NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 18, 2022
Claude Giroux plays his 1,000th (and possibly final) game with the Flyers, Roman Josi sets a Predators record, Golden Knights lose Jack Eichel, Robin Lehner denies he’s seriously injured, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Claude Giroux’s 1,000th and possibly final game with the Philadelphia Flyers ended in a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators thanks to Joel Farabee’s game-winner late in the third period. Farabee, Kevin Hayes and Travis Sanheim each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers while Giroux was held scoreless. Predators defenseman Roman Josi collected three assists to set a single-season franchise record with 55 assists while teammate Filip Forsberg scored his 210th career goal to tie the franchise record. The Predators hold the first wild-card berth in the Western Conference with 74 points.
Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Giroux is not traveling with the Flyers to Ottawa to face the Senators tonight. He’s expected to be dealt before Monday’s trade deadline.
The Vegas Golden Knights snapped a five-game losing skid by beating the Florida Panthers 5-3 but lost Jack Eichel as he left the game in the second period after blocking a shot with one of his arms. There was no immediate update on his condition. Evgenii Dadonov scored twice as the Golden Knight (70 points) remain one point up on the Dallas Stars for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. The Panthers, meanwhile, remain one point ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes for first overall in the Eastern Conference with 88 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sidelined Golden Knights starting goaltender Robin Lehner denied a report by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli claiming he could miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Nevertheless, his frequent absences to injury this season and the Golden Knights’ struggles while he’s out of the lineup fuels speculation that management is shopping for a goalie.
Speaking of the Hurricanes, they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs as rookie goalie Erik Kallgren made 34 saves for his second straight win in his second NHL start. Ondrej Kase tallied the winning goal for the Leafs (83 points), who are 4-1-1 in their last six and move within one point of the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic Division.
The Stars, meanwhile, got the game-tying and winning goals by John Klingberg to nip the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in overtime to snap a three-game losing skid. Stars captain Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists. Canadiens goalie Jake Allen made 31 saves in his first game since being sidelined by a lower-body injury on Jan. 13.
Leon Draisaitl scored his 40th goal of the season as the Edmonton Oilers rolled to a 6-1 dubbing of the Buffalo Sabres. Connor McDavid was among five Oilers to finish the night with two points while Mike Smith made 27 saves for the win. With 72 points, the Oilers have won four straight and sit in third place in the Pacific Division.
Alex Ovechkin tallied his 38th goal of the season, Anthony Mantha scored twice and Vitek Vanecek stopped 39 shots as the Washington Capitals thumped the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2. It was a costly win for the Capitals as winger T.J. Oshie left the game with a lower-body injury. The Capitals (78 points) move within a point of the Boston Bruins for the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Detroit Red Wing netminder Alex Nedeljkovic kicked out 43 shots and Pius Suter scored the only goal to blank the Vancouver Canucks 1-0. Canucks center J.T. Miller’s point streak ended at 13 games. The loss leaves the Canucks (67 points) three points out of the final Western wild-card spot.
Speaking of shutouts, Cal Petersen made 29 saves for his third of the season in a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault and Adrian Kempe were the goal scorers as the Kings (76 points) hold a four-point lead over the Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division.
A shootout goal by Bryan Rust lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins over the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby’s point streak ended at 10 games. Blues goaltender Ville Husso made 43 saves in a losing cause. The Penguins (83 points) hold a two-point lead over the New York Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division while the Blues (77 points) sit four points ahead of the Minnesota Wild in second place in the Central Division.
The Rangers, meanwhile, dropped a 2-1 decision to the New York Islanders. Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves for the win as Kyle Palmieri broke a 1-1 tie late in the third period. Rangers winger Chris Kreider netted his 40th goal of the season.
IN OTHER NEWS…
OTTAWA SUN: Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot’s season is over after suffering a broken right hand during Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
WINNIPEG SUN: Jets forward Andrew Copp was shaken up but avoided another concussion following a hit by Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist on Sunday. He passed a return-to-play test on Tuesday. Copp has suffered four concussions in his playing career.
NHL.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights signed defenseman Derrick Pouliot to a one-year contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This move was made to shore up Vegas’ injury-depleted blue line.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford was placed on the NHL COVID protocol list.
Sitting here sipping my BRC and was wondering in the NHL why teams usually wait but not always up until the trade deadline day to make trades …. Do teams trying to trade off difference makers get more for that player on last trade day or more say a week or two before that final trade day if the season
They wait til deadline day so TSN and Sportsnet, with there 100 insiders, something to talk about. Also breakdown each deal, as they come in, to fill 12 hours of TV! Lol!
Joe you’ve been reading my mail. every time I see these sports commentators scrabbling to try and generate interest in an upcoming deal trade deadline day, you usually end up disappointed. I think the guy who makes the deal the earliest usually gets the best crop of players. That’s why Sweeney usually ends up with what left in the cupboard,expired retreads. Sweeney’s Credo “ Never put off Til tomorrow what should be done the day after tomorrow.
RWM, Scrabbling – good one!
Cap considerations are a factor sometimes, Joe – teams trying to squeeze the most out of their cap space or looking to find a third team to pick up some of the cap hit they may be taking on. All things equal, I’m sure teams would prefer to get any moves done well before the deadline. Looks like Giroux gets traded over the weekend.
Part of the reason is most contenders are tight against the cap and need every penny to make the numbers work.
By waiting until the last minute the player has the least amount of cap space remaining.
