DENVER —

Looking like by far the better team against the defending champions, the Colorado Avalanche overwhelmed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Valeri Nichushkin scored his seventh and eighth goals of the playoffs and continued to be the best player on the ice in the final, Game 1 overtime hero Andre Burakovsky beat Andrei Vasilevskiy again and even defensive defenseman Josh Manson and 35-year-old grinder Darren Helm got in on the fun with a goal apiece. Playoff MVP front-runner Cale Makar scored twice in the third period, inciting chants of "We want the Cup!” from a fired up crowd.

Rarely have the Lightning been completely outclassed during this run of postseason success, but they also hadn't faced an opponent like the Avalanche, who forced them into one uncharacteristic mistake after another. Colorado was dominant in every facet of the game to move two victories away from the franchise's first title since 2001 and the first by this core led by Nathan MacKinnon.

The Avalanche go to Tampa for Game 3 on Monday night up in the series despite no goals in the series from MacKinnon. They still became just the third team in NHL history to score three-plus goals in the first period of Games 1 and 2 in the final.

The dominant performance started by pouncing on an early mistake by typically reliable Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak when he bobbled the puck at the blue line on one of the game's first shifts. It was all Avalanche after that.

Their aggressive forecheck led them to draw a penalty on veteran Ryan McDonagh, score on the ensuing power play when Burakovsky fed Nichushkin for his first of the night. It wasn't his last, and Colorado poured it on with six of the game's first seven shots and complete territorial domination with much of the game played in the Tampa Bay end.

With Vasilevskiy — whose play was the key to the Lightning's incredible ability to bounce back after a loss in the playoffs — looking shaky and even dropping his head after letting Makar beat him clean on one of many 2-on-1 rushes, the Avalanche made the most of all their offensive zone time. The highest-scoring team this postseason put on a clinic against the team that has played more hockey than anyone else over the past two years.

That may finally be taking its toll, and it's exacerbated by the blazing speed with which the Avalanche play. They again not only outskated the Lightning but used quick feet to force errors that turned into goals.

Tampa Bay fell to 18-2 after a loss since the start of the first round in 2020. The streak of 18 in a row ended in the Eastern Conference final against the New York Rangers when the Lightning fell behind 2-0 before roaring back, though it's hard to see seasoned Colorado fall into the same trap.

Even if players brush off the concept of momentum from game to game during a playoff series, their romp over the champs combined with a 7-0 road record should fill the Avalanche with confidence. But they might again need to dip into their pool of depth because of injuries.

After getting Andrew Cogliano back from missing the season opener with a right finger injury, the Avalanche lost Burakovsky again in the second period. Burakovsky blocked a shot in the first game in the West final and has been playing through pain since.

Colorado is inflicting plenty of pain on Tampa Bay, which resorted to some rough stuff after falling behind. Of course, even MacKinnon was throwing hits in the third period despite the game being out of hand.

Darcy Kuemper was barely tested in net for Colorado, picking up the shutout with 17 saves.

LAS VEGAS —

The Golden Knights delivered their city a true Vegas-style party from dazzling passes to Mark Stone's hat trick to all-out goal celebrations, capturing the young organization's first Stanley Cup with a 9-3 romp over the beaten-up and exhausted Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Coach Bruce Cassidy, in a nod to the Knights' brief history, started five of the original Vegas players known as the Misfits and put the sixth on the second shift. Cassidy sounded confident the day before the game that his team would play well, and it certainly did, blowing open a one-goal game in the second period to lead 6-1. The nine goals tied the record for the most in a Cup Final.

“Vegas, you certainly know how to throw a party," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the crowd. "What’s going on inside this arena and outside is incredible and a testament to what a great hockey market this is.

“What has happened here has been simply incredible. Not only is Vegas a hockey town, it’s a championship town.”

Vegas closed out the series in five games to win the cup before a delirious franchise-record crowd of 19,058 at T-Mobile Arena that drowned out the pregame introductions of forward Jonathan Marchessault and goalie Adin Hill and cheered all the way through the final buzzer.

Marchessault, who ended the postseason with a 10-game points streak, received the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, our organization," Marchessault said. "Everybody stepped up at different times and that’s why we’re winners.”

Stone's hat trick — with the third into an empty net with 5:54 left — was the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 1996, also against the Panthers.

The Knights got the rest of their scoring from Nic Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy. Martinez's goal in the second period came nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to give the Los Angeles Kings' the cup.

