NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 7, 2022

by | Dec 7, 2022 | News, NHL | 34 comments

The Leafs’ Mitch Marner extends his points streak while the Stars’ Jason Robertson’s comes to an end, the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon is sidelined for a lengthy period, an update on the Penguins’ Kris Letang, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner collected an assist to extend his points streak to 20 games in a 4-0 victory over the Dallas Stars. Matt Murray turned in a 44-save shutout while Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist as the Leafs improved their record to 16-5-6. The Stars’ Jason Robertson had his points streak end at 18 games as his club’s record falls to 14-7-5.

Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Leafs defenseman Victor Mete left this game in the first period with a lower-body injury.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored twice and Tristan Jarry kicked out 38 shots to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1. Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist for the 14-8-4 Penguins. Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Blue Jackets, who fall to 8-14-2.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some good news for the Penguins as defenseman Kris Letang skated yesterday morning in full gear for the first time since suffering a minor stroke last week. There’s still no timetable for his return.

The New Jersey Devils picked up their 10th home win of the season by blanking the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0. Vitek Vanecek got the shutout by stopping 24 saves while Dougie Hamilton led the way with a goal and two assists as the Devils (21-4-1) vaulted into first place in the overall standings with 43 points. The Blackhawks (7-14-4) sink to second-last in the overall standings with 18 points.

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso made 44 saves, including 28 in the third period, as his club doubled up the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. Andrew Copp and Filip Hronek each had two assists as the Wings improved to 13-7-5 while the Lightning (15-9-1) got goals from Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was the first game in Tampa Bay for former Lightning assistant coach Derek Lalonde, who was hired by the Wings as head coach during the offseason.

Winnipeg Jets forwards Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor each scored twice to down the Florida Panthers by a score of 5-2. Connor Hellebuyck picked up the win for the Jets (16-7-1) with a 39-save performance. The Panthers fell to 12-10-4.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets spoiled the homecoming of Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who was returning to Winnipeg for the first time since stepping down as the Jets bench boss a year ago.

The St. Louis Blues ended a four-game losing skid with a 7-4 win over the New York Islanders. Thomas Greiss made 36 saves and Noel Acciari scored twice as the Blues improved to 12-14-0. Zach Parise and Noah Dobson each had a goal and an assist for the 16-11-0 Islanders.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blues went into this game without Torey Krug and Pavel Buchnevich. Krug has an upper-body ailment while Buchnevich has a lower-body injury. No word yet as to how long they could be sidelined.

Two goals within seven seconds by Cole Caufield and Josh Anderson in the second period powered the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Jake Allen stopped 31 shots as the Canadiens improved to 13-11-2. Rookie Shane Wright tallied his first career NHL goal for the 15-7-3 Kraken.

Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar collected three assists and winger Viktor Arvidsson tallied twice to down the Ottawa Senators 5-2. Kings goalie Pheonix Copley stopped 31 shots for his first NHL win since 2019 as his club improved to 14-10-4. Tim Stutzle had two assists for the 10-14-1 Senators.

An overtime goal by Ryan Strome lifted the Anaheim Ducks over the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3. John Gibson made 34 saves for the Ducks (7-17-3) while Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 26 shots for the 14-6-6- Hurricanes.

IN OTHER NEWS…

THE DENVER POST: The injury-depleted Colorado Avalanche got more bad news yesterday as center Nathan MacKinnon will be sidelined for four weeks with an upper-body injury. The Avs are already missing Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Evan Rodrigues, Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson, Bo Byram, Darren Helm, Kurtis MacDermid, Jean-Luc Foudy and Shane Bowers.

CBC NEWS: Carey Price issued a statement yesterday saying he was aware of the anniversary of the 1989 Polytechnique Massacre in Montreal after the Canadiens claimed he was unaware of it. Price and the Canadiens were responding on Monday to a social media post by the goaltender supporting a guns rights group that recently used “POLY” as a promotional discount code.

Price’s initial social media post was in support of the group’s opposition to an upcoming Canadian government bill that could put restrictions on hunting rifles. He said he was unaware of the group’s use of the offensive promo code and didn’t support it.

On Tuesday, Price apologized for the timing of his original post. He said that he would never cause any intentional pain to victims of gun violence.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens really aren’t very good at handling controversial issues that arise involving one of their players. Rather than face the issue and address it honestly, they tried to give Price an out by denying his awareness of the Polytechnique Massacre and its upcoming anniversary. Not a good look for the storied franchise.







34 Comments

  1. The bruins better come out flying & for G’s sake don’t put Swayman in again. Also I wish the media would get off Price’s back.

