NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 29, 2021
Maple Leafs clinch a playoff spot, Joe Thornton reaches an assists milestone, Connor McDavid has another multi-point game and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: The Toronto Maple Leafs became the first team in the Scotia North Division to clinch a playoff spot by dropping the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. Joe Thorton reached a milestone by collecting his 1,100th career NHL assist while Auston Matthews tallied his league-leading 35th goal of the season. The Leafs sit atop the division with 67 points while the Canadiens are in fourth place with 51 points. Earlier in the day, the Canadiens announced Jonathan Drouin was taking an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joe Thornton (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Thornton is just the seventh player in league history to reach 1,100 assists. Paul Coffey sits in sixth place with 1,135. With 1,524 points, Thornton is only seven behind Coffey (1,531) for 13th on the all-time list.
Drouin’s faced criticism from fans and pundits (myself included) for his play this season. We don’t know why he’s taken this leave of absence and it’s none of our business. Here’s hoping he gets whatever assistance is needed to help him cope with his situation and return to action.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid collected three assists in a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist as the Oilers (60 points) sit three points ahead of the Jets for second place in the North. The Jets have lost five straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid has a league-leading 84 points with nine games left in the season. He’s scoring at a pace not seen since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. At his current rate of production, he could still reach 100 points.
The Vegas Golden Knights extended their winning streak to 10 games by downing the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty led the way with three points each for the Golden Knights (72 points), opening a six-point lead over the second-place Avalanche in the Honda West Division.
Third-period goals by Mike Hoffman, Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas rallied the St. Louis Blues over the Minnesota Wild 4-3. Hoffman scored twice for the Blues (50 points) as they opened a three-point lead over the Arizona Coyotes for fourth place in the West. The Wild (65 points) saw their seven-game win streak snapped. They remain one point behind the Avalanche.
Speaking of the Coyotes, they dropped a 4-2 decision to the San Jose Sharks. Evander Kane tallied his 20th goal of the season.
The Ottawa Senators rode a four-goal second period to a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Brady Tkachuk led the way for the Senators with a “Gordie Howe hat trick”.
Cam Fowler scored the game-winner as the Anaheim Ducks edged the Los Angeles Kings 3-2. The Ducks, however, are officially eliminated from playoff contention. Kings center Quinton Byfield recorded four shots on goal in his NHL debut.
THE SCORE: Former NHL coach Gerard Gallant was named head coach of Team Canada at the 2021 World Championships.
That was a little payback of sorts for those pastings the Canucks laid on them early in the season, and puts another crimp in Vancouver’s hopes to close the gap on a playoff spot. Tkachuk continues to make a case for himself to be assigned the “C” whenever that occurs.
The Senators will have a little bit to say who finishes where with 2 games each left against the Habs and Jets and 1 each with Calgary and Toronto (final game of the season where the Leafs will probably be more concerned about entering the playoffs healthy).
The Canucks, still with 13 games to play, could – mathematically – reach 67 points, but I doubt that is going to happen. Calgary remains 6 back of the Habs, both with 8 games left. Similarly, the Habs are 6 back of Winnipeg with a game in hand and 8 to play.
George, your Senators are a handful of grief and misery to play against and in the next few years, the Sens are going to be problematic for any team to play against.
Gotta say Dorion has drafted well and somehow Eugene is nowhere to be seen or heard from these days and that matters too. !
Joey, it’s tempting for us armchair GMs to wonder what might have been had Dorion not acquired the likes of Gudbranson, Cobourn, Paquette, Galchenyuk and had Smith not played them frequently early in the season along with veterans like Anisimov, Stepan, Peca etc., and instead played the kids right out of the gate.
But then sober second thought can see why they did so rather than risk rushing some of the younger ones into the breach too early. One way or the other there was probably no way they’d have been a playoff threat this season anyway so why take the chance of hurting their development?
