NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 1, 2020
Alex Ovechkin moves past Mark Messier among the all-time goal scorers, Andrei Vasilevskiy gets a milestone victory, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin continued his march toward 700 career goals, scoring twice in a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. With 695 goals, Ovechkin moved past Mark Messier into sole possession of eighth overall among the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorers. Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist. With 75 points, the Capitals maintain a three-point lead over the Boston Bruins for top spot in the Eastern Conference and the overall standings.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin moved into eighth place on the NHL’s all-time goal-scorers list (Photo via NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ovechkin has passed five Hall-of-Fame goal scorers (Messier, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Teemu Selanne, and Luc Robitaille) this season. He’s 13 goals behind Mike Gartner (708), who sits seventh on the list.
Three-point performances by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin carried the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Crosby tallied the winner in overtime after the Flyers overcame a 3-1 deficit to force the extra period.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves for his 150th career win in a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Nikita Kucherov and Anthony Cirellia each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning. Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf picked up two assists.
Tuukka Rask returned from injury with a 37-save performance as the Boston Bruins edged the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in a close-checking, fight-filled contest. Jake DeBrusk snapped a 1-1 tie with a power-play goal in the third period. The Bruins (72 points) hold a five-point lead over the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Edmonton Oilers winger Leon Draisaitl scored twice to extend his points streak to 10 games in 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins collected two assists. With the win, the Oilers (60 points) moved into second place in the Pacific Division.
A power-play goal by Alex Tuch late in the third period allowed the Vegas Golden Knights to edge the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3. Jonathan Marchessault and Paul Stastny each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (59 points), who hold a one-point lead over the Arizona Coyotes for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen also each had a goal and an assist.
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists as the New York Rangers doubled up the Detroit Red Wings 4-2. Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin each collected two points. Wings forward Robby Fabbri had a goal and an assist. The Rangers (52 points) are nine points out of an Eastern Conference wild-card berth.
THE SCORE: Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving dismissed talk suggesting defenseman Mark Giordano deliberately attempted to injure Oilers captain Connor McDavid on Wednesday. Giordano and McDavid collided in the neutral zone in the second period, appearing to clip the Oilers star with his hip. McDavid was incensed, but he and Oilers coach Dave Tippett downplayed the incident.
THE DETROIT NEWS: Red Wings center Valtteri Filppula will play in his 1,000th career NHL game tonight against the Rangers.
THE BUFFALO NEWS/SPORTSNET: With the Buffalo Sabres poised to miss the playoffs for the ninth straight year, their fans are growing increasingly upset over the club’s lack of progress.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres’ ongoing mediocrity is bad enough, but there’s now a growing perception among their fans that their support of the franchise is being taken for granted by ownership. The club has sunk to 24th overall in attendance, there are calls for a protest rally among Sabres fans, while some are taking to the airwaves and social media to vent their anger and frustration over the club’s ongoing lack of direction, the state of the arena, and the treatment of Sabres alumni. It’ll be interesting to see how team owners Terry and Kim Pegula handle this situation.
Congratulations to Valtteri Filppula on reaching that milestone. Without paying a lot of attention to him over the years I knew he’d been around for a while … but that one kinda snuck up out of nowhere.
Never a “difference maker” – just one of those durable guys who goes quietly about his job and does it well enough to always have a job somewhere. Kind of fitting that he reached 1000 games in the city where he began his long career 15 years ago and where he’ll likely end it.
The Houston Sabres?
It could work…
Calling Tilman now.
And George, you never noticed Flip, because mediocrity is easy to overlook…
511 points in 1000 games isn’t bad at all. I’d say much better than mediocre. There are a lot worse players on every team in the nhl…. why crap on this guy?
They can’t all be Mcdavid.
Mediocrity doesn’t last for 15 years. And as Nyr4life points out, 511 pts isn’t bad at all. Besides, he clearly does other things on the ice that meets with the approval of his coaches over the years that none of us will ever fathom BadCowboyDan.
Pens fan in me hates it but nhl fan in me loves watching ovi match up the standings. I wonder if vegas is taking bets on him breaking Wayne’s record? I’d drop a c note on that.
The guy is amazing. He’s on pace for a 60-goal season – but let’s say he gets 18 and finishes with 55, which will put him at 713 – 181 back of Gretzky.
He turns 35 this September. If he can maintain an average of 40 a year for 5 years starting next season, taking him to 40 years of age, he’ll set the new record.
I wouldn’t bet against it.
Competitively speaking, the Rangers should sell and miss the playoffs, right? Playoffs would be nice, but nobody’s fooling themselves with the idea that the Rangers are going to make any kind of noise if they make it. As a wildcard they draw one of Washington, Pittsburgh or Boston. 4 games? Maybe 5?
Think they’d be better served by moving Kreider and keep adding pieces through the draft. Other trade options seem to be Georgiev and DeAngelo, although I’d prefer to hold on to Georgiev if it’s possible.