Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Kris Letang and John Ludvig and forward Matt Nieto are recovering from recent surgeries, the team announced Wednesday.

Letang, 37, faces an eight-week recovery timetable following an operation last Friday to repair a fractured finger on his left hand.

Dallas Stars winger Roope Hintz will not play in Wednesday's Game 5 against the Avalanche because of an upper-body injury.

Dallas leads the series 3-1 and can close it out.

The Boston Bruins won't have captain Brad Marchand in the lineup while trying to avoid elimination in Game 5 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Florida on Tuesday.

"[Marchand] is not an option," Bruins' coach Jim Montgomery said after Boston's morning skate.

Bruins captain Brad Marchand is out for Game 4 of their series against the Florida Panthers on Sunday night, and his teammates are looking to avenge him.

"I think it pissed off everyone. I think that whole team kind of ticks everyone off, to be honest," said Bruins center Trent Frederic.

Brad Marchand is day-to-day with an upper-body injury after a collision with Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett in Game 3 that the Boston Bruins said might have crossed the line.

The Bruins captain's status for Game 4 on Sunday is uncertain. He didn't practice with the team Saturday. Marchand is the Bruins' leading scorer in the playoffs with 10 points in 10 games (3 goals, 7 assists).

Seeing their bid for a consecutive Stanley Cup end in the first round wasn't the only pain the Vegas Golden Knights felt this postseason.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said there were nine players who went through surgeries this season, the second-year bench boss shared Sunday after his team's 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

"Nine guys. Your roster is only 23, so nine players," Cassidy explained. "Two of them internal surgeries. You never know how those are going to play out. Some other ones were a little more defined, but I give our guys a lot of credit."

The Carolina Hurricanes have avoided a major injury concern for defenseman Tony DeAngelo while veteran blueliner Brett Pesce is nearing a return from a lower-body injury suffered in the second game of the playoffs.

Team president and general manager Don Waddell said Wednesday that Pesce has shed a walking boot, is doing work to return and should play at some point in the second-round series against the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers.

"If everything goes as expected, he shall play games this round," Waddell said in a Zoom call with reporters. "Maybe not right off the start, but will play games in this round."