<p>The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is off and running, with some of the most entertaining hockey we&#8217;ve seen in years. There have been plenty of comeback wins, unbelievable finishes, and lots of storylines to follow throughout the postseason.</p>
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<p>While the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/6-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-florida-panthers-game-4-woll-responds-bright-losing-effort">Toronto</a> <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/6-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-florida-panthers-game-4-woll-responds-bright-losing-effort">Maple Leafs laid an egg in Game 4</a> in Florida on Sunday night, the Dallas Stars were busy taking a 2-1 series lead over the Winnipeg Jets. Here&#8217;s the very latest from around the NHL:</p>
<h2>Stars win Game 3 on &#8216;kicked in&#8217; goal, take 2-1 series lead over Jets</h2>
<p>There was plenty of controversy on Sunday between the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars after Alex Petrovic scored with a kicking motion in the third period. A lengthy review took place, and the referees deemed it a legal move because they felt the puck then propelled off Jets&#8217; goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and it was Hellebuyck who scored on himself.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Winnipeg goalie puts the puck into his own net after a kick,&#8221; the referee said. The NHL released a statement after the game and tried to explain what exactly happened. &#8220;The situation room initiated a video review to further examine if Alexander Petrovic kicked the puck into the Winnipeg net,&#8221; per the league&#8217;s statement. &#8220;Video was then used to determine if the puck made contact with Petrovic&#8217;s stick prior to it entering the net. After looking at all available replays, video review supported the referee&#8217;s call on the ice that Connor Hellebuyck propelled the puck into his own net.&#8221;</p>
<p>As you can imagine, Jets head coach Scott Arniel was not happy after the game and stated he felt it should have been no goal. Arniel also called out the league for using &#8216;propelled&#8217; in their explanation, as that isn&#8217;t a word Arniel&#8217;s discovered in the rule book.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s the goal, you be the judge:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Stars' Alex Petrovic Nabs Goal On Connor Hellebuyck's Gaffe After Lengthy Review" frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_1EXoZgsNdI" width="684"></iframe></p>
<h2>Stars&#8217; Mason Marchment slashes ref, reportedly won&#8217;t be disciplined</h2>
<p>While there was plenty of controversy in Game 3 between the Stars and Jets, nobody expected to be talking about a referee being slashed. Stars forward Mason Marchment <a href="https://x.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1921722102568092136">reportedly won&#8217;t face any discipline</a> after he slashed referee Graham Skilliter during Game 3.</p>
<p>The NHL discussed the play, but it&#8217;s up to the on-ice official to decide if an incident qualifies for abuse of a referee, something Skilliter wasn&#8217;t interested in.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Mason Marchment just tapped an official (Graham Skilliter) on the shin pad because he was upset with a non-call.</p>
<p>You definitely can’t do that and I imagine some sort of discipline is coming. <a href="https://t.co/fVchFshpJg">pic.twitter.com/fVchFshpJg</a></p>
<p>— Jesse Blake (@JesseBlake) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBlake/status/1921692682658652425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Marchment has one goal and three points in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He&#8217;s known to play on the edge and tow the line, but slashing a ref is never something we want to see in any game.</p>
<h2>Devils GM ready and willing to make major changes</h2>
<p>New Jersey Devils <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/new-jersey-devils-gm-tom-fitzgerald-to-seek-upgrades-after-roster-wasn-t-good-enough">GM Tom Fitzgerald met with the media recently</a> and opened up about his offseason plan. One that includes a major overhaul of his roster, because, as Fitzgerald put it, the current roster isn&#8217;t good enough.</p>
