Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern has reportedly interviewed for the head coaching job with the Washington Capitals, according to Elliotte Friedman on his most recent podcast. Halpern is a Maryland native and former captain of the Capitals after starting his NHL career with the team. Halpern has spent eight years with the Lightning organization, including five years as the Bolts assistant coach.
However, it seems Leafs assistant coach Spencer Carbery is the frontrunner for the job. Carbery was the head coach of the Capitals AHL affiliate – the Hershey Bears – and is highly regarded within the organization. Carbery has been the assistant coach in Toronto for two years now.
Per Elliotte Friedman, the Capitals are believed to have already talked to Jeff Halpern, and they’re also believed to be the “team to beat” when it comes to hiring Spencer Carbery.
Here’s the latest on the #ALLCAPS search for a head coach:https://t.co/Rt7HICVwMD
— Sammi Silber 🏒 (@sammisilber) May 29, 2023
The Dallas Stars went out, not with a bang, but with a whimper, getting shutout by Adin Hill and the Vegas Golden Knights 6-0 in their Game 6 elimination game. The shots were an embarrassing 23-12 in favor of Vegas after two periods.
Jillian Wagner
The game ended up being pretty boring after the Golden Knights got themselves a 3-0 lead after the first period. The Stars weren’t in it for any of the 60 minutes. It was like if the first three games of this series were distilled into three periods. They were so clearly not ready for the task.
The gamescore for the Stars also says it all. Zero offense from the team trailing the whole game and trailing in the series. On top of that, no one looked good on defense, especially the name at the bottom of that list. What happened there…
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Dallas Stars on 2023-05-29:#GoStars pic.twitter.com/4Rr62WcBAM
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) May 30, 2023
Here are the highlights for the Golden Knights.
After making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural 2018 season, Vegas lost in the Conference Finals twice in a row in 2020 and 2021 after winning the division each time. They had a disappointing season last year where they missed the playoffs, but this year they are back to their previous standard, and are looking to win their first Stanley Cup.
This is the 6th season of the Vegas Golden Knights.
They’re about to make the Stanley Cup Final for the second time. They have also lost in the Conference Final twice.
They signed Alex Pietrangelo and traded for Jack Eichel, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone.
Not bad.
— Kevin Papetti (@KPapetti) May 30, 2023
It’s definitely annoying that a franchise so young has had so much success so early, but the players and staff weren’t born yesterday. They have a lot of good players, and they’ve spent a lot of assets to acquire and keep those players. Vegas is one of the most aggressive teams when it comes to making moves. The time will come when they suck and rebuild, but this team hasn’t been a fluke for six years.
Most playoff wins since Vegas entered the NHL:
61 — Tampa Bay Lightning
50 — Vegas Golden Knights
43 — Colorado Avalanche
37 — Boston Bruins
35 — Dallas StarsAbout as good as an expansion team can be. pic.twitter.com/cIX9Q1qKpv
— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) May 30, 2023
And now that the Stars are out, we know the schedule for the Stanley Cup finals between the Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers. Here it is for you below:
Game 1: Saturday, June 3rd, 8:00pm ET
Game 2: Monday, June 5th, 8:00pm ET
Game 3: Thursday, June 8th, 8:00pm ET
Game 4: Saturday, June 10th, 8:00pm ET
Game 5*: Tuesday, June 13th, 8:00pm ET
Game 6*: Friday, June 16th, 8:00pm ET
Game 7*: Monday, June 19th, 8:00pm ET
Notice there are two days off between every travel day. This final series is going to take almost two and a half weeks if it goes the full seven games. It being May 29th, we might not know the winner of the Stanley Cup for three weeks from now.
However, this is in similar fashion to the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets who will start their series on June 1st, with Game 7 scheduled for June 18th.
All NHL Finals games will be on TNT, TBS, CBC, and Sportsnet. All NBA Finals games will be on ABC.
And speaking of the NBA, here’s one last chance to laugh at the city of Boston.
Boston becomes first city to lose a home Game 7 to an 8-seed in both hockey and basketball in the same season.
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) May 30, 2023
The IIHF Men’s World Championships concluded on Sunday with gold, silver, and bronze going to Canada, Germany, and Latvia. Read my recap on the medal games below and catch up on how Nick Perbix, Michael Eyssimont, and Rudolfs Balcers fared.
Hardev Lad
The AHL conference finals are underway, with the Hershey Bears and Coachella Firebirds each with a series lead over their opponents, the Rochester Americans, and Milwaukee Admirals.
