NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 18, 2022

by | Oct 18, 2022 | News, NHL | 30 comments

Recaps of Monday’s games, Sidney Crosby tops the stars of the week, an update on the health of Hall-of-Famer Borje Salming, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad each had four points while Adam Fox collected three assists as the New York Rangers downed the Anaheim Ducks 6-4. It was Panarin’s second four-point game of the season and set a Rangers record for the most points (10) in the first four games of a season.

New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin (NHL Images).

Alex Ovechkin scored twice as the Washington Capitals defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-4. The Capitals got four unanswered goals in the third period as Ovechkin finished the night with four points while Evgeny Kuznetsov had three assists. Kuznetsov could face supplemental discipline for slashing Canucks defenseman Kyle Burroughs in the face. Capitals winger Connor Brown left the game with an apparent injury to his right leg.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sportsnet reports the Canucks became the first team in NHL history to lose each of their first three games of the season after blowing a multi-goal lead in each game. They had a players-only meeting after the game but it could take more than that to address their poor defensive play.

Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk celebrated his 26th birthday with two goals and an assist in a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers. Patrice Bergeron had a goal and an assist while Linus Ullmark kicked out 38 shots for the win. Sam Bennett and Colin White each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who lost defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a lower-body injury in the second period.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Panthers blueliner Brandon Montour missed this game with an upper-body injury.

The Arizona Coyotes upset the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2. Shayne Gostisbehere snapped a 2-2 tie late in the third period after the Leafs overcame a 2-0 deficit. The Leafs appeared to tie the game 3-3 with 37 seconds remaining but it was overturned on a hand pass by Morgan Rielly. Gostisbehere, Nick Ritchie and Christian Fischer each had a goal and an assist. Leafs captain John Tavares picked up an assist for his 900th career point. Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin left the game with a neck injury in the second period.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The overturned goal shouldn’t overshadow the fact the Leafs were dreadful for most of this game against a club that (on paper) they should’ve easily defeated. Whatever the reason, they struggled against a determined Coyotes club that didn’t collapse when the Leafs staged their third-period rally.

Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin each had a goal and two assists to lead the Colorado Avalanche over the Minnesota Wild 6-3, handing the latter their third straight loss. Kirill Kaprizov tallied twice for the Wild.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Goaltending has been an issue for the Wild thus far. Marc-Andre Fleury was terrible in their first two games while Filip Gustavsson wasn’t much better in this contest against the Avalanche.

The Montreal Canadiens nipped the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on an overtime goal by Kirby Dach. Evgeni Malkin scored twice for the Penguins but the Canadiens got goals from Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield to force the extra frame. Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen missed this game on parental leave but Sam Montembeault got the win with a 26-save performance.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Caufield’s goal came from a beautiful thread-the-needle pass from Jonathan Drouin, who’s been the target of criticism from Canadiens fans and the subject of trade speculation. More passing plays like that could silence his critics and improve his stock in the trade market.

An overtime goal by Phillip Danault gave the Los Angeles Kings a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Danault scored twice while Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe each had two points. David Perron scored two goals and collected an assist for the Red Wings. Kings defenseman Alex Edler missed this game after being struck in the face by a puck during warmups.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A strong defensive effort by Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin set the stage for teammate Oskar Sundqvist’s game-tying goal that forced overtime. With his club down 4-3, Larkin hustled back to thwart Kings winger Viktor Arvidsson’s attempt at an empty-net goal after the Wings pulled netminder Ville Husso to go with six attackers.

Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho each had three-point performances to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Schenikov scored two goals while goalie Frederik Andersen turned aside 22 shots for the win.

The Dallas Stars rolled to a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves, Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen scored while Mason Marchment collected two assists. Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets.

HEADLINES

NHL.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oetting are the NHL’s three stars for the week ending Oct. 16, 2022.

TORONTO STAR: Hall-of-Famer Borje Salming can no longer speak and has to be fed through a tube as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). On Aug. 10, Salming released a statement indicating he’d been diagnosed with the disease for which there is no cure.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: It appears Salming’s symptoms are spreading rapidly. Spare a thought or prayer for the Leafs legend.

DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi has been sidelined for four-to-six weeks with an upper-body injury.

ARIZONA SPORTS: Coyotes center Nick Schmaltz is out for six-to-eight weeks with an upper-body injury.

DAILY FACEOFF: The Philadelphia Flyers placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. He played in two preseason games but missed their first two regular-season contests.







30 Comments

  1. Quote of the day yesterday

    Rick W Murray on October 17, 2022 at 9:07 am
    Good to hear Brad practising with the team, this brings a smile to my ears. With all their injuries the bruins have about as much of a chance of beating Florida as P & B do of winning the Pulitzer Prize.who the heck is this Dan Renouf character?never heard of him. Should have brought up Wolf he had a great pre season, ooh ohh do you hear it?here comes the Bobbsy twins

    Still batting 1000. One day will get something right. Bruins win again. Go bruins.

    • Mrbruin4, a week or so back, when a discussion centered around all the Bruins injuries, especially those to Marchand and MacAvoy, I commented that they were still a pretty decent team and that all they needed to do was keep their heads above water until those two got back in the line-up in November.

      What I did NOT see them doing is walking ON water. That’s a well-prepared team.

      • How about Bergeron waiting to decide to return and he looks like he is still in his prime. he gets the most our of his locker room.