  2. Flip flop.
    A famous quote gone bad

    Swayman is best dump Ullmark bad signing. Oh no wait. Dump Swayman keep Ullmark

    • RWM is like a pre-teen sports fan. When his team wins, all the players are future hall-of-famers. When his team loses, they all suck and need to be sent to the minor leagues. Gods forbid that the Bruins reach the SCF. He’ll go apoplectic over ever goal scored against Boston and every missed goal by Boston.

    • if Boston were to dump a goaltender like young Swayman…❗️

      The Sen’s should be all over that one,
      im sure Sabers & Habs would be there to😳

    • LOL !!!

  3. Matt Murray has a 932 sv% which is tied for the second best in the NHL with, (vezina favorite) Connor Hellebuyck, both trail Linus Ullmark 936 sv%

    Key for Murray is stay healthy. It’s not April but so far he is delivering the goods.

    • Agree Caper

      I believe he is playing a little over his capabilities; great to see…. So avg likely to drop a bit…. Bang on re injury… keep him healthy

      I’m in no way saying Leafs can (at this time) get past Bruins; but certainly looking great now

      Robertson (in green/white) kept off sheet; ending streak; while MM’s continues 👍👍👍

      Leafs last 10 games @ 850 clip (17 of possible 20 points; 7-0-3) as are Pens (17/20; 8-1-1)👍👍👍

      Happy Camper

      • Pengy, Murray is not “playing a little over his capabilities” – he is, when healthy and on form, a damned good goalie. When with the Senators and healthy and playing regularly, he wracked up several shut-outs … and with a far inferior line-up in front of him than he has now.

        I said it before … and I’ll repeat it – IF he can stay off the IR the Leafs have themselves a damned good goalie, and I can only wish him the best of luck. He is, among other things, a consummate pro who took a demotion to the AHL when here without complaint, went down to Belleville, and turned in a few good games in a shooter’s league before coming back and playing very good – until the next injury.

        THAT is the only concern you need where he’s concerned, If he’s good to go and in there you won’t see many bad goals get by him.

  4. Murray looks to be back on top of his game with Sammy there too Leafs goaltending looks real good. Thank you Ottawa How good is that contract for Gio this guy is amazing at his age he is playing unreal.

  5. I’m tired of the woke media trying to cancel everyone who doesn’t agree with them. Leave Price and anyone else who has an issue with this latest idiotic legislation alone. We still have the right to our opinions in this country…at least for now.

    • Paul H, which woke media company is trying to cancel Price?

    • Free speech cuts both ways, say or do stupid things and people will criticize that foolishness. Any kind of “joke” or stunt around a horrific mass shooting will always, rightfully, draw condemnation.

    • This is not the place to discuss an imaginary “woke” media. Let’s stick to hockey.

      • Right On Rock

    • No one is cancelling Price… and literally when I see someone use the word “woke” as an insult these days, I just automatically assume the person is an ignoramus.

    • You’re not going to find many people more conservative than me. I make Ronald Reagan look like a member of the Politburu. And I gotta tell ya, bubba, you are so wrong on this that it’s laughable.

    • Dern tootin Paul! We should definitely voice our displeasure with those turds with dumb opinions and furthermore we should tattoo them with a generic label! It’s the only way to make sure our rights to voicing opinions are safe!

    • Yes Paul, we all have right to our opinion. And we also have a right to criticize the opinions of others. When expressing opinions, there is no right to not be criticized.

  6. Price was an outstanding athlete, one o the best goalies in the NHL and an extremely public persona.

    He has used his pulpit to do wonderful things over the years but he really stepped in it this time, very out of character for him.

    The Polytechnique Massacre was a big effing deal in Montreal and if people knew what it was about they wouldn’t yap about woke, cancel culture and other nonsense talking points.

    Price was 2y/o at the time of the Polytechnique Massacre when Marc Lepine, armed with semi automatic rifle killed 14 women and himself in the name of fighting feminism.

    It was right to call him out and it was right for him to apologise.

    • Very well said.

    • Cannot disagree with any of that!

    • Yes to this… but in Canada how badly is this gun rights group being called out for essentially glorifying a massacre? Carey made an honest mistake. That promo was deliberate.

      • The big difference between Canada and the U.S. is that the latter has “the right to bear arms” written right into their Constitution.

        Thankfully, when ours was composed in the mid-1800s – many years after that of the U.S. – no such clause appeared. I say that due to the interpretation today in the U.S. of that phrase. Because when it was written I’m sure the “founding fathers” had absolutely NO conception of rapid-fire automatic/semi-automatic rifles and hand-guns, rocket launchers, bazookas and the like.

