NHL Central

Joe Pavelski remains an unstoppable force, as he scored his fifth goal in two games against the Seattle Kraken to lead the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals and even the series at one game apiece.

The Stars captain became the 40th player in NHL history to score at least four goals in a playoff game in Game 1, but the team couldn't take advantage of it in a 5-4 loss. His third-period goal on Thursday night sealed Dallas' win.

Pavelski is a rare athlete who seems to be getting better as he gets older. The 38-year-old scored 28 goals during the regular season, his most since 2018-19.

Making his performance in the past two games even more impressive is he missed the final five games of the Stars' first-round series against the Minnesota Wild with a head injury.

Hockey fans are full of praise for Pavelski after another impressive game that the Stars needed to avoid losing two home games to start the series:

The most surprising part of the Stars' loss in Game 1 was how poorly their defense and goaltending performed. They had only allowed three goals over the final three games against the Wild to overcome a 2-1 series deficit.

Jake Oettinger hadn't allowed five goals in a game since March 21 prior to the series opener. Thursday was much more indicative of what this Dallas team has done all season when it ranked in the top seven in goals scored (285) and goals allowed (218).

Pavelski led the way in Game 2, but four different players scored goals. This is what the Stars need to do if they want to keep get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

The series will shift to Seattle for Game 3 on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Colorado Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a fractured neck during Game 6 of the team's first-round Stanley Cup playoffs matchup against the Seattle Kraken on Friday, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Cogliano suffered the injury during the second period when Seattle's Jordan Eberle drilled him from behind into the boards. He went right down the tunnel after the hit but returned for the third period.

Eberle was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for boarding on the play. He will not face supplemental discipline from the NHL's Department of Player Safety for the hit.

"I don't know," Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters when discussing the league's decision to not have a disciplinary hearing for Eberle. "I can't figure it out anymore. I don't even try."

Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was suspended for Game 5 after an illegal hit on Seattle's Jared McCann in Game 4. It was arguably no worse than the hit delivered by Eberle on Friday.

Cogliano has centered Colorado's third line this season alongside Matt Nieto and Logan O'Connor. He tallied 10 goals and nine assists in 79 regular-season games and had not recorded a point in the team's first-round series against the Kraken.

With Cogliano sidelined for the foreseeable future, Alex Newhook figures to be bumped up to the third line. Newhook tallied 14 goals and 16 assists in 82 regular-season games and has one assist in six playoff games.

The Avalanche, the reigning Stanley Cup champions, are tied 3-3 with the Kraken and will play Game 7 on Sunday with a berth in the second round on the line.

Winnipeg Jets forward Morgan Barron had a surprisingly calm reaction after taking a skate to the face that required more than 75 stitches to close before returning to Tuesday's playoff game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The play occurred midway through the first period when Golden Knights goalie Laurent Brossoit's skate caught Barron when a group of players from both teams collapsed around the net.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Barron said he was looking to see if the puck went into the goal when he saw Brossoit's skate coming toward his face.

"It was an unlucky play," he explained. "The first thought was that I could see out of the [right] eye was the main thing."

Barron was taken to the locker room where he received medical attention to close the wound. The 24-year-old not only came back to the Jets' bench in the second period, but he was also on the ice with a full cage on his helmet to protect his face.

Jets center Adam Lowry said Barron looked "like he got attacked by a shark" and everyone was concerned, because they could "see a trail of blood all the way from the crease to the bench."

Barron wound up playing almost 11 minutes across 16 shifts. On the bright side, the Jets did get a 5-1 win to take a 1-0 series lead over the Golden Knights.

It's the first playoff victory for Winnipeg since a triple-overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers in May 2021.

The Colorado Avalanche will be without their captain during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado announced Thursday that forward Gabriel Landeskog will miss the entire postseason with a knee injury that cost him all of the 2022-23 regular season.

"We've explored just about every option at this point. ... I thought I was going to be ready to go the second half of this season," Landeskog told reporters Thursday. "... Moving forward we continue to explore options, but I felt like this was the decision I had to make at this point."

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post on Sunday that Landeskog would not return during the regular season. Prior to that, the team hadn't ruled out the possibility the veteran would suit up, and there was optimism he would appear in the playoffs.

"He's pushing himself to the limits of what he feels like he can do," Bednar told reporters Wednesday.

Landeskog underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in October and was given a 12-week recovery timeline. When he was reevaluated, it was determined that he would not return within the original timetable.

The 30-year-old spent much of the 2022-23 season rehabbing away from the team and didn't return to Denver until February. He had been skating in anticipation of a return to the ice but was never a full participant in practice.

Landeskog was a significant contributor for the Avalanche during their 2022 playoff run that ended with Colorado winning its first title since 2001, so this loss is massive for Bednar's squad. He tallied 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 20 postseason games en route to lifting the Stanley Cup.

