WASHINGTON -- The banged-up Washington Capitals could be getting a couple of their most important players back in time for the start of the playoffs or at least sometime in the first round.

Goaltender Logan Thompson has resumed skating, and forward Aliaksei Protas is on track to get back on the ice this week, coach Spencer Carbery said Sunday before the home finale against Columbus.

Thompson has been out with what the team is calling an upper-body injury, after leaving a game on April 2 at Carolina following a shot from Sean Walker that knocked off his mask. Carbery said Thompson skated on his own but did not face shots, which is a step in the process of returning.

Protas got an inadvertent skate cut on the top of his left foot April 4 against Chicago and has been walking around in a boot with the aid of crutches.

"He'll be a little bit longer," Carbery said. "Hoping that he touches the ice at some point this week."

Washington is locked into the top spot in the Eastern Conference and visits the New York Islanders on Tuesday night and Pittsburgh on Thursday night to finish the regular season. The Capitals will begin the postseason at home either next Sunday or Monday, April 21, against the Montreal Canadiens or the Blue Jackets.

Who starts in net for that Game 1 remains a question. Charlie Lindgren has shouldered the load since Thompson was injured. He has an .866 save percentage since replacing Thompson against the Hurricanes, though much of that has been a result of mistakes and missed coverage in front of him.

"Right now just from a results standpoint, I want to let in less goals, 100 percent," Lindgren said last week. "I don't like letting in three goals every single game. I want to get that number down. ... Just trying to figure out ways to work on my game and better myself because as we know goaltending in the playoffs goes a long way, and I want to make sure I'm doing my job and doing the best I can to put the team in the best situation possible."

Thompson is having a career season, winning 31 of his 42 starts with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. In late January, the 28-year-old signed a six-year, $35.1 million contract extension through the 2030-31 NHL season.

Protas is under contract through 2029 at a rate of $3.375 million annually. The 24-year-old has also shattered his career highs with 30 goals, 36 assists and 66 points, after putting up 55 points in his first 173 regular-season and playoff games in the league.

Carbery is trying to balance resting some older players versus getting the Capitals, who have lost six of their past nine games, ready for the postseason. Alex Ovechkin was a healthy scratch Saturday after getting honored Thursday night for breaking Wayne Gretzky's career goals record, and No. 1 defenseman John Carlson got the night off Sunday.

"We're just looking at it from an individual preparation standpoint," Carbery said. "John, a veteran player. [He has] played a lot this year. I think he's played every single game. We're playing a back-to-back. I feel like it's important for him to not play both and take today off."

The Original Six teams based in the United States have a rich history, combining for 27 Stanley Cup titles.

And now, they share an unwanted distinction.

Detroit, Boston, Chicago and the New York Rangers will all miss the playoffs in the same year for the first time in NHL history.

The Red Wings have won 11 league championships to trail Montreal's 23 and Toronto's 13 and the Canada-based franchises have earned spots in the playoffs that start Saturday.

Detroit was slowly improving under general manager Steve Yzerman until this season. The Hall of Fame player was hired from Tampa Bay in 2019 and the patience he asked for is running thin.

A year after losing a tiebreaker for the last spot in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings took a step back this season and were eliminated from postseason contention Saturday.

The Blackhawks are the last-place team in the Central Division for the third straight season and will finish ahead of only San Jose in the NHL. Earlier this century, Chicago was a league power with three Cups from 2010 to 2015 to give the franchise four.

Though the Red Wings and Blackhawks were predicted to have another lackluster season, the Rangers and Bruins were expected to be playoff teams.

A season after winning the Presidents' Trophy with an NHL-high 114 points and reaching the Eastern Conference final, the Rangers were hoping to hoist the Cup for the first time in more than three decades and fifth time in franchise history. Peter Laviolette's second season as coach in New York didn't pan out, guiding a team that was hovering around .500 and out of contention during the last week of the regular season.

Boston started the season with high hopes and will finish it with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The rebuilding franchise traded captain Brad Marchand last month at the trade deadline, dealing the last remaining member of its sixth championship team in 2011.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild signed defenseman Zeev Buium to a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday, adding their 2024 first-round draft pick to the roster right before the NHL playoffs.

The 19-year-old Buium just completed his sophomore season with 13 goals and 35 assists for Denver, which lost in the semifinals of the NCAA Frozen Four on Thursday. Buium was one of the three finalists for the Hobey Baker award that goes to the nation's top player.

