It was a record-breaking night for the Professional Women’s Hockey League in Detroit.
A record crowd of 13,736 watched Boston beat Ottawa, 2-1, in a shootout at Little Caesars Arena. The previous record had been set by PWHL Minnesota at their home opener when 13,316 fans attended.
The all-time record is 19,285 set at the Battle on Bay Street between PWHL Toronto and PWHL Montreal at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Farmington’s Megan Keller assisted on Hilary Knight’s first-period goal for Boston. Earlier this week, Keller said she can foresee the potential for expansion with the PWHL holding neutral site games in Pittsburgh and Detroit this weekend.
“I think it’s inevitable,” Keller said. “There’s so much room for growth in women’s hockey, and especially at the professional level.
“To have that access for young hockey players in those different markets, I think it would be super successful. And it’s something fans, Detroit hockey fans, I think deserve.”
It was also a homecoming for fellow Michigan-born teammates Taylor Girard and Shiann Darkangelo.
“Growing up, my dad would always take me to Red Wings games and so it’s going to be cool,” Girard said.
Michigan 2, Minnesota 1
Michigan clinched a spot in next weekend’s Big Ten Championship in East Lansing.
Kienan Draper and Gavin Brindley scored goals and Jake Barczewski made 23 saves in the Wolverines’ 2-1 victory against Minnesota on Saturday.
It was Michigan’s fourth straight one-goal victory, the first time in 98 years (March 1926) that the Wolverines have won four straight games by one goal.
Michigan will face Michigan State in the final at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Spartans advanced with a 2-1 victory against the Buckeyes.
Grand Rapids 5, Iowa 2
The Grand Rapids Griffins tied a franchise record with a point in their 16th straight home game.
Dominik Shine had a goal and two assists and Sebastian Cossa made 27 saves to extend his points streak to 13 games (8-0-5).
Western Michigan 6, St. Cloud 1
Sam Colangelo had a hat trick and Dylan Wendt added two goals for Western Michigan in a 6-1 victory against St. Cloud on Saturday.
The NCHC quarterfinal is tied 1-1 with Game 3 set for Sunday at 7 p.m.
Michigan Tech 4, Minnesota State 3
Michigan Tech advanced to the CCHA Mason Cup championship game against Bermidji State.
Logan Pietila scored two goals, including the game winner with nine seconds left to beat Minnesota State 4-3 on Saturday in Houghton, Mich.
NTDP 18s 6, Cedar Rapids 2
James Hagens and Max Plante recorded a goal and two assists each for the NTDP U18s in a 6-2 win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.
Nick Kempf made 19 saves to improve his record to 16-6-0-1 this year.
Women’s Frozen Four
Plymouth’s Kirsten Simms had three assists in Wisconsin’s 4-0 win over St. Lawrence in an NCAA regional final on Saturday in Madison, Wis.
The defending champion Badgers advanced to the Frozen Four and will face Colgate on Friday in Durham, New Hampshire.
Clarkson and Ohio State will meet in the other semifinal. The Buckeyes feature defenseman Riley Brengman (China, Michigan) and goalie Amanda Thiele (Milford). Ohio State blanked Minnesota Duluth, 9-0.
Stars unveil Modano statue
The Dallas Stars unveiled a statue of Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Modano (Livonia) during Saturday night’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Modano is the franchise leader in goals, assists and games played.
“It’s hard to put into words what this has meant,” Modano said after wiping away tears following a one-minute standing ovation. “Thirty years ago we got on a plane in 1993 to come here (when the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas) and didn’t know what to expect.
“Five years later we gave you a Stanley Cup in 1999. … We feel we’ve turned Dallas into a hockey town.”
Modano, 53, joins former Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki as players with statues on the plaza at American Airlines Center. Nowitzki led the Mavs to their only NBA title.
“Thanks to Dirk for saving me a spot,” Modano said.
The ceremony was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but it was delayed and moved indoors because of steady afternoon rain.
Modano played 20 of his 21 NHL seasons with the Stars franchise, dating to its days as the North Stars. He was the NHL’s first overall draft pick in 1988. The Hockey Hall of Famer also had his No. 9 jersey retired by the team in 2014.
Modano scored a team-high 50 goals in 1993-94 in the team’s first season in Dallas. He leads the franchise with 557 goals, 802 assists, 1,359 points and 1,459 games played. The Michigan native finished his career with one season with Detroit.
He led Dallas with 34 goals and 81 points in 1998-99, when the Stars beat Buffalo in six games to win the Stanley Cup. Modano is a hockey operations advisor for the Minnesota Wild.
Saturday’s NHL games
N.Y. Rangers 7, (at) Pittsburgh 4: Artemi Panarin had two goals and three assists, Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller each had a goal and two assists for the Rangers, who have won four of five to create a sliver of space between themselves and Carolina in the race for first in the Metropolitan Division.
Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad and Kaapo Kakko also scored. Jonathan Quick made 34 saves to win for the sixth time in his last seven starts.
Bryan Rust (Pontiac) scored his 20th goal of the season for the Penguins. John Ludvig, Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen also scored.
Tristan Jarry stopped 17 shots before he was pulled after Miller’s eighth goal of the season gave the Rangers a 6-3 lead 4:41 into the third. The Penguins have dropped eight of 10 and will host Detroit on Sunday.
Washington 2, (at) Vancouver 1: Alex Ovechkin scored his 841st career goal and Tom Wilson also scored as the Capitals pulled into a tie with the New York Islanders, one point behind Detroit for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Charlie Lindgren finished with 21 saves. Ovechkin pulled 53 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for first place on the NHL’s career scoring list.
Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who remained atop the Western Conference, one point ahead of Central Division-leading Colorado and Dallas. Casey DeSmith had 22 saves.
Nashville 4, (at) Seattle 1: Roman Josi scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the third period, Filip Forsberg scored his 35th of the season into an empty net with 1:20 left and Nashville extended their points streak to 14 games with a win over Seattle.
The streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history, equaling a 14-game run during the 2015-16 season. Nashville earned points in 15 straight during the 2017-18 season, a stretch during which it went 14-0-1.
The Predators are 12-0-2 during this stretch and strengthened their hold on the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Colorado 3, (at) Edmonton 2 (OT): Artturi Lehkonen scored with one second remaining in overtime and Colorado battled their way to their sixth straight win, beating the Edmonton Oilers.
Nathan MacKinnon sent the puck across to a hard-charging Lehkonen, who scored his 12th of the season. With the assist, MacKinnon extended his points streak to 15 games.
Sean Walker had both goals in regulation for the Avalanche and Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.
Warren Foegele and Sam Carrick scored for the Oilers, who had won two in a row. Connor McDavid was held without a point, ending his home points scoring streak at 26 games. Stuart Skinner stopped 40 shots.
(At) St. Louis 3, Minnesota 2 (SO): Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn scored in the shootout, lifting St. Louis Blues over Minnesota.
Kyrou and Schenn also scored in regulation as St. Louis earned its third straight win. Jordan Binnington made 22 stops in regulation and OT.
The Blues and Wild are fighting for playoff positioning in the Western Conference, looking to chase down Vegas for the final wild card. The Golden Knights play Sunday afternoon against New Jersey.
Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for Minnesota, which had won five of six. Marco Rossi also scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves through overtime.
(At) Dallas 4, L.A. Kings 1: Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves to win a matchup of backup goaltenders and defenseman Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist to help lead the Dallas past Los Angeles.
Wedgewood beat the Kings for the second time in eight days. Craig Smith, Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn also scored for the Stars, who took a 3-0 first-period lead and avoided losing a third consecutive game in regulation loss for the first time since April 2022.
David Rittich stopped 25 shots for the Kings, who split a road back-to-back after winning 5-0 at Chicago on Friday night. Rittich entered with a career-best 2.19 goals-against average.
Kevin Fiala had the Kings’ only goal against Wedgewood for the second straight meeting.
(At) Boston 6, Philadelphia 5: Charlie Coyle scored the tying and go-ahead goals, John Beecher and Jake DeBrusk added insurance scores 19 seconds apart early in the third period, and Boston held off Philadelphia in a wild third period that included seven goals.
Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen each added a goal for Boston, which moved a point ahead of Florida for the league’s top record with 95 points – one more than the Panthers. Last season, the Bruins set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135), but were eliminated by the Panthers in the opening round of the playoffs.
Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for Boston, which won for the fourth time in five games.
Joel Farabee had two goals and Ryan Poehling, Nick Deslauriers and Morgan Frost each added one for the Flyers, who have lost four of their last six.
Tampa Bay 5, (at) Florida 3: Steven Stamkos scored two goals, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 47 shots and Tampa Bay beat Florida.
Darren Raddysh, Michael Eyssimont and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning, who have won four of five. Vasilevskiy had 16 saves in the second period when Tampa Bay was outshot 18-3.
The Lightning are four points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference.
Sam Reinhart had two goals and Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist as Florida lost its second straight after winning eight of nine. Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 11 saves.
Carolina 5, (at) Toronto 4 (SO): Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout and Carolina rallied from two goals down late to beat the Toronto.
Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis also scored, and Guentzel and Brent Burns each had two assists for Carolina. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 36 shots.
Burns skated in his 1,400th regular season game, becoming the 42nd player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
John Tavares had a goal and an assist, and William Nylander, Nick Robertson and David Kampf also scored for Toronto. Morgan Rielly had two assists and Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves.
