National Hockey

TORONTO — Excited hockey fans are expected to pack bars and the streets around Toronto's Scotiabank Arena today as the Maple Leafs begin their second-round NHL playoff series against the Florida Panthers.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils surprised a lot of hockey experts this past season in going from an NHL also-ran to one of the top teams in the league.

Chaos is usually the name of the game in the first round of the NHL playoffs, with eight series rolling and plenty of upsets. This year was no different.

DALLAS (AP) — Joe Pavelski was on the ice with the second line Monday for the Dallas Stars, who are getting ready to play a second-year team in the second round of the NHL playoffs. “It's a big piece we got back,” forward Jason Robertson said.

CALGARY — The Calgary Flames started the 2022-23 season making a long-term commitment to head coach Darryl Sutter, and ended it looking for a different voice behind the bench.

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — There appears to be celebrity interest in buying the Ottawa Senators, the National Hockey League team for sale in Canada's capital city.

TORONTO — The Presidents' Trophy winners are out. The reigning Stanley Cup champions have gone home too.

BOSTON (AP) — The Presidents’ Trophy curse was too strong — even for a team coming off the best regular season in NHL history.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — There was a time in Paul Maurice’s coaching career when he wanted his teams to immediately move on after a big win and start thinking about the next challenge. Not now.

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Nikita Chibrikov to a three-year, entry-level contract worth US$925,000 a year at the NHL level.