Devils All-Star Jack Hughes out with upper-body injury Alex Ovechkin away from Capitals to attend to family matter Bruins’ Linus Ullmark is NHL’s biggest goalie surprise this season Senators’ Anton Forsberg out indefinitely with MCL tear in both knees Dustin Brown has No. 23 retired, statue unveiled

NEWARK, New Jersey. New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes has an upper body injury and is reviewed weekly.

Coach Lindy Ruff spoke about injuries following the Devils’ morning skate ahead of their home game against the Seattle Cracken. Hugh left training early.

“He’s a young guy – that will help,” Ruff said. “I think it will be on the shorter end.”

Hughes, 21, represented New Jersey at the NHL All-Star Weekend and is the main reason the team made the playoffs for the first time in several seasons. He is third in the league in goals with 35 and ninth in points with 67, 16 more than the next closest Devils player.

New Jersey is currently second in the Capital Division, behind only the first-place Carolina Hurricanes and ahead of rival New York Rangers. If Hughes is out for even two weeks, it will mean he will miss eight games.

ARLINGTON, Virginia – Alexey Ovechkin will be away from the Washington Capitals to attend to family matters and the health of a loved one, and is expected to be away for at least the rest of the week, if not longer.

General Manager Brian McLellan announced the absence of Ovechkin before the team’s morning rental. No further details have been made public, although Washington appears to be poised to be without its longtime captain and face of the franchise for an extended period.

Trainer Peter Laviolette said he did not suggest that Ovechkin would return “in the foreseeable future”.

“When it comes to your family and your parents, that’s what matters,” Laviolette said. “He’s going to sort things out right now and we’re going to support him.”

Further complicating matters, if Ovechkin needs to return home to Russia, where his parents and other family members live, are the travel restrictions due to the war in Ukraine. There are no direct flights between North America and Moscow.

The Capitals will play two home games this week before playing the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL Outdoor Stadium Series in Raleigh.

“Sending positive thoughts on behalf of the organization,” the Hurricanes tweeted ahead of the Capitals game. “There is nothing more important than those we love. We wish Alex and his family all the best.”

Ovechkin, 37, leads Washington with 32 goals and 54 points. In his 18-year NHL career, he missed just 48 games, with the Capitals losing 25 of them.

“We played without key players all season, last year and the year before. We will miss him,” center Lars Eller said. “We’re better with him in our lineup, but in the meantime the other guys will have to fill in the gap and we can do that.”

Capitals play without their best defenseman John Carlson since he got the puck to his head on Dec. 23. There is also a lack of a front line right winger Tom Wilsoncenter of the fourth line Nick Dowd and now Ovechkin, so the team remembered the winger Joe Snively from the Hershey of the American Hockey League.

In every aspect of the game, the Washingtons look different without Ovechkin, who is the league’s career power-play goalscorer thanks to his trademark position on the left side of the faceoff circle.

“Obviously teams are used to seeing (Ovechkin) in his office, so we all know what he can do there, how he can score from there,” longtime teammate. Niklas Backstrom said. “Definitely he will be missed, but at the same time we have to find other ways to create chances and try to use them.”

The Capitals enter an important stretch of time in a precarious position: holding one of two wild card spots in the Eastern Conference and risking being eliminated from the playoffs by the end of the week. Even before Ovechkin’s absence, they were averaging 2.27 goals over their last 14 games.

“To win matches, you have to score goals,” Backstrom said. “You are not going to win matches by scoring just one goal. I think we need to be a little more urgent there, we need to be a little more hungry online.”

Ovechkin met with teammates before leaving the Capitals’ training facility. This gave the players an opportunity to offer their support before preparing to take the ice without him.

“It’s nice to see him, hug him and let him know that we’re here for him in person and not through text,” the winger said. TJ Oshi said. “We think of him, miss him and wish him the best.”

Having just signed a four-year, $20 million contract, Linus Ulmark shared the net with a newcomer. Jeremy Swayman and then, briefly, with Tuukka Rask, a cornerstone of the organization who was trying to come back from hip surgery. Ullmark conceded eight goals in two playoff games before succumbing to Swaimane’s starter spot and leaving in the off-season of change unsure what his role would be.

