ROMAN JOSI

Toronto’s Auston Matthews won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, beating out Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers to win the award for the first time.

“Mr. Game 7” is back in the Stanley Cup Final, but in a much different role than before.

Valeri Nichushkin scored the game-winning goal with 7:58 left, and the Colorado Avalanche became the first team to advance to the second round Monday night by finishing a sweep of the Nashville Predators 5-3 Monday night.

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in the second period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 7-3 for a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Cale Makar scored 8:31 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves on his 32nd birthday and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot competition and St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou was the Fastest Skater during an NHL All-Star skills competition with a distinct Vegas flavor.

Most of the world’s best hockey players are spending this weekend in Las Vegas instead of the Olympic village in Beijing.

Brandon Tanev scored his second goal into an empty net with 1:21 left, and the Seattle Kraken held off the Nashville Predators 4-3 Thursday night for the first victory in the expansion franchise’s second game.

Sebastian Aho scored his second goal of the game 1:06 into overtime to send the Carolina Hurricanes to the second round with a 4-3 comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in Game 6.

Luke Kunin scored his second goal at 16:10 of the second overtime,and the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 Sunday to tie the first-round series 2-2.

Matt Duchene scored at 14:54 of the second overtime and the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Friday night to cut their series deficit to 2-1.

Sebastian Aho scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic was sharp in net to lead a perfect showing for Carolina’s penalty kill, helping the Hurricanes beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series.

Draisaitl has won the Hart Trophy as MVP after leading the NHL in scoring. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)EDMONTON, AB – The Stanley Cup Final is in Edmonton, and Oilers star Leon Draisaitl made history Monday night. Draisaitl became the first German player to win the Hart Trophy as MVP after leading the league in scoring with 110 points in 71 games. Draisaitl is the second Oilers player to win the Hart in the past four years following Connor McDavid, who is widely considered the best hockey player in the world. Like Draisaitl, Makar was (virtually) presented the award by Wayne Gretkzy on an awards show with an Oilers flare.