<p>The Devils were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes, and even though they were without their best player in Jack Hughes, Fitzgerald isn&#8217;t making any excuses for his hockey club and is open to major changes this summer.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve got a lot of decisions to make on certain players, whether we bring guys back, trade players (but) we won&#8217;t be coming back with the same group (in 2025-26),&#8221; Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said during his end-of-season press conference. &#8220;I can tell you that because it wasn&#8217;t good enough.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;(Restricted) free agency is a tool to improve your team, but you need the cap space and strategically target players knowing full well there&#8217;s no way a team can match because they don&#8217;t have the cap space,&#8221; Fitzgerald said. &#8220;I think the most important part of the offer sheet is that the player has to want to move. He&#8217;s got to want to come to your team, so there&#8217;s that period where you can talk to restricted free agents, but they probably have to initiate themselves.&#8221;</p>
<p>As far as restricted free agents go, Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies is going to be one of the biggest targets in the summer, and we&#8217;ll have to wait and see if a team like the Devils pulls the trigger and causes some chaos this offseason.</p>
<h2>Quick hits from around the NHL:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Golden Knights forward Mark Stone left Game 3 on Saturday due to an upper-body injury and has now been listed as day-to-day</li>
<li>Oilers&#8217; Stuart Skinner will start Game 4, as Calvin Pickard continues to be shelved with injury</li>
<li>Team Canada beat Latvia 7-1 over the weekend, with Macklin Celebrini drawing a ton of praise for his play early on in the World Championships.</li>
<li>According to <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/minnesota-wild-aggressive-spending-2025-free-agency-brock-nelson-sam-bennett-bill-guerin">Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff</a>, the Minnesota Wild are expected to be aggressive with their $20+ million cap space this offseason, which could include going after Brock Nelson or Sam Bennett.</li>
<li>Stars&#8217; Mikko Rantanen continues his blazing start to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and is now up to an NHL-leading 18 points in 10 games.</li>
<li>Hurricanes&#8217; goaltender Frederik Andersen leads the playoffs with a 1.32 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.</li>
<li>The soon-to-be retired Marc-Andre Fleury made way to Sweden to join Team Canada and admitted he&#8217;s going to make the most of his last dose of professional hockey.</li>
<li>Stars&#8217; head coach Peter DeBoer admitted it&#8217;s only a matter of time before soon-to-be 22-year-old Wyatt Johnston is the captain in Dallas.</li>
<li>Former WWE star Brock Lesnar&#8217;s son, Duke, was a 115th overall pick in the WHL draft, selected by the Medicine Hat Tigers.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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Dallas Stars Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, and Alex Petrovic celebrate after a Game 3 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is off and running, with some of the most entertaining hockey we've seen in years. There have been plenty of comeback wins, unbelievable finishes, and lots of storylines to follow throughout the postseason.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
While the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/6-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-florida-panthers-game-4-woll-responds-bright-losing-effort">Toronto</a> <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/6-takeaways-toronto-maple-leafs-florida-panthers-game-4-woll-responds-bright-losing-effort">Maple Leafs laid an egg in Game 4</a> in Florida on Sunday night, the Dallas Stars were busy taking a 2-1 series lead over the Winnipeg Jets. Here's the very latest from around the NHL:
<h2>Stars win Game 3 on 'kicked in' goal, take 2-1 series lead over Jets</h2>
There was plenty of controversy on Sunday between the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars after Alex Petrovic scored with a kicking motion in the third period. A lengthy review took place, and the referees deemed it a legal move because they felt the puck then propelled off Jets' goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and it was Hellebuyck who scored on himself.

