NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 11, 2021
Recaps of Wednesday’s action, the latest on Patrik Laine, injury updates, waiver news and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: The Toronto Maple Leafs got third-period goals by Justin Holl and Ilya Mikheyev to hold off the Montreal Canadiens 4-2. Leafs center Auston Matthews’ goal streak ended at eight games but he collected an assist to extend his points streak to 11. Teammate Jake Muzzin collected three assists.
Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand (NHL Images).
Brad Marchand’s overtime goal lifted the Boston Bruins the New York Rangers 3-2. Marchand extended his points streak to nine. Rangers winger Artemi Panarin suffered a lower-body injury in the second period and spent most of the third period on the bench.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs sit atop the overall standings with 23 points while the Bruins vaulted past the Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning into second place with 20 points.
THE ATHLETIC: Aaron Portzline reports Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine said he and the coaching staff have moved on after he was benched during their previous game for disrespecting a member of the staff. He and assistant coach Brad Larsen spoke amicably during practice yesterday. While it’s not confirmed Larsen was the coach in question, Portzline feels their discussion spoke volumes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Laine benching, Mikko Koivu’s retirement and Pierre-Luc Dubois’ recent departure have critics of head coach John Tortorella wondering if he’s on thin ice with the Jackets. I don’t believe that’s the case.
Laine admitted he deserved his benching. The now-retired Koivu was an aging center whose limited effectiveness led to his reduced playing time. Dubois requested a trade for reasons not directly tied to Tortorella. I think management and the players still believe in their coach.
SPORTSNET: Vancouver Canucks winger Loui Eriksson and Ottawa Senators center Artem Anisimov was placed on waivers yesterday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I doubt either guy gets claimed. Their play has declined and they’re carrying expensive salary-cap hits. Eriksson is signed through 2021-22 at $6 million annually while Anisimov’s is carrying $4.55 million for this season.
NHL.COM: The Anaheim Ducks-Vegas Golden Knight game for Thursday will proceed as scheduled after Golden Knights forward Tomas Nosek was pulled from Tuesday’s contest due to a positive COVID-19 test. Nosek was immediately isolated from his teammates and close contact tracing initiated. The Golden Knights didn’t practice yesterday.
NBC SPORTS PHILADELPHIA: The Flyers games on Sunday against the New York Rangers has been postponed. The Flyers will be out of commission until Monday when they will resume practicing. Three players – Claude Giroux, Justin Braun and Travis Sanheim – were added to the NHL protocol list earlier this week.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jared McCann is sidelined on a week-to-week basis with an undisclosed injury.
TSN: The Washington Capitals hired Michael Peca as a player development coach.
NEWSDAY: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced arenas and stadiums in the state can admit up to 10 percent capacity provided they follow appropriate social distancing and masking protocols.
The media can make all the excuese they want but hopefully tortorella will be gone by the end of the season so Columbus won’t lose Laine to an offer sheet and the exit door in Columbus won’t have to be replaced for wear and tear.
It’s strange to me, when folks (media and fans) now a days don’t like someone, even though the individual has no direct link to the person, just want them gone.
Torts has a different coaching style and it works, rubs some people the wrong way.
Over the years many players who have played for Torts have come to his defense.
The mob mentality of today people is disturbing to say the less.
Not sure if you are on social media Caper, but that is where much of it is.
I would highly recommend that folks stay off Twitter, Facebook and watch less cable news, and you will find a lot less “mob mentality” and “cancel culture” and realize that neither is really a thing at all out here in the real world.
Torts won’t lose his job because of mob mentality, he will lose it if they don’t win, just like every other coach. Whatever the cause of that losing is.
As long as Torts wins why should he be fired, because some players do not like him or his style? Seems to me players hated Scotty Bowman back in the day. His style now would probably get the same response. I may not like how Torts coaches but he wins and that is what a coach is paid to do.
Yesterday i mentioned Boston style of game and how Chara didn’t fit into the style.
Last night game, show an abundance of the style i mentioned, sometimes worked well, other not so much.
NYR first goal both Carlo and Lauzon were behind the net and Kuraly the center was at the side of the net, not directly in front, the puck went of Kuraly stick right to Gauthier for his 1st goal.
Overall the system seem effective and Boston want to carry the puck out all the time and this sometimes leads to turnovers.
****NoTE**** Did you Rask skating to the bench for the extra attacker late in the game? His bench was hollering at him to get back in the net.
Tuukka thought his team was down 2-1 however the score was tied at 2.
Tuukka was in utter shock to find out Andres Bjork in fact did score a goal.
Caper, the leisurely Rask skate to the bench was the highlight of the night for me. I can see lots of oldtimers making that move but an NHL goalie? – it was hilarious.
Pengy the Habs still haven’t beaten the Leafs! What gives?
Well, Ron. Poor goal tending is one reason. Not the only reason; Toronto played a surprisingly good defensive game last night and the Habs didn’t adjust. Danault continues to do SFA as the # 1 center.
But Price has an .896 save percentage, 50th in the league. I have defended Price many times here but the sample size is big enough that the results speak for themselves. Time to stop coddling Price. He either plays better or Allen becomes the starter. Too short a season to pee away games hoping Price will find his mojo.
Carey Price has been in the bottom half of the league on every relevant goalie stat for the last 3 years. I’m so tired of excuses like he just needs more rest. The high end goalies play a lot of games in a season and for good reason. Rest should not be an issue. I get that he played well in the play in round but so what it was 10 games Arthur Irbe has had a good 10 game stretch big deal. How can Habs fans ignore the last 3 years. I admit that to this point the habs have surprised me with there offense but they’ve also played half there games against Vancouver and Ottawa so I would be just as cautious as I am optimistic. KK is still proving to be a 3rd line center. Price is still a below average goalie and the defense is still only ok. The shock is the pace that Habs are scoring. Wonder if that’s because they’ve already played Vancouver 5 times. Seems like an easy team to score on. I know the leafs played them 3 times and had a field day. Hope the Habs are good though would be nothing better than a leafs vs Habs playoffs.
meh, Price gets dumped on regularly and its only because of how important he is to the team, when he’s on, more often than not, he carries the team on his back, this year he has Allen to back him up, a position he has excelled in.
Danault is doing exactly as expected, win face offs, blanket the opposing top centre, get assists on linemates goals and score a few, accent on few. The guy was never a scorer at any level.
The team is greatly improved but nobody should expect them to win with regularity.
Suzuki and KK are still growing into their roles and are performing at or above expectations.
Everybody loves Romanov but he’s raw and makes mistakes that staple Mete to the cheap seats. This too will improve as the season goes on.
This was a game they could easily have won and by the end of the season probably will .
@habsfan Price has been in the bottom half of goalies in every relevant stat in the last 3 years. Loon it up its a fact. Take opinion out if it and look at the numbers. Not just save percentage and gaa. Look at gaa in low scoring areas ect….The facts are there. I agree KK has been doing as expected he’s a 3rd liner and has been exactly that but some on here have compared him to Bergeron and think he’s a top 6 guy even though he has shown nothing to even suggest that. If you take opinion out of it.
Habsfan I hope your optimistic pays off but the Habs have played Vancouver 5 times and Ottawa twice that’s more than half there games do far. Those are east wins let’s see how they do against Edmonton tonight.
Goaltending, I think, Ron.
In all honesty it’s still early but signs are looking good for the Leafs and I still think the Jets and Flames will surprise…but the Sens seem built to beat either the Leafs or Habs.
Bigbear looked like contenders last night?