NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 30, 2020

by | Aug 30, 2020 | News, NHL | 5 comments

The Lightning take a 3-1 series lead over the Bruins, the Islanders and Golden Knights go up 2-1 in their respective series, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

NHL.COM: Ondrej Palat scored twice and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning downed the Boston Bruins 3-1 to take a 3-1 lead in their second-round series. Nikita Kucherov collected two assists for the Bolts.

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Ondrej Palat has four goals in his last three games against the Boston Bruins (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: You can read my take of this game by following this link. If both teams keep playing the way they have over the past three games, this series could be over on Monday evening.

Three unanswered goals by Matt Martin, Leo Komarov, and Anders Lee gave the New York Islanders a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers and a 2-1 lead in their second-round series. Semyon Varlamov returned to the net after giving up three goals on 10 shots in Game 2, stopping 26 shots for the win.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A strong first period by the Flyers was snuffed out by the Isles’ solid defense and opportunistic scoring over the next two periods. In what’s become a running theme in this postseason, the Flyers’ leading scorers weren’t much of a factor. Their playoff bubble will burst if this trend continues.

Robin Lehner picked up his second shutout in three games by kicking out 31 shots to blank the Vancouver Canucks 3-0. Alex Tuch and Zach Whitecloud scored in the first period and Mark Stone tallied in the third. The Golden Knights lead the series 2-1.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The game was pretty much over in the first period when Vancouver failed to cash in on a 5-on-3 opportunity. Defensive mistakes by the Canucks led to all three Vegas goals, the most egregious being Alex Tuch blazing through the defense to open the scoring.

 

 

THE DENVER POST: The recent two-day protest pause in the schedule could help the Colorado Avalanche, allowing banged-up players like Nikita Zadorov, Joonas Donskoi, and Matt Calvert a chance to heal and return to the lineup.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: George Richards reports former Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli could be the one to watch as the Florida Panthers narrow their list of contenders for their general manager position.

TSN: Darren Dreger reports NBC Sports hockey analyst Ed Olczyk has interviewed for the GM position.

NEW YORK POST: Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Panthers job.

SPORTSNET: Kevin Weekes, Mike Futa and Bill Armstrong are also being considered by the Panthers, as well as the Arizona Coyotes.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out for the Panthers and Coyotes. Both clubs desperately need quality management.

NBC SPORTS BAY AREA: The San Jose Sharks re-signed center Joel Kellman to a two-year contract extension worth an annual average value of $750K. The first season is a two-way deal.







5 Comments

  1. Hi Bruins Fans

    I have to be honest here; I’d be lying if I said that I can see Bruins coming back and winning the series now.

    The skill is there to do it but the series; to me; is now literally and metaphorically heavily tilted in Bolts favour.

    I can see Isles/Flyers go 7; so a Flyers win today , to me, very plausible

    I said before that I believed Knights take the series; I had them in WCF; and dang good shot to get to SCF ( 8 of my 10 drafted players are Knights); so if Knight’s win today; and I can’t see ‘Nucks coming back

    Avs and Stars today comes down to what game faces Khudobin/Grubauer have on

    PVR is set

  2. The skill is there for the Bruins, but not the goalie. As a Leaf fan, I know that scenario all too well.

    Bergeron certainly isn’t to be faulted, has Tampa scored a single goal while he’s on the ice in the series?

  3. It tough watching Chara, the game has passed him by. Cassidy has recognized this in the third period Chara had a 6 second shift in the first 5 minutes.

    Chara was only on the ice for pk and defensive zone draws.

    From my perspective he such be a healthy scratch but in all honesty how do you do that to Chara? You don’t.

    How deflating it must be for the players when your goaltender gives up an soft goal game after game.

    The first Tampa goal was funny 4 bruins player and 1 Tampa player form a half circle and the Tampa player behind the net decide he will pass the puck to his teammate and not the 4 Boston players with their sticks on the ice waiting for the pass that did not come.

  4. If teams want to take another giant step backwards then by all means hire Peter Chiarelli to run things …

    • He brought Boston a Cup. No complaints here.