Thursday's hockey: Washington Township's Martyniuk selected to NTDP U17s

Honeybaked defenseman Tyler Martyniuk of Washington Township was the only player from Michigan selected to join USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.

Twenty-three players will compete next year with the U17 team, including 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.

The players are from 12 different states: Minnesota (8), Illinois (4), California (2), Iowa (1), Massachusetts (1), Michigan (1), New Hampshire (1), North Carolina (1), Oregon (1), Pennsylvania (1), Texas (1) and Wisconsin (1). 

Martyniuk, 15, is a 5-11, 175-pound defenseman who has played the last three years with the Honeybaked hockey program.

Also selected to the U17 team is Little Caesars forward Logan Stuart, the son of former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart.

The 15-year-old Stuart had 48 goals and 37 assists for 85 points in 64 games this year.

Stuart's brother, Jake, has four goals and two assists for six points in 35 games with the NTDP U17s this year.

"We had an extremely deep player pool from which to make our team selection, a huge credit to the youth coaches and grassroots volunteers all across the country," said Detroit native Rod Braceful, the NTDP's director of player personnel.

Thursday's NHL games

Philadelphia 4, (at) N.Y. Rangers 1: Bobby Brink scored the go-ahead goal early in the second period, Samuel Ersson made 24 saves and Philadelphia snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win over New York.

Cam York, Travis Konecny and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers, who were 0-6-2 since defeating Boston at home on March 23. Ryan Poehling added two assists as Philadelphia stayed alive in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Rangers had won seven in a row against the Flyers and were 10-0-1 in their last 11 meetings with Philadelphia. Ersson improved to 22-18-7 while allowing only a goal to Artemi Panarin. The Rangers remained at 53 wins, one shy of a franchise record.

(At) Buffalo 4, Washington 2: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 22 shots and the Buffalo Sabres played the role of playoff spoilers with a 4-2 win over Washington.

Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens, with an empty-netter, scored for the Sabres playing their last home game of the season, and two days after they extended their NHL-record playoff drought to a 13th season following a 3-2 loss at Dallas.

The Capitals dropped to 1-5-2 in their past seven and squandered an opportunity to keep pace in a tightly contested race for the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. Washington, coming off a 2-1 win at Detroit on Tuesday, opened the day holding the eighth spot, with three teams within two points.

Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson had goals for a Capitals team that has not scored three or more goals in its past eighth outings, dating to a 4-3 overtime win over Detroit on March 26.

(At) Florida 4, Columbus 0: Sergei Bobrovsky made 25 saves to tie for the NHL lead with six shutouts, Sam Reinhart scored his 54th goal and Florida defeated Columbus.

Bobrovsky, who has 44 career shutouts, is tied with Arizona’s Connor Ingram and Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry for the most this season.

Matthew Tkachuk, Evan Rodrigues and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored for the Panthers, who moved within a point of the idle Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists after missing Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators to rest.

Jet Greaves stopped 42 shots for the Blue Jackets, who are mathematically locked into the fourth-best odds in the upcoming NHL draft lottery.

(At) Toronto 6, New Jersey 5: Jesper Bratt broke a tie with 1:14 left with his second goal of the game and New Jersey beat Toronto, overcoming Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews’ NHL-leading 67th and 68th goals of the season.

Matthews has the most goals in the NHL since Mario Lemieux had 69 in 1995-96.

Bratt also had an assist, Timo Meier had two goals and an assist, and Erik Haula and Nolan Foote also scored for New Jersey Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. Luke Hughes had two assists.

John Tavares also scored twice for Toronto. David Kampf added a goal, and Ilya Samsonov made 14 saves.

Ottawa 3, (at) Tampa Bay 2 (SO): Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist in regulation and scored the only goal of the shootout as Ottawa beat Tampa Bay.

NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov had two assists for the Lightning to give him 98 this season as he looks to join Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once) and Bobby Orr (once) as the only players with 100 or more assists in a season. The right wing has an eight-game point streak and 141 points this season.

Drake Batherson also scored for the Senators, who have missed the postseason seven consecutive seasons. Anton Forsberg stopped 24 shots.

The Lightning have the first Eastern Conference wild card secured and are five points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division. Toronto lost 6-5 to New Jersey on Thursday night.

(At) N.Y. Islanders 3, Montreal 2 (OT): Kyle Palmieri scored at 1:17 of overtime and New York extended their winning streak to six games with a victory over Montreal.

Pierre Engvall and Casey Cizikas also scored, Semyon Varlamov made 13 saves and the Islanders inched closer to securing a playoff spot. Adam Pelech added two assists for New York, which is in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 89 points – three ahead of Pittsburgh with three games remaining.

Palmieri’s winner was his 28th goal of the season and extended his individual goal streak to four games.

Cole Caufield scored and had an assist and Sam Montembault made 30 saves, but the Canadiens lost for the fourth time in five games.

