RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Philadelphia Flyers forward Owen Tippett sat out Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes to open that second-round playoff series.
The Flyers ruled out their regular-season goals leader about a half-hour before the start of the game due to an undisclosed injury.
Tippett had 28 goals and 23 assists in the regular season, then had one goal and one assist in the six-game series against Pittsburgh that marked Philadelphia's first postseason appearance since 2020.
The Flyers said Tippett is considered day to day.
The Hurricanes took the ice a week after closing out a sweep of Ottawa. But defenseman Alexander Nikishin was out of the lineup Saturday as he continues to recover from a concussion suffered on a jarring hit by Tyler Kleven in Game 4. Nikishin had returned to skating in a yellow no-contact jersey by Wednesday, then shed that practice Friday.
Coach Rod Brind’Amour said Saturday morning that Nikishin needed to complete another test as he works to clear the concussion protocol.
Carolina forward Nikolaj Ehlers was back after a lower-body injury made him a late scratch for Game 4.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin (21) is helped off the ice by teammates Seth Jarvis (24) and Shayne Gostisbehere (4) after being checked by Ottawa Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven during the second period of Game 4 in a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series in Ottawa, Ontario, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Philadelphia Flyers' Owen Tippett (74) and Luke Glendening (41) celebrate after the Flyers won Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs series Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Two makers of the widely used abortion pill mifepristone asked the Supreme Court on Saturday to block an appellate court ruling that cut off mail-order access to the drug just a day earlier, in what was the biggest jolt to abortion policy in the U.S. since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Danco Laboratories asked the high court for an emergency pause on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, saying the appellate ruling “injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions.” GenBioPro, which makes a generic version of mifepristone, made a similar request.
The New Orleans-based appeals court's unanimous ruling Friday marked a substantial victory for abortion opponents seeking to stem the flow of abortion pills prescribed online, which they view as subverting state bans on the procedure. It requires that mifepristone be distributed only in person and at clinics, overruling regulations set by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
“We’re now going to see, I think in a way we haven’t before, what the nation will look like when abortion bans are actually in effect,” said Mary Ziegler, an expert on abortion law and a professor at University of California at Davis School of Law.
Here's what to know:
Frustrated with a lack of federal action against medicated abortions, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill sued the FDA last year, saying its rules allowing mifepristone to be dispensed through the mail undermined the state’s ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy.
Friday’s ruling is in effect while the case works its way through the courts. It affects patients in all states, even those without abortion restrictions.
“This is a huge access issue for patients that haven’t got providers close by, or providers close by who are willing to prescribe,” said Josh Thorburn, owner of Eddie’s Pharmacy in Los Angeles.
There is little precedent for a federal court overruling the scientific regulations of the FDA, and it remains to be seen how the decision could impact abortion access long-term.
Murrill, a Republican, celebrated the ruling as a “victory for life” while other anti-abortion advocates cheered the reversal of rules finalized under President Joe Biden that ended a longstanding requirement that the pills be obtained at an in-person doctor’s visit.
Representatives for the FDA and the U.S. Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mifepristone was approved in 2000 as a safe and effective way to end early pregnancies. It is typically used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol, which is not affected by the ruling but is less effective on its own.
Surveys have found that the majority of abortions in the U.S. are administered using pills and that about one in four abortions nationally are prescribed via telehealth. Providers have suggested that its availability through telehealth is a reason why the number of abortions in the U.S. has not fallen since Roe was overturned in 2022.
As a result, abortion pills and those who prescribe them out of state have become key targets of abortion opponents.
Some Democratic-led states have adopted laws that aim to protect providers who prescribe via telehealth and mail the pills to states with bans. Those so-called shield laws are being tested through civil and criminal cases in Louisiana and Texas.
One telehealth provider in a state with a shield law, Dr. Angel Foster, was working with legal experts to understand how the ruling would impact her organization, The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Project.
“We will do everything in our power to continue providing care to people in all 50 states,” she said.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said providers are “in limbo” as they await further court decisions but can pivot to using just misoprostol for abortion care.
“It’s got a chilling effect on providers across the country, and it’s going to have a chilling effect on patients, who are already having a hard time navigating the law state by state, and what they can get and how they can get care,” she said.
The case could again make abortion a key issue in the midterm elections as Democrats aim to take back control of the House and Republicans fight to hold on to a narrow majority.
“This is going to be a pretty significant change in terms of how people experience abortion access, probably as significant as anything we’ve seen since Roe was overturned,” Ziegler said. “So another big question mark is going to be the extent to which voters feel that before they go to the polls."
Recent electoral results suggest that voters seeking to maintain abortion access have the political momentum. Since Roe was overturned, abortion has been on the ballot directly in 17 states. Voters have sided with the abortion-rights side in 14 of those questions.
Abortion-rights supporter Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said the ruling is “deeply out of step with both the public and fact-based science.”
Ziegler said the case also “sort of puts the president in the position of having to get off the sidelines on this issue in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Trump received criticism after the ruling from some anti-abortion advocates who expressed frustration that he did not take action himself to block distribution of the pill.
The FDA under Trump approved another generic version of mifepristone last year, which peeved some allies of the Republican president.
“It’s shameful that the Trump administration’s inaction has forced pro-life states to take their battle to the federal courts,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who also applauded the appellate ruling.
This story has been updated to correct the name of drugmaker GenBioPro and the timing of Louisiana's lawsuit against the FDA.
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed.
Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, speaks while, from left, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joe Rogan, President Donald Trump, Joe Rogan and CEO of Americans for Ibogaine W. Bryan Hubbard listen in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Attorney General Liz Murrill speaks with the news media, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
