Around the NHL: Will Ehlers play for Jets?; Wild's Evason calls Stars divers

As round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs heats up, there is much to monitor across the league.

Here is the latest news from around the NHL.

Winnipeg Jets

If you are a Jets fan wondering about Nikolaj Ehlers' status for Game 2 against Vegas ... keep wondering.

Head coach Rick Bowness declared Ehlers a game-time decision after not taking part in Thursday's optional skate. The Danish forward has not played since leaving early in a game against Minnesota on April 11 with an upper-body injury.

Forward Morgan Barron, on the other hand, is good to go, despite receiving 75 stitches to his forehead in Game 1 after getting caught by the skate of Golden Knights goalie Laurent Brossoit in a goal-mouth scramble. Barron's status isn't really a surprise, considering he returned to the game after getting stitched up.

Game 2 between Winnipeg and Vegas can be seen on Sportsnet at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

Boston Bruins

Speaking of injured players, the status of injured Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron remains a closely guarded secret. Head coach Jim Montgomery was non-committal about the prospect of Bergeron travelling with the team to Florida for Games 3 and 4 of their series with the Panthers.

"I haven't talked to medical and athletic trainers about where he's at as far as coming with us on the trip or not," said Montgomery, according to The Athletic.

Bergeron, 37, has reportedly skated twice on his own this week, including on Thursday.

Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina recalled forward Mackenzie MacEachern from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Thursday.

MacEachern, 29, has just five games of NHL playoff experience, which came in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues. He had 30 points in 37 AHL games with Chicago this season.

The Hurricanes lost centre Teuvo Teravainen when he suffered a broken hand in Wednesday's Game 2 versus the Islanders. He was slated to undergo surgery Thursday.

Toronto Maple Leafs

While Toronto fans may be breathing a sigh of relief over the fact referee Wes McCauley is working the Rangers-Devils game tonight, will they be happy with getting Eric Furlatt instead?

Furlatt was the official who called that infamous interference penalty on Toronto defenceman Justin Holl in Game 7 of last year's playoffs that negated a goal by teammate John Tavares. Toronto went on to lose that game 2-1 and was eliminated.

Minnesota Wild

Consider the war of words officially on between Wild head coach Den Evason and Stars bench boss Peter DeBoer.

Evason was was asked to respond to DeBoer's suggestion his team from the Land of 10,000 Lakes had a habit of taking a lot of penalties. His response, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic? To characterize the Stars as being divers.

"We felt that they had some bigger people robably go down pretty easy in that hockey game," Evason said. "We've talked about this before and it's a fine line because we don't dive. Our team, the Minnesota Wild, don't dive."

Dallas Stars

Veteran forward Joe Pavelski did not travel with the team to Minnesota ahead of Game 3 on Friday night, according to Mike Heika of DallasStars.com. (That game can be seen on Sportsnet ONE at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT.)

Pavelski had to be helped off the ice in the Stars' Game 1 loss to the Wild after a big hit from Minnesota defenceman Matt Dumba that saw his head slam against the ice. The 38-year-old had 28 goals and 77 points this season.