NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 16, 2021

by | Jun 16, 2021 | News, NHL | 17 comments

The Lightning tie their semifinal series with the Islanders, Oskar Lindblom win the Masterton Trophy, plus the latest on Jeff Petry, Taylor Hall and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

NHL.COM: Nikita Kucherov collected three assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning doubled up the New York Islanders 4-2 to tie their semifinal series at a game apiece. Brayden Point tallied his playoff-leading 10th goal and Victor Hedman had a goal and an assist.

Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (NHL Images).

Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson replied for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov was briefly replaced by Ilya Sorokin in the Isles net after being shaken up in a collision with Point but returned to finish the final two periods.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was a rough game culminating in a scrum at the end of the third period that saw Anthony Cirelli head directly to the Lightning bench following an altercation with Isles forward Travis Zajac. Bolts coach Jon Cooper said Cirelli should be okay.

The officiating was terrible in this contest. The Isles scored a power-play goal in the first period after Brayden Point was tagged for goaltender interference after being pushed into Varlamov by Isles blueliner Adam Pelech. The Lightning scored their second goal with seven men on the ice that somehow went unnoticed by the officials.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom is this year’s winner of the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance. He overcame a rare form of bone cancer last year to play 50 games this season.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to Lindblom, who was declared cancer-free during a scan in March. Here’s hoping he has a long, productive and happy life on and off the ice.

TSN: Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry will be a game-day decision for Game 2 tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Petry is recovering from a hand injury suffered in the previous series against the Winnipeg Jets. Center Jake Evans (concussion) and defenseman Jon Merrill (undisclosed) are also game-day decisions for the Habs.

MONTREAL GAZETTE: The province of Quebec will allow up to 3,500 fans at the Bell Centre for the Canadiens upcoming home games against the Golden Knights. The same ruling also applied to venues hosting shows and other sporting events as pandemic restrictions continue to ease in the province.

THE SCORE: Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney indicated there is mutual interest with Taylor Hall regarding a new contract. The 29-year-old winger is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 28.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hall proved to be a good fit with the Bruins following his acquisition from the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline. It’s believed the winger is interested in term over dollars.

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars defenseman Joel Hanley underwent core-muscle surgery on Tuesday. He’s expected to be fully recovered in time for the 2021-22 season.

TSN: Forward Linus Wallmark has signed with the KHL’s CSKA Moscow. Wallmark split this season between the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: The Anaheim Ducks added former Calgary Flames bench boss Geoff Ward to their coaching staff.

CBS SPORTS: Drew Shore announced his retirement yesterday. The center played 98 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes from 2012-13 to 2020-21.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Shore in his future endeavors.

WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets arena is changing its name from Bell MTS Place to the Canada Life Centre.







17 Comments

  1. why was Zajac taking big swings with his gloves on?

    • took two penalties as well. thinking he’ll sit for wahlstrom next game

  2. This was a perfect example of how NOT to officiate a game. They lost control of it and clearly were viewing a different game. That or they were Tim Donaghy….the NHL needs to put the hammer down on that entire crew and send a message as there has been a ton of this garbage officiating all season. Toss this crew from the playoffs and bring in another piss off the union fine maybe we finally get real officials rather than clowns who are blind and cannot read a rule book.
    If the rest of us did our jobs that poorly we would not be getting paid any longer…

    • Follow the rule book. That would be a novel concept.
      Much better than managing the game or paying reverence to a Code that has clearly lost its relevance.

    • Is it just me or are the words “the officiating was terrible in this contest” being used to describe an increasing number of games lately”?

  3. Looks like Neely finally admitted and it’s about time of what the 2015 draft could have meant for this team if they handled it better. In short they blew it. I almost get I’ll thinking about the missed opportunities and awful players they picked up. They can redeem themselves by getting rid of Sweeney and Neely. I know Jacobs has been quoted as saying he wasn’t satisfied with 2nd round exit. Maybe this year will be Laurel and Hardy’s last sunset. Bah dum dee dum bah dum dee dum, bah dum dee didly dum dee dum.