With Landeskog unavailable during the 2022-23 season, the Avs have gone 49-24-7 and sit second in the Central Division behind the Dallas Stars. Colorado has regular-season games remaining against the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators before the playoffs begin Monday.

While Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen have excelled as expected this season, each notching more than 100 points, J.T. Compher, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin have picked up the slack in Landeskog's absence.

The Avalanche will need the trio to continue producing at a high level in the postseason if they hope to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final without their captain.

Colorado has also been without star defenseman Cale Makar of late due to a lower-body injury, but he's expected to return in the postseason.

Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson announced Thursday the franchise plans to move on from Jonathan Toews when he becomes a free agent this offseason.

As a result, Thursday's season finale against the Philadelphia Flyers will be the last time the captain wears a Blackhawks uniform.

In an interview with The Athletic's Mark Lazerus on April 6, Toews explained he'll take some time in the offseason to weigh his future, regardless of whether a return to Chicago was on the cards:

"Right now, you ask me that question and the honest answer is, I got no idea. No idea whether I return to play for the Blackhawks next year, or play for another team, or I decide to move on to other things. I can tell the media wants to ask me about my so-called 'pending retirement,' even though I never said those words. But it'll be a process of just feeling out what I truly feel inspired to do.

"But at this point, I've realized there's no point in continuing to stomach this struggle. So if it's not a hell yeah, then it's a hell no."

Blackhawks fans knew this day would come eventually because they've watched every other key figure from the most recent Stanley Cup-winning squads depart the Windy City. Chicago's position in the standings made a breakup with Toews all the more likely. The organization has the second-fewest points in the league (58) and is facing a significant rebuild despite having already finished below .500 in the previous two seasons.

Patrick Kane was already shown the door ahead of the trade deadline, so Davidson obviously wasn't going to let sentiment drive his decision on Toews.

By announcing this now, the Blackhawks are at least allowing the 34-year-old to have a send-off befitting his legendary status within the franchise. Along with winning three Stanley Cups, he's fifth all-time in team history in appearances (1,066) and sixth in points (882).

Toews has been limited to 52 games this year. He said in February he was continuing to experience symptoms of long COVID-19, and he missed more than two months of action. As a result, his 30 points (14 goals, 16 assists) are on pace to be a career low after his 37 points in 2021-22 were a personal worst.

Perhaps the experienced forward will decide to hang up his skates this summer and step away from hockey altogether. Should he want to continue playing, he should have some interest from teams with eyes on a playoff run in 2023-24.

Jonathan Toews isn't sure if he will play hockey next year.

The Chicago Blackhawks captain, who has suffered from chronic immune response syndrome for three years, told The Athletic's Mark Lazerus on Thursday that he has "no idea whether I return to play for the Blackhawks next year, or play for another team, or I decide to move on to other things."

"... But at this point, I've realized there's no point in continuing to stomach this struggle," Toews said. "So if it's not a hell yeah, then it's a hell no."

He was absent the entire 2020-21 season due to CIRS and missed two months of this year's campaign because of its effects compounded with long COVID.

The center returned to the ice on April 1 at the United Center, where he skated 14 minutes in the Blackhawks' 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

In June 2021, Toews announced his CIRS diagnosis in a pre-recorded interview posted on his Twitter. CIRS is a condition triggered by the inhalation of biotoxins such as mold, which causes inflammation of the nervous system and debilitating fatigue, according to the Virginia Center for Health and Wellness.

"There's a lot of things that piled up, where my body just fell apart," Toews said. " ... I just couldn't quite recover, and my immune system was reacting to everything that I did. Any kind of stress, anything that I would do throughout the day, there was always that stress response."

Toews has not felt 100 percent since then, he told Lazerus.

The center returned to play in 71 games of the 2021-22 campaign. This year, he began at a fast clip—Toews put up seven goals in his first 11 games—but his pace began to slow as health problems returned.

In a February statement regarding his two-month leave of absence, Toews said he was still dealing with the symptoms of CIRS as well as "long COVID." Symptoms can extend from tiredness and fatigue to respiratory issues and brain fog, according to the CDC.

"It has been really challenging to play through these symptoms," Toews said in February. "In the last few weeks, it has reached the point where I had no choice but to step back and concentrate on getting healthy."

Although Toews will finish the tail end of the 2022-23 campaign, he is not committing to returning next year—but he's also not closing the door on the possibility.

"I can tell the media wants to ask me about my so-called 'pending retirement,' even though I never said those words," Toews said. "But it'll be a process of just feeling out what I truly feel inspired to do."

Nashville Predators center Matt Duchene hasn't played since suffering a hand injury on March 26 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and now the gruesome nature of his injury has been revealed.

TNT analyst Darren Pang reported earlier this week that when Duchene was hit on his hand by a slapshot from teammate Dante Fabbro, it severed the tip of his finger:

The Predators have listed Duchene as week-to-week with no further update on his status. It's yet another key player to be out amid an injury-riddled season for Nashville, which ranks fifth in the Central Division with a 39-30-8 record.