"The Winnipeg goalie puts the puck into his own net after a kick," the referee said. The NHL released a statement after the game and tried to explain what exactly happened. "The situation room initiated a video review to further examine if Alexander Petrovic kicked the puck into the Winnipeg net," per the league's statement. "Video was then used to determine if the puck made contact with Petrovic's stick prior to it entering the net. After looking at all available replays, video review supported the referee's call on the ice that Connor Hellebuyck propelled the puck into his own net."

As you can imagine, Jets head coach Scott Arniel was not happy after the game and stated he felt it should have been no goal. Arniel also called out the league for using 'propelled' in their explanation, as that isn't a word Arniel's discovered in the rule book.

Here's the goal, you be the judge:

<iframe title="Stars' Alex Petrovic Nabs Goal On Connor Hellebuyck's Gaffe After Lengthy Review" frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_1EXoZgsNdI" width="684"></iframe>
<h2>Stars' Mason Marchment slashes ref, reportedly won't be disciplined</h2>
While there was plenty of controversy in Game 3 between the Stars and Jets, nobody expected to be talking about a referee being slashed. Stars forward Mason Marchment <a href="https://x.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/1921722102568092136">reportedly won't face any discipline</a> after he slashed referee Graham Skilliter during Game 3.

The NHL discussed the play, but it's up to the on-ice official to decide if an incident qualifies for abuse of a referee, something Skilliter wasn't interested in.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Mason Marchment just tapped an official (Graham Skilliter) on the shin pad because he was upset with a non-call.</p>
You definitely can’t do that and I imagine some sort of discipline is coming. <a href="https://t.co/fVchFshpJg">pic.twitter.com/fVchFshpJg</a>

— Jesse Blake (@JesseBlake) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBlake/status/1921692682658652425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
Marchment has one goal and three points in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He's known to play on the edge and tow the line, but slashing a ref is never something we want to see in any game.
<h2>Devils GM ready and willing to make major changes</h2>
New Jersey Devils <a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/new-jersey-devils-gm-tom-fitzgerald-to-seek-upgrades-after-roster-wasn-t-good-enough">GM Tom Fitzgerald met with the media recently</a> and opened up about his offseason plan. One that includes a major overhaul of his roster, because, as Fitzgerald put it, the current roster isn't good enough.

The Devils were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to the Carolina Hurricanes, and even though they were without their best player in Jack Hughes, Fitzgerald isn't making any excuses for his hockey club and is open to major changes this summer.

"We've got a lot of decisions to make on certain players, whether we bring guys back, trade players (but) we won't be coming back with the same group (in 2025-26)," Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald said during his end-of-season press conference. "I can tell you that because it wasn't good enough."

"(Restricted) free agency is a tool to improve your team, but you need the cap space and strategically target players knowing full well there's no way a team can match because they don't have the cap space," Fitzgerald said. "I think the most important part of the offer sheet is that the player has to want to move. He's got to want to come to your team, so there's that period where you can talk to restricted free agents, but they probably have to initiate themselves."

As far as restricted free agents go, Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies is going to be one of the biggest targets in the summer, and we'll have to wait and see if a team like the Devils pulls the trigger and causes some chaos this offseason.
<h2>Quick hits from around the NHL:</h2>
<ul>
 	<li>Golden Knights forward Mark Stone left Game 3 on Saturday due to an upper-body injury and has now been listed as day-to-day</li>
 	<li>Oilers' Stuart Skinner will start Game 4, as Calvin Pickard continues to be shelved with injury</li>
 	<li>Team Canada beat Latvia 7-1 over the weekend, with Macklin Celebrini drawing a ton of praise for his play early on in the World Championships.</li>
 	<li>According to <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/minnesota-wild-aggressive-spending-2025-free-agency-brock-nelson-sam-bennett-bill-guerin">Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff</a>, the Minnesota Wild are expected to be aggressive with their $20+ million cap space this offseason, which could include going after Brock Nelson or Sam Bennett.</li>
 	<li>Stars' Mikko Rantanen continues his blazing start to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and is now up to an NHL-leading 18 points in 10 games.</li>
 	<li>Hurricanes' goaltender Frederik Andersen leads the playoffs with a 1.32 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.</li>
 	<li>The soon-to-be retired Marc-Andre Fleury made way to Sweden to join Team Canada and admitted he's going to make the most of his last dose of professional hockey.</li>
 	<li>Stars' head coach Peter DeBoer admitted it's only a matter of time before soon-to-be 22-year-old Wyatt Johnston is the captain in Dallas.</li>
 	<li>Former WWE star Brock Lesnar's son, Duke, was a 115th overall pick in the WHL draft, selected by the Medicine Hat Tigers.</li>
</ul>
<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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Around the NHL: Stars win Game 3 with controversial goal, Marchment slashes ref, Devils expecting major roster changes

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