Wednesday's hockey: Three Spartans, two Wolverines finalists for Big Ten awards
The Michigan State Spartans are the only team to have finalists in each of the five major categories for Big Ten postseason awards, which will be announced on March 19.
The group is headlined by freshman Artyom Levshunov, who is one of three finalists for the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year awards.
South Lyon's Trey Augustine is a finalist for Goaltender of the Year, and Adam Nightingale is a finalist for Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Michigan has two players named finalists for Big Ten awards. Sophomores Gavin Brindley is up for Player of the Year and Seamus Casey is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
Levshunov, a top-five ranked prospect for the 2024 NHL Draft, averages just below a point per game (9-23-32, 34 GP), and is tied for 10th in the country and atop the B1G with a plus-24 rating.
Augustine, a second-round draft pick of the Red Wings in 2023, has started 31 games this season, with a .917 save percentage (fourth B1G), 2.92 GAA (fifth B1G), and 20-8-2 record.
Nightingale's two-year record is 40-27-5, the second-most wins for any coach in program history over their first two years. Rick Comley won 46 games in his first two seasons, Tom Anastos 33, and Ron Mason 26.
Brindley leads the league in scoring with a league-high 23 goals and adds 27 assists for 50 points. He is tied as the conference's leading scorer, along with his teammate Rutger McGroarty.
Casey is tied as the nation's leading scoring defensemen with 43 points and is the only Big Ten defenseman with 40+ points.
Big Ten hockey awards finalists
▶ Player of the Year: Gavin Brindley, F, MICH, Artyom Levshunov, D, MSU, Kyle McClellan, G, WIS
▶ Defensive Player of the Year: Seamus Casey, D, MICH, Artyom Levshunov, D, MSU, Owen Lindmark, F, WIS
▶ Goaltender of the Year: Trey Augustine, MSU, Ryan Bischel, ND, Kyle McClellan, WIS
▶ Freshman of the Year: Artyom Levshunov, D, MSU, Sam Rinzel, D, MINN, Aiden Fink, F, PSU
▶ Coach of the Year: Adam Nightingale, MSU, Bob Motzko, MINN, Mike Hastings, WIS
PWHL: Minnesota 4, Boston 0
Boston was blanked, 4-0, in Minnesota on Wednesday and will head to Detroit to face Ottawa in Saturday's Professional Women's Hockey League game at Little Caesars Arena (6 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit).
Megan Keller (Farmington) and Shiann Darkangelo (Brighton) had three shots each and Taylor Girard (Macomb) added one shot for Boston.
Wednesday's NHL games
(At) St. Louis 3, L.A. Kings 1: Jordan Binnington made 40 saves and the Blues beat the Kings in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Alexey Toropchenko, Jake Neighbours and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who kicked off a four-game home stand.
Adrian Kempe scored the Kings' goal and Cam Talbot made 27 saves as Los Angeles lost for the third time in five games.
The win moved St. Louis within six points of idle Vegas for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Blues have 16 games remaining, while the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights have 17 left.
Nashville 4, (at) Winnipeg 2: Ex-Red Wing Gustav Nyquist had a goal and an assist and the Predators extended their points streak to 13 games.
Jason Zucker, Filip Forsberg and Kiefer Sherwood also scored for the Predators, who have gone 11-0-2 in their last 13 contests. Roman Josi had two assists and Juuse Saros made 27 saves.
Alex Iafallo and Mason Appleton scored for the Jets. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 34-of-38 shots for Winnipeg.
Blues beat Kings 3-1
By The Associated Press
Eds: UPDATES: Updates Media.
ST. LOUIS – Jordan Binnington made 40 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1 on Wednesday night in a key game in the race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Alexey Toropchenko, Jake Neighbours and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who kicked off a four-game home stand.
Adrian Kempe scored the Kings’ goal and Cam Talbot made 27 saves as Los Angeles lost for the third time in five games.
(At) Edmonton 7, Washington 2: Zach Hyman (Michigan) had a natural hat trick and the Oilers rolled to a 7-2 victory over the Capitals.
Leon Draisaitl had a power-play goal and three assists for the Oilers, who have won two in a row and are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.
Connor McDavid had a power-play goal and two assists for Edmonton, while Warren Foegele and Connor Brown also scored. Stuart Skinner made 23 saves.
Ivan Miroshnichenko and Connor McMichael scored for the Capitals and Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots.
Colorado 4, (at) Vancouver 3 (OT): Valeri Nichushkin scored 30 seconds into overtime and the Avalanche erased a three-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory over the Canucks.
Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who have won five straight. Ross Colton also scored and Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves.
Nikita Zadorov and J.T. Miller each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, whose four-game winning streak was snapped. Ilya Mikheyev also had a goal and Casey DeSmith stopped 30 of 34 shots for Vancouver filling in for the injured Thatcher Demko.
Playoff tracker
Atlantic
▶ Panthers (94)
▶ Bruins (91)
▶ Maple Leafs (82)
Metropolitan
▶ Rangers (90)
▶ Hurricanes (84)
▶ Flyers (76)
Wild card
▶ Lightning (74)
▶ Islanders (72)
(Top two wild-card teams make the playoffs)
▶ Red Wings (72)
▶ Capitals (69)
▶ Sabres (67)
▶ Devils (66)
▶ Pittsburgh (65)
Michigan-area hockey this week
Thursday
▶ Arizona at Red Wings, 7 (BSD/97.1)
Friday
▶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 7 (AHL/106.9/1300)
▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 8:30
▶ Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7
Saturday
▶ St. Louis at Red Wings, 12:30 (NHL/BSD/97.1)
▶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 8 (AHL/106.9/1300)
▶ Michigan State at Ohio State, 6:30 (Big Ten/1240)
▶ Michigan at Minnesota, 8 (Big Ten)
▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7
▶ Minnesota State at Michigan Tech, 5
▶ Cedar Rapids at NTDP U18, 7
Sunday
▶ Red Wings at Pittsburgh, 6 (NHL/BSD/97.1)
▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7 (if necessary)
Tuesday
▶ Buffalo 7, Red Wings 3
▶ Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)