Tuesday's hockey: Ex-Wings goalie Laforest dies at 62; Ovechkin four goals from Gretzky's record
Former Detroit Red Wings goalie Mark "Trees" Laforest died on Monday at age 62.
Undrafted and signed by the Red Wings in 1983, he began his career with Detroit's American Hockey League team in Adirondack before making his NHL debut in 1985. He stopped 35-of-36 shots in the Red Wings' 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 3, 1985.
A native of Welland, Ont., Laforest appeared in 103 NHL games over six seasons with the Red Wings, Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
He finished his NHL career with a mark of 25-54-4 with a goals against average of 5.95 and a .805 save percentage.
Laforest had a 15-year pro career from 1984 to 1997 with stops in the AHL, International Hockey League and Colonial Hockey League.
He was a member of the Adirondack team that won the AHL's Calder Cup in 1986 and won the league's Aldege “Baz” Bastien Award twice, in 1986-87 and 1990-91.
Ovechkin scores No. 891
Boston — Alex Ovechkin scored his 891st career goal, moving him four away from passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record, and Dylan Strome broke a third-period tie on Tuesday night to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins.
Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson also scored for Washington. Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves to help the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals snap a a three-game losing streak.
David Pastrnak had two goals, Vinni Lettieri scored one and Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for Boston, which lost its ninth in a row.
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead with about four minutes left in the first period, pushing a cross-crease pass from Strome into an open net. He has 12 goals in his last 18 games and eight games remaining this season to catch Gretzky.
The 39-year-old Russian also shot wide on an empty net in the final minutes.
More Tuesday NHL games
(At) Montreal 3, Florida 2 (OT): Nick Suzuki scored his second of the game 29 seconds into overtime as Montreal came back for a dramatic victory over Florida in the second game of a home-and-home.
Suzuki also tied the game with 8.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Josh Anderson also scored for Montreal (35-30-9) and Sam Montembeault stopped 25 shots.
Lane Hutson earned three assists to pad that total to 57 this season, passing Chris Chelios for second-most by a rookie defenseman in NHL history.
Buffalo 5, (at) Ottawa 2: Rasmus Dahlin and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist, and Buffalo swept their season series against Ottawa with a win.
The Senators were without captain Brady Tkachuk, who is sidelined with an upper-body injury from a hit by Ryan Graves in Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh. This marks only the fourth game Tkachuk has missed in the past three years.
Linus Ullmark made a save on Mattias Samuelsson but lost sight of the rebound, providing Tuch with an easy tap in.
(At) Columbus 8, Pittsburgh 4: Kirill Marchenko scored three goals for his third career hat trick and added an assist, and Columbus beat Nashville.
Sean Monahan had two goals and two assists, Adam Fantilli had two goals and an assist, Dante Fabbro had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson each had two assists for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.
Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting, Justin Barron and Jordan Oesterle scored for Nashville, and Luke Evangelista had two assists. Juuse Saros gave up a season-high seven goals on 26 shots through two periods, and Justus Annunen had 10 saves in the third.
Tampa Bay 4, (at) N.Y. Islanders 1: Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots, and Tampa Bay beat New York for their fourth straight win to inch closer to clinching a playoff spot.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th of the season, Victor Hedman also scored and Nick Paul added an empty-netter for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point each added two assists.
Bo Horvat scored a short-handed goal for New York and Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves as the Islanders lost their sixth straight (0-4-2), further diminishing their slim playoff hopes.
Edmonton 3, (at) Vegas 2: Leon Draisaitl added to his NHL-leading goal total by scoring on a 5-on-3 power play to put the Oilers ahead for good Tuesday night, but the Golden Knights clinched a playoff berth.
The Golden Knights, who had their season-high six-game winning streak snapped, were assured a playoff spot when the Calgary Flames were beaten 3-1 by the Utah Hockey Club.
Pavel Dorofeyev and Nicolas Roy each scored for the Golden Knights. Dorofeyev's goal gave him a team-leading 32. Adin Hill made 17 saves. Jack Eichel's six-game point streak (six goals, seven assists) ended.
(At) Utah 3, Calgary 1: Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored, Clayton Keller had an empty-netter and Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots to help Utah get its second straight win.
Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary and Dustin Wolf finished with 25 saves. The Flames lost for the third time in four games (1-2-1).
Stenlund gave Utah a 1-0 lead with 2:14 left in the first period with a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle off a pass from Alexander Kerfoot for his 12th of the season.
Gretzky's reputation takes a hit
Brantford, Ontario — John Davidson has difficulty remembering the last time Wayne Gretzky visited his childhood home across the street in this small city a couple hours’ drive southwest of Toronto.
The modest home with a one-car garage in a quiet residential neighborhood remains in the family, but the Great One’s visits have been fewer and farther between, especially since his beloved father Walter died in 2021. The backyard ice rink where Gretzky developed his generational talent has since been replaced by a pool.
Now 85, Davidson still chases away the occasional curiosity seeker, a far cry from the days when busloads of children would pull up, or the time Wayne and his wife Janet showed up with an entourage, three limousines strong. The retired steelworker then lowered his hand to his knee to indicate how long he's known Gretzky, before saying: “Wayne’s changed a lot since he went down to the States.”
Like many in this city of 105,000 and across a nation of 39 million, Davidson has difficulty squaring the child he once knew, the player who won four Stanley Cups in Edmonton and re-wrote the NHL’s scoring records, and the person he sees now.
At 64, Gretzky is now the subject of a once-unimaginable debate over his loyalty to his native Canada due to his ties to President Donald Trump, whose brazen comments about the nation's sovereignty have angered Canadians.
Pictures of Gretzky celebrating Trump’s election night victory at Mar-a-Lago and attending his inauguration don’t sit well at a time Canadians face an existential crisis in the wake of rising tariffs and the president’s comments about turning its northern neighbor into a 51st state. Many find it unsettling that Gretzky is silent on the topic, even with Trump suggesting Gretzky run for office for the eventuality of becoming the nation’s governor once it joins the U.S.
“I always thought the hell out of him," Davidson said of Gretzky. “Hate is a terrible word. Dislike is a better word.”
Growing up
Gretzky's on-ice exploits remain legendary and they begin at an early age. When he was 11, he scored 378 goals and 517 points in 85 games for the atom division Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers. His parents relocated him to play in Toronto, before Gretzky made the jump to the Ontario Hockey League, where in his only full season in 1977-78 he scored 70 goals and piled up 182 points, which still ranks second on the league's list.
Though he played on four NHL teams, ending his career with the New York Rangers in 1999, befitting his No. 99, Gretzky is best known for his 10 seasons in Edmonton, including his first when the Oilers played in the World Hockey Association. Gretzky became an icon in Alberta's capital for the championships and attention; his marriage to American actor Janet Jones in July 1988 was broadcast live across Canada.
Gretzky’s influence abounds in Brantford. His charitable foundation provides for numerous local causes, including Special Olympics and distributing free hockey sticks to children. Outside the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre is a statue of Gretzky raising the Stanley Cup with three smaller statues looking on, representing his parents and a young Gretzky wearing a Red Wings' Gordie Howe jersey.
All this in honor of a person who has been gone for a majority of his life, and makes his home in the U.S. Of his five children, daughter Paulina is best known for her marriage to top golfer Dustin Johnson. And while the Gretzkys are a far cry from the Kardashians, there is a Hollywood shine to the family that previously served as a mild curiosity to most Canadians until the turmoil of today.
Trump and Gretzky
Recently, CTV reported, the face of Gretzky's statue outside of the Edmonton Oilers arena had been smeared with feces, part of a polarizing debate that's raised ire among his detractors and eye-rolls from his defenders.
“He’s done so many good things in both of these countries, he doesn’t need to explain himself to anybody,” said Brantford councilor Dan McCreary, whose ward includes Gretzky sports complex. He referred to Gretzky's critics as being part of a “cancel culture” movement.
Not lost on McCreary is how Brantford sits in the crosshairs of the cross-border dispute. The city serves as a transportation hub – a two-and-a-half-hour drive from three border crossings – and with a manufacturing base linked to the auto industry, now facing potential fallout from U.S. tariffs.
“You might suggest that to him,” McCreary said when asked if Gretzky could put in a good word to Trump about his hometown. Gretzky did not respond to messages seeking comment from The Associated Press for this story.
