NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 12, 2021
Leon Draisaitl powers the Oilers to a comeback win, the Kings and Ducks extend their winning streaks, the Blue Jackets set to honor Rick Nash and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Leon Draisaitl scored twice in the third period as the Edmonton Oilers overcame a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 5-3. Draisaitl leads all NHL scorers with 12 goals and also collected an assist. Teammate Connor McDavid collected an assist to extend his points streak to 12 games. David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron each had two points for the Bruins.
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With 26 points, Draisaitl sits two points ahead of McDavid atop the NHL scoring race.
A 34-save shutout performance by Jonathan Quick carried the Los Angeles Kings to a 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. Anze Kopitar and Andreas Athanasiou were the goal scorers as the Kings (8-5-1) extended their win streak to seven games. The Senators have nine players on the COVID protocol list, including Matt Murray, Alex Formenton and Nikita Zaitsev going on the list yesterday. Sens defenseman Artem Zub left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That could be the last game the Senators play for a while if more of their players end up on the COVID list over the next couple of days. The league is monitoring their situation closely and could postpone several upcoming games.
Anaheim Ducks winger Troy Terry scored twice and collected an assist to extend his points streak to 13 games in a 7-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Ryan Getzlaf collected two assists as the Ducks (8-4-3) have won six in a row. Jared McCann tallied twice for the slumping Kraken (4-9-1), who’ve dropped three straight games.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists while defensemen Cale Makar, Devon Toews and Samuel Girard each had two points as the Colorado Avalanche thumped the Vancouver Canucks 7-1. The Avs scored three times in the first period and another three in the second to put the game out of reach. Colorado blueliner Bowen Byram left the game in the first period after taking an elbow to the face from Canucks center Bo Horvat. Canucks defenseman Tucker Poolman was ejected in the third period for swinging his stick at the head of Avs forward Kiefer Sherwood.
The New Jersey Devils blanked the New York Islanders 4-0 with goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood kicking out 42 shots for the shutout. Dougie Hamilton led the way with a goal and an assist.
Zach Fucale made 21 saves to become the first goalie in Washington Capitals history to notch a shutout in his first NHL game in a 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Dmitry Orlov and Lars Eller were the goal scorers. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin collected an assist but remains tied with Brett Hull for fourth place on the all-time goal-scoring list with 741.
Shootout goals by Bryan Rust and Jeff Carter gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Tristan Jarry got the win by stopping 36 shots. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov scored to extend his points streak to eight games. After getting off to a 10-0-1 start, the Panthers are 0-2-1 in their last three contests.
Matt Duchene tallied two goals, including the game-winner to lead the Nashville Predators over the St. Louis Blues 4-3. Mikhail Granlund collected four assists for the Predators while Jordan Kyrou scored twice for the Blues.
The Winnipeg Jets tallied four straight goals to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist while Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 26 shots for the win.
Vegas Golden Knights goalie Laurent Brossoit made 24 saves as his club held on for a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, snapping the latter’s four-game win streak. Golden Knights forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg each scored their first-ever NHL goals.
Nick Suzuki snapped a 2-2 tie in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens doubled up the Calgary Flames 4-2 to end the latter’s five-game road winning streak. Suzuki and Brendan Gallagher each had a goal and an assist.
HEADLINES
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Rick Nash will become the first player in Blue Jackets history to have his number retired in an on-ice ceremony before their March 5, 2022 game against the Boston Bruins. The first-overall pick by the Blue Jackets in 2002, Nash is their franchise leader in games played (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nash deserves that honor. He was a true franchise player but the Jackets management wasted most of his nine-season tenure in Columbus by failing to build a solid supporting cast around him.
SPORTSNET: Lawyers representing the Chicago Blackhawks sent a letter to Kyle Beach’s attorney requesting mediation in their lawsuit settlement negotiations. In the letter, the club’s lawyers called Beach’s initial demand “extraordinary”. Beach’s lawyer replied the Blackhawks did not make a counteroffer. The former player is suing the team over its handling of his allegations of sexual assault against former video coach Bradley Aldrich.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers goaltender Mike Smith has suffered a setback in his recovery from a lower-body injury suffered 23 days ago. He’s unlikely to rejoin the club for the remainder of their current road trip.