Nice missed call on the elbow to the face of Lindgren from Wahlstrom for the game winner!
One of the Rangers better games in a long time flushed because of a missed call! Good job refs!
Well, as I posted yesterday, if that rookie goalie Kallgren wins again, then play the hot hand for all it’s worth.
A 4-0 SO of a decent team then a 3-2 road win over an eastern powerhouse. Maybe now the angst in Leafland will subside for a while.
And as someone said a few weeks ago, if it wasn’t for bad luck the Senators would have no luck at all. Chabot done for the season and Stutzle doubtful for the Flyers game. Ahh well, c’est la vie. This seems to happen to some teams every season.
At least they might settle down into the Wright zone.
Jesus, it’s the Senators, who cares?
Obviously not you. But then, I doubt anyone in here gives a rat’s ass what a legend in his own mind thinks. Try again to get under that bus.
Says the “Keyboard Warrior”…
Yep … and your point is?
I was just poking the bear, George. Saw someone call you that the other day. I found it humorous.
Heh. I consider myself poked.
Habs lost the game in OT but how goaltender interference wasn’t called even with a review is mind boggling.
At minimum Seguin should have been called for hooking as he got his stick into Allen’s hands and twisted his blocker hand with it.
Reviews are supposed to get it right.
It seams they rarely get the call correct constantly changes what goalie interference actually is. Happened other night. With Boston Chicago game when own players took out goalie. But after review still said. No goal. Maybe the Toronto head office making the reviews are betting on games. Would be better for the actual refs on the ice review the play not Toronto
Can’t say I saw the Habs incident, but guessing similar to Bruins game MB4 is talking about as I saw that.
With the B’s Hawks incident, the major contact with Fluery was caused by his own player, but I think Smith also caught a piece of Fluery because Fluery got hit by his own guy and was turning. And Smith maybe caught an inch of crease and his pad from what I could tell from over head? Or none at all, couldn’t tell for sure.
The problem is refs, like all humans have different perceptions of what a certain penalty is. Some would say it wasn’t interference, some would say it was as it was borderline and had other factors.
Plus call on ice was interference, so the evidence had to be “conclusive”. So not only can’t you get 10 people to agree on what constitutes interference, you can’t get 10 people to agree on what “conclusive” means.
Heck, you can’t get 10 people to agree on way more obvious stuff than that. How many refs are there in the NHL? More than 10.
Good luck getting perfection or perfect alignment to what we each think is right. Ain’t gonna happen.
HF30- I don’t disagree – I think the refs are helping us tank!
Well, keep picking up points here and there until you pass the Senators
Another good game for Kallgren. Looked relaxed in the post-game interview. I’m not on the bandwagon of those chiming the reincarnation of Dryden, Roy , Espo , etc etc…. But he has looked very good. Start him again in Smashville, see how it goes. AM will be back.
Freddy looked shaky on one. Leafs gladly take the two points and move on
Iowa Prince, I now see what you are talking about re Husso. Sole reason this went to OT. He was something.
You think Husso is playing well enough that SL would move Binnington at the deadline? I’m guessing they’d probably wait until the summer to allow all 31 teams to make an offer if they wanted to – not really the kinda deal you wanna make with a gun to your heard like the TDL. Could be a good “get” though with such dodgey goaltending situations on a lot of playoff teams (Wash, Tor, LV, Edm…) But if Army was thinking that he would have sent feelers out and the media would be all over it i’d suspect?
hi Swiss2793
I don’t think they could possibly find a taker for Binnington at TDL
Iowa Prince posted for any offers to be considered
I was impressed with Husso last night
I’d only seen him play but a few times before (where he was pretty good)
Last night he was excellent….w/o him… Pens win in reg
officiating in all sports has been a joke for a long time and it isn’t getting any better…. Thinking players have the final say in outcome of games they don’t the officials do ….. just watch a baseball game with a K Zone start to finish and you’ll see at least 20+ missed balls and strikes by the home plate umpire,try to figure out what’s a foul and what isn’t in a NBA game, what’s pass interference or holding in a NFL game …baseball aside most of these sports are to fast for the officials/referees…
Derrick Pouliot, it’s been some time since I’ve heard that guy’s name. Wonder where he’s been?
Who cares?
To answer your question, Golden Knights fans probably care. Maybe Blues, Pens, and Canucks fans too? Lyle cares, or at least he thinks we care. Folks who might recognize his name. Portland Winterhawks fans, he spent his junior days there.
To answer my question – He’s been in the AHL for the past couple of seasons. His most recent NHL team appears to have been the Blues. He was on their roster in 2019/20 playing 2 or so games.
I was just parroting Ed The Cynic
Everywhere … LOL
Last 5 years…. 4 AHL teams; 3 NHL teams
Pengy, Did Ray Shero draft Puliot? I’m pretty sure that was pre Rutherford. Now that’s a pick you’d like to have back.
Taken 8th overall in 2012, that had to be Shero. The clue should have been when he was cut from the Canada World Junior squad of 2012.
Who go’s where over the next 3 days…..❓
1-Claude Giroux 50-50 with Avs & Panthers
2-MAF, 70-30 going back home to the Penguins or Vegas
3- Toronto Maple Leafs signing every body Else so the Media says…100%😂
Have a grea day ever one
I’m waiting for that Jon fellow to fill us in.
He’s about due.
Jon?
Is he the – This is what is going to happen guy?