Being Canadian
A sense of national pride led to Kat Philp launching a petition to rename Brantford's Wayne Gretzky Parkway after Walter, who held the honorary title of Brantford's Lord Mayor for his extensive community work.
The issue is not whose Wayne Gretzky's friends are – “You do you,” Philp said. Instead, she feels betrayed by his failure to voice support for Canada.
“We always felt he was still Canadian. We don’t feel that way anymore," said Philp, 50, who grew up playing hockey, attended Gretzky’s celebrity slow-pitch tournaments as a teenager and was proud in telling people she was from Gretzky's hometown.
Peter Pocklington, the former Edmonton Oilers owner, is stunned by the backlash directed at someone he's known since purchasing the 17-year-old player’s rights in 1978 and bringing him to Edmonton to usher in the franchise's heyday before trading him to Los Angeles.
"Wayne is not a politician. He’s a hockey player. Period. And his heart has always been in Canada, with Canada,” Pocklington said from his home in Desert Palm, California. “I’m not sure he’d stand up in his own defense but I think he probably feels sorry for them more than anything.”
'Odds are against' Chytil
Vancouver Canucks center Filip Chytil may miss for the rest of the season after experiencing a setback in his attempt to return from another concussion.
Coach Rick Tocchet said Tuesday that Chytil, who's 25, has experienced good and bad days trying to work back. The 25-year-old from Czechia has not played since getting concussed when he was hit from behind by Chicago's Jason Dickinson on March 15.
“He would go out and skate and felt good, the next day not as good,” Tocchet said. “To be honest with you guys, does he play this year? Maybe the odds are against it. Plus you don’t want to put a guy in that type of position. But when a guy has good days and bad days, obviously you’re not going to play the guy.”
Asked if there was concern about Chytil’s hockey-playing career continuing because of his concussion history, Tocchet added he was not sure.
“I talked to him today and he said it was different than his last concussion,” Tocchet said. “The bad days aren’t as bad, so that’s a positive, so I think we’ve got to take the positive approach. Plus he’s got four, five months to rebuild himself, or who knows? We’ve just got to take it day by day with this guy right now.”
Vancouver acquired Chytil in late January as part of the return for trading J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. Chytil has already had multiple concussions in the NHL and does not turn 26 until September.
The Canucks, who are making a desperate push to make the playoffs, are also not sure about the status of center Elias Pettersson, who has not played since getting injured March 22 against the Rangers. Tocchet said Pettersson was day to day.
Captain Quinn Hughes has missed time for a lower-body injury and winger Brock Boeser was temporarily sidelined by a concussion. All-Star goalie Thatcher Demko missed training camp and the beginning of the season as he worked his way back from a rare knee injury, then went down with another injury in February.
“There’s been a lot of things that’ve hit this team,” Tocchet said. “And you’re looking for culture stuff, right? Who’s all in and who’s not. When you have a lot of guys all buying in, you can withstand some stuff.”
The Canucks (34-27-13) are chasing the Minnesota Wild, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference as they get set to host the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday.
The odds of making a playoff run aren’t in Vancouver’s favor, but everyone on the team is staying committed, Demko said, even as injuries continue to ravage the lineup.
“I think as a group, we’ve been through a lot this year,” Demko said. “It’s obviously not an easy situation right now with some of the guys out, but I feel like our effort’s been there every game. We haven’t mailed it in, we’re not using it as an excuse. We’re showing up every night and giving it a solid effort. So really proud of the guys coming together and trying to get some wins here.”
Wild-card playoff race
Atlantic
▶ Toronto 94
▶ Florida 93
▶ Tampa Bay 92
Metropolitan
▶ Washington 105
▶ Carolina 94
▶ New Jersey 87
Wild-card spots
▶ Ottawa 84
▶ Montreal 79
Non-playoff teams
▶ N.Y. Rangers 77
▶ Columbus 77
▶ Detroit 75
▶ N.Y. Islanders 74
▶ Pittsburgh 71
▶ Philadelphia 71
▶ Boston 69
▶ Buffalo 70
Michigan schedule
Tuesday
Blues 2, Red Wings 1 (OT)
Wednesday
Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7
Friday
Hurricanes at Red Wings, 7
Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7
Saturday
Grand Rapids at Rockford, 8
Sunday
Panthers at Red Wings, 5:30