LOS ANGELES — The Kings were about to file onto the ice at their practice facility in El Segundo when the first embers of what would become one of the most destructive wildfires in U.S. history began to blow in Pacific Palisades.

That was on the morning of Jan. 7. Less than 24 hours later, with eight other fires burning throughout Southern ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — The date was June 30, 2013. The site was the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and Penguins scout Scott Bell was in no position to brag about the third-round pick he’d just lobbied for.

Not yet, anyway.

That is because fellow Minnesotan Jake Guentzel, taken 77th overall, was roughly the size of a field mouse. Bell’s buddies...Read more

ANAHEIM, Calif. — There is plenty of potential drama in the coming days for the Colorado Avalanche, but the message for Game No. 82 was pretty simple.

When the Avs hit the ice Sunday night at Honda Center to face the Anaheim Ducks, they already knew what lay ahead — a first-round blockbuster Stanley Cup Playoffs series with the Dallas Stars...Read more

The San Jose Sharks had one final chance to play spoiler on Sunday night and end the already precarious playoff hopes of the Calgary Flames.

But with the game tied in the third period, the Sharks allowed even-strength goals to forwards Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato in a 5-2 loss to the Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Sharangovich ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes have played their last home game of the regular season.

The next time they’re on home ice, the stakes will be decidedly higher, the game a lot more intense.

Still, there was incentive to win Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. A victory would have been the Canes’ record 32nd at home, topping ...Read more

The Boston Bruins could have secured finishing with the fourth worst record in the NHL with a regulation loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday. David Pastrnak, however, has shown no desire to help the B’s drafting position.

The B’s superstar picked up two more assists for his fifth straight multiple-point game, Fabian Lysell scored his first NHL ...Read more

Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators had the feel of a throwaway end-of-the-season contest even before the puck dropped at Canadian Tire Centre just after lunchtime.

In Game 80 of 82 for both teams, the afternoon started with lineup questions aplenty, as uncertainty surrounded Ottawa’s lineup as it prepares for ...Read more

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Minnesota Wild still haven’t clinched a playoff spot, but they’re getting closer.

Their 3-2 overtime rally over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena lifted them to 95 points, one ahead of the St. Louis Blues and five in front of the Calgary Flames in the battle for the two Western ...Read more

SEATTLE — Kraken 4, Blues 3, SO at Climate Pledge Arena

Notable: There were plusses and negatives on Saturday night, but the fans went home happy. In their second-to-last game of the season, the Kraken picked up a pair of standings points that could hurt their draft placement and prevailed in a seven-round shootout.

The Kraken’s Finnish ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers’ long shot home ice hopes have extended into the final week of the NHL season because their backup goalie played like a top-flight starter Saturday and their unconventional shootout lineup did just enough to eke out the team’s third win in a row.

The No. 1 reason the Panthers survived the Buffalo ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Success, in Carolina Hurricanes parlance, is often defined as “2006.” That season — the end of which resulted in the Canes’ lone Stanley Cup championship — has been the measure by which all subsequent seasons have been judged.

There were, after another run in 2009, the “dark times,” also known as “BB” — ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — There’s a faction of Flyers fans out there who want the team to lose games down the stretch, and look, it’s not entirely misguided.

But when the team’s young players start putting it together the way the Flyers did on Saturday, how can you be mad about the results?

“We’re still trying to work on our our own games, ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — For a little more than four weeks, Aaron Ekblad had to be away from the Florida Panthers.

That’s part of the punishment that came with the defenseman’s 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL and NHL Players Association’s performance enhancing substances program, which came via a failed random drug test.

...Read more

After an awful start at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Friday, the Penguins stabilized then rallied to earn a 4-2 win over the playoff-bound New Jersey Devils.

Sidney Crosby scored the winner after the Penguins erased a multi-goal deficit.

From one knee, the captain steered a slap pass from Bryan Rust into an open cage with 6:39 left in...Read more