Hockey

NEW YORK — Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson has been fined $2,000 by the NHL under the league’s rules regarding diving and embellishment.

NHL Rule 64 was designed to penalize players who repeatedly dive and embellish in an attempt to draw penalties. A player gets a warning for a first citation and a $2,000 fine for the second citation.

League officials said Arvidsson received a warning following an incident Dec. 27 against Pittsburgh. His second citation occurred during the first period of a Jan. 7 game with Boston that resulted in coincidental minor penalties on Arvidsson and Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

Fine proceeds go to the players’ emergency assistance fund.

The Vegas Golden Knights have fired Gerard Gallant and hired former San Jose coach Peter DeBoer, whom the San Jose Sharks fired last month. The Knights also fired assistant Mike Kelly.

The move comes with the team in the mix for a playoff spot, but that factor did not prevent a midseason move. Let’s explore how the switch could impact on-ice strategy, what the team does at the deadline and more. But first, let’s examine the timing of the decision.

The Golden Knights are in the playoff mix. Why fire Gallant now?

The results aren’t there for a team whose owner, on an annual basis, says he expects to win the Stanley Cup. The Knights have been underwhelming in the standings this season with a record of 24-19-6 in 49 games. Their .551 points percentage ranks them ninth in the conference. The returns were diminishing: They were third (.665) in their inaugural season of 2017-18 and seventh (.567) last season, although injuries played a role there. Vegas had returned to the top of the Pacific Division recently, and are only three points out of first, but are mired in a four-game losing streak.

True, the Knights are tied in points with the Winnipeg Jets for the final wild-card spot. But clearly management thinks they can and should be better, and that DeBoer is the coach to get that out of them.

Wait, didn’t Gallant just win the Jack Adams a couple years ago?

That he did, for taking an expansion draft of players, somehow getting them to pass the chemistry test and turning them into a regular-season juggernaut who went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Washington Capitals. It was, and will remain, one of the most legendary first-season runs for a team, and Gallant deserves multitudes of credit for that — especially after the insulting way his tenure in Florida ended, with a fired coach photographed waiting for a taxi cab to whisk himself and his office belongings away.

But here’s the problem for Gallant: He’s not the only coach in the organization. Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon was the head coach of the WHL Brandon Wheat Kings from 2004 to 2016, and a good one at that. Looking around the NHL, there aren’t many general managers with that kind of coaching résumé. McCrimmon said “our team is capable of more than we have demonstrated this season.” I think that’s the coach talking.

According to a source, this was a decision McCrimmon had to agree with and facilitate — he wouldn’t have taken the promotion to Golden Knights general manager last season if he’d be forced to make decisions with which he disagrees.

“As a manager, sometimes you have a feeling that something isn’t what it needed to be. Sometimes you feel a change is needed,” said McCrimmon.

Was there one ultimate failing for Gallant, or was it a combination of factors?

A combination of factors, some of them out of his hands.

Their 5-on-5 play has been underwhelming, if a bit unlucky. While their puck possession remains solid (third in the league in Corsi for percentage, at 53.59 percent of shot attempts), they’re not taking over games offensively. They’re first by a wide margin in expected goals at 5-on-5 — weighed for shot quality — at 106.93, but are 12th in actual goals (98). They have the No. 24 shooting percentage, at 7.5 percent. They’re second in the NHL in scoring chances percentage (55.38) but 22nd in goals scored percentage (48.51). Overall, the Knights are 17th in the NHL in goals per game (3.02) with a system that’s creating chances but without results.

They’re not getting great goaltending either, with a team save percentage of .900 (19th). Marc-Andre Fleury has been very ordinary, with a minus-2.43 goals saved above average. Backup Malcolm Subban has been worse, with a minus-4.69.

But his management also failed him a bit. The Knights have needed help on their blue line for the past two seasons, and that hurt their ability to generate offense at even strength.

Frankly, the Knights just haven’t looked like the Knights. They’re getting outscored in the first period for the first time under Gallant (minus-4), a sign of unpreparedness and inconsistency. They’re a middling 14-10-3 at home, where they used to be unbeatable. Wither the Vegas Flu?

So, Peter DeBoer. He looks quite familiar to Golden Knights fans.

Yes, in the sense that this is like the Justice League hiring Lex Luthor as head coach.

The rivalry between the Knights and the Sharks, DeBoer’s former team, had quickly become one of the NHL’s most intense feuds, fueled by a first-round loss by Vegas last postseason in a Game 7 that saw the Sharks get the benefit of a bad penalty call, and rally from a 3-0 deficit with four third-period power-play goals before winning in overtime. The rivalry even spilled over to the coaches, as DeBoer accused Gallant of trash-talking the Sharks from the bench and Gallant responded by calling him a “clown.”

But DeBoer’s team won, and then won another round and made it the conference final last season before losing to the St. Louis Blues. His Sharks team lost some key players to free agency last summer, and was a dud this season. He was fired by the Sharks when they had a 15-16-2 record on Dec. 11. They’ve gone 6-7-2 since.