The native of Laguna Niguel, California, was the country's highest-scoring defenseman and ranked second among all NCAA players in assists. He won a gold medal with Team USA at the world junior championships.

Buium was the 12th overall pick last year by the Wild, who control the first wild card spot in the Western Conference entering their final regular season game against Anaheim on Tuesday.

There's a chance he may even dress and skate with the team against the Ducks. Though nothing was announced on Sunday, Wild general manager Bill Guerin, in an interview on KFAN last week, said, with regard to Buium's status this season and postseason, that "he will play. ... These kids, they're different man. They're made for this stuff. They're ready."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets secured the first Presidents' Trophy in franchise history Sunday night, when the East-leading Washington Capitals lost earlier in the day.

The Jets, atop the Western Conference most of the season, then went out and lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Sunday night at home, but with the prize for the league's most regular-season points in tow, coach Scott Arniel rested several key players.

"It definitely felt great," Jets forward Nino Niederreiter said when asked how the team reacted when the news was announced inside Canada Life Centre during the loss. "Everyone wants to be on top at the end of the day. And obviously, it was a great feeling to hear the cheer."

The Jets, who will be the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason, are the first Canadian franchise to win the award since the Vancouver Canucks in 2011-12. The Canucks did not win the Stanley Cup that season, and in many cases, the trophy winner does not even make the Cup Final. Last season, the New York Rangers cruised to the Presidents' Trophy only to lose to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference finals.

"It's nice. To be able to have that ability to have home-ice [advantage] throughout the whole playoffs, and hopefully we can go on a long run, and use that to our advantage," Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo said. "It's not the trophy we're after, but it is a nice accomplishment. It's been a fantastic year, it really has."

The Jets, according to ESPN Research, are the eighth Canadian team to win the award that was first handed out in 1985-86. The Edmonton Oilers, in 1985-86 and 1986-87, were the first Canadian winners.

"It's really appreciated," Arniel said when asked about the fans giving the club a standing ovation for the award. "They've been great fans, and they've been real loud, and supporting us all the way, and believe me, it is felt."

For Edmonton, Corey Perry had a goal and an assist, Connor McDavid had two assists, and Connor Brown, Adam Henrique and Viktor Arvidsson also scored in the victory. The Jets sat star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck along with captain Adam Lowry and defensemen Josh Morrissey, Neal Pionk and Luke Schenn in the loss.

Winnipeg will end the regular season at home against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano credited Lionel Messi for impacting the growth of Major League Soccer since signing with the club in 2023, but quickly added that more progress can be made.

"In the summer, Messi will have been here for two years, and I think he's changing how the world sees MLS in one way or another," Mascherano said after a 0-0 draw with Chicago Fire. "There's no doubt about that. In the end, we're talking about a player who's capable of achieving all of that, of giving maximum visibility to a league like this."

Messi's influence on the league could be seen on Sunday as he led the Herons into Soldier Field and helped make history at the iconic venue with an all-time attendance record for the Fire with 62,358 fans in attendance.

Though Inter Miami had previously played at Soldier Field against the Fire, Sunday marked Messi's first time playing in a match there.

"We saw it today, and it's one of the many examples of everything he generates. The people came to see him, that's the reality," said Mascherano.

It's not the first time Inter Miami helped another club break their attendance record. The New England Revolution and Sporting KC both had record-breaking numbers in 2024 in games against Messi. The game against the revolution was played at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots, while the match with SKC was held at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Other MLS clubs have also chosen to move their games against Inter Miami to larger venues to satisfy the demand for tickets, with the Columbus Crew, for example, moving their upcoming match against Inter Miami to Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio.

Still, the Miami manager emphasized the league is responsible for maximizing the efforts of Messi on and off the field.

"Now, MLS has the responsibility to continue advancing," Mascherano said. "It's made progress, but it's necessary to continue supporting the fact that I'm here to continue developing soccer in this country. He's a unique, unrepeatable player. Everywhere he's been, he's marked a before and after."

The 0-0 result dropped Inter Miami to third place on the Eastern Conference, but the team remains just one point away from leaders Charlotte FC and having played one game less. The Herons struggled to generate chances against the Fire, managing just 10 shots and three on goal in comparison to the opponent's 16 overall shots and seven on goal.

Mascherano mentioned his team's busy schedule as a potential reason for the lack of goals, emphasizing the excess of games in the last two months. In addition to MLS play, Miami is in the semifinals of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

"We have to remember that, in our case, we've been playing every three or four days for almost two months, and the wear and tear is very high," Mascherano said. "And despite everything, the team continues to compete. There are days when the team performs better and other days when it doesn't, but in the end, the team competes."