Winnipeg 3, (at) Dallas 0: Laurent Brossoit stopped 24 shots for his third shutout, David Gustafsson scored on his 24th birthday and Winnipeg beat Dallas.

The Jets won their fifth consecutive game coming off a six-game winless streak and prevented the Stars from clinching the Central Division title.

Instead, Winnipeg avoided a season sweep by Dallas and matched Colorado in second place with 104 points, five behind the Stars.

Dallas has two games remaining, while the Jets and Avalanche each have three. Winnipeg has clinched the tiebreaker against Colorado with a 2-0 season series lead going into the teams’ final meeting Saturday in Denver.

San Jose 3, (at) Seattle 1: Devin Cooley withstood a barrage of shots to make 49 saves in his fourth career start, Kyle Burroughs and Fabian Zetterlund scored less than a minute apart in the second period, and San Jose beat Seattle.

The Sharks spoiled Seattle’s final home game of the season, taking advantage of two defensive breakdowns by the Kraken just 51 seconds apart and a terrific performance by Cooley.

Cooley, who made his debut for the Sharks last month, is a Bay Area native and the first California-born goalie to start for San Jose. He made 34 saves in his last start against St. Louis to pick up his first career victory.

L.A. Kings 4, Calgary 1: Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals and Los Angeles clinched a playoff berth with a victory over Calgary.

Kevin Fiala and Akil Thomas also scored in a workmanlike win for the Kings, who will be in the postseason for the third consecutive spring. Los Angeles lost to Edmonton in the first round in both of the previous trips, and a third straight matchup is possible with the Kings currently sitting third in the Pacific Division behind the second-place Oilers.

Cam Talbot made 23 saves and captain Anze Kopitar had two assists as the Kings opened a four-game homestand to end the regular season under interim coach Jim Hiller. Los Angeles missed the chance to clinch by losing at Anaheim on Tuesday, but quickly got back into form by beating Calgary for its fourth win in five games.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the third period for the Flames, who have lost nine of 11 as they wrap up a non-playoff season.

Playoff tracker

Atlantic

▶ Bruins (107)

▶ Panthers (106)

▶ Maple Leafs (101)

Metropolitan

▶ Rangers (110)

▶ Hurricanes (107)

▶ Islanders (89)

Wild card

▶ Lightning (95)

▶ Penguins (86)

(Top two wild-card teams make the playoffs)

▶ Capitals (85)

▶ Red Wings (85)

▶ Flyers (85)

▶ Sabres (81)

▶ Devils (81)

If playoffs started Friday

Eastern Conference playoff matchups

▶ (1M) Rangers vs. Penguins (WC2)

▶ (A2) Panthers vs. Maple Leafs (A3)

▶ (1A) Bruins vs. Lightning (WC1)

▶ (2M) Hurricanes vs. (3M) Islanders

Remaining games in wild-card race

Islanders (89)

▶ Home (1): Penguins

▶ Away (1): Devils

Capitals (85 points)

▶ Home (2): Lightning, Bruins

▶ Away (1): Flyers

Red Wings (85)

▶ Home (1): Canadiens

▶ Away (2): Leafs, Canadiens

Penguins (85)

▶ Home (2): Bruins, Predators

▶ Away (1): Islanders

Flyers (85 points)

▶ Home (2): Devils, Capitals

▶ Away (0)

Denver 2, Boston University 1 (OT)

St. Paul, Minn. — Tristan Broz scored his second overtime goal of the NCAA Tournament and No. 3 seed Denver beat No. 2 Boston University 2-1 on Thursday night to advance to the national championship game for the first time since winning the title in 2022.

Denver (31-9-3), playing in its 19th Frozen Four, seeks its 10th national title in program history on Saturday – which would break a tie with Michigan for the most in college hockey history. They will face Boston College, which beat Michigan, 4-0, in the other semifinal.

Denver has just two losses since the start of February, going 14-2-1 in the last 17 games.

U.S., Canada advance to semifinals

Alex Carpenter and Abbey Murphy each had two goals, and the United States scored six times in the second period en route to a 10-0 victory over Japan on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the women’s world hockey championships.

Lacey Eden scored 3:59 into the game, and Hilary Knight and Carpenter each added a first-period goal for a 3-0 lead.

The U.S. scored 65 seconds into the second. Plymouth's Kirsten Simms, Murphy and Joy Dunne scored eight minutes apart to make it 6-0. It was Dunne’s first goal with the national team.

Japan changed goaltenders, down 6-0. Miyuu Masuhara came on to replace Riko Kawaguchi – and the two combined to face 48 shots on goal.

Murphy added her second goal with 7:06 remaining in the second. Tessa Janecke, who assisted on Murphy's second goal, and Caroline Harvey scored 34 seconds apart to extend it to 9-0.

Carpenter netted her fifth goal of the tournament in the third. She also had two assists.