DeBoer has a career NHL coaching record of 415-329-111 with the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils and Sharks. He led the latter two teams to the Stanley Cup Final, but lost both times. While not exactly popular among Knights fans — at least not yet — he’s considered one of the top coaches in the NHL among his peers.

Will DeBoer’s approach be any different than Gallant’s?

Under DeBoer, the Sharks were similar to the Knights in the sense that they liked to possess the puck, roll their lines and come at you in waves offensively. He didn’t have the personnel to do that any longer in San Jose, but with the forward group in Vegas, he’s got a new sandbox in which to play. DeBoer’s Sharks teams were better at suppressing shots than Gallant’s teams in Vegas, although the wheels came off for San Jose defensively this season as he attempted to play the same style with a diminished roster. As can happen with all coaches, DeBoer’s act eventually wore thin with his players, but for a while he seemed to understand the Sharks better than longtime coach Todd McLellan had.

“I think he’s always been a coach that has a lot of respect from his players, relates well to his players,” said McCrimmon.

Unlike some other coaches, they hear him immediately when he arrives: Florida had a 93-point season in his first season in the NHL, and the Devils and Sharks went to the Stanley Cup Final in his first campaign with both of those teams.

If the theory is that Gallant got as much as he can out of the Knights, and that someone else needed to take them to the next level, DeBoer fits the bill.

PHILADELPHIA — The Boston Bruins have lost shootouts every which way this season.

Brad Marchand found a new one Monday night.

The Bruins star overskated the puck at center ice on a shootout attempt in a bizarre ending to the Philadelphia Flyers‘ 6-5 victory over Boston.

Travis Konecny scored in the fifth round of the shootout for Philadelphia, and Marchand lined up for his turn needing to score to keep the game going. The two-time All-Star charged toward the resting puck but barely nipped it as he skated past; he zoomed into the offensive zone, but the puck trickled forward just a few inches.

Officials met briefly before signaling that the game was over. Because Marchand made contact with the puck, it was considered a shot attempt.

“I was just trying to get going and just missed it,” Marchand said. “That’s the way it is. I’m not going to overthink it.”

Boston entered the game tied with Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues for most points in the NHL, but the Bruins fell to 0-7 in shootouts.

“We’ve seen that movie before,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — Braden Holtby allowed four goals on just 21 shots, and the Washington Capitals, who entered the night leading the NHL in points, authored an uncharacteristic 5-1 loss to the last-place New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Washington allowed New Jersey to race out to a 3-0 lead in losing back-to-back games in regulation for the second time this season. The Capitals have dropped four of seven and — combined with Boston’s 3-2 overtime win over the New York Islanders — now find themselves tied with the Bruins atop the league standings with 65 points.

“We’re going through a time in the season right now when we’re not executing and we’re not outworking the opponent,” Washington coach Todd Reirden said. “That’s not our identity.”

Defensive-zone miscues continue to haunt the Capitals, who watched Nico Hischier score twice for the short-handed Devils, still without this season’s No. 1 overall pick, Jack Hughes (upper body). Hischier, the No. 1 overall pick in 2017 by New Jersey who has flourished since the Devils traded Taylor Hall last month, has six goals since Dec. 27 and four in 2020.

“Right now, I’m playing with a little bit more confidence, but I think the whole team is playing with more confidence,” Hischier said. “It’s just simple. For me and for the team, we know what kind of team we are, I know what kind of player I am, so I’ve just got to try to keep skating, and some things will open up.”

Blake Coleman scored a short-handed goal for the Devils, and backup goaltender Louis Domingue made 33 saves en route to the win.

“I felt great from the start, and I thought we played really hard in front of me,” Domingue said. “Teams don’t like the checking game, so if we can get that on our side, we’re going to be tough to play against.”

Despite Jakub Vrana‘s goal in his first game since a promotion to the first unit, the Capitals’ power-play struggles continued. They allowed a short-handed goal for the second consecutive game and went 1-for-5 on the power play, including a botched 5-on-3 chance in the third period. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had 5:07 of power-play time on the ice but finished a minus-2 overall on 21 shifts.

“Obviously, you can’t give up a short-handed goal and a breakaway right after it,” Reirden said. “It’s definitely a work in progress. The execution has got to improve all over the ice for us, in all situations, if we want to be the type of team we expect to be.”

The Devils, meanwhile, rebounded from a three-game losing streak and a 6-3 loss to the Rangers in New York on Thursday, a game in which Domingue had to replace starter Mackenzie Blackwood.

“You talk about a team playing hard tonight in a tough building, against a tough opponent, and special teams came through,” Domingue said. “That was a key tonight.”

The Devils have secured points in six of the past eight games and have posted surprising wins during that stretch over three teams comfortably in the Eastern Conference playoff picture: the Capitals, the Bruins and the Islanders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pekka Rinne became just the 12th goalie to score a goal in NHL history Thursday night, scoring an empty-netter with 22 seconds remaining to cap the Nashville Predators‘ 5-2 victory over the host Blackhawks in Chicago.