Hill came through with another strong performance that has quickly made him a Knights fan favorite, even earning “MVP! MVP!” chants in the third period. Jack Eichel, the eight-year pro playing in his first postseason, had three assists.

“This is what everyone dreams of," Eichel said. "You come to an organization like this and the expectation is to win this thing. It’s a special place to play. I can’t give everyone enough credit for putting us in this position.

“They call ’em the misfits, those are the guys, they built this. They built this culture. So proud to be a part of it.”

As captain, Stone was the first to lift the cup before handing it over to the six Misfits to each get their turn skating with the trophy before handing it down the line to the rest of the team.

“Unbelievable,” Stone said. “The look in my teammates eyes when I got it, one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It’s everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind and you grind and you grind.”

Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was overwhelmed in another tough performance against Vegas after carrying Florida to the final. Missing from the lineup was Matthew Tkachuk, the king of game-winning shots during the playoffs but never the same after crushing blow to his shoulder by Vegas' Keegan Kolesar in Game 3.

The Knights have set the standard of what an expansion franchise should look like, making the Cup Final in their first season and the playoffs in every year but one. Six players remain from the initial 2017-18 team that lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in the final.

Those players watched the Capitals skate with the Stanley Cup that night, and then they got the chance to do the same Tuesday to fulfill owner Bill Foley’s quest to win the championship in the sixth year.

“We waited a long time for that moment to come back.” Marchessault said. “We wanted to make sure we cash in this time."

By creating such a lofty standard at the outset, the Knights played with high expectations, but repeatedly fell short despite four runs to at least the NHL semifinals – until Game 5 against the Panthers.

This is Las Vegas’ second pro title in nine months – the Aces claimed the WNBA championship in September – and continues the stunning growth of a sports market that was limited largely to prize fights, UNLV athletics, NASCAR and lots of golf before the Golden Knights took the city by storm. The Raiders began playing here in 2020, the Oakland Athletics appear headed to the desert, Las Vegas will host a Formula One race this year and the Super Bowl will be at Allegiant Stadium in February.

As for the Knights, their connection to Las Vegas was sealed ever since the shooting Oct. 1, 2017 that took 60 lives. They played an integral role in helping the city heal, reaching out to the community off the ice and winning big on it.

Beating Florida justified the many moves Knights management made to remake the roster over the years. Stone, Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo are the most notable players Vegas has acquired to get to this moment.

And Cassidy, hired a week after getting fired by the Boston Bruins last year, proved to be the coach to get them there.

“He came in, brought an intensity to our locker room that maybe we needed,” Stone said. “He wanted to win as badly as anybody else in that locker room.”

Cassidy seemingly pushing all the right buttons in helping Vegas become the Western Conference’s top seed and then the NHL’s champion.

“It’s a great story — very, very grateful to get another opportunity," Cassidy said. "I’m just here to do my job and it worked out well.”

The Knights also won with an unlikely goalie in Hill, who was injured when the playoffs began. Laurent Brossoit was the starter until going out with an injury in Game 3 of the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, and then Hill got his chance.

“You dream about it every day growing up as a child.” Hill said. “To be here with this group of guys, in this city, in this building, is a dream come true.”

The National Hockey League has released a statement formally condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The league shared the message on Twitter writing that the NHL is "concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL Clubs, and not on behalf of Russia."

The statement went on to say that the NHL "urges a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible." The NHL said that the organization has suspended its relationship with business partners in Russia and said "we are pausing our Russian language social and digital media sites. In addition, we are discontinuing any consideration of Russia as a location for any future competitions involving the NHL."

On Friday, Russian-born NHL player Alex Ovechkin said, "I have lots of friends in Russia and Ukraine. And, it's hard to see another war. I hope it's soon going to be over and there's going to be peace in the whole world," CNN reported.

And on Saturday, NHL great Wayne Gretzky said, "I think international hockey should say, 'We're not gonna let them play in the world junior hockey tournament. I think we got to, as Canadians, take that stance," the CBC reported.

The Seattle Kraken say they will make National Hockey League history during Thursday night's game against Winnipeg when play-by-play announcer Everett Fitzhugh and analyst JT Brown team up to form the first all-Black television broadcast crew to call an NHL game.

Fitzhugh and Brown will appear on ROOT Sports Northwest. Fitzhugh is Seattle's radio play-by-play announcer but will be moving over to the television side for one night while regular TV announcer John Forslund works the national broadcasts for Vegas and Colorado on TNT. 

