There's a good chance Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds defenseman Darnell Nurse will be playing against a future NHL teammate in Erie Otters center Connor McDavid when the teams meet for Game 1 of the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference Final at Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday.

Nurse, selected in the first round (No. 7) of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, played with McDavid, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, in a gold medal-winning performance for Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The Oilers hold the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft and general manager Craig MacTavish has said there was zero chance he'd even consider trading it. On Tuesday, Hockey Hall of Fame member Wayne Gretzky told the Edmonton Journal that McDavid is the best player about to enter the NHL in the past 30 years.

Erie Otters center Dylan Strome, No. 4 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of the top North American skaters eligible for the 2015 NHL Draft, has been awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the most sportsmanlike player of the year in the Ontario Hockey League.

Strome not only led the OHL with 129 points (45 goals, 84 assists) in 68 games, but his 32 penalty minutes were the sixth lowest among the top 20 scorers. He had just four penalty minutes in his last 32 games of the regular season.

"This is a major honor," Stome said in a statement. "You look at the guys who have won this award in the past and it's pretty cool to be recognized alongside them. I'm extremely proud to be recognized as most sportsmanlike for this league."

NEW YORK -- Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Derrick Pouliot are out because of injuries will not play against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Madison Square Garden on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports).

The Rangers lead the best-of-7 series 1-0.

"Neither will play and they are still day-to-day," Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said. "We will have the same lineup as Thursday [in Game 1]."

Ehrhoff has missed the past 10 games because of an upper-body injury and Pouliot has missed the past three games because of an upper-body injury. The injury-depleted defense also is without Kris Letang, who has missed the past eight games after being diagnosed with a concussion March 28. Second-year defenseman Olli Maatta has not played since Dec. 6 because of surgery to repair a shoulder injury.

In their absences Taylor Chorney and Brian Dumoulin will remain in the lineup; both players made their Stanley Cup Playoff debuts in Game 1.

Auston Matthews, a projected top pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, established a new record with 107 points in a season for the United States National Team Development Program under-18 team.

The native of Scottsdale, Ariz., had 49 goals and 58 assists in 55 games this season; the 107 points broke the record set by current Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane, who had 102 points (52 goals, 50 assists) in 2005-06.

Matthews had 12 goals and 17 points in 20 games with the U-18 team in 2013-14.

NEW YORK -- There was no way Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi would leave his teammates high and dry even after needing a quick facial repair after being hit by a stick against the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round series at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Scuderi was clipped by the stick of Rangers center Kevin Hayes on a the follow-through of a shot early in the third period. He got seven stitches to close the cut on his nose and returned less than seven minutes later.

"It was inspiring to see [Scuderi] come back to the bench, for sure," forward Blake Comeau said. "You see the cut on his nose and the blood dripping down his face. That basically sums up playoff hockey right there.

"Guys will get the bumps and bruises, but you'll do anything you can to help the team. [Scuderi] is one of the leaders in our lineup and I'm not surprised that he came back so quick."

NEW YORK -- The Pittsburgh Penguins will enter Game 2 of their best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series against the New York Rangers on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, TVA Sports) with renewed confidence.

Players were upbeat Friday despite a 2-1 series-opening loss Thursday at Madison Square Garden.

"Take away the first 10 minutes of [Game 1] and I feel we got better every minute of the game and that's why we came within one goal of tying it up," forward Maxim Lapierre said. "We can beat the Rangers if we play our game and skill set. We have to come out [Saturday], look them in the eye and know we can beat them."

NEW YORK -- Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Taylor Chorney and Brian Dumoulin will make their debuts in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Thursday against the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round series at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVA Sports, ROOT, MSG).

Chorney and Dumoulin have been forced into duty because of the injuries the Penguins have sustained on defense. The Penguins, who had 343 regular season man-games lost to injury according to mangameslost.com, will be without Kris Letang (concussion), Christian Ehrhoff (concussion) and Derrick Pouliot (upper body) in the series opener.

"The good thing for [Chorney and Dumoulin] is they both skate really well," Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said after the morning skate at Madison Square Garden. "Dumoulin is a big guy (6-foot-4, 207 pounds), but when you watch him skate it's effortless. You want your defense to be mobile because the Rangers have a dynamic attack; they're quick and have a lot of speed up front. You can't get caught flat-footed."

Erie Otters center Connor McDavid, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, established a team record with 14 points in a playoff series on Tuesday when he had one goal and one assist to help complete a four-game sweep of the London Knights in an Ontario Hockey League Western Conference semifinal before 9,046 at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario.

McDavid set the record on an empty-net goal with eight seconds remaining in the third period. He finished with eight goals and six assists in four games against London. Cory Pecker held the previous record of 13 points in a series in 2002, when he finished with 25 goals and 42 points in 21 playoff games.

It was quite a weekend for Erie Otters center Connor McDavid and Boston University center Jack Eichel.

The prospects many consider will be the top two choices in the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., on June 26 each had record-setting accomplishments.

McDavid, No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's ranking of the top North American skaters eligible for the draft, became the first player in the 19-year history of the Otters to score five goals in a regular-season or playoff game in a 7-3 win against the London Knights in Game 2 of their Ontario Hockey League Western Conference best-of-7 semifinal series at Erie Insurance Arena on Friday.

His fifth goal, a between-the-legs attempt off the end boards at the right post with 3:56 remaining in the game, was impressive.

NEWARK, N.J. -- New York Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot will have a chance to help his team clinch the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, MSG, MSG-PLUS).

It's a rather fitting opportunity for Talbot, considering the huge role he played while goalie Henrik Lundqvist recovered from a vascular neck injury that forced him to miss 24 games from Feb. 4 through March 26. Talbot went 16-4-3 with a 2.16 goals-against average, two shutouts and a .929 save percentage in the absence of Lundqvist.

Since his return to the lineup, Lundqvist has played the past five games (4-1-0) and has a 2.00 GAA and .937 save percentage in four straight wins.

The Rangers can also clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference with one point. A victory would match the franchise record of 52 regular-season wins set in 1993-94 when the organization won its fourth Stanley Cup.