      • George. Yes the bruins will be better than last years team But will be hard fought game tonight against the Sens who are rested and ready and hungry the 1st win of the season Should be fun to watch

      • Their goaltending has been outstanding!Covering up for a depleted and very average defensive corps.Lindholm as advertised has been outstanding,in Mcavoy s absence.Forbort rising to the challenge,the others just OK.Even though he scored late in the game Frederic and Smith has been invisible.Still looking for a Stralman sighting and still wondering why Lauko did not dress last night.

      • Steve R., with early-season back-to-backs some players often sit one and dress the other. Fresh legs and all.

    • Mr.B,
      We all know that RWM’s knowledge of hockey is at the 7 year old level. And he’s only happy when he can bitch about Sweeney. What I find hilarious is that he feels compelled to reference me in nearly every post, yet I rarely address him directly. I must have hit him where it hurts at some point.

      • He knows he successfully got under your skin in the past and that only fuels the fire.

      • We’ve discussed this Chrisms, and Rick has acknowledged that he is not trolling for a reaction when he criticizes Swweney and the B’s, those are his true opinions.

        Is that still the case Rick?

      • Wasn’t talking about that, the subject matter was related to the repeated mentioning in his posts certain other posters.

    • Maybe I took too much acid when I was younger but I think if my ears were smiling id probably have a nervous breakdown

  2. Well George it’s finally here, tonight The Backs are against the wall The spit has hit the grit All hands on deck The fat hits the fire Batten down the hatches All bets are off It’s all or nothing Friend against foe Time to get the led out The tough has got to get going The fat lady has sung The gloves are off ..looks like I’ve run out idioms. I’d wish you good luck but I’d be lying.
    Just grab a cold one ….the best beer in Canada your fav Bud lite and enjoy.

    • Heh, Rick. I’d rather drink pony pee than a Bud – or anything – Lite.

      I see in the Sun this morning that Tkachuk and the Senators are talking about having “more shove” and a full 60-minute effort. They’d better because, back-to-back or not, the Bruins are showing themselves to be a hard-working, fully-coordinated bunch, with whoever they insert to replace the injured not missing a beat. Coaching?

    • Do people actually buy Bud lite?

      • Caper. If they are in high school. 🍺

  3. Arizona has a 10-4-2 record at Toronto. Wow

    • Over-confidence when playing the bottom-feeders can be a brutal lesson (ALL teams discover that throughout a long season) – although I hasten to add that, for part of that record anyway, Arizona had some decent teams while the Leafs were a struggling bunch.

      They started the kid in goal obviously thinking it was 2 points in the bag and they did give him some decent protection, limiting the Coyotes to just 18 shots while firing 28 at the Arizona goalie, But 3 goals on 18 shots is not a good sign.

      • I don’t think it’s as easy as that George but there’s no denying over-confidence, underestimating opponents, etc, still can’t deny the fact that even the lotto teams are good enough teams that can and rightfully happy to spank a “better”team.

        Had this game been one of the last half dozen left in the season vs the forth of the season, I would have no doubts if they are playoff bound, they shouldn’t even bother.

      • No doubt Ron … but there’s also the old adage that 2 points in the bag now are far better than absolutely needing 2 with only a handful of games to go to either get in the playoffs or solidify a better playoff position.

  4. While seeing the big crowds back at all sports venues following 4 years of Covid restrictions is an understandable reaction from a populace fed up with being home-bound, it looks like that SOB isn’t done with us yet, judging by this article this morning.

    This is just a local report – I don’t know what you are hearing in your various areas – but if hospital systems across North America begin to be overwhelmed again, how long do you think it will be before governments start telling businesses – including sports outlets – to limit access

    https://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/health-officials-watching-with-concern-as-new-more-evasive-covid-sub-variants-arrive-in-ontario/wcm/6716dac1-c692-4f70-9c32-02adf6c2e87a

    • Maybe I took too much acid when I was younger but I think if my ears were smiling id probably have a nervous breakdown

    • I work in a long term care facility in Windsor. We have 8 separate wards of about 40 people each ward. Currently 3 wards are in full blown Covid outbreak protocol with about 35 confirmed cases between them. We had 2 Covid related deaths last week. Its not over and there is currently no end in sight.

      • Holy crap Dee. Stay safe. Seeing that max crowd in Ottawa last night – almost no one wearing a mask – I can just see a huge boost in Covid hospitalisations here as well in about 2-3 weeks.

  5. The beer snobbery this morning is uncalled for!

    • Just serve the beer ice cold snd that works for me. 🍺🍺

  6. Tough news about Salming…I really enjoyed watching him play. And I always thought that watching Philly roughing him up in the playoffs was one of the most disgusting gutless things I have witnessed on the ice.

  7. Salming was a player you had to like regardless of whether you liked the Leafs or not. Prayers and thoughts go out to him and his family.

    • Spot on, George. And I am a Detroit guy, and never liked Toronto, but loved watching him play…amazing skill. He is one of those players who was under-appreciated in my mind.

    • I’m no expert on Salming but he was one of the toughest players opening the door for skilled European players by breaking the myth that all European players are soft. He was the player I modeled my game after… I still remember the tragic skate blade incident, the cover shot on the newspapers and him coming back like it was no biggie.
      I was lucky to have met him and have an opportunity to see him interact with teammates, funny classy good man.

  8. As per Salming -Very Sad hearing this story …, Indeed a legend , the best ever defenseman in leafs history – some will argue Tim Horton – before my time ..
    We had season tickets for 5 years , section 24 – row H , seat 9 and 10 – passionate times as a young person ..
    Salming and Orr were my 2 favourite players of all time !