NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 19, 2021
The Canadiens stun the Golden Knights with a Game 3 OT win, Aleksander Barkov win the Selke Trophy, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson scored the tying and winning goals in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of their semifinal series. Anderson made it 2-2 late in the third period when Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury mishandled the puck beside his net, giving Anderson a wide-open net for an easy goal. Canadiens goalie Carey Price made 43 saves for the win. Game 4 goes Sunday night in Montreal.
Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson (NHL Images).
The Golden Knights opened the scoring in the second period as Nicolas Roy cashed in on an errant pass by Canadiens center Eric Staal. Cole Caufield quickly tied it with his second goal of the playoffs. Alex Pietrangelo restored the Golden Knights’ lead early in the third period before Fleury’s blunder cost them the game.
Canadiens assistant coach Luke Richardson made his NHL head-coaching debut filling in for Dominque Ducharme after the Habs bench boss tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day. All of his players tested negative for the coronavirus. Ducharme appears to be asymptomatic but is expected to be sidelined for the next 10 days.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The hockey gods were smiling on Montreal in this game. Vegas should’ve easily taken it after outshooting the Habs 45-27 and controlling most of the play throughout this contest. It’s becoming repetitive to type this, but Price was the difference once again. Still, the Golden Knights appeared poised to skate away with a narrow victory until Fleury’s costly turnover changed the script.
Questionable officiating continues to plague the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. A prime example was the referees missing Jonathan Marchessault high-sticking Montreal’s Corey Perry in the face during overtime, cutting the Habs forward and forcing him from the game for repairs.
The Golden Knights played without center Chandler Stephenson, who was also a late scratch from Game 2. He’s listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury believed to be concussion-related symptoms.
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is the 2021 winner of the Frank J. Selke Trophy.
NEWSDAY: Oliver Wahlstrom could be in the New York Islanders’ lineup tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 4 of their semifinal series. Wahlstrom was sidelined during Game 5 of the Isles’ first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Islanders need something to give them an offensive lift after their offense was stifled by the Lightning in the last two games.
WGR 550: Former Buffalo Sabres star Rene Robert is in a Florida hospital after suffering a severe life-threatening heart attack yesterday. Few details have been revealed as Robert’s family has requested privacy.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Here hoping Robert, 72, makes a full and swift recovery. He was a member of the Sabres’ famed French Connection Line with Gilbert Perreault and the late Richard Martin in the 1970s.
OTTAWA SUN: Goaltender Marcus Hogberg has signed a four-year contract with Linkoping HC in Sweden after the Senators informed him last month that they wouldn’t qualify his rights. He spent three seasons with the Sens from 2018-19 to 2020-21.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes signed forward Liam Kirk to a three-year entry-level contract. He’s the first player born and trained in England to be drafted by an NHL team.
Zach Trotman announced his retirement.
He spent the last four years in the Penguins organization, playing 24 games in Pittsburgh. He was limited to 8 games in WBS this season due to injury. pic.twitter.com/ID02nv33Pu
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) June 19, 2021
If Krejci dosen’t sign with the Bruins that would leave them without a legit 2nd line center which would have a effect on Halls play if the Bruins bring him (Hall) back, that would mean a in house center for thar 2nd line, a trade or a UFA signing …thinking a center move will be made before a Hall move …….Rask decision is a tougher one with him being reported out until january 2022 who knows what your getting with him…..The Bruins D they have two coming back for sure all the rest are up in the air because of injury,RFA,UFA or left unprotected
who cares????
Hey, Joe, maybe you meant to post this in today’s rumor mill?
Vegas outplayed the habs the first 2 periods but the third and ot the habs outshot and outplayed the knights. Feel bad for fleury especially since Staal did the same thing but fleury is really hearing it a lot more than Staal. It’s still early but I think a lot of teams are going to be upset letting caufield drop to 15
Staal not being able to hit the net and that gaffe are hard to take but that line has been effective. The other night Cernak (?) got heck from a commentator for pushing the puck toward Vasilevsky, instead of dumping it in the corner, as it ended up in the net courtesy of an opportune Islander. But poor Fleury has a history so the media will go heavier on him. Great goalie though.
VGK outshot MTL 20-3 in the first period, meaning the sog were 25-24 the rest of the way.
While the Fleury blunder caused a goal, the Staal blunder caused the opening goal. Tit for tat? blunder for blunder? These things happen with regularity, its why you play the game.
Fleury is a very good goalie but he leaves lots of rebounds and frequently lets in a soft one.
Officiating has been getting in the way, VGK getting 0 penalties in game 2 the calls and non-calls are getting more and more blatant.
I understand the biased view of fans and frequently question my reactions to the officiating but if for no other reason than to offset perceptions why does the NHL assign Chris Lee to a Habs game??
