Andrei Svechnikov said he is willing to discuss a contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes before the start of next season but will leave the negotiations to his agent.

The 20-year-old forward will be entering the final season of a three-year entry-level contract he signed on July 1, 2018, and would be eligible to become a restricted free agent when it expires.

The NHL's second-round playoff series will resume with three games each on Saturday and Sunday after players prompted the league to postpone two days of action to protest racial injustice.

In the NHL's Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto, Tampa Bay and Boston will play Game 4 of their series at noon ET Saturday, followed by Philadelphia and the New York Islanders playing Game 3 at 7 p.m. ET. Vegas and Vancouver will play Game 3 of their series at 9:45 p.m. ET in the West hub city of Edmonton, Alberta.

On Sunday, in Edmonton, Colorado and Dallas will play Game 4 of their series at 6 p.m. ET, followed by Vegas and Vancouver at 10:30 p.m. ET. Philadelphia and the Islanders will play in Toronto at 8 p.m. ET.

Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien said he feels "100 percent" after undergoing a heart procedure that forced him to leave the NHL bubble, and said he will be ready to coach next season.

"There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to go back to work," Julien said in a conference call on Wednesday. "The risk that's there is the same risk that was there before any of this happened."

No NHL playoff games will be held Thursday or Friday, with the league and its players deciding to follow the lead of other professional sports in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting while pledging to "foster more inclusive and welcoming environments within our arenas, offices and beyond."

The decision postpones two Thursday games: New York Islanders-Philadelphia Flyers and Vegas Golden Knights-Vancouver Canucks. Friday's games pitted the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Boston Bruins, followed by the Colorado Avalanche vs. the Dallas Stars.

The four conference semifinal games will be rescheduled beginning Saturday.

The NHL held a moment of reflection before the Stanley Cup playoff game between the Bruins and Lightning on Wednesday night, while games in the NBA, WNBA and MLB were postponed as teams from those sports protested the police shooting of Jacob Blake .

Before Game 3, video screens in the Toronto arena had large graphics that read "End Racism." The public address announcer said: "Racism has been embedded in our society for far too long. Today and every day, the NHL and the hockey community are committed in the mission to combat racial injustice and achieve a fair society for all. The NHL would like to take this moment to wish Jacob Blake and his family well and call out to our fans and communities to stand up for social justice and the effort to end racism."

A moment of silence of around seven seconds followed. Another pregame ceremony was scheduled for the Colorado vs. Dallas game in Edmonton, Alberta, later Wednesday evening.

Some criticized the NHL for its decision to hold games in light of the postponements in other pro sports.

Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella has been fined $25,000 for his conduct during a media session after his team was eliminated from the playoffs, the NHL said Tuesday.

Vegas Golden Knights star Marc-Andre Fleury had his agent remove a social media image depicting the goaltender being stabbed in the back with a sword engraved with coach Pete DeBoer's name.

The Knights have started goalie Robin Lehner, whom they acquired at the trade deadline, in six of their eight postseason games. Allan Walsh, Fleury's agent, published the image on Twitter on Saturday, on the eve of the Western Conference semifinal series between Vegas and the Vancouver Canucks. Fleury is 12-2-2 against the Canucks all time and hasn't lost to the team since 2006.

Back-to-back early playoff exits were enough to make the Capitals realize they made a mistake.

In the two years since promoting top assistant Todd Reirden instead of giving Stanley Cup-winning coach Barry Trotz a raise, they've been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. On Sunday, the team fired Reirden days after losing a five-game series to Trotz's Islanders and moved toward hiring their seventh coach since Alex Ovechkin entered the NHL.

Peter DeBoer didn't name his starting goaltender for Game 1 of the Vegas Golden Knights' second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks.

A tweet Saturday by Marc-Andre Fleury's agent might, however, have given that information away, and it certainly stirred up questions in the middle of the playoffs.

Agent Allan Walsh posted to Twitter an illustration of Fleury in full uniform in net being impaled by a sword with "DeBoer" on it.

The Arizona Coyotes have laid off and furloughed staff because of financial issues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The NHL team did not specify how many staff members nor which departments were affected.