Ottawa 4, (at) N.Y. Islanders 3 (OT): Brady Tkachuk scored on the power play in overtime to complete a hat trick and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves to help the Ottawa beat the New York Islanders.
Ridly Greig also scored for Ottawa, which won its third straight game after losing seven in a row.
Bo Horvat tied the contest for the Islanders on the power play with 38 seconds left in regulation to send it into overtime. Horvat was called for holding at 3:05 in overtime and Tkachuk scored his team-leading 30th goal with 24 seconds remaining.
Tim Stutzle had three assists and Drake Batherson has two assists for Ottawa.
Matt Martin and Kyle Palmieri also scored for the Islanders, who lost a third game in a row after winning six straight to vault into playoff contention. Semyon Varlamov had 26 saves for the Islanders.
(At) Calgary 5, Montreal 2: Mikael Backlund had two goals and an assist, and Calgary beat Montreal in the first game since coach Martin St. Louis took an indefinite leave because of family reasons.
Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, helping Calgary to its second straight victory. Martin Pospisil and Daniil Miromanov also scored.
Dustin Wolf made 36 saves for his second straight win since Jacob Markstrom was sidelined by a lower-body injury. Markstrom is day to day.
Flames defenseman Mackenzie Weegar had three assists, and winger Jonathan Huberdeau finished with two.
David Savard and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal. Cayden Primeau made 23 saves.
(At) Columbus 4, San Jose 2: Alex Nylander scored twice and added an assist, Daniil Tarasov stopped 39 shots, and Columbus snapped a three-game losing streak with win over San Jose.
Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, and Boone Jenner added a goal and an assist as Columbus beat the Sharks for the fourth straight time in a game between the two teams in last place in their respective conferences.
Fabian Zetterlund and Henry Thrun scored goals and Magnus Chrona stopped 16 shots for the Sharks, who have lost 12 of their last 13 games and have the NHL’s worst record with just 39 points.
(At) Arizona 4, New Jersey 1: Karel Vejmelka stopped 37 shots and Arizona rode a three-goal first period to a victory over New Jersey.
J.J. Moser, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes. Nick Schmaltz assisted on three of the goals. Keller also had an assist on Guenther’s goal, giving him 400 career points. Shane Doan is the only other player to reach that mark during the franchise’s 28 years in Arizona.
Nick DeSimone scored for New Jersey, which has lost six of its last eight games and missed another chance to make up ground in the playoff race. The Devils entered Saturday four points out of the final wild-card spot in the East.
Playoff tracker
Atlantic
▶ Bruins (95)
▶ Panthers (94)
▶ Maple Leafs (85)
Metropolitan
▶ Rangers (92)
▶ Hurricanes (88)
▶ Flyers (76)
Wild card
▶ Lightning (78)
▶ Red Wings (74)
(Top two wild-card teams make the playoffs)
▶ Capitals (73)
▶ Islanders (73)
▶ Sabres (69)
▶ Devils (68)
▶ Pittsburgh (67)
Canadiens’ St. Louis takes indefinite leave
Montreal Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis is taking an indefinite leave for family reasons.
Assistant coach Trevor Letowski will run the team while St. Louis is away, the Canadiens said Saturday.
Montreal lost 5-2 at Calgary on Saturday night in the opener of a five-game trip. It is 6-13-4 in its last 23 games.
The 48-year-old St. Louis was hired as interim coach after the Canadiens fired Dominique Ducharme in February 2022. He signed a three-year contract extension in June 2022.
Before coaching, St. Louis enjoyed a stellar playing career, collecting 1,033 points (391 goals, 642 assists) in 1,134 regular-season games with the Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. He won the Stanley Cup and the Hart Trophy as the league MVP with the Lightning in 2004 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
The 46-year-old Letowski is in his third season as a Montreal assistant. He was previously the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires.
Michigan-area hockey this week
Saturday
▶ Red Wings 4, Sabres 1
▶ Grand Rapids 5, Iowa 2
▶ Michigan State 2, Ohio State 1
▶ Michigan 2, Minnesota 1
▶ Western Michigan 6, St. Cloud State 1
▶ Michigan Tech 4, Minnesota State 3
▶ NTDP U18s 6, Cedar Rapids 2
Sunday
▶ Red Wings at Pittsburgh, 6 (NHL/BSD/97.1)
▶ Western Michigan at St. Cloud State, 7
Friday
▶ Grand Rapids 2, Iowa 0
▶ St. Cloud State 5, Western Michigan 2
▶ Cedar Rapids 6, NTDP U18 5 (SO)
Thursday
▶ Arizona 4, Red Wings 1
Tuesday
▶ Buffalo 7, Red Wings 3
▶ Cleveland 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)
