The St. Louis Blues have removed the interim tag from Drew Bannister's title and named him their full-time coach.

Winnipeg forward Vladislav Namestnikov was taken to the hospital for evaluation after a puck hit him on the left side of his face in Game 4 against Colorado.

The NHL trade deadline is still three weeks away, and yet three of the top teams in the Western Conference have already made an addition.

Chandler Stephenson scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets from their Western Conference opening-round series with a 4-1 victory in Game 5.

Four men got on the NHL coaching carousel in the offseason and have all landed in the playoffs with their new teams.

Pete DeBoer is jumping right back into coaching with the Dallas Stars about a month after he was fired by the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Dallas Stars have hired Peter DeBoer as their new coach.

Rick Bowness will not return as the coach of the Dallas Stars.

The New York Rangers were on the brink of elimination when they came back from Pittsburgh earlier in the week after two bad losses on the road.

The pressure is squarely on the Florida Panthers, New York Rangers and Calgary Flames down two games to one in their respective first-round series.

Joe Pavelski scored twice and got the game-winner on the first power-play goal in the series for Dallas as the Stars beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Injuries are threatening to tip the balance of a handful of first-round series around the NHL playoffs.

The NHL playoff race is going into its final few days with both Western Conference wild-card slots still unsettled.

Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski scored 75 seconds apart late in the third period, and the Dallas Stars stopped Pittsburgh’s 10-game win streak with a 3-2 victory over the Penguins.

Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop’s career is over because of a degenerative condition in his right knee.

Dallas Stars' Ty Dellandrea reacts after scoring a goal on Detroit Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss (29) during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)DETROIT – Tanner Kero broke a scoreless tie late in the second period, Anton Khudobin stopped all 21 shots he faced and the Dallas Stars pulled away to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 Saturday night. “At this point, you appreciate every game you get in," Kero, who is from Hancock, Michigan, said after playing in his 85th NHL game. “We’re not the only team that has struggled to score against that team," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. The Red Wings will have a couple days off, a luxury in the NHL this season, before playing the Predators on the road Tuesday night.

Detroit Red Wings center Robby Fabbri shares during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)DETROIT – Robby Fabbri scored three goals, one in each period, and the Detroit Red Wings held on to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday night. “He’s not the biggest or fastest guy, but he makes up for it with competitiveness," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. Thomas Greiss finished the game in net for the Red Wings and had 16 saves. “We’re clicking right now and I think that comes from getting a lot of reps together in practice," Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said.

New York Rangers coach David Quinn of the New York Rangers stands behind the bench during the team's NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in New York. (Bruce Bennett/Pool Photo via AP)The NHL revised its virus protocols in a bid to keep the shortened season on track, but not before a fifth team was idled by COVID-19 problems. Hours after the league announced changes visible in arenas and important behind the scenes, Colorado joined the growing list of U.S.-based teams shut down for virus concerns. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog joined teammate Tyson Jost on the league's COVID-19 unavailable list Thursday. Bettman said fewer than half the players in protocol have been because of a confirmed positive test and many of those were asymptomatic.

DALLAS, TEXAS - JANUARY 28: Andrew Cogliano #11 of the Dallas Stars scores a goal against Jonathan Bernier #45 of the Detroit Red Wings in the second period at American Airlines Center on January 28, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. AdValtteri Filppula knocked in a rebound for his first goal for the Red Wings (2-5-1). “Made it 4-3 there, and it got away from us,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. The puck crossed the line just before the Red Wings did. WHAT’S NEXTBoth teams play back-to-back games Saturday and Sunday, the Red Wings at home against Florida, and the Stars on the road for the first time this season at Carolina.

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)DALLAS – Jason Dickinson scored 1:32 into overtime and the Dallas Stars won a third straight home game to start their delayed season, beating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday night. The Red Wings controlled the puck for the first minute-plus of the 3-on-3 period before the Stars gained control and moved into the offensive zone. “I saw he probably thought that I was going to shoot it so I was going to take him out,” Klingberg said. The Red Wings are winless in four of their past five games this season. Guys had to step up at key times.”STILL MISSINGThe Red Wings remain without forwards Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri, Sam Gagner and Filip Zadina and defenseman Jon Merrill because of COVID-19 protocols.