Duchene ranks second on the Predators with 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists), so his presence will continue to be missed. Nashville will be back in action on Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes (50-18-9).

The St. Louis Blues are the NHL's latest team to decide not to wear their pride jerseys during warmups ahead of their matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, according to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford.

A source inside the organization told Rutherford that the decision was made in order to focus more on the positive things that the Blues are doing to support the LGBTQIA+ community.

The team did wear the pride warmups last season in a game against the Seattle Kraken on April 6, 2022.

In a press release addressing their plans for pride night, St. Louis said there will be pride-themed warmup pucks and rainbow stick tape available ahead of the game.

Some proceeds from the game are set to go to Pride St. Louis and the You Can Play Project, which helps LGBTQIA+ athletes, coaches and fans.

This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.

For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app, homepage and social feeds—including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

The Chicago Blackhawks will become the fourth team in the NHL this season to forgo wearing Pride jerseys during warmups when they take the ice on Sunday night at United Center against the Vancouver Canucks.

Chicago is opting against wearing the jerseys on the team's scheduled Pride Night because of safety concerns for Russian players, according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times.

A Russian law enacted in December expanded the ban on "gay propaganda" in the country, making it "illegal to promote or 'praise' LGBTQ relationships, publicly express non-heterosexual orientations or suggest that they are 'normal,'" according to CNN's Ivana Kottasova.

The Blackhawks currently have three players on their roster of Russian descent or who have family in Russia—defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, forward Philipp Kurashev and goaltender Anton Khudobin.

Zaitsev and Khudobin were born in Russia. Kurashev was born in Switzerland, though his parents are Russian.

While the team will not wear Pride jerseys, the Blackhawks will have several Pride-related initiatives during Sunday's game, including a performance from the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus and DJ Zel, who is a member of the LGBTQ community, according to Pope.

The Chicago Gay Hockey Association will also compete in an on-ice competition during intermission. Additionally, the Blackhawks intend to feature other LGBTQ performers and small businesses at the arena.

The Blackhawks said in a statement to the Chicago Sun Times:

"The Chicago Blackhawks organization is proud to continue its annual Pride Night celebration, an evening — alongside year-round efforts — fueled by partnership and LGBTQIA+ community engagement.

"Together, our activities will focus on fostering conversation and more equitable spaces in our pursuit to make hockey more inclusive. We do not condone anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric, and we stand firmly with the community."

"While we know game-day celebrations like these are an important way we can use our platform to bring visibility, it is the work we do together 365 days a year that can create true impact in ensuring all of our colleagues, fans and communities feel welcomed and safe within our sport."

Pride jerseys have become a contentious topic in the NHL since Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov, who is from Russia, opted against wearing a Pride jersey when the team held its annual Pride Night in January.

Provorov, who is Russian Orthodox, cited his religious beliefs as the reasoning for his decision to not wear the jersey.

The New York Rangers initially planned to wear Pride jerseys during warmups on Jan. 27 against the Vegas Golden Knights, but scrapped the plan, citing "everyone's individual right to respectfully express their beliefs."

The Rangers have several Russian players on their roster, including goaltender Igor Shesterkin and forwards Artemi Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko.

The New York Islanders also made the decision to forgo Pride jerseys during the team's scheduled Pride Night on Feb. 9, citing its organizational policy as the reason for not doing so.

The Minnesota Wild also originally planned to have players wear Pride jerseys during warmups on March 7, but they ended up scrapping the plan over concern for Russian players. Some players still used Pride tape on their sticks during warmups.

In a report on the NHL and the Russian law on March 10, The Athletic noted forward Kirill Kaprizov had trouble returning to the United States for the beginning of the NHL season this fall, prior to the law being enacted.

Ben Noble, an associate professor of Russian politics at University College London, told The Athletic:

"These are legitimate fears. If you put on a Pride jersey, then there is uncertainty regarding how this would be interpreted by law enforcement in Russia — and that's a risk. The authorities have the power to enforce this and other legislation selectively. It's up to them to decide whom they go after."

It is worth mentioning that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, who is Russian, wore the team's Pride jersey during warmups on Dec. 12.

Most recently, San Jose Sharks forward James Reimer also opted against wearing the team's Pride jersey during warmups on March 18, citing his Christian beliefs for deciding not to do so.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman defended the way teams have handled situations that have arisen during Pride night celebrations during a news conference at the NHL's All-Star Weekend in February (h/t Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press):

"You know what our goals, our values and our intentions are across the league, whether it's at the league level or at the club level. But we also have to respect some individual choice, and some people are more comfortable embracing themselves in causes than others. And part of being diverse and welcoming is understanding those differences."

Several teams still have Pride night celebrations scheduled this season.