NHL Roundup: Lightning one more win away; Eichel trade coming; Kraken were taking Arvidsson; and more

nhl roundup
Jul 2, 2021; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (31) defends the net against Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) during the first period in game three of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Lightning have jumped out to a 3-0 series lead and are just one win away from a successful title defense.

Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman both collected one goal and one assist to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday. The Canadiens must win Game 4 on Monday in Montreal or the Lightning will claim their second consecutive Stanley Cup and third title in franchise history.

NHL Roundup: Lightning one win away from Stanley Cup

Amid the emotion of the Canadiens returning home, the Lightning struck early with a pair of goals 95 seconds apart. Rutta’s long wrist shot opened the scoring at the 1:52 mark, the first ever NHL goal scored in July. Hedman’s power-play goal, a blast from the point at 3:27, doubled the lead.

“I can definitely play better,” Habs goalie Carey Price said. “It’s just not good enough so far.”

The last Stanley Cup Final sweep was in 1998 when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Washington Capitals. The Canadiens were last swept in a final in 1952 by Detroit. Tampa looks like they will be the next team to get it done.

Jack Eichel trade coming

jack eichel trade coming
Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

“We have definitely been communicating with the team and we are heading towards a resolution,” Eichel’s agent, Peter Fish, told both The Athletic and AP on Thursday.

So have the Buffalo Sabres and captain Jack Eichel finally have reached common ground regarding the next steps for treating Eichel’s herniated disk in his neck?

Eichel, 24, had indicated his preference for surgery — reportedly a disk replacement — but said the Sabres disagreed with that route and wanted him to rehab the injury instead. That rehab time is up and it does not appear the Eichel has changed his mind. The same can be said of the Sabres who are still against surgery.

A trade is inevitable. Expect it to take place between the Seattle Expansion Draft (7/21) and the NHL Entry Draft (7/23).

Seattle Kraken were taking Viktor Arvidsson in expansion

Poile’s motivation for trading Arvidsson was two-fold. First, he wanted more cap-space. That’s why the Kings landed him since other teams wanted to send equivalent salary back. Secondly, the Kraken were going to take him if left unprotected.

“I had a couple of conversations with Seattle, if Viktor Arvidsson was not protected that’s who we would’ve lost,” he admitted to Darren, Daunic, and Chase of 102.5 FM. “Two picks is better than losing Viktor for nothing.”

Read the entire story here.

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Anthony Scultore is the founder of Forever Blueshirts and has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL... More about Anthony Scultore

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