Avs’ Toews defends hit on Kucherov; Lightning star back
Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews defended his penalized cross-check on Nikita Kucherov that injured the Lightning forward late in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Kucherov left Monday’s game and did not have an on-ice celebration with his teammates after Tampa Bay’s 6-2 victory.
“He’s a good player and I’m trying to play him tight,” Toews said Tuesday. “Good players, you got to try to take away their time and space and that’s what I was trying to do. If he got hurt on it, it’s unfortunate. I’m not trying to hurt anyone out here. I’m just trying to play him tight and not let him have the time and space to make plays.”
The injury turned out not to be serious and Kucherov was back in the Lightning lineup Wednesday night in Game 4 at Amalie Arena.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday. “Am I glad there’s a day off in between games? Yes. If you watch last year’s playoffs and everybody knows him and what he went through to finish, it was remarkable. I never count that kid out.”
Cooper was irate about Toews’ play on Kucherov after Game 3.
“When you get asked questions like that, you’re looking for an answer that everybody in the building already knows. It’s a game. It’s a contact
game. But guys know what they’re doing,” Cooper said. “Smart, savvy players know what they’re doing with their stick.”
Toews had just eight penalty minutes in 17 games this postseason. He’s averaged 25:29 of ice time per game, second among Avs behind partner Cale Makar (26:43).
NHL AWARDS
Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, becoming only the third Maple Leaf to win the award and the first since Ted Kennedy in 1954-55.
The 24-year-old forward received 119 firstplace votes in voting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and finished well ahead of Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers for the honor presented during the
NHL Awards Show.
“I can't lie, it feels really good . ... It's pretty special,” Matthews said, though he conceded there were some bittersweet feelings about accepting the award in Tampa where the Lightning and Avalanche were playing in the Stanley Cup Final.
“There is some angst,
wishing you were still playing,” Matthews said.
Shesterkin claimed the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. Colorado’s Cale Maker
took the Norris Trophy, presented to the league’s best defenseman, and Detroit’s Moritz Seider
claimed the Calder Trophy as the top rookie.
Matthews became the first player to score 60 goals since Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos did it 10 years ago, helping the Maple Leafs (54-21-7, 115 points) set franchise records for wins and points. Toronto lost to the twotime defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs star, who posted career bests with 46 assists and 106 points, also took home the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player in the regular season, an honor determined by voting by members of the NHL Players Association.
The Panthers, despite winning the Presidents’ Trophy, did not fare well in individual honors.
Jonathan Huberdeau, who was second in the league in scoring, was a distant fifth in voting for the Hart Trophy. He also did not make the AllNHL team despite setting the record for most assists by a left wing as Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau took that honor. Huberdeau did make the second team.
Panthers general manager Bill Zito, who was runner-up for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year award last year, was not even a finalist this time.
Meanwhile, Shesterkin became the third Rangers goalie in the past 40 years to win the Vezina, joining Henrik Lundqvist (2011-12) and John Vanbiesbrouck (198586). He went 36-13-4 with an NHL-best 2.07 goal-against-average and .935 save percentage before leading a playoff run that ended against Tampa Bay in the Eastern final.
Seider is the first Red Wings player to win the Calder Trophy since goalie Roger Crozier during the 1964-65 season. He led all first-year defensemen with 50 points.
ELSEWHERE Blackhawks:
Meghan Hunter was promoted to assistant general manager, making her the third woman to currently hold that position and fourth in NHL history. Hunter, 41, has risen through the organization since joining Chicago in 2016. She spent the past two seasons as a scout and the director of hockey administration.
Oilers: Coach Jay Woodcroft was signed to a three-year contract extension for taking over the team in February and leading it to the NHL Western Conference final.
Stars: Pete DeBoer, hired to coach Dallas a month after being fired by Vegas, said “I think as a coach and a veteran coach that’s gone through it before, you lick your wounds for a couple of days, you reflect on what you could have done differently, and then the phone starts ringing and you start diving into the teams that are interested and you start getting excited again.”