In fact, before Nathan Walker made his league debut on Oct. 7, 2017, there had never been an Australian player in the NHL’s history. And on Monday, after having featured in nine regular season contests for the Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers, Walker again blazed a trail for his countrymen by becoming the first Australian to take the ice in an NHL playoff game. Walker logged 8:29 on Washington’s fourth line on Monday as the Capitals clinched their second-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins....

Erik Haula, the latest unlikely hero in a season full of them, scored with 4:38 remaining in the second overtime of Friday’s marathon Game 2, toppling the Kings 2-1 to take a commanding two-games-to-none lead in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. GOLDEN STANDARDHow Vegas became the most successful expansion team in sports history Haula, who arrived in Vegas courtesy of the Wild, accepted a slick pass James Neal through traffic and found space near the right face-off circle....

Just before scoring the game-winning goal of a 7-4 victory against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference first round on Wednesday, DeBrusk was knocked off his skates by defenseman Jake Gardiner. DeBrusk was down on the ice when the horn sounded and the TD Garden crowd went wild. He was on his knees when Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and then center David Krejci sandwiched him in a bear hug....

In fact, either the Ducks or the Sharks have been among the playoff field every year since Anaheim won the Stanley Cup in 2007. San Jose has made the postseason 13 times in the last 14 years, still without the franchise’s first championship. It’s 11 of 14 for Anaheim. This year, the Sharks and Ducks each spent the regular season looking up at the expansion Golden Knights while dealing with their own sets of internal adversity....

Sharks left winger Evander Kane and Golden Knights right winger Ryan Reaves received 10-minute misconduct penalties with 29 seconds remaining in the third period Wednesday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. The players departed after they continued to exchange words, and then exchanged sticks to the face, while being escorted to their respective benches. NHL PLAYOFFS 2019:Pavelski scores off his face | Sharks-Golden Knights predictions The teams continued the extracurriculars after the final horn sounded — and after they had accumulated a combined 56 penalty minutes in the game....

The Calder Trophy has been one of the most talked about awards all season long. There have been a number of rookies who have impressed, making the case to take home hardware in their first full NHL season. The Red Wings duo of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond have been at the front of the conversation since the beginning of the year, as well as Ducks forward Trevor Zegras. But some new faces have worked their way into the conversation, such as the red-hot Michael Bunting of the Maple Leafs....

On July 1, 2015, the Penguins stunned the hockey world by acquiring right wing Phil Kessel from the Maple Leafs in a multi-player deal. Kessel subsequently became a key contributor to Pittsburgh’s consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017. Following the Penguins’ second-round elimination last month, some pundits floated the notion of trading Kessel this summer. Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette took it a step further, blaming the winger’s sour relationship with head coach Mike Sullivan for “torpedoing” the Penguins quest for a third straight Cup....

As first reported by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, the sports apparel company will not renew its contract with the league when the pact expires after the end of the 2023-24 season. The league has notified other companies that the rights to the jerseys are up for grabs. “The NHL and Adidas look forward to continuing to work closely together over the next two years and to a smooth transition to the new authentic NHL uniform supplier, which will be announced by the NHL at the appropriate time,” the league said in a statement Thursday, per Sean Shapiro of The Athletic....

One odd wrinkle, though: diagonal lines on their socks. None of the other "Chrome" jersey sets had those. Still, that's in line with the overall Stadium Series motif: It's more future-focused. The Winter Classic is about throwbacks. MORE: The story behind Marc-Andre Fleury’s Steelers helmet

The deal is 1-for-1, however, the Oilers will retain some of Lucic’s salary and send the Flames a conditional draft pick (Neal must score at least 21 goals and Lucic must score at least 10 fewer goals than Neal, as per Mark Spector). NHL free agency: Complete list of all 31 teams’ RFAs, UFAs This deal adds even more intensity to the long-standing Battle of Alberta, as each club again swaps players; to kick off free agency, each team flipped goaltenders when Mike Smith signed with the Oilers and Cam Talbot signed with the Flames ....