  4. Nutty, crappy, blundered, ambivalent, perhaps some biased; stupid; haphazard….

    The list goes on re defining or describing recent officiating

    Last night is summed by all descriptors above

    Point “interference” or as ref motioned “cross-check”…… NOT…. led to a goal that could have turned the game and led to an Isles V , putting them up 2-0 going home

    Then 7 on the ice…. this was not a make-up call for the above blunder BTW…. they just missed it…. 4 in stripes missed 7 men

    The deserving team won last night but that does not take away from atrocious reffing

    This crew is not the only crew performing poorly

    Welkom needs to step in

  5. I don’t think anyone can complain about the officiating when everyone knows it’s entirely subjective in the first place. When the game is called consistently from season to cup then we can complain about it. Right now the league sanctions this behavior.

  6. Funny how players sometimes make mistakes on the ice and yet they keep playing … but officials are expected to be 100% perfect every night … it’s called the human element folks … part of the game … get over it and move on to the next one …

    • Wow, we 100% agree on something Ed.
      I will simply add that it is a very difficult job and game to officiate, so those who compare those that of NHL officials may be comparing apples and oranges.

      Yes they blew 2 calls, at least it was one for each team and the better team still won.

      You can make an argument to expand what you can challenge and what should be subject to video review, but there is a downside to that.

      Other than that, bad calls happen every year and every year we complain about it.

    • I haven’t heard anyone mention expectations to be perfect . Consistency . Regardless of the time , season or playoffs. It’s not a mistake to change the threshold for a penalty , it’s a pre set decision , which I believe is coming from the league . I’ll go back to the mcdavid point I made weeks ago , no nhl referee is bad , the game is fast , however , If 97 doesn’t draw a penalty in two consecutive playoff series , that isn’t a collection of mistakes , many painfully obvious , egregious , it’s a directive from the league . There is a reason the stars , top paid guys are almost all at home , in the playoffs , they get mauled , teams will do what you allow them to , if they can’t find the line of what’s a penalty and what isn’t , they will continue to hook , hold , interfere with , slash at a higher frequency and more blatant until they find the line . When the line doesn’t exist , it’s open season . This is talked about , and has been talked about for years the discrepancy between season and playoff officiating , it is and has been a known issue to everyone but the nhl office . Either make a playoff rule book , or follow the existing rule book , shouldn’t be that difficult .
      The grit grinder cup

    • This is the age of technology. The combination of on and off ice officials should be for more than determining a good goal. Let the off ice officials blow the whistle, make calls and review calls too. This would have avoided the call on Brayden Point AND the non-call for too many men on the ice for Tampa’s first goal. We have the technology to make it right and avoid the wrong call – we just need to USE IT.

      • I am absolutely not good with technology officiating the game , go play NHL 2K10 – PlayStation 2.

  7. I read yesterday that Bergeron is returning to the Bs on a year by year basis. It’s pretty obvious that this means Bergeron’s time is drawing to a close, if not next year then soon. He will leave a huge hole when he goes. Were I Sweeney I would be more worried about finding a center to take over before committing $ to Hall.

    • I think they are worried about it LJ, just not sure what they can do about it.
      Overpay Matthews in a few years?

      #1C’s just don’t become available often. And when they do, you pay too much for too long.

      Agree on Hall unless he accepts a lower AAV than he would get on the market, because if they do get an opportunity for the elusive 1C, best to have some $$ available.
      If you don’t have an elite #1C (Top 15 in NHL) you aren’t winning anyway so might as well suck and draft one.

      Keep trying with Bergy and Krecji until it becomes obvious they are no longer capable, then start over.

  8. Bergeron has three good years left for sure and yes Matthews will be tired of losing by than and sign with a contender.

  9. We have a series