Seattle senior vice president of marketing and communications Katie Townsend said the team had planned for Forslund to miss a small number of games for national broadcast duties during the season and have Fitzhugh step in. She said having Fitzhugh and Brown team up during Black History Month adds even more significance. 

"We are fortunate to have an incredibly talented broadcast team. Everett and JT moved into NHL broadcasting this season, worked hard and have made an immediate connection with our fans," Townsend said.

Fitzhugh was Seattle's first broadcast hire in the summer of 2020 after working in the ECHL. 

Brown retired after playing parts of seven seasons with Tampa Bay, Anaheim and Minnesota. He last played during the 2018-19 season.

This story was originally published by Alex Livingston of Newsy, and the Associated Press contributed.

New York Times hockey reporter Robin Herman was a trailblazer, breaking down gender barriers by becoming the first female journalist to interview players inside a men’s professional sports locker room in the U.S.

On Tuesday, her husband former Times editor Paul Horvitz told the newspaper that she passed away from ovarian cancer.

She was 70.

Herman began covering the New York Islanders in 1974. Female sports reporters during that time were not allowed to enter a professional men's locker room like their male counterparts to interview players after games.

That all changed in 1975 when Herman and local radio reporter Marcelle St. Cyr were granted permission by the team's coaches to enter the locker rooms following the NHL All-Star Game in Montreal.

Herman recalled the event for an article for The Times several weeks later, saying the "mini sports history” moment, which she had hoped would go unnoticed turned into a “circus scene," the Associated Press reported.

She later went on to cover other things for the newspaper, while also making stops at The Washington Post. She also wrote a book and taught at Harvard.

According to The Boston Globe, Herman will be laid to rest at a cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sixty-four years after becoming the first Black player to play in an NHL game, hockey pioneer Willie O'Ree is set to receive the highest award given by Congress.

On Wednesday, the NHL announced that the House passed the bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to O'Ree.

The Senate passed the bipartisan legislation unanimously back in July.

News of the vote came one day after the Boston Bruins honored O'Ree by retiring his jersey.

"Receiving the Congressional Gold Medal is simply one of the greatest honors of my life," O'Ree said. "There are no words to describe how special the last few days have been, with the Boston Bruins retiring my number and U.S. Congress voting for this amazing recognition. I will always be humbled and grateful to be a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal, and I am especially thankful to everyone who worked so hard to make this moment happen."

In 2019, Republican Sen. Tim Scott, and Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, announced their bipartisan legislation to award the Congressional Gold Medal to O'Ree.

O'Ree became the first Black player to play in the NHL when he debuted with the Bruins in 1958.

"I will never forget how my teammates in the Bruins locker room accepted me as one of their own," O'Ree said as he accepted the honor. "This was a time when some of the fans and opposing players were not ready to see a Black man in the NHL."

O'Ree became the 12th player to have his jersey retired by the Bruins.

The Boston Bruins are set to honor Willie O'Ree, the league's first Black player, next week when they retire his jersey.

On Jan. 18, before they face the Carolina Hurricanes, the Bruins will retire O'Ree's No. 22 jersey, the team announced.

O'Ree will become the 12th player to have his jersey retired by the Bruins.

This won't be the first time this year that O'Ree is set to be honored.

Sometime in the coming weeks, he is set to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given by Congress, the Boston Globe reported.

According to the newspaper, the House reached the required 290 co-sponsors and could vote on it next week.

The Senate passed it last July.

The legislation was first introduced in 2019 by Republican Sen. Tim Scott and Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

O'Ree became the first Black player to play in the NHL when he debuted in 1958 with the Bruins.

He went on to have a 21-year career in the pros, despite being legally blind in one eye.

For the past 23 years, the Canadian hockey legend has served as the league's Diversity Ambassador.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.

Two NHL teams have combined to give ice hockey fan Nadia Popovici a $10,000 scholarship for medical school as a thank you for advising Vancouver Canucks assistant equipment manager Brian "Red" Hamilton to get a mole behind his neck checked out.

Popovici was sitting behind Hamilton as she watched the Canucks play the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 23. Unsure if Hamilton was aware of the mole, Popovici banged on the glass window to catch his attention and showed him a message she had typed on her phone.

Following her advice, Hamilton did get the mole checked out and it proved to be a malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

With the Canucks scheduled to play the Kraken in Seattle on Saturday, the Vancouver team posted a message on social media as they tried to track down Popovici so Hamilton could thank her personally.

"I'm trying to find a very special person and I need the hockey community's help," wrote Hamilton in a social media post.