Mascherano went on to applaud his team for maintaining a clean sheet and getting the hard-fought draw.

The team will now prepare to face the Columbus Crew on Saturday night, and begins a two-legged semifinal with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Champions Cup on April 24.

Karenna Groff, a former MIT soccer player named the 2022 NCAA woman of the year, died Saturday along with six other people -- including members of her family -- in a plane crash in upstate New York.

The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B went down shortly after noon in a muddy field in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts line, killing everyone on board, according to authorities and a family member who spoke to The Associated Press.

Shortly before the crash, the pilot had radioed air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to say he had missed the initial approach and requested a new approach plan, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said at a Sunday briefing. While preparing the new coordinates, air traffic controllers attempted to relay a low altitude alert three times with no response from the pilot and no distress call, officials said.

Investigators obtained video of the final seconds of the flight, which "appears to show that the aircraft was intact and crashed at a high rate of descent into the ground," NTSB official Todd Inman told reporters.

Among the victims were Groff; her father, Dr. Michael Groff, a neuroscientist; her mother, Dr. Joy Saini, a urogynecologist; her brother, Jared Groff, a 2022 graduate of Swarthmore College who worked as a paralegal; Alexia Couyutas Duarte, Jared Groff's partner who also graduated Swarthmore and planned to attend Harvard Law School this fall; and Karenna Groff's boyfriend, James Santoro, another recent MIT graduate, according to a family statement Sunday.

Santoro's father, John Santoro, told the AP that his son first met Karenna Groff as a freshman studying at MIT. Groff, who grew up in Weston, Massachusetts, was an All-American soccer player studying biomedical engineering. Santoro, a math major from New Jersey, played lacrosse for the school.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Groff co-founded openPPE, helping to create a new design of masks for essential workers. In 2023, she received the prestigious NCAA woman of the year award for the previous year for her on- and off-field accomplishments.

"Really, this recognition is a testament to my MIT women's soccer family and all of the guidance, support and friendship they have provided for me over the years," she said in an interview at the time.

After graduating, Santoro and Groff moved to Manhattan, where Groff enrolled in medical school at New York University and Santoro worked as an investment associate for Silver Point, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

On Saturday morning, the family headed to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, a suburb of New York City, where they boarded Michael Groff's private plane. They were set to land at Columbia County Airport but crashed roughly 10 miles to the south. The plane was "compressed, buckled and embedded in the terrain" of a muddy agricultural field, Inman said.

The pilot was flying under instrument flight rules, rather than visual flight rules, but it was too soon to determine if reduced visibility from weather conditions was a factor, he said.

The plane had been sold a year ago and had an upgraded cockpit with newer technology that was certified to Federal Aviation Administration standards, according to the NTSB.

Investigators expect to be at the crash site for about a week, and a full accident report could take 12 to 24 months to complete, Inman said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Projected No. 1 WNBA draft pick Paige Bueckers is signing a three-year deal with the 3-on-3 league Unrivaled, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

Bueckers' first-year salary for the 10-week Unrivaled season will exceed what she would make in four years of her WNBA rookie contract, sources said. If Bueckers is the top pick in the draft, she is set to earn $78,831 in her first year, according to the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement.

Last year, Bueckers signed an NIL deal with Unrivaled, which gave her equity in the league. She didn't play in Unrivaled while finishing her college career with the UConn Huskies, winning her first national title in the NCAA tournament championship April 6.

Bueckers averaged 19.9 points, 4.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 53.4% from the field, including 41.9% from 3-point range, in her last season at UConn. She can be a franchise-altering player for the Dallas Wings, who have the top pick in the draft.

After Unrivaled concluded its inaugural season in March, sources told ESPN that signing Bueckers, as well as making a push for Caitlin Clark and A'ja Wilson, were top priorities as the league looked to take its next step forward.

Founded in 2023 by WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, Unrivaled is coming off an inaugural season in which it exceeded $27 million in revenue, more than double what it projected to investors, sources said.

Instead of focusing on expansion through adding teams, the league wanted to build on what it felt made it so successful in Year 1: signing the best women's basketball players and providing them with premier resources and financial support.

Bueckers brings another star name to a league that has prided itself in tapping into the top WNBA talent. Her multiyear deal is part of the league's effort to build a sustainable offseason playing opportunity for WNBA players.