Chest pains send Julien to hospital
Canadiens coach Claude Julien experienced chest pains Wednesday night, was taken by ambulance to a Toronto hospital and is expected to be out the remainder of his team’s first-round playoff series.
General manager Marc Bergevin explained Julien’s absence from practice Thursday and confirmed the situation isn’t COVID-19 related. Julien, 60, remained in the hospital Thursday afternoon while more tests were being conducted to determine the cause of his condition.
“I think he’s in good hands at the hospital here, and everything should be fine and we hope for the best.,” Bergevin said. “A little shock and concern, but after talking to Dr. (David) Mulder, there is some good news early this afternoon . ... Hopefully he could be ready shortly and go back home.”
Associate coach Kirk Muller will assume Julien’s duties for the remainder of the Canadiens’ series against the Flyers. Bergevin and captain Shea Weber expressed confidence in Muller and the rest of the coaching staff to handle the hockey side of this in Julien’s absence.
“The other coaches, they know what our system is,” Weber said. “They’ve put all this plan in place, as well, and they’re going to do a good job leading us that way . ... We’ve still got to compete the same way we’ve been going and accomplish the same things we’re trying to do.”
Flyers coach Alain Vigneault is a longtime friend of Julien and looked shaken about 20 minutes after he heard the news.The Canadiens won their qualifying round series to make it to the round of 16. They trail the Flyers 1-0 in the first round, with Game 2 set for Friday night.
Jackets tie series: Two days after making an NHL-record 85 saves in a five-overtime loss, Joonas Korpisalo stopped 36 more shots to help the Blue Jackets beat the Lightning 3-1 in Toronto to even the Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
Ryan Murray and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the first period for the Blue Jackets, both goals set up by Pierre-Luc Dubois. Alexander Wennberg added another in the third.
Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves. The Lightning goalie had 61 stops Tuesday in a 4-3 victory in the fourth-longest game in league history.
Both teams looked sluggish at the start Thursday, especially the Blue Jackets, who took more than half the first period to get any offensive push going.
Knights in control: Reilly Smith scored in OT, Robin Lehner made 22 saves and the top-seeded Golden Knights beat the Blackhawks 4-3 in Edmonton, Alberta take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference series.
Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 35 of the 39 shots he faced in a losing effort. Crawford and Lehner were teammates with Blackhawks until the trade deadline.