AVALANCHE F NATHAN MACKINNON WINS FIRST HART TROPHY

USA TODAY Sports 

 Colorado Avalanche star forward Nathan MacKinnon won his first career Hart Memorial Trophy for the NHL's Most Valuable Player on Thursday.

MacKinnon, 28, beat Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the honor, one of five major awards handed out at Thursday night's NHL Awards.

Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks won the Calder Trophy for outstanding rookie, Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks ran away with the Norris Trophy for outstanding defenseman, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won his second Vezina Trophy for the league's top goaltender and MacKinnon also received of the Ted Lindsay Award, voted most outstanding player by his peers in the NHLPA.

MacKinnon was a top-three finalist for the Hart three times (2018, 2020, 2021) before finally breaking through.

"Congrats to Kuch and Connor, it could easily be any of you guys," MacKinnon said in his acceptance speech. "I think everyone knows it was such a toss-up this year. I'd like to thank the writers. I'm truly honored."

In his 11th NHL season, MacKinnon powered Colorado with career highs of 51 goals, 89 assists and 140 points in playing all 82 games.

Bedard, still just 18, lived up to the hype that surrounded him when the Blackhawks selected him No. 1 overall in last year's draft. Despite missing 14 games due to a fractured jaw, he led all rookies in goal (22) and points (61) while tying for first among rookies with 39 assists. His 61 points also led Chicago.

"It's a cool honor, for sure," Bedard said. "There's a lot of people who go into it. Obviously, it's an individual award but it's cool to celebrate it almost with your teammates and family, just with the help they've put toward it."

Bedard had 152 first-place votes, the other 42 going to Minnesota's Brock Faber. New Jersey's Luke Hughes took third.

Hughes, 24, set career highs with 17 goals, 75 assists and 92 points while playing in all 82 games for Vancouver. He became the first member of the Canucks to win the award.

"It's surreal and probably hasn't sunk in yet," Hughes said. "It was a great season for me and for our team. Took a lot of steps forward individually and as a group, so really proud of the year."

Hughes won 172 of 194 first-place votes. Roman Josi of Nashville and Cale Makar of Colorado finished a distant second and third in voting, respectively.

Hellebuyck, 31, also won the Vezina in 2020. He went 37-19-4 with a 2.39 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and five shutouts in 60 games. He also won the William M. Jennings Trophy, presented to the qualifying goalie for allowing the fewest goals during the regular season.

"I think we made really big strides this year," Hellebuyck said of the Jets. "We changed our identity a little bit and we brought a solid, winning philosophy to Winnipeg, and I think our fans and I think our team bought in. And just that all-around buy-in, I'm pretty proud of that."

Hellebuyck beat Vancouver's Thatcher Demko and Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky, who placed second and third, respectively, in voting.

- Reuters 

OILERS LOOK TO STAVE OFF ELIMINATION IN GAME 4 VS. PANTHERS

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 The Florida Panthers can raise their first Stanley Cup in team history with a win against the host Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 on Saturday night.

The Panthers didn't come close in their previous two Stanley Cup final appearances, getting swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and losing in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights last season.

Florida's now in position to post the first finals sweep since the Detroit Red Wings ran over the Washington Capitals in 1998.

"It's there for us, but you don't think about it," Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said after his team's 4-3 win in Game 3 on Thursday night. "You can't think about it. All we have to do is just take, like, one moment at a time. .... (Friday), we need to recover and get ready for the game. That's about it. We never think too much ahead."

In the Edmonton dressing room, the Oilers are trying to figure out how they've gone from being in position to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, to the first Canadian team trying to avoid getting swept since the Oilers in 1983.

Only one NHL has overcome a 3-0 deficit to win the Stanley Cup, the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942.

"It is disappointing being down 3-0," Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner said. "I'm not too sure what the stats are coming back on it, but if anyone can do it, it's the Oil."

Edmonton's dire situation isn't for lack of opportunities. The Oilers outshot the Panthers 35-23 in Game 3 and 32-17 in the 3-0 loss in Game 1.

"We're firing a lot of shots, we just can't seem to put it over the goal line," Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. "We're not sustaining enough pressure."

The leading scorers for Edmonton have been mostly silent.

Draisaitl, who was seventh in the NHL in points during the regular season and is second in the postseason, hasn't produced a point in the finals. Zach Hyman, who scored 54 goals during the regular season, hasn't scored either.

Superstar captain Connor McDavid has three assists, but no goals in the series.

"We can't score on the outside on these guys," McDavid said. "We have to get to the middle."

Florida forward Sam Bennett said slowing down the Edmonton offense has been a team effort.

"Every single guy is committed to playing that defense first and that system of coming back supporting each other," Bennett said. "That's what you need to have success. It's really been just a full commitment from the entire group."

The big guns for the Panthers, meanwhile, have been doing their damage in the series.

Sam Reinhart, who scored 57 goals during the regular season, has a goal and two assists against Edmonton -- including one of each in the Game 3 win.

Barkov had a goal and an assist in the last game after producing two assists in Game 1. He did not play the final 9:28 of Game 2 after taking a hit from Draisaitl.

"I can't say enough good things about the guy," Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said of Barkov. "Just plays the game the right way. Everything about him. He's just down to earth. The best human being. He's our leader. He's our leader for a reason."

- Reuters 

NHL ROUNDUP: VALERI NICHUSHKIN, AVS DOWN BRUINS IN SHOOTOUT

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Valeri Nichushkin scored in a shootout, Sam Malinski, Mikko Rantanen and Logan O'Connor had goals and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 in Denver on Monday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his home point streak to 22 games to begin the season and Alexandar Georgiev had 23 saves through overtime and three in the shootout for Colorado.

Brad Marchand scored two goals, John Beecher also had a goal and Jeremy Swayman turned away 33 shots for Boston.

After the three shooters for the Bruins couldn't score and MacKinnon and Rantanen came up empty, Nichushkin ended the game with a wrister under Swayman's glove to win it for the Avalanche.

Stars 4, Wild 0

Matt Murray made 23 saves in his season debut and recorded his first NHL shutout in his fourth career start to help Dallas to a win over Minnesota in Saint Paul, Minn.

Tyler Seguin and Roope Hintz each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who ended a season-long three-game losing streak. Radek Faksa and Jason Robertson also scored for Dallas.

Minnesota goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was denied the 552nd victory of his NHL career, which would have moved him past Patrick Roy for sole possession of second place for the most wins by a goalie in league history. Fleury made 16 saves.

COLORADO AVALANCHE FULL STANLEY CUP PRESENTATION CEREMONY