NHL.COM: The department of player safety fined Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Anthony DeAngelo $2,000.00 for diving and embellishment in a recent game against the Florida Panthers.
The Arizona Coyotes announced assistant coach Phil Housley has been placed on the COVID protocol list.
ESPN.COM: Greg Wyshynski cites a source saying the NHL is in talks with Las Vegas officials about staging two new skills competition events outdoors on the Las Vegas Strip during the 2022 All-Star weekend (Feb. 4-5, 2022).
What thu? Debrusk will be ridin the pine Sat. Two turnovers which led to goals. Linus couldn’t stop Valeri Putin on a breakaway. I’m not even sure he’s even a good backup at this point. Need better players. Hall has gone awol on the ice. Oh ohhhh is this the Hall with sabres or does he pull this off when can’t get the results he wants?Foligno’s about as helpful as a mugger at billionaires convention. What a mess. Sweeney at this point needs to make some trades, at least call up Steen.
Looked to me like Foligno got shaken up in front of the Oilers net on one of his first shifts.
The Oilers are so much fun to watch.
Something’s gotta give in Vancouver. And soon.
BCLeafFan, have to say the Oilers are a lot more fun to watch when they aren’t playing my B’s.
Just imagine what it would be like if the refs called the game the same way against McDavid as they do for the rest of the players. The guy draws the most penalties in the league, unfortunately they are not getting called. Not even in the top 30, how is that possible. It’s obvious and not a good look for the officials or the NHL.
Wow the Drais/McD show continues. Drais leads the league offensively ; just ahead of McD (who has points in all games)… is this 1984??
Avs back winning👍👍
Cotter and Rondbjerg … first goals for each with back-up goalie in , beating the suddenly hot Wild 👍👍
Blackwood (who, if he gets faxed) maybe on team Canada, shuts out Isles (with Pens win) moving Pens past Isles out of Metro basement 👍👍👍👍
The decimated Pens win in a shootout against (IMHO) one of the best teams in the league last night.
Some Pens Fans (I use that term loosely) had been jeering and deriding Jarry who had been 0-3 on the shootout. Those so called (????) fans ignore the performances of the opposing goalies in those previous shootouts and ignore the decimated Pens line-up; and ignore the lack of Pens scoring in those shootouts
Let’s take another look at Jarry’s performance this year….. were it not for two multi-bounce , seeing eye, screened goals…. two Pens games would have be won in reg instead of going to a shootout. Add to that, Jarry got charged a Goal Against for an empty net goal; as he had not reached the bench yet (I didn’t know before that , that goalies get charged a GA on an EN goal, if they still hadn’t reached the bench….wow)
Without the above misfortunes; Jarry would be (ranked NHL goalies with 5+ starts)
1.94 GAA (5th in league)
939 save percentage (tied 4th in league)
7-2-1 (750 winning percentage)—- tied 4th in the league
And that is with a team that has had no Gino, 1 game with Sid, Tanger missing 4 , Rusty missing 7, Dumo missing 4, Carter missing 3; Marino struggling, Kappy struggling; and with all games with jumbled lines and D pairings , completely hampering the Pens…
All this and there were so called (????) fans dumping on Jarry ??????
Even with all above ; Jarry has a 929 save percentage ; and taking out that EN goal; his GAA is 2.12
Jarry, IMHO, has singled handedly kept hopes alive for Pens
Good on ya Tristan 👍👍👍👍👍
Re Blackwood ….Vaxxed not faxed (well that would be something in and of itself)
He was 3 for 10 in shoot out saves before last night. Some concern was warranted.
