NHL Buzz: Bjorkstrand out week to week for Lightning with lower-body injury
Stuart Skinner to start in goal for Oilers against Jets; Ovechkin rested by Capitals
© Vince Del Monte/NHLI via Getty Images
Tampa Bay Lightning
Oliver Bjorkstrand is week to week with a lower-body injury and unlikely to be available for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Lightning forward sustained the injury during a 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.
Bjorkstrand was acquired from the Seattle Kraken prior to the NHL Trade Deadline for forward Michael Eyssimont, two conditional first-round picks (2026, 2027 NHL Draft) and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
He has four goals and five assists in 18 games with the Lightning and 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) this season.
“It's tough because he's really grown into his role with us, and hopefully we'll have him back for the playoffs at some point," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning are second in the Atlantic Division, four points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tampa Bay is tied with the Florida Panthers but holds the first tiebreaker with two more regulation wins (39/37).
Forward Conor Geekie was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Sunday. The No. 11 pick by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2022 NHL Draft, he has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 49 games with the Lightning this season.
Geekie has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 24 AHL games.
'He's excelled down there," Cooper said. "The bottom line is when you start getting injuries, it's great to have somebody of his talent level to be able to bring back up." -- Corey Long
Edmonton Oilers
Stuart Skinner will start for the Oilers against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SNW, TSN3).
The goalie backed up Calvin Pickard for a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Friday. He missed seven games with a head injury following a collision in the crease with Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen on March 26.
“He’s been our starting goalie through the time that I’ve been here and hasn’t had much time off, so I can’t say that I’ve seen him play well after a long stretch of being off because it hasn’t happened,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said after the morning skate. “But Stu is a tremendous goaltender. He’s given us a lot of good games and hopefully he can pick up where he left off.”
Skinner is 24-18-4 with a 2.91 goals-against average and .894 save percentage in 49 games (48 starts) this season.
The Oilers (46-28-5) are third in the Pacific Division, four points behind the Los Angeles Kings. The teams will face each other in the Western Conference First Round for a fourth straight season. -- Darrin Bauming
Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin sat out a 7-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday because of rest.
The forward has 70 points (42 goals, 28 assists) in 62 games this season and became the NHL's all-time leading goal-scorer on April 6 when he got goal No. 895 to pass Wayne Gretzky in a 4-1 loss at the New York Islanders.
Defenseman Jakob Chychrun also was a healthy scratch. He has an NHL career-high 20 goals and 47 points in 72 games this season.
Washington (50-20-9) has clinched the Metropolitan Division and No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and will have home-ice advantage through at least the Eastern Conference Final. They host the Blue Jackets on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, MNMT) in the first of three regular-season games remaining.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Oliver Ekman-Larsson did not play for the Maple Leafs in a 1-0 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.
The defenseman, who played a team-high 25:14 in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Lightning on Wednesday, did not practice Friday and is day to day.
Ekman-Larsson did not play another shift after 1:23 of overtime when he fell awkwardly while on a breakaway.
"He'll be evaluated, you never know," coach Craig Berube said.
The Maple Leafs can win the Atlantic if they defeat Carolina Hurricanes in any fashion Sunday (5 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SNO) and the Lightning lose to the Sabres in any fashion, or if they get point and Tampa Bay loses in regulation. -- Dave McCarthy
Vancouver Canucks
Thatcher Demko will not play the final two games of the season for the Canucks because of an illness that also kept the goalie out of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet updated Demko’s status after he did not practice Sunday, adding goalie Nikita Tolopilo could make his NHL debut after being called up from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis Saturday.
“He's feeling okay, but he's not feeling that great. I'm not going to throw him in,” Tocchet said of Demko. “There's two games left. I don't think I'm going to play him. There's no reason to.”
It’s the fourth time this season Demko, who was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie in the NHL last season, has missed time because of injury or illness.
He missed training camp and the first 24 games while recovering from a knee injury he sustained during the first game of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 21, not making his season debut until Dec. 10.
Demko also left a 4-3 shootout win at the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 2 with back spasms, missing the next two games. He then sustained a lower-body injury in the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 8 that kept him out for 15 games over six weeks before returning March 24 against the New Jersey Devils.
The 29-year-old is 10-8-3 with an .889 save percentage and 2.90 goals-against average in 23 games this season.
“He does feel great body-wise,” Tocchet said. “I think this is the first summer he's going to go in without having to do a surgery. I think it's all positive with Thatcher. He's at a good place mentally, he’s got a good team going for his training.”
Defenseman Derek Forbort will also miss the final two games after his orbital bone was fractured in a fight with Wild forward Yakov Trenin 4:12 into the third period on Saturday. Trenin received an aggressor misconduct for punching Forbort after he was already down on the ice.
“You don’t want a guy like that starting the summer like that,” Tocchet said of Forbort, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. “He’s a big part of our team.”
Defenseman Tyler Myers, who has missed five games with an undisclosed injury, practiced with the Canucks on Sunday but is not expected to return against the San Jose Sharks on Monday, and the Canucks may have to call up another defenseman from the AHL.
Forward Filip Chytil skated with the team in a non-contact jersey on Sunday for the first time since sustaining a concussion in a March 15 game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Chytil won’t play again this season, but Tocchet said his return to the ice was encouraging given Chytil’s history of concussions.
“He says it’s different than last year, which is another positive,” Tocchet said. “He’s already in his summer training mode, he’s dialed in and that’s really good for us to see.” -- Kevin Woodley