San Jose's Erik Karlsson (65) handles the puck against Minnesota Wild's Nick Bjugstad (27) in the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in St. Paul, Minn. San Jose won 5-3. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)With an outbreak delaying the Dallas Stars opener, Rick Bowness got to watch a lot of hockey in the first couple of nights of the NHL season. The San Jose Sharks have been the NHL's nomads since they opened training camp in Arizona because of a ban on contact sports by Santa Clara County, California. “We’re staying in 5-star hotels, get to play hockey, so I can’t complain,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. Ad___Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

... That was a special moment.”Joe Pavelski had two goals and two assists and Alexander Radulov also scored twice for the Stars, who had a scoreless first period. Five of Dallas’ goals came in the second, including three on the power play and an unassisted short-handed wrist shot by Esa Lindell. Pavelski and Kiviranta added power-play goals in the third period, those against Pekka Rinne, who entered after Saros allowed five goals on 20 shots. CAPTAIN HURTStars captain Jamie Benn was injured when his right leg buckled awkwardly after a collision with Viktor Arvidsson in the second period. Three of the shots game in the first period, including a wraparound attempt into Khudobin’s pads and a hard second shot on the rebound.

The Stars' return comes after 17 players tested positive for COVID-19, even though most were asymptomatic. Their first four scheduled games, all on the road and including an early Stanley Cup Final rematch with Tampa Bay, were postponed. “Right now, listen, we're all ready for a game,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said after practice Thursday at their home arena. Now the Stars are the last team to open the NHL's 56-game, division-only regular season. About 5,000 fans will be allowed for Stars games, well below the hockey capacity of 18,532, though the NBA's Dallas Mavericks are playing their home games there without fans.

For Peter Laviolette, his Washington Capitals will keep playing for the next week without four prominent players who broke the rules. There's no indication the Capitals are being shut down, though they will have to play the next four games without captain Alex Ovechkin, No. The NHL defers to local authorities, and the minimum four games for the Capitals players relates to the District of Columbia's quarantine regulations. The Hurricanes have so far had three games postponed because of their outbreak and won't play for at least a week. I think that’s really what we’re going to find out.”___AP Sports Writers Aaron Beard and Stephen Hawkins contributed.

The NHL did not specify which team prompted the postponement, though four Hurricanes players were added to the COVID-19 list Tuesday. The NHL already postponed the start of the Dallas Stars' season after six players and two staff members tested positive for the virus. Hurricanes players Warren Foegele, Jordan Martinook, Jaccob Slavin and Teuvo Teravainen joined captain Jordan Staal on the unavailable list because of COVID-19 protocols. The teams aren’t scheduled to play again in Nashville until the end of the season with back-to-back games on May 7-8. Now the Predators, who gave players Tuesday off after the postponement, are scheduled to visit Dallas on Friday night for the Stars' season opener.

The Stars are still Bowness' team. Dallas officially removed the interim tag Thursday and gave the 65-year-old Bowness a two-year contract, making him the franchise's 24th head coach, and ninth since moving to Dallas in 1993. Bowness was 20-13-5 after becoming their interim head coach. The Stars made it to the Stanley Cup final even while dealing with a plethora of significant injuries. That would have been a lot more interesting if we had been a healthy team,” Bowness said.

The Dallas Stars have to fix some things in a hurry, or this Stanley Cup Final could be over quickly. After consecutive games with three-goal periods, Tampa Bay has all of the momentum and a 2-1 series lead. Dallas' top line is without a goal against Tampa Bay. The NHL is playing Stanley Cup Final games on back-to-back nights for the first time since 2009, when Detroit won each of the first two games against Pittsburgh, which eventually won the series in seven games. In its only back-to-back this postseason, Tampa Bay won Games 2 and 3 in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Boston.

In this photo provided by the Dallas Stars NHL hockey team, interim head coach Rick Bowness watches practice in Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. You get out there and you miss it, the Dallas Stars coach said. You realize how much you enjoy being out there.The NHLs oldest head coach still worries about COVID-19 but not enough to stop doing his job. Im going to have to adjust to it, there is no question. The average age of the 24 head coaches in the playoffs is just under 54, the second-oldest behind the NBA among North Americas four major professional sports leagues.