That’s why these guys have the jobs and fans like me can second-guess their decisions with no repercussions 🙂
It’s a process and has to be done the right way. What will be interesting to see down the line is, if they continue to close out this season on a high note, how those same kids will perform early into next season when expectations are going to be a bit higher.
That’s why I’m hoping to see Dorion try and add a good Top 4-type veteran D-man with term and, as JJB has mentioned a few times, a goal scoring RW – perhaps acquiring both in deals with the many top teams once again facing a cap crunch and anxious to clear space in order to re-up their own RFAs and some of their UFAs.
Maybe but who is going to play goal? Going nowhere with Murray …
ed the Sens don’t need a goalie now. They are so new into the rebuild stage the last thing you need is a goalie to steal a few games making your team draft worse than they should. The team will find a goalie and by then they will know how to win without one.
They are doing a decent job so far and are building the team the way I would that in the meantime, it can smoke the Habs and the Leafs or at least not be a pushover. We’ll see in a couple of years and i need the meantime hope the owner stays as far away as possible.
Amen
Well George: Despite your verbose comment to a simple praise of a team on the rise based on what has presented itself all year, you seem to take delight at being demeaning to those who annoy you somehow and I seem to be one of them.
U can feel anyway you want. I’m not even a Sens fan but I like what I see from them.
You have a good day now
Joey, it’s tempting for us armchair GMs to wonder what might have been had Dorion not acquired the likes of Gudbranson, Cobourn, Paquette, Galchenyuk and had Smith not played them frequently early in the season along with veterans like Anisimov, Stepan, Peca etc., and instead played the kids right out of the gate.
But then sober second thought can see why they did so rather than risk rushing some of the younger ones into the breach too early. One way or the other there was probably no way they’d have been a playoff threat this season anyway so why take the chance of hurting their development?
That’s why these guys have the jobs and fans like me can second-guess their decisions with no repercussions 🙂
It’s a process and has to be done the right way. What will be interesting to see down the line is, if they continue to close out this season on a high note, how those same kids will perform early into next season when expectations are going to be a bit higher.
That’s why I’m hoping to see Dorion try and add a good Top 4-type veteran D-man with term and, as JJB has mentioned a few times, a goal scoring RW – perhaps acquiring both in deals with the many top teams once again facing a cap crunch and anxious to clear space in order to re-up their own RFAs and some of their UFAs.
But not to worry, I know now that it’s best just to accept what you say and not bother responding. Stay safe
Am I missing something between the lines?
Looked to me like George was agreeing and then expounding on a) how the Sens are doing and b) giving a nod to GMD knowing his stuff.
Whew, good thing he didn’t disagree.
LOL. That’s it exactly habfan30 – I did respond to Joey’s comment apologizing for any misunderstanding of my original post (but not for the “verbosity” – that was hardly among some of the longest posts in here 🙂 and saying that I agree with his views. But somehow that got lost in the shuffle and instead it just repeated my original one – go figure.
Anyway, I’ll avoid any such misunderstandings in the future by simply not responding to his comments.
I would love for them to make it but they are not ready for the big show just yet. It is great watching these 2 teams play, though. A lot of exciting young talent. I work with a Sens fan and it just about all we talk about.
Anyone notice if Drouin’s tweeted anything about Putin lately?
Ha!
In all seriousness though, I hope he recovers from whatever is ailing him.
SOP: You are one of the guys here whose posts elevate the tone. Keep up the good work.
Howard: seriously? Come on man. If it were published that he had cancer would you have posted that?
Dang it, LJ. I’m not sure how to take that response. I took Howard’s post as a dig at Vlad. I sincerely wish for the best for Drouin.
Sorry if it came across as anything other than that.
I mostly like having a go at the notable trolls on here. Do you figure I’m in error? If so I’ll try to be better with my positioning.
SOP: No, no. I was praising you, not criticizing you. I thought you were being sensitive to Drouin’s situation.
