Four of the past five Stanley Cup champions are based in a place with no state income tax, and the flood of talent to those locales continued in NHL free agency.

The Nashville Predators made a big splash on the opening day of NHL free agency by signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei.

Sam Reinhart missed the Florida Panthers’ championship parade.

There was no collapse.

Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch and his staff successfully challenged a goal by the Florida Panthers at a crucial juncture of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists that added to his historic postseason, Evan Bouchard added three assists and the Edmonton Oilers fended off elimination yet again by beating the Florida Panthers 4-3 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was an eye-opener for the Edmonton Oilers.

This seems so fitting.

The Florida Panthers peppered Igor Shesterkin with shot after shot, and the New York Rangers goalie had an answer for almost all of them.

Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal 1:12 into overtime, and the Florida Panthers topped the New York Rangers 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference Final at two games apiece.

Alex Wennberg deflected home a goal 5:35 into overtime, and the New York Rangers reclaimed home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference finals with a 5-4 win over the Florida Panthers in Game 3 on Sunday.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots for his first shutout of the postseason, Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers beat the New York Rangers 3-0 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.

Aleksander Barkov had two game-winning goals in Florida's series against Boston.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe scored on the same Bruins double-minor, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 14 shots and the Florida Panthers beat Boston 6-2 on Friday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Aleksander Barkov had two goals and two assists, Sam Reinhart added four assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-1 on Wednesday night to tie the second-round series at a game apiece.

Steven Stamkos scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series and the Tampa Bay Lightning avoided elimination with a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the first-round playoff matchup Saturday night.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves, Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Thursday night to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Carter Verhaeghe tapped in a pinpoint pass from Aleksander Barkov for the lead 58 seconds into the third period, Matthew Tkachuk added a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 in Game 1 of their NHL playoff series opener.

Sam Reinhart had two goals and two assists, Carter Verhaeghe got the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Florida Panthers withstood two highlight-reel scores from rookie Connor Bedard to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 shots for his first career playoff shutout, Sam Reinhart scored a power-play goal midway through the second period and the Florida Panthers moved one win away from a most improbable trip to the Stanley Cup Final by blanking the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0.

Matthew Tkachuk finished a feed from Sam Reinhart at the 1:51 mark of overtime to help the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 for a 2-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference final.

Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in his first playoff start, Mitch Marner and William Nylander had the goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night.

Sam Reinhart scored 3:02 into overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Carter Verhaeghe scored the game-winner at 8:35 of overtime to lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-3 Game 7 victory and eliminate the record-setting Boston Bruins from the playoffs.

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, Eetu Luostarinen put Florida ahead to stay with 5:38 left in what was a crazed third period, and the Panthers forced a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round series by beating the Boston Bruins 7-5.

Matthew Tkachuk scored six minutes into overtime to help the Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 4-3 and force their first-round playoff series back to Florida for a sixth game.

The New York Rangers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Sam Reinhart tied it late in regulation, Carter Verhaeghe scored his second of the game in overtime and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 in Game 4 to tie the first-round series.

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.

Anton Lundell scored twice and the Florida Panthers extended their winning streak to 10 games with a 6-1 rout of the Detroit Red Wings.

Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in the shootout, and the Florida Panthers continued their string of comebacks by rallying from three one-goal deficits to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.

The Buffalo Sabres have stripped Jack Eichel of his captaincy.

Four people with direct knowledge of the player’s decision have told The Associated Press that Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel is changing agents while in the midst of a long-standing dispute with the team over how to treat a neck injury.

The Florida Panthers have signed restricted free agent forward Sam Bennett to a $17.7 million, four-year contract.

The Philadelphia Flyers have traded Jakub Voracek to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Cam Atkinson in the first major trade on the second day of the NHL draft.

Expect a fast and furious NHL offseason to unfold in the coming days and weeks.

The Buffalo Sabres have removed the interim tag from Don Granato and named him the team's full-time coach.

The Buffalo Sabres won the NHL draft lottery and the expansion Seattle Kraken jumped up the order to take the No. 2 pick Wednesday night.

Tristan Jarry stopped 27 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins jumped into second place in the East Division standings with a 3-2 win over Buffalo, eliminating the Sabres from playoff contention.

Buffalo Sabres celebrate a goal by center Curtis Lazar (27) during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Buffalo, N.Y., Wednesday, March 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)BUFFALO, N.Y. – Embarrassment for Brandon Montour and the Buffalo Sabres turned into relief on Wednesday night. The Sabres ended their 18-game skid — the NHL’s longest in 17 years — with a resounding 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. AdThe Sabres also snapped a 0-9-2 home skid, one short of matching a franchise record set during the 1990-91 season. After Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov scored 3:50 into the second period, Buffalo responded by closing the period with goals from Fogarty and Casey Mittelstadt.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Mathew Barzal and Scott Mayfield each had a goal and an assist and the New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Saturday for their fourth straight victory. New York beat Buffalo for the fifth straight time this season, outscoring the Islanders 19-7 in those five meetings. Cal Clutterbuck extended the lead at 8:45, sending a wrist shot past Hutton for his second goal this season. AdMayfield made it 4-1 with his second goal of the season at 15:29, firing another high shot past Hutton. IRON MENThe Islanders have three players with consecutive game streaks of last 250 games: Lee 292, Brock Nelson 269 and Barzal 256.

Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel (9) carries the puck past New Jersey Devils forward Yegor Sharangovich (17) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)BUFFALO, N.Y. – Jack Eichel scored in a shootout, Linus Ullmark made 31 saves and the Buffalo Sabres beat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on Saturday. Victor Olofsson, Tobias Rieder and Eric Staal also scored to help the Sabres improve to 3-0-2 in their past five games. AdJanne Kuokkanen, Ty Smith and Andreas Johnsson scored for New Jersey in former Sabres coach Lindy Ruff’s first trip to Buffalo since taking over the Devils this offseason. Buffalo’s top free-agent acquisition assisted on two goals, tying Eichel for the team lead with nine points in eight games. RUFF’S RETURNRuff served as a Rangers assistant and Stars head coach since being fired by the Sabres in 2013.