"To this woman I am trying to find, you changed my life, and now I want to find you to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.

"That evening Oct 23rd, and the message you showed me on your cell phone will forever be etched into my brain and has made a true life-changing difference for me and my family.

"Your instincts were right and that mole on the back of my neck was a malignant melanoma and thanks to your persistence and the quick work of our doctors, it is now gone."

'What wonderful news!'

It didn't take long for the internet to work its magic as Popovici's mother replied to the Canucks' original Facebook post.

"This was my daughter!!! We are the season ticket holders for the Kraken who sit behind the visitors bench at the Climate Pledge Arena. This was my daughter's first game and the Canucks have always been my team before the Kraken existed.

"She noticed the mole on the back of Red's neck and she wasn't sure he knew about it. So she typed the message on her phone and knocked on the glass window to get his attention. He finally looked at the message, nodded and smiled and continued working.

"She hasn't even seen this message yet as she worked graveyard shift at the suicide crisis center in Seattle so she's still asleep. She'll be shocked to see this message!

"She will be at the game tonight in the same seats. She'll be so happy and excited to know he got it checked! What wonderful news!!!! She just got accepted into multiple medical schools!"

In a video posted by the Canucks on Facebook, Popovici and Hamilton are shown together in an emotional meeting.

Both wearing masks, Popovici asks if Hamilton is OK with shaking hands or hugging, but they quickly opt for the hug given the moment's poignancy.

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Hamilton explained in the video that when Popovici knocked on the glass and showed him the message on her phone that he initially had been quite taken aback.

"The next day I woke up," continued Hamilton in the video. "I said to Jess [Hamilton's partner] ... 'It was your effort and your persistence ... the way you wrote it on your phone. I owe it to this person to get checked, if she went this far, I don't know her, I don't know anything about her.'

"I am fortunate we have doctors on the team who can help," added Hamilton.

It was during Saturday's game that a stunned Popovici learned about the $10,000 scholarship award.

Vancouver won 5-2, but as the Canucks tweeted a picturing of Hamilton and Popivici together taking a selfie, the tweet's caption said it all: "The biggest win tonight."

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The National Hockey League officially announced Wednesday that its players would not participate in the Beijing Olympics because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

"The National Hockey League respects and admires the desire of NHL Players to represent their countries and participate in a ‘best on best’ tournament," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press release. "Accordingly, we have waited as long as possible to make this decision while exploring every available option to enable our players to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games."

The announcement came after the league postponed 50 games because of positive COVID-19 test results among players.

According to ESPN, the league had until Jan. 10 to pull out of the Olympics without financial penalty.

The league announced Monday it was pausing its season from Wednesday through Saturday.

Bettman added that the league looks forward to participating in the 2026 Olympics in Italy.

The league said they'll use Feb. 6-22 to make up the postponed games.

When he was 20 years old in 2010, Kyle Beach was pursuing his NHL dream when he was called up to the Chicago Blackhawks as a "Black Ace," a prospect player who could be available to play for the NHL club if needed. It was a couple of weeks later, Beach, now 31, said in an interview Wednesday with Canadian sports television station TSN, that his life "was changed forever."

On Tuesday, the NHL announced it had fined the Blackhawks $2 million for what the league described as "the organization's inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response" relating to the team's handling of ​alleged incidents of sexual misconduct involving former video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. The league says it punished the team following an independent investigation.

The Blackhawks commissioned a probe after a lawsuit was filed over the 2010 incident earlier this year by an unidentified hockey player, according to the report. The independent investigation determined that on May 8 or 9, 2010, there was a sexual encounter between Aldrich and the unidentified 20-year-old player, who was a member of the Blackhawks' minor league affiliate team, at Aldrich's apartment. The player alleged that Aldrich sexually assaulted him while Aldrich contended that the encounter was consensual, the report reads.

Beach, who now plays professionally in Germany, has come forward as the "John Doe" in the report and as "John Doe" in the lawsuit. On Wednesday, he expressed "a great feeling of relief and vindication" and that "it was no longer my word against everybody else's."

Beach also said he wanted to come forward and put his name on this.

"To be honest, it's already out there," Beach said to TSN. "The details were pretty accurate in the report, and it's been figured out. But more than that, I've been a survivor, I am a survivor. And I know I'm not alone. I know I'm not the only one, male or female. And I buried this for 10 years, 11 years. And it's destroyed me from the inside out."

Following TSN's interview with Beach, the Blackhawks released a statement, saying the club commended Beach in coming forward.