“I obviously understand that it might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” a smiling Rinne said, “so I really enjoyed it. It was an awesome feeling seeing that puck go in.”

Nashville had a 4-2 lead when Rinne fired the puck into the air from behind his own net. It landed inside Chicago’s blue line and slid into the goal before Blackhawks forward Kirby Dach could chase it down.

Rinne, 37, said he realized it went in when he saw teammate Nick Bonino celebrating.

“It was pretty cool,” said Rinne, who had 29 saves and recorded his 14th career point with the goal. “I just threw my hands up in the air and tried to act as cool as I can.”

Rinne is the first goalie to score a goal since Mike Smith did it for Phoenix against Detroit on Oct. 19, 2013. Rinne joins Chris Mason as goaltenders to score for the Predators.

Thursday marked the 15th time, including the playoffs, that a goaltender has had a goal. Martin Brodeur did it three times, and Ron Hextall scored on two occasions.

Rinne’s goal also had a sports betting impact; the over/under for the game was 6.5 at Caesars Sportsbook.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

San Jose Sharks center Logan Couture was helped off the ice in the second period of Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at St. Louis and did not return.

Couture and St. Louis’ Vince Dunn collided and went into the boards with 12:27 remaining in the period.

Couture, in his 11th season, was favoring his left knee, which he banged into the boards.

He leads the Sharks with 36 points: 14 goals and 22 assists.

“It’s big-time concerning, even if it’s just a couple games or whatever, if it’s a couple weeks,” San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. “He’s a catalyst of our offense, penalty kill and everything. It’ll be a tough loss, but hopefully it’s not too long and it’s a day-to-day thing, so we’ll have a better idea about that [Wednesday]. When a guy like that goes down, everybody is very shocked.”

Couture is in a walking boot, Boughner said.

“I know they did X-rays,” Boughner said. “I believe they’re negative, but we’re going to reassess him again [Wednesday].”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals never believe they’re out of a game. On Sunday, they showed why.

Lars Eller scored with 2:59 remaining in overtime after the Capitals rallied from two goals down in the final minute of regulation, completing a stunning 5-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

T.J. Oshie tied the game with 15 seconds left. Eller also assisted Jakub Vrana’s second goal of the game with 47 seconds remaining as the NHL-leading Capitals became just the seventh team in league history to win after trailing by two inside the final minute.

“We just keep working,” Oshie said. “We’ve got everyone tugging the rope. And when you have that, it’s fun.”

Evander Kane had his third career hat trick for San Jose, which never trailed before Eller’s game-winner.

“That’s why they lead the league and that’s why they have the most points,” said Sharks coach Bob Boughner, “because they find ways to win games. As disappointed as I am, I’m pretty content in how our 5-on-5 game looks.”

Logan Couture scored an empty-netter with a minute remaining, appearing to seal the game. But Capitals coach Todd Reirden left the net empty, and Washington responded with its sixth and seventh goals of the season when playing in 6-on-5 situations.

“We have a plan,” Reirden said of those late-game successes. “We believe in those players. They are players that are not fazed by pressure. They’re anxious to get out there and try to be the guys that tie up the game.”

Nic Dowd had a second-period goal for Washington. Braden Holtby made 25 saves to snap a three-game losing streak in net and picked up an assist on Eller’s decisive goal, pushing the puck up ice to John Carlson.

From there, Carlson sent a cross-ice pass to Eller, who rifled his shot beyond Martin Jones and inside the right post.

“That was one of the wildest games I’ve played,” Eller said.

Jones stopped 24 shots, Couture also had an assist and Timo Meier had two, but San Jose was still swept by Washington in the season series in unlikely fashion.

Kane’s three goals — all in the second period — gave him a team-leading 18 for the Sharks, who fell to 2-2 on their last five-game trip of the season.

Couture’s insurance tally looked like it would be enough for victory. But Vrana answered only 13 seconds later, assisted by Eller and Radko Gudas. Then Oshie leveled the game from in close on Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s feed.

“We were the better team I thought for most of the game,” Kane said. “We’ve got to look at the positives. It’s easy to look at the negatives.”

GAME NOTES

Kane scored all three goals in one period — the first — in his other hat trick this season, which came in a 5-2 win over the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 16. … Sunday marked the 10-year anniversary of Alex Ovechkin being named Washington’s captain. He’s the second-longest-tenured captain in team history behind Rod Langway (Oct. 5, 1982 to Feb. 9, 1993.) … Ovechkin saw his points streak end at five games. … San Jose’s Barclay Goodrow had an apparent opening goal disallowed 1:14 into the second period. He was ruled to have touched the puck with a high stick.

UP NEXT

Sharks: Finish their trip at St. Louis on Tuesday.

Capitals: Host Ottawa on Tuesday.