As per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the 28-year-old forward could potentially be on the move, as general manager Ray Shero is exploring his options with the Devils sitting second-to-last in the Eastern Conference with a 9-12-4 record and needing a change. MORE: Devils GM Ray Shero listening to offers for Taylor Hall Hall’s contract — which carries a $6 million AAV — expires in 2020, when he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent....

Now with the NHL’s entry draft also in the books, a number of big names remain in limbo heading into free agency, which opens July 1. MORE: SN’s top 20 unrestricted free agents of 2017 Here is a roundup of the latest trade rumors, reports and free-agent rumblings. Marcus Kruger joins Hurricans, aka Blackhawks East The latest Chicago salary cap exile to join the Hurricanes is Marcus Kruger, who was traded Tuesday to Carolina via Vegas, which acquired him in a spearate deal with the Blackhawks two days earlier....

Let’s take a look at the most intriguing training camp topic for each team in the league. MORE: When does the NHL season start? Schedules for every team Anaheim Ducks Not much changed for the Ducks this past off-season with most of the roster returning after a Western Conference Final appearance last spring. The one exception is an intriguing one that bears watching in training camp and on into the regular season....

The Kings terminated the forward’s contract June 29, citing an undetermined “material breach” of the standard player’s contract. MORE: A graphic guide to the NHL’s offseason | Longest suspensions in NHL history The next day, it was reported that Richards was under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba for a June 17 incident involving the alleged possession of OxyContin pills while attempting to cross into Canada from North Dakota at the Emerson border checkpoint....

Niantic announced that the Pokémon Go Fest makeup event will go down Sunday, August 16 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time via its blog for those who bought a ticket to last weekend’s event. Pokémon featured during the Pokémon Go Fest 2020 Fire, Water, and Friendship habitat hours will be appearing in the wild. Incense will be more effective at attracting the featured Pokémon, and certain featured Pokémon will appear only when attracted by Incense, so be sure to use Incense to encounter all sorts of Pokémon....

Seri featured in his side’s 2-0 loss to Napoli in the Champions League play-offs on Tuesday evening, a result which eliminated Nice from the competition 4-0 on aggregate. Nice 10/1 to beat Amiens 2-0 Barca have long been linked with a move for the 26-year-old midfielder, and speculation has only intensified following Neymar’s €222 million move to PSG. Reports earlier this week suggested that Seri had said his goodbyes to his team-mates ahead of a move worth in the region of £37m....

“We are very pleased with the surgery and the procedure went extremely well,” said Ron Courson, a UGA senior associate athletic director. “Following his discharge, Nick will start his rehabilitation program and we are optimistic for a full recovery.” MORE: College football: Best images from Week 8 Chubb tore his PCL and two other ligaments in his left knee in a horrifying injury during the first drive of UGA’s game against Tennessee on Oct....

But now, leaders in diabetes care are encouraging people with diabetes to also monitor their “time in range” (TIR)—the percentage of time that their blood glucose remains within set parameters. In late June, Dexcom, a company that develops continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGM), along with singer Nick Jonas, who lives with type 1 diabetes and uses a CGM, launched a global campaign to promote TIR. The campaign, called the Global Movement for Time in Range, hopes to spread awareness among people with diabetes about the benefits of focusing on TIR, instead of solely leaning on other diabetes control methods....

The Australian, who was forced to play his final four singles matches in three days at the tournament due to bad weather, faced Yoshihito Nishioka in the final on Sunday afternoon (local time). Nishioka had beaten top seed Andrey Rublev to book his place in the decider but he was broken on his first service game by a fired up Kyrgios. The 27-year-old didn’t look back from there as he held serve and wrapped up the first set 6-4 with an ace....

BCS TITLE GAME: Plenty of story lines | Numbers that matter | Expert picks | Superman Under Armour Maybe it's just a coincidence, but his suit looks to be in Auburn colors.