Hi Chrisms
Agree 3 of 10 a bit low; my point is TJ as a whole……were it not for two multi-bounce , seeing eye, full eclipse goals (or another viewpoint…. Just two more goals by Pens) … two Pens games would have be won in reg (2 points each) instead of going to a shootout and losing (1 point each)
Those two points would have Pens 4th in Div; and in 1st WC spot
I truly believe that Jarry has had the most impact on allowing Pens to be within striking distance of a playoff spot
Fingers crossed on short-term for Pettersson… now hurt, but ALSO in Covid protocols; and quick return for Sid & Dumo
I’m happy with Jarry and how he’s figuring it out early. I still don’t get how you think Marino is struggling though. 6 points in 12 games playing 24 mins a game with 58% of Faceoffs starting in the defensive zone. CF% 47.7 which could be better but is not horrible considering they are using him more as a shutdown dman. I think he’s much improved over last year and will improve with a consistent lineup if that ever happens.
Hi Dee
Concur re Jarry
Re Marino… I don’t have concerns re his offence; the struggles I was inferring to are his defensive positioning and defensive mistakes. I have confidence he will turn it around.
I was just using Marino as an example of a D player that has been struggling at his D game; and using that as one of the list of things
Sorry if I inferred struggling to mean his offensive game as well
Again; I have full confidence that he can turn those miscues around
Dumo also has had a couple of really tough games defensively
Tanger also
Kappy ; one very good game; the rest almost mediocre at best
E-Rod and Heinen playing well above their Cap (E-Rod especially)
I expect Guentz’s offence will pick up huge win Sid is back
Sully needs to give Riikola a chance… why does Sully dislike him so much? He had a fantastic game v NJ (Oct 30…. Played 18 minutes)…. Next game Sully “rewards “ that performance by cutting his TOI to 11 minutes??
All in all…. The decimated Pens are out of the basement; and within playoff position striking distance ; while being in the toughest Div (IMHO) in the NHL
Go Pens Go
Sitting here sipping my first cup of BRC and about to make my first comment on the 2021-22 Boston Bruins….This is one ugly team that will probably not make the SC playoffs this season unles they make serious changes and its not likely …First of all the Goaltending is just OK but thinking the reason for that is the terrible D…Grzekyk,Forbort are 5-6 Dmen and they already have two of them in Clifton & Reilly, so there’s McAvoy and Carlo and a bunch of 5-6….You arent going to win many hockey games with Coyle as your #2 center with Foligno or Smith on a wing, I still say Hall signed with B’s thinking 46 was coming back. The Bruins signed Foligno,Haula,Nosek, Forbort as depth pieces( its all they are ) and all of them are playing every game sprinkled in on the 2nd,3rd,4th lines….number of teams these players have played on says a lot ..Foligno 4th team,Haula 5th team,Nosek 3rd team,Forbort 4th team….Just maybe Sweeney should’ve skipped the depth signings and used all that $$$ for 2-3 difference makers and used his minor league players as depth…Two more if I may, C Smith 8 games 0 G…0 A…-7 plus/minus.. DeBrusk 11 games 2 G…0 A…-4 plus/minus should’ve been gone after last years showing .DeBrusk,Smith,Foligno,Haula,Nosek,
Forbort comes out to around 17-18 million & not counting the 6.4 they gave Ullmark ( really how much better is Ullmark than Swayman) ….all money well spent dont you think ? Bergy must be liking this show …
Once again Joe , Sweeney has failed to realize and anticipate the moves to help this club win the big prize.He knew Krejci was leaving before anyone else did. Signing a bunch of alsorans won’t do it. He has failed to address the b’s ultimate need a good second line centre, Foligno’s like a walking talking ceramic doll. The only one out of signings I liked was Ullmark but it’s plain to see now this guy’s a bust too. I am not confidant that Sweeney can fix this now, Rask back will help, but this club needs so much more. I think this will be Sweeney’s last crack at it. 2015 draft bust, horrible horrible free agent signings he’s history sooner than
Later.
Rick, which player should he have signed or traded for to replace Krecji?
last night was an easily won game for the Bruins if they get out of their own way.
Carlo scored a goal, cost two
Felt bad for Louie Debrusk as he try not to put down his son when Cody Ceci made him look like a pylon.
Craig Smith 0 pts in 8 games, Eric Haula 1 assist in 11 games
Boston defense is a weakness, it needs to be addressed
Edmonton with two of the best players in the world; but won’t go far in the playoffs. Much like Boston no d and suspect goaltending
That was Debrusk that resulted in 2 goals Carlo only did it once. Check the highlights if you can get em