Turns out he’s stellar as the best goaltender in the NHL.

Ullmark leads the league in wins, save percentage and goals average, which is one of the main reasons the Bruins lead the league table and keep pace with the best regular season in NHL history. Along with other stars Stuart Skinner And Logan Thompsonwho respectively have the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights on their way to the playoffs, Ulmark tops the list of the season’s biggest goalie surprises.

“He stood on his head” – Bruins top scorer and MVP candidate. to David Pastr said. “He plays incredible. To be honest, this year it’s just fun to watch. He plays confidently. He is big. He’s very confident online and he’s having a special year.”

Ullmark thinks he feels more comfortable in his new surroundings, and it shows in his game: he has already set a career high with 26 wins, his .937 shooting percentage is more than 10 points higher than his next closest competitor, and his GPA of 1.90 would have been higher. be the lowest among goaltenders who have played 40 games or more since Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur in 1997-98.

The 29-year-old Swede has thought a lot about what has changed in his game, and it’s hard for him to pinpoint it. Feeling “at home” in Boston is one of many things.

“I just think it’s just little pieces here and there that just fall into place,” Ullmark said. “We also have a great team and it goes hand in hand with my work as well as Sway’s work. This is not just a one man show. It’s team work.”

Bruins lead Eastern Conference after 38 Pastrnak goals, captain Patrice Bergeronbilateral dominance at the age of 37 and the training of rookie Jim Montgomery. But Bruce Cassidy, who was fired after coaching Boston to six playoff games, called Ullmark’s appearance “big” when asked about his former team’s permanence.

“He finished last year really well, and he carried that over to this year,” Cassidy said. “Now you are creating competition for Swain in this position. I think it’s a great thing for Boston.”

Cassidy, who is now on the bench with the Golden Knights, put Thompson in first place after Vegas found out about it late in the offseason. Robin Lehner will be out for a season in rehab after hip surgery.

Thompson, who took the lead last season through injury, won 20 of his first 35 starts this season before being sidelined himself last week. Prior to this, the undrafted late had earned All-Star honors and was named Rookie of the Year for the Calder Trophy.

“There were many times when I was really close to just quitting and giving up,” Thompson said. “This competitiveness in me never disappeared. The most important thing is to never stop working hard for what you want.”

Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft noticed similar tendencies in Skinner when they played together in junior high last year. The Edmonton American Hockey League affiliate in Bakersfield, California was in desperate need of a starting lineup one night; Skinner rushed to the rink due to ride problems, got there 5 minutes before the warm-up and then backed up for the win.

“He showed me something – he showed something to his teammates how serious he is about winning games for the Edmonton Oilers organization,” Woodcroft said. “He got better and better. … As he works during his first year, the results he got are not accidental.”

But this was not expected: the Oilers signed a contract Jack Campbell the contract was more lucrative than Ullmark’s to become their starter, with Skinner entering the season as a substitute. He has since faced Campbell as a starter and is looking to be Edmonton’s goaltender in the first playoff game this spring.

“I think it was a bit of a surprise to everyone how good he feels,” defender. Kodi it said. “He’s really proven himself.”

Ullmark certainly showed glimpses of his potential after six seasons with the Buffalo Sabers from 2015-21. Grateful to former and current teammates and coaches: “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here where I am now,” Ullmark hopes he can continue to make them feel proud.

“That’s what I do: stop pucks,” he said. “So far it’s worked, so hopefully I can keep going.”

OTTAWA, Ontario – Ottawa Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg Out indefinitely after tearing a medial lateral ligament in both knees during a game against Edmonton, general manager Pierre Dorion said.

Forsberg was injured late in the third period when the Senators defenseman Travis Hamonic pushed the Oilers winger Zach Hyman on top of the goalkeeper during the scrum. Forsberg had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher.

The 30-year-old Forsberg has an 11-11-2 record and a .902 shooting percentage in 28 games this season.

The senators also announced after practice that quarterback Jake Sanderson will miss at least two weeks with an upper body injury…