Puck Wire: Top Hockey News Of The Day – April 16th

The playoffs are in full swing and boy, have they been interesting. The best two teams in regular season, Calgary and Tampa Bay, are 1-5 thus far while the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins also find themselves trailing their series.

In fact, we could see both the Penguins and Lightning get swept out of the dance tonight. Who would have thought that just a week ago? We’ve got another four game slate coming your way tonight, so kill a little time with today’s edition of puck wire!

• Big news in San Jose, as Sharks’ center Joe Thornton has been suspended a game for a hit to the head of Vegas’ Tomas Nosek. Thornton will serve that suspension tonight in Game four, with his team trailing the series 2-1.
• Is Cale Makar ready for the NHL stage? Yeah, I think he is. Makar scored his first career NHL goal in his NHL debut last night, helping the Avalanche to a dominating 6-2 victory and 2-1 series lead.
• Prior to last night’s action, the NHL handed down a suspension to Toronto’s Nazem Kadri. The suspension will be three-to-five games, as the league announced he has has been suspended for the remainder of Toronto’s opening round series against Boston. Is this setting a dangerous precedent?
• Non-playoff teams can make news too, you know. The Philadelphia Flyers did just that on Monday, naming former Ranger bench boss Alain Vigneault the 21st coach in franchise history.
• Last week we had the NHL draft lottery, and this week we got the final 2019 NHL Draft rankings. No surprise, but Jack Hughes (North America) and Kaapo Kakko (European) lead the way.
• Pretty cool story from Tampa Bay on Ali Murdock, the NHL’s only female Zamboni driver.
• And lastly from last night, the Nashville Predators are back in charge of their series with Dallas, topping the Stars in Game three last night.