Connor McDavid scored at 8:18 of overtime in the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game to give Canada a 3-2 victory over the United States on Thursday night as the North American rivals turned what had been a tune-up for the 2026 Olympics into an geopolitical brawl over anthems and annexation as much as international hockey supremacy.

Saturday night crystallized how two trades made over the previous summers benefitted three teams in a way they usually don’t in the NHL.

Alex Ovechkin scored the 877th goal of his career to move 18 away from breaking the NHL record, but the Washington Capitals lost 5-4 in overtime to the Winnipeg Jets in a showdown of the top two teams in the NHL that lived up to that billing.

It didn’t take much to stir Jack Eichel’s national pride in looking ahead to representing the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

The U.

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was the big winner at Thursday’s NHL awards show, taking home the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP as the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as decided by the NHL Players Association.

A slew of big NHL names will be heading back onto NHL playoff ice on Tuesday night with 1-0 series leads.

Chandler Stephenson scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets from their Western Conference opening-round series with a 4-1 victory in Game 5.

Kyle Connor had two goals and an assist as the Jets spoiled Paul Maurice’s return to Winnipeg with a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Jonathan Huberdeau, who also picked up an assist, had two goals in the first five minutes for Florida.

The NHL is not sending players to the Beijing Olympics after all.

The NHL regular season is two weeks away.

The NHL and international officials are now in wait-and-see mode after reaching an agreement to send players to the Beijing Olympics this winter.

The NHL is in the most difficult position among the four major North American professional sports leagues on vaccinations because seven of its teams are based in Canada.

Draisaitl has won the Hart Trophy as MVP after leading the NHL in scoring. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)EDMONTON, AB – The Stanley Cup Final is in Edmonton, and Oilers star Leon Draisaitl made history Monday night. Draisaitl became the first German player to win the Hart Trophy as MVP after leading the league in scoring with 110 points in 71 games. Draisaitl is the second Oilers player to win the Hart in the past four years following Connor McDavid, who is widely considered the best hockey player in the world. “But there’s nothing that comes ahead of the Stanley Cup.