"As an organization, the Chicago Blackhawks reiterate our deepest apologies to him for what he has gone through and for the organization's failure to promptly respond when he bravely brought this matter to light in 2010," the statement said. "It was inexcusable for the then-executives of the Blackhawks organization to delay taking action regarding the reported sexual misconduct. No playoff game or championship is more important than protecting our players and staff from predatory behavior."

'Focus on the team and the playoffs'

Blackhawks president of hockey operations and general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac resigned Tuesday after their alleged roles in the matter were detailed in the investigation conducted by law firm Jenner & Block, LLP.

According to the investigation report, MacIsaac, then the Blackhawks senior director of hockey administration, became aware of the incident on May 23, 2010, and dispatched team mental skills coach and team counselor Jim Gary to interview the player, who said that Aldrich had pressured him to have sex and threatened his career if he refused.

Later that day, the investigation report said, a meeting of Blackhawks senior leadership was convened to discuss the situation.

Bowman recalled, according to the investigation report, that then-president John McDonough and then-head coach Joel Quenneville "made comments about the challenge of getting to the Stanley Cup Finals and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs." Just hours earlier, Chicago had won the Western Conference Championship to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Quenneville currently is the head coach for the Florida Panthers.

When discussing the situation years later with another team employee, MacIsaac said that McDonough wanted to avoid negative publicity during the playoffs. Bowman recalled McDonough telling the group he would handle the situation, according to the investigation report.

But Aldrich continued to travel and work with the team, per ​the investigation report, throughout the playoffs, and the investigation found no sign that any action was taken to address the situation until June 14, after the season had ended. The Blackhawks' policy, at the time, was that all reports of sexual harassment would be investigated "promptly and thoroughly."

The report said, "Our investigation uncovered no evidence, however, that McDonough or anyone else either contacted Human Resources or initiated an investigation between May 23 and June 14."

During the interim, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup on June 9, and during a team celebration on June 10, Aldrich allegedly made a sexual advance toward a 22-year-old team intern. The intern rejected Aldrich's advance, but did not report the incident, the investigation report reads. It was not clear from the report how the alleged incident involving the intern ultimately came to light.

"The failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter not only violated the Blackhawks' own sexual harassment policy in effect at the time, the decision to take no action from May 23 to June 14, 2010, had real consequences, including allegations involving an additional unwanted sexual advance by Aldrich to a Blackhawks' intern before he was ultimately separated from the Club," the NHL said.

Aldrich was paid severance and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup

On June 14, 2010, McDonough informed team human resources about the incident and the May 23 team leadership meeting. McDonough said, according to the director of human resources, "it was decided that the group would not alert Human Resources or do anything about the incident during the playoffs so as not to disturb team chemistry." McDonough told investigators he did not recall this conversation.

Nearly a decade later, the Blackhawks fired McDonough. The team did not state the reason for the firing on its press release last year. The team said, "it was the right decision for the future of the organization and its fans."

The director of human resources met with Aldrich on June 16, 2010, offering him the option of an investigation of the incident with the unnamed player or resigning. Aldrich opted to resign and no team investigation was ever conducted, according to the investigation report.

Aldrich received severance and a playoff bonus. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup. He received a championship ring and was allowed to take the Stanley Cup to his hometown for a day, per ​the investigation report.

"The only way I could describe it was that I felt sick, I felt sick to my stomach," Beach told TSN of watching Aldrich interacting with the team when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

"I reported this and I was made aware that it made it all the way up the chain of command by 'Doc' Gary and nothing happened. It was like his life was the same as it was the day before. The same every day. And then when they won, to see him paraded around lifting the Cup, at the parade, at the team pictures, at celebrations, it made me feel like nothing. It made me feel like I didn't exist. It made me feel like, that I wasn't important and...it made me feel like he was in the right and I was wrong."

CNN has reached out to MacIsaac, Quenneville, Aldrich and McDonough for comment. CNN has attempted to reach out to Gary for comment.

In a statement Tuesday, Bowman said, "The team needs to focus on its future, and my continued participation would be a distraction. I think too much of this organization to let that happen." Bowman also stepped down from his position as general manager of the 2022 U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team, according to USA Hockey.

The Blackhawks organization apologized to its fans in a letter published Tuesday, saying, "It is clear the organization and its executives at that time did not live up to our own standards or values in handling these disturbing incidents. We deeply regret the harm caused to John Doe and the other individuals who were affected and the failure to promptly respond. As an organization, we extend our profound apologies to the individuals who suffered from these experiences. We must — and will — do better."

