NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 18, 2023
Recaps of Tuesday’s games include Leon Draisaitl setting an Oilers record, the Avalanche tying a league record, plus the Canucks and Penguins making a trade. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had four points as the Edmonton Oilers picked up their first win of the season with a 6-1 drubbing of the Nashville Predators. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three points, Connor McDavid, Warren Foegele and Evan Bouchard each had two points while Jack Campbell kicked out 42 shots for the win. Tommy Novak netted the Predators’s only goal.
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Draisaitl’s two goals came on the powerplay, giving him the franchise record for career tallies on the man advantage with 128. Meanwhile, the Predators held a video tribute to Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm as he returned to Nashville for the first time since being traded to Edmonton last season.
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-1. Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin were among the goal scorers for the Avalanche while Alexandar Georgiev got the win with a 37-save performance. Kailer Yamamoto replied for the Kraken, who are winless (0-3-1) in their first four games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Avalanche tied the league record for consecutive regular-season road wins (14) stretching back to last season.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault scored in the shootout to lift his club to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. William Karlsson and Kaeden Korczak each had a goal and an assist while Adin Hill got the win by stopping 24 shots. Craig Smith and Joe Pavelski replied for the Stars while Jake Oettinger made 32 saves.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights are red-hot to start the season with a league-leading four straight wins. Stars center Roope Hintz made his season debut after being sidelined by an upper-body injury.
The Minnesota Wild scored three power-play goals and tallied twice shorthanded to thump the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello each had three points, Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury made 27 saves for the Wild. Tanner Pearson and Alex Newhook replied for the Canadiens, who lost defenseman Kaiden Guhle to an upper-body injury in the second period.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following the game, the Canadiens announced that center Kirby Dach (knee injury) is done for the season. Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Fleury soaked up the atmosphere as he played what was likely his final game in Montreal as he faces potential retirement at the end of this season. Speaking of the Wild, defenseman Alex Goligoski missed this game with a lower-body injury.
Former Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his first goal of the season with the Los Angeles Kings in a 5-1 victory over his former club. Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore each had three points for the Kings. Mark Scheifele replied for the Jets, who lost forward (and former King) Gabriel Vilardi to a lower-body injury in the first period following a hit by Blake Lizotte.
The Buffalo Sabres blew a 2-0 lead but nipped the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on an overtime goal by Dylan Cozens. Zemgus Girgensons and Jeff Skinner also scored while Devon Levi stopped 21 shots for the Sabres as they picked up their first win of the season. Brandon Hagel tallied both Lightning goals as Jonas Johansson made 28 saves.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lightning captain Steven Stamkos missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson left this game in the third period with an upper-body injury while winger Victor Olofsson was a healthy scratch.
Four unanswered third-period goals lifted the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Seth Jarvis tallied twice for the Hurricanes while Tomas Hertl collected two assists for the Sharks as they remain winless (0-2-1) in their first three games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho missed this contest with an upper-body injury. Goaltender Frederik Andersen was pulled early in the first period for precautionary reasons when he appeared dazed after being struck in the mask by a shot. He was replaced by Antti Raanta.
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart turned in a 25-save performance to shut out the Vancouver Canucks 2-0. Flyers center Sean Couturier scored his first goal for the first time since missing all of last season due to back surgery. Thatcher Demko turned aside 40 shots for the Canucks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Canucks traded minor leaguers Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Mark Friedman and forward Ty Glover. The addition of Friedman brings more size and experience to the Canucks blueline. The Canucks also placed defenseman Guillaume Brisebois on long-term injury reserve.
The New York Islanders blanked the Arizona Coyotes 1-0. Mathew Barzal tallied the game’s only goal while Ilya Sorokin made 14 saves for the shutout. Karel Vejmelka kicked out 33 shots for the Coyotes.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: The Devils placed goaltender Keith Kinkaid on waivers.
I’m sorry pengy. Hang in there buddy.
how could Gretzky not have some riddiculously high record for power play goals for the Oiler franchise? That news seemed unusual.
Gretzky was more of a setup man but he did tally 125 PP goals with Edmonton. He also scored 403 of his 583 goals with the Oilers at even strength. He remains their all-time leader with 55 shorthanded goals.
The Avalanche can thank Georgiev for the W. The Avalanche are really careless with puck. Don’t take my word for it Ray Ferrari and Coach Bednar stated as much! I have been saying that for several years and I can’t figure for the life of me why the players attitude remains the same? When you play teams like Seattle, NJ, Carolina, etc. they don’t give you time to be cute with the puck. The Avalanche are fortunate they have so much skill because that won’t cut it as things get serious. Best Avalanche were Cogliano, Nichuskin, Lekhonen, Makar, OConnor, T oews and of course Georgie. GO AVS!!!!!
Really tough break for Dach.
I was checking out Montreal Hockey Now a short while ago. Marc Dumont apologized for lack of content yesterday due to a bad back. The injury situation with the Habs is so bad that even the bloggers are sidelined.
The Habs powerplay is so bad …..again that hey need to decline the penalty or move Alex Burrows far away from it.
Way back in 1956 the NHL made a rule change regarding the power play. Previously, the team with the advantage could score as many goals as they could while the penalized player was in the box. Due to the potent Habs powerplay, the Board of Governors passed a proposal that would allow the penalized player to return to the ice once the team with the power play scored thus ending the man advantage. In light of the Habs pathetic powerplay of today, they should bring a new proposal to the table stating that the team has the right to decline the powerplay and instead remove 2 minutes off of the clock. S****y power play problem solved!! (tongue planted firmly in cheek LOL)
Last night I read a crazy stat
In Leon Draistl last ten games against Nashville:
18 goals 12 assist and 50 shots on net.
Ya Caper, some guys against some teams. Nashville hasn’t been great over that stretch, but also didn’t totally suck either.
Good for Oiler fans to see Campbell bounce back with a good performance last night as well.
Oilers Goaltender Jack Campbell played Spectacular last night he was on the puck 100%….
He made save after save…
Cody Ceci still looked like a Liability out there….⁉️
and
Nurse need’s to step his game up to $9.M dollar ranges if not…. Nurse is going to get lots of flack from Oiler Fans😳
McDavids Spin o Rama Goal was un-real….😜