Sports

TSN and ESPN.com reported Monday night that the deal is a five- or six-year extension. The contract cannot be officially signed until July 5. A first-round pick by the Sharks in 2007, the 24-year-old Couture has been San Jose's top goal-scorer the past two years. In 48 games last season, the Guelph, Ont., native scored 21 goals and added 16 assists. In 232 career NHL games, he's scored 89 goals and 78 assists with a plus-31 rating. Couture finished the season with a year remaining on his deal at $3 million, but the Sharks wanted to get something done now, even though he's a restricted free agent next season. Couture has developed into one of the great young stars in the NHL, earning an All-Star nod in 2012 and twice being a 30-goal scorer.

Hossa was a last-minute scratch after going through warmups and there had been some thought he was injured during the pregame skate. However, Jonathan Toews said the Hawks were prepared all day for Hossa to possibly sit, so it's obviously something that was lingering from at least Game 2. Coach Joel Quenneville said Hossa is officially day-to-day and is hopeful the veteran winger will be able to suit up for Wednesday's Game 4. We'd like to say we'll know more after Tuesday's morning skate, but chances are Hossa will be a game-time call again Wednesday night.

There was no reason given for the scratch, but the timing of it certainly was stunning. Hossa's absence will make a big impact on Chicago's lineup and could give Boston the leg up it needs in an otherwise dead-even series. Ben Smith will take Hossa's spot in the lineup, but coach Joel Quenneville will likely have to do some juggling to make up for Hossa's absence.

Toews has had a nightmare of a time playing against Boston's top defensive pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. When Toews does get past those two, he's been stopped at every turn by Tuukka Rask. It's been the same story for Toews for much of this postseason and the Chicago captain has just one goal in 20 postseason contests. If the Blackhawks plan to win this series, they'll need to find a way to get their top players going.

The Blackhawks didn't test him much and the Bruins defensemen kept Chicago's forwards to the outside much of the time, but Rask was clearly locked in from the drop of the puck. Rask also did a very good job of controlling rebounds and got a little help from the post on a Bryan Bickell shot in the final minutes of the third period. It was another strong performance to add to Rask's potential Conn Smythe resume.

Chara ended up hitting the ice after losing his edge. The hulking defenseman slid into the back of Lucic's legs and it appeared Lucic's skate may have made contact with Chara's head. It didn't bother him enough to keep him off the ice. Chara picked up an assist and while playing a team-high 25:47 and again teamed with Dennis Seidenberg to shut down Jonathan Toews. The Bruins now lead the series 2-1.

Streit was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Philadelphia acquired the rights to Streit from the New York Islanders in exchange for Shane Harper and a fourth-round draft pick in 2014. He'll turn 36 in December, but he's still a great offensive defenseman and particularly effective with the man advantage. The financial terms of the deal aren't known yet, but he was reportedly seeking something north of $5 million annually. The Flyers' cap situation was bad to begin with and it's likely they'll fix that by using their compliance buyouts on Daniel Briere and Ilya Bryzgalov.