first season with the Blackhawks.
Mrazek was a fifth-round pick in the 2010 draft and made his NHL debut with Detroit in 2013. He is 162-141-35 with 25 shutouts, a 2.78 GAA and a .907 save percentage in 366 career regular-season games.
Michigan-area hockey this week
Wednesday
▶ Grand Rapids 3, Rockford 1
Thursday
▶ Philadelphia at Red Wings, 7 (BSD/97.1)
▶ Niagara University at NTDP U18s, 7
Friday
▶ Belleville at Grand Rapids, 7 (AHL/106.9/1300)
▶ Wisconsin at Michigan, 7 (Big Ten)
▶ Minnesota at Michigan State, 6 (Big Ten+/730)
▶ Youngstown at NTDP U17s, 7
▶ Colorado College at Western Michigan, 7
▶ Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Minnesota State, 8
▶ Ferris State at Augustana, 8
Saturday
▶ Vegas at Red Wings, 8 (BSD/97.1)
▶ Belleville at Grand Rapids, 7 (AHL/106.9/1300)
▶ Wisconsin at Michigan, 7 (Big Ten)
▶ Minnesota at Michigan State, 4 (Big Ten+/1240)
▶ University of St. Thomas at NTDP U18s, 7
▶ NTDP U17s at Youngstown, 7
▶ Colorado College at Western Michigan, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State, 6
▶ Northern Michigan at Minnesota State, 7
▶ Ferris State at Augustana, 7
Tuesday
▶ Dallas 5, Red Wings 4