There’s a feeling out there that , to be charitable, he doesn’t do his best work in Hab games. The Perry missed call furthers that perception.
How can you miss or decide not to call a high stick that draws so much blood??
It’s so blatant that in the post game interviews Shea Weber was asked how the team handles the one sided officiating. He chose class and said they just worked hard and stayed on message.
That Cole Caufield is pretty good eh.
habfan30: The SOGs were 30-8 after two periods and 40-21 after regulation.
This is another classic example of what I was speaking to the other day in my post .
Two referees DID NOT MISS that call . They DECIDED not to call it , in the regular season , they make that call 100% of the time when they see a puck pop up in the air , a player take a baseball swing at face height and another player go to ice immediately clutching his face .
You hear it on the Broadcast constantly , the refs want to let the players decide the outcome … that SHOULD mean following the rule book , instead it means throwing the rule book out the window . A real joke this postseason especially . Corey Perry’s reputation probably factored in as well , but that one has to be called , everytime. Montreal fans would be seething this morning if they don’t win that game , and I wouldn’t blame them
Craig,
All good, but I wonder if you are aware of Chris Lee’s reputation (and performance, tbh) while “refereeing” Montréal games?
This has been an issue for years now.
rich
Agree 100% Craig, all 4 on ice officials could have called it. They chose not to.
Perhaps “accidental” high sticks are not penalties in OT during the playoffs.
My memory isn’t good enough to remember if that is a consistent position.
Not saying right or wrong, but those screaming about this year shouldn’t be surprised that what is an obvious penalty during the year isn’t in the playoffs, and in OT you basically have to 2 hand a guy across the head while he is on a breakaway to get one.
This is consistency folks.
Habs fans… we don’t care about the high-stick non-call because Corey Perry is a warrior and our power play sucks. We are quite content with 5v5 or shorthanded goals, thank you very much. We want the toughest opponents and the most adversity. We want the Habs to earn these wins… all the way.
Against my better judgement I will comment on the missed high stick on Perry.
First, Ed was right in a recent comment in stating that officials are going to make mistakes just like players and coaches. A standard of perfection is both unreasonable and unattainable.
But refereeing in the playoffs is supposed to be a meritocracy. Linesmen can talk to the referees re high sticking and it is difficult to understand how 4 on ice officials missed the call on Perry.
Players get benched, coaches’ mistakes result in firing. The league grades officials after each game. One can only hope that the league’s assessment of Chris Lee and Dan O’Rourke’s performance last night is thorough and fair. Most Habs fans can’t stand Lee, and maybe that is unfair. But there certainly were some questionable calls/non-calls that were inconsistent with the quality of officials expected in the final four playoffs. Everyone deserves better.
Sometimes a goaltender wins a game for you.
Sometimes goaltender losses a game for you.
Last night both things happen in the same game.
Hi Caper
Agree with the first statement but I differ on the second
It’s all perception and timing……. look at all they were lauding on Anderson …. two goals. He had energy and played well…. but they were two gaping net goals…. just had to put stick on puck and move stick forward. The “catching” the waste high puck in the air while in flight as part of the OT goal…. that was excellent and deserved more praise…. Byron’s elusive fake and pass deserved big praise
Fleury’s gaff is immaterial if any one of his teammates could have put another puck past Price.
Price was absolutely the star of the game….. spectacular. I fully believe that any other goalie in net for Habs last night and Knights get at least another two (4 wouldn’t have surprised me) goals and get the victory. Fleury’s gaff would have been an irrelevant blip
Price…, first star, 2nd star, 3rd star
Re missed high stick…. now things are getting ridiculous in the reffing world….he was pouring blood…. 8 eyes missed the high stick???
That should have given a 4 min PP to Habs and I’m confident they would have scored
Can you imagine if Knights had popped one in in OT…. there would have been a riot
I’ll say it again… Walkom must step in
Pengy, if MAF gaffe doesn’t happen there is no OT, there is no Anderson goal.
Vegas didn’t need to score another goal, they control the neutral zone and down to 2 minutes to play.
Absolutely MAF mishap cost the Knights the game.
And yes Montreal wouldn’t be there without Price play.
Price play is only relevant because of MAF mistake.
MAF mistake is only relevant because of Prices play.
Looks like the Selke trophy now goes to the flavor of the week instead of the best defensive forward in the NHL. No slight intended towards Barkov, as he’s an excellent player. I just have a hard time understanding how several voters had the blatent ignorance to leave Bergeron off of their ballots altogether.
Montreal is getting hosed by the officials. They’re not even trying to hide it.
Be better NHL.
It’s been obvious from the start of the playoffs that the agenda has been a TB vs Vegas final.
Game management is for the birds. I can’t stand it.