Ahhhh. The difficulties of communication by cascading posts.
Tell me about it LJ – see above.
Thank you, LJ. Message received.
Why poke at anybody going through problems?
If you can’t wish them well then have the courtesy to not comment.
Sergachev is having a decent year !
habsfan30, he didn’t poke fun at Drouin, he poked fun at Putin. Criticizing Putin is a good thing isn’t it?
Pretty sure Putin can deal with it.
Typical butt sore Habs fan … thin skinned, can dish it out but can’t take it …
Ray Bark is correct, thank you. It was a dig at Putin, with regard to the Panarin incident for those who don’t remember. A bit of dark humor is not the problem. Of course I wish Drouin a speedy resolution to whatever the problem is. LJ, it seems that SOP appreciated the humor.
My apologies Howard, I took it the wrong way.
Admittedly it surprised me as it seemed out of character,
Typical ed vanimpe response. It both contributes nothing of value and is insulting at the same time. After doing this for so long I would have thought some of the insults would be a little more creative and diverse. This is just boring old troll stuff right here. Maybe Bob Ross could paint a happy little something on your bridge to brighten your day…
The one thing i don’t want tonight is OT between the New Yorkers. A regulation win by either will be nice.
Yes, indeed!
Ya, not sure who to cheer for in that one.
Wish we had Putin instead of our belay dancer. Now back to hockey have watched a few Oilers games last few days and wow when Smith is playing well Edmonton will be tuff to beat McDavid is unreal. With Jets injuries I could see Oil coming out of North weakest division in hockey.
Obe like the many say to me here, if you want you can buy a plane ticket and move there…aka if you don’t like it here’s, leave!
I think people like you need to experience things more, that you’d become worldly then.
What’s a belay dancer?
Take your pick LJ 🙂
https://www.google.com/search?q=belly+dancer+icon&client=firefox-b-d&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=6cY9geSS22HqtM%252ClVYaJiP1v-kSbM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTndeKVq9SzyJsEXEQWkJM0TOxQ5A&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwid7LLMmKTwAhVjKVkFHdYLClsQ9QF6BAgNEAE&biw=1472&bih=698
Obe has a jerrycan and some matches !
Ryan Millah, calling it a career after the conclusion of this abbreviated season. Good for him! He sure notched out a fine career for himself. Just about 400 NHL wins! Good luck to him in his retirement.
Wonder of Backes makes an announcement next?
Maybe Jumbo Joe should as well before they start getting on his case about hanging around just to move up in the assists records.
Lol. Yes, no doubt Wendel will have the torch and pitchfork ready to attack a current Leaf player for tainting the sacred record book. Personally, I’ll never forgive Jumbo for passing Oates. I’ll lose my mind if he encroached on Raymond Bourques total.
Ha! Boom.
Man, loving the way Ottawa is playing. George, I hear what you are saying about adding a solid Top 4 veteran D, but to me, only if it is with us moving Zaitzev out of the top 4. Chabot, Brannstrom, & Zub have in my eyes earned those spots.
Sanderson, Docker, & Thomson are going to have to compete for roster spots next season. So if we can add a guy to play with Chabot instead of Zaitzev and allow Zaitzev to play on the 3rd pair, that would be wonderful.
I am still on the scoring RW train as well, but Sokolov is really making a convincing case to me that he could become that guy. A lot to be excited about in Ottawa, it feels great.
Well, not Sanderson JJB as he’s opted for one more year at college. But certainly Bernard-Docker and probably Lassi Thompson as well. Yeah, really like Zub and Brannstrom is showing what all the early hype was about when drafted by Vegas. Maybe Zaitsev gets dealt?
And, again, I forgot about Sokolov – lol – but is he ticketed for wing or C?
I think he is ticketed got the wing, he is listed at C, but plays his best hockey on the RW, IMO. He’s got great hands and a big body, which I think gives him the edge over Abromov in the long run.