NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 22, 2022
The Flames win their 10th straight, the Bruins surprise the Avalanche, the Canadiens upset the Leafs, the three stars of the week and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Calgary Flames are the hottest team in the league after picking up their 10th straight win by downing the Winnipeg Jets 3-1. Elias Lindholm extended his goal streak to eight games with the game-winning goal with 47 seconds remaining in the game. Sean Monahan and Tyler Toffoli also scored for Calgary. The Flames also set a franchise record with a perfect 7-0-0 homestand. With 66 points, they hold a four-point lead over the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division. The Jets (52 points) remains seven points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak (NHL Images).
David Pastrnak scored twice and added an assist and Taylor Hall had three helpers to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-1 win over the league-leading Colorado Avalanche. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman picked up the win with a 28-save performance as the Bruins (62 points) hold a 10-point lead over the Detroit Red Wings for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. The Avs (76 points) remain one point ahead of the Florida Panthers in the overall standings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Footage showed Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon appearing to slash linesman Michael Cormier on the leg after tangling with Bruins forward Tomas Nosek. Hockey operations investigated with the officials and determined there was “zero intent” by MacKinnon and no further action is required.
An overtime goal by Brett Pesce lifted the Carolina Hurricanes over the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3. Frederik Andersen kicked out 38 shots for the win while Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (74 points), who hold a four-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Vancouver Canucks kept their playoff hopes alive with a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each collected two assists while Thatcher Demko turned aside 25 shots. With 54 points, the Canucks are five points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who hold that final Western wild-card spot.
Montreal Canadiens forwards Josh Anderson and Cole Caufield each had three points to lead their club to a 5-2 upset of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Anderson scored two goals and added an assist while Caufield had a goal and two assists. Sam Montembeault made 35 stops as the Canadiens have their first three-game win streak of the season. With 67 points, the Leafs sit in third place in the Atlantic Division.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs’ defensive woes got worse as Jake Muzzin left the game in the second period after striking his head on the ice following a collision with Canadiens defenseman Chris Wideman. He was sent to hospital for tests and didn’t travel with the club to Columbus following this game.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Flames center Elias Lindholm, Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger are the league’s three stars for the week ending Feb. 20.
SPORTSNET: The Jets placed rookie forward Cole Perfetti (upper body) on injured reserve.
TSN: The Maple Leafs acquired goaltender Carter Hutton from the Arizona Coyotes for future considerations. GOPHNX.COM reports the Leafs will loan Hutton back to the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate in Tucson but still have the insurance of an extra goalie in their system.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Speaking of the Leafs, they lost winger Ryan Dzingel off waivers to the San Jose Sharks yesterday. They had acquired Dzingel on Saturday in a trade with the Coyotes.
NBC SPORTS CHICAGO: The Blackhawks have mutually parted ways with Bobby Hull as a team ambassador.
Nathan MacKinnon has gotten really brave lately with the physical play, he better oil up that swivel …
If that player slashing the Linesman in the leg is BM what are we looking at ?
Joe. If it’s BM it’s probably intentional.
Slick … probably right
Speaking of Marchand, B’s went 3-2-1 without him, and Bergeron missed the first 3 as well. About as good as one could have hoped. Tightened up their game and went full Julien.
Liked the line of Coyle, Smith and Frederic, especially yesterday, some great down low shifts in O-zone.
Cassidy said yesterday he would like to keep it together for a bit, so will be interesting to see who moves to top line if they put the Huala, Hall & Pasta 2nd line back together. DeBrusk on off wing?
Looks like we need Steve Dangle to get another rant going now that the Leafs lost handily to a last place team with Sam Montembeault in goal.
At this point, what is left to be said about the leafs, other than fire the management and coaching, and bring in a proper management team to trade 2 of the top 4 contracts and retool or rebuild. What a perpetual mess of a franchise.
Ok …. WHO here had Pro-line with (1) Bruins over Avs in reg and (2) Habs over Leafs in reg AND (3) Flyers getting to OT…. can you pick my Lotto-Max numbers for me????
To state Leafs played poorly last night would mean I’m insulting Habs and Habs fans…. Not the case…..Habs played very well and deserved the win … period
Rick….. do you have a hangover this morning????
Re MacK and Linesman slash…. Love MacK BTW….. at first glance… wow…. Abuse of an official…. He’s out of the game and suspended for a few.
Then I looked at it again… why didn’t the linesman wince?
Third look …. No stick contact with linesman…. stick hit the ice…. Makes sense now why the play continued
Rick. Is still hurting from all the nerf blasters yesterday I would assume
It’s one game, one game against a very good team let see how it goes from here before you start polishing up Lord Stanley’s cup.
The remarkable part of the Habs win over TML was not only how one sided it was but how reminiscent of last year’s playoff.
Keefe hasn’t learned a thing.
He continues to activate slow footed D-men and is surprised they caught and out hustled by the likes of Pitlick, Cauield, Hoffman and Anderson who blow right past.
2 on 1, 3 on 1 , 1 on 1, , Muzzin and Holl have no business activating, neither do Brodie, Dermott
Rielly can and should, he Usually catches up to the play when caught.
Liljegren can skate so in theory he should activate but he doesn’t know where to go.
Its hard to make the Habs look good this year, Mrazek helped with how often he lost the net behind him, but his save on Anderson is highlight reel.
Bruins dismantled Colorado wasn’t close but ask yourselves how ? Swayman was good Pasta shot the puck Hall is fitting in Bergeron out smarts everyone one the ice Charlie is special and Coyle is figuring out how good he is had most ice time. Don’t trade 1st round pick and if Fleury wants to play in Boston make him only except a trade there to bring down asking price.
No need Maf. If bruins give up a 1st. Has to be for player with term like chicyrun . If 2 ctr too expensive grab something like Kessel. Would fit nice with 63 and 37. Leave hall haula and pasta. Then coyle smith and. Frederick. 4 th line Let Foligno fight for ice time with blee
Bring Krech back for run he will only play with Boston he works well with Pasta and Hall.