Led by Jonathan Toews, the Blackhawks opened the Western Conference Finals strong, knocking off the Kings 3-1. Toews scored his sixth goal of the playoffs in the process while Corey Crawford held up well in the net for Chicago.
The Washington Capitals' season ended a month ago, but their offseason just got bleaker with news that captain Alexander Ovechkin was injured in the IIHF World Championships on Sunday.
Ovechkin and his Russian teammates were in the middle of a preliminary round game against Germany when the injury occurred. Ovechkin was hip-checked in the knee at the red line by a German player and fell to the ice in pain. He was helped off the ice after two minutes but was unable to bear any weight on his left knee.
(H/T @russianmachine)
Russia is looking to rebound after a poor showing during the 2014 Winter Olympics, and qualified for the quarterfinals on Saturday with a win over Latvia. Any long-term injury to Ovechkin will obviously hurt their chances at redemption, even though Evgeni Malkin is reportedly joining the team after the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last week.
Ovechkin was second in scoring in the tournament before the injury with three goals and nine points.