The U.S. advances to face Finland on Saturday. Canada plays Czechia, more widely known in English as the Czech Republic, in the other semifinal.

Canada 5, Sweden 1

Renata Fast had two goals and Canada beat Sweden for the 12th straight time.

Canada scored twice in the opening six minutes, including a goal by Fast at 2:25. Laura Stacey’s goal came at 5:29 following a turnover in the Sweden end.

Sweden’s goal came midway through the first on 17-year-old Hilda Svensson’s quick shot under the glove of Emerance Maschmeyer. It was her team-leading fourth goal of the tournament.

Fast got her second goal at 8:11 of the second when her long shot through traffic found the corner to make it 3-1.

Natalie Spooner and Jaime Bourbonnais scored 66 seconds apart in the third.

Hanifin signs 8-year extension with Vegas

Noah Hanifin, a trade deadline acquisition meant to bolster the Golden Knights' blue line, signed an eight-year extension with Vegas on Thursday worth an average of $7.35 million annually.

Hanifin, 27, has two goals and seven assists in 16 games for the Knights. He was acquired from the Flames on March 6, and between the Calgary and Vegas has 44 points in 77 games, just four points off his career high two years ago.

Just an important, Hanifin has made the smooth transition by immediately being placed on the Knights' first defensive pairing.

The play of all three pairings was a major reason the Knights won the Stanley Cup last year, but injuries, illness and inconsistent play has created more uncertainty this season. By signing Hanifin to an extension, it could be a signal the Knights might move on from one or two of their veteran defensemen after this season because of salary cap restraints.

As usual, the Knights were active before the trade deadline, also adding Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks and Anthony Mantha from the Washington Capitals.

Vegas has four games remaining this season, all are at home. The Knights, who are on a three-game losing streak entering Friday's game against the Minnesota Wild, would be the second wild card in the Western Conference at this point. They also are a point behind the Los Angeles Kings for the third spot in the Pacific Division.

Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg to retire

Anaheim Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg says he will retire at the end of the regular season.

The 33-year-old Silfverberg announced the decision on social media Thursday. After starting his NHL career in Ottawa, he has been with the Ducks since 2013, serving as an alternate captain for the past five years.

Silfverberg has 158 goals and 196 assists in his tenure with the Ducks, scoring more goals than anyone on the team since his arrival 11 years ago. He is fifth in franchise history in goals, games played (769) and shots, while ranking third in short-handed goals.

“To spend 11 years in Orange County playing for the Ducks is something I will cherish every day," Silfverberg said in a statement.

Silfverberg was considered one of the NHL's top defensive forwards during his prime, and he was a key contributor to Anaheim teams that made the Western Conference finals in 2015 and 2017.

He was selected to play in the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, although he sat out to attend the birth of his second child. He also made a strong comeback in 2022 after missing the final 23 games of the 2021-22 season because of a blood clot in his right leg.

“He was the ultimate character player for the Ducks, Senators and his native Sweden, leading by example and always putting the team first," Ducks general manager and former Red Wings assistant GM Pat Verbeek said. "His contributions on the ice and in the Orange County community will have a lasting impact.”

Silfverberg has seven goals and 12 assists in 78 games this season for the Ducks, who will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season. Anaheim has three games left, with its home finale Friday against Calgary.

Blackhawks bring up defenseman Del Mastro

The Chicago Blackhawks are taking a closer look at one of their top prospects for at least a couple of days.

Defenseman Ethan Del Mastro was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Thursday. The 21-year-old Del Mastro was selected by Chicago in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL draft.

The Blackhawks (23-50-5) host Nashville on Friday night and play Carolina on Sunday in their home finale.

“We’re hoping he’ll play tomorrow, possibly the home game Sunday and then maybe get him back in the groove in Rockford,” coach Luke Richardson said of Del Mastro. “But it’ll just depend on health here, too.”

Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic missed practice on Thursday in what the team announced as a maintenance day. Connor Murphy, one of the team's top defensemen, is expected to play against the Predators after missing most of the season with a groin injury.

“I feel fully capable of everything I'm doing on the ice,” Murphy said. “There's always going to be a little bit of soreness, I think, but as long as it's not pain, then I'm happy with that.”

Del Mastro has seven goals and 30 assists in 66 games with Rockford. He also was selected for the 2024 AHL All-Star Classic in San Jose.

Michigan-area hockey this week

Thursday

▶ Red Wings at Pittsburgh, 7 (BSD/950)

▶ Michigan vs. Boston College in Minnesota, 8:30 (ESPNU)

Friday

▶ Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7 (AHL/96.1)

▶ NTDP U17s at Youngstown, 7

Saturday

▶ Red Wings at Toronto, 7 (BSD/CBC/97.1)

▶ Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8 (AHL/106.9/1300)

▶ Youngstown at NTDP U17s, 7

Sunday

▶ Grand Rapids at Chicago, 4 (AHL/96.1)

Tuesday

▶ Washington 2, Detroit 1