TORONTO (AP) — The NHL believes all seven Canadian teams will be able to start the season playing in their home arenas.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said Thursday the league believes it is clear to play in Canada during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic after discussions with the five provincial governments with NHL teams to try to gain approval to start Jan. 13.

The NHL realigned its divisions for the season so that the North Division — which features all seven Canadian teams — would not have to cross the U.S.-Canada border, which remains closed to non-essential travel until at least Jan. 21.

The league released its schedule Wednesday, with each team playing 56 games instead of the usual 82.

On Tuesday, the league released its coronavirus-related protocols, which include coaches must wear masks at all times while behind the bench, owners can't have face-to-face meetings with players, and teams can only travel with up to 50 people, according to the Associated Press.

The AP also reported that the league had asked the players not to go to restaurants, bars, and clubs and not have outside guests at their homes.

For the first time since 2004, the National Hockey League will return to ESPN beginning next season.

In a press release, ESPN announced Wednesday that they and the NHL agreed on a seven-year contract that will include four Stanley Cup finals that'll air on ABC.

"This partnership of the world's top hockey league and the platforms of The Walt Disney Company is a big win for our fans and our game," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in the news release. "Not only will this groundbreaking, but seven-year deal also enable the NHL to benefit from the incomparable power, reach, and influence of The Walt Disney Company and ABC/ESPN, it sets a new standard in delivering our game to the most passionate and tech-savvy fans in sports in the ways they now demand and on the platforms they use."

According to the news release, the deal includes:

• ESPN and ABC broadcasting 25 regular-season games.
• Early-round playoff games.
• One conference final each year.

ESPN+ will stream more than 1,000 games per season.

Also, 75 ESPN-produced exclusive telecasts per season will be shown on ESPN+ and Hulu.

The deal also includes opening-night games, the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Challenge, and other special events.

The NHL's out-of-market streaming package (NHL.TV) is again moving to ESPN+ as part of its subscription offerings.

According to Sportsnet, ESPN would broadcast the Stanley Cup Finals series between 2022 and 2028.

According to USA Today, NBC's deal, which was signed in 2011, is set to expire at the end of the current season.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Former St. Louis Blues defenseman Bob Plager was killed Wednesday in a car crash in St. Louis.

He was 78.

"It is unimaginable to imagine the St. Louis Blues without Bob Plager," the Blues said in a statement. "He was an original 1967 member of the St. Louis Blues, but also an original in every sense of the word. Bobby's influence at all levels of the Blues organization was profound and everlasting, and his loss to our city will be deep. Bobby liked to say he was No. 5 in our program, but No. 1 in our hearts. Today, our hearts are broken, but one day they will be warmed again by memories of his character, humor and strong love for his family, our community, the St. Louis Blues and generations of fans who will miss him dearly."

Police said Plager was alone in his vehicle when it collided with a vehicle carrying two women on Interstate 64 in St. Louis about 1:30 p.m.

One of the women sustained minor injuries.

No other details about the crash were released, The Associated Press reported.

Plager was an original Blue, moving over from the New York Rangers when the NHL expanded in 1967-68.

He played 11 seasons for St. Louis — teaming for a stretch with brothers Barclay and Bill.

He worked for the organization in a variety of roles, coaching for 11 games in 1992.

The Blues retired his No. 5 jersey in 2017, and it joined brother Barclay's No. 8 in the rafters.

Target is pulling Pokémon cards and sports trading cards from their store shelves, according to multiple outlets.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to temporarily suspend the sale of MLB, NFL, NBA and Pokémon trading cards within our stores, effective May 14,” the nationwide retail chain said in their announcement.

Collectibles have increased in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic as people stuck at home during lockdowns have turned to online auction sites to sell or buy.

Rare cards, from the sports world or Pokémon, have been selling for millions, according to MarketWatch.

This increased demand for Pokémon and sports cards during the pandemic has led to customers camping out or forming long lines before stores like Target or Walmart open, according to the Business Journal.

Target moved the cards to customer service and limited their availability, only causing longer lines.

A Target in Wisconsin reportedly had a fight between customers over trading cards, in which one person had a gun.

In that incident, a 35-year-old man was physically assaulted by four men between the ages of 23 and 35 as he left the Target, according to TMJ4. Police said at the time the attack stemmed from a disagreement over the purchase of sports trading cards inside the store.

Some Walmart stores also stopped selling trading cards earlier this month because of “inappropriate customer behavior” from the increasing demand.