        If that right were confined today to ordinary citizens – on both sides of the border – to flintlocks and the like people would be a helluva lot safer.

      • And unfortunately Price looks like he fell in this org’s false info trap. The picture Price posted with his law-abiding gun was right, the gun he’s holding isn’t even on the list to be banned.

      • Not much on the CCFR Chrisms, basically a minute or 2 on the news yesterday because of Price. Not really a big story up here to be honest, but I’m not on Twitter or Facebook, so no idea when it comes to social media. Maybe it’s a big thing on there.

        And Paul H, I did read an article from a media company, MTL Gazette, that roasted Price pretty hard. Not trying to cancel him, but took some shots I thought were cheap for sure. I thought her argument was non sensical and more over reacting to what Price said.

      • People who say ‘woke’ and ‘cancelled’ don’t get it either. Lots of comedians talk openly about trying to get cancelled because it’s good for ticket sales. They get cancelled and they attract more people who would like them and get rid of others. Chappelle got cancelled and immediately sold out an arena tour and hosted SNL. Nobody gets cancelled other than Harvey Weinstein and the actresses he cancelled when they wouldn’t go along. Price did something stupid, he’s allowed to, got called out, everyone else is allowed their say as well, and guess what? People who liked Price a week ago will like him a week from now and those who didn’t like him a week ago won’t like him a week from now. Everything else is just someone who wants to beak off about something.

      • Not true tb, and I criticize the folks who use “woke” and “cancel” for everything, all the time. What they don’t realize is that if everything is woke, then nothing is.

        Plenty of people have been cancelled (fired from their jobs), and plenty have had their employers pushed to have them fired. Folks in media, entertainment, university prof’s, etc. And yes comedians.

        It is a real thing, but that doesn’t mean that all criticism is cancelling. Far from it.

      • Who are these plenty of people? Never met any, never heard any names. At least in Canada if you’re fired without cause you sue and we’re not as litigious as the States by any means. As for employers being pressured to fire someone, that’s where free speech stops for you? University kids are free to say what they want about a prof, or why can’t they?

      • I completely disagree with that take George.

        No, they didn’t have semi autos, assault rifles etc in mind. Or in their hands!

        The 2nd amendment:

        “ A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

        It’s to protect our citizens not only from foreign governments, but possibly our own.

        Too many people confuse our 2nd amendment with hunting deer, rabbits, etc.

        It’s not there to protect us from from the possible tyranny and oppression of deer and rabbits.

        I’m not trying to minimize or trivialize some of these incidents of mass shootings. But there are about 80 million American citizens that posses 400 million firearms in the United States.

        They are not the problem.

        Automatic weapons, assault rifles are not the problem.

        Look at the statistics of the states with the toughest gun laws in this country. They have the highest murder rates, crime rates etc.

      • Guys, you’re starting to stray off-topic here. Keep it confined to Price and the Canadiens on this issue. I don’t want this turning into a long debate on gun rights.

      • I get it Lyle, not commenting on gun rights, but responding to tb, who asked me to back up what I said. Feel free to delete if inappropriate.

        tb, going down the rabbit hole I suppose, as you asked, so have to supply. Here ya go a few examples.

        University:
        Dorian Abbott – Cancelled for lectures by MIT. Bright Sheng – University of Michigan, forced out and harassed over a movie he showed in class.
        Peter Ludlow – Northwestern

        Journalist/Media – Ian Buruma & Emily Wilder

        Entertainers: Duck Dynasty guy – Phil Robertson & the Dixie Chicks
        Comedians: Kathy Griffin.
        And who can forget Bill Maher and his TV show Politically Incorrect. Cancelled.

        I can do a lot more if I spent 15 minutes but you get the point, it’s a real thing, and it’s done by both sides of the political spectrum.

  7. Fabulous Leafs – Dallas Stars game last night

    By far Sandin’s BEST game as a Leaf !

    Murray – Vezina ?

    Lilegren and Sandin – Future 1st Team Allstars – Don’t U think George !!’

    • Murray is playing well, don’t know if it’s as shocking as some think it is. Ottawa had I think the worst high danger chances against when Murray was there and I think Tor is in the top 10 for that category, which could be a huge effect on the other goalie stats I would imagine. The thing I’m surprised by is how well Tor is playing defense as a team with what could be described as a non-superstar defense.

    • Ken, they are certainly rising to the occasion in the absence of two key D-men. Sometimes that’s al it takes – send them over the boards and let them play their game without them worrying about being benched or assigned to the press box if they make a mistake. Something Smith needs to learn – fast – in Ottawa. And as I say to Pengy above, Murray was always a very good goalie. That was never the problem in Ottawa – it was his availability. So far so good.