NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 22, 2023
The Golden Knights set an NHL record, Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard reached a milestone, Oilers captain Connor McDavid suffered an injury and Kings captain Anze Kopitar set a franchise record. Details on these and other stories in the NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights became the first defending Stanley Cup champion to start a season with a 6-0-0 record in a 5-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago rookie Connor Bedard opened the scoring with his first NHL goal on home ice but the Golden Knights put the game out of reach with third-period goals by Nicolas Roy, Mark Stone and Paul Cotter. The loss dropped the Blackhawks to 2-4-0.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).
An overtime goal by Mark Scheifele capped a three-goal rally in a 3-2 win by the Winnipeg Jets (2-3-0) over the Edmonton Oilers. However, their win was overshadowed by an injury to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who missed the final minutes of regulation and the overtime period. McDavid appeared to injure his hip in the first period after getting entangled with Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The loss dropped the Oilers’ record to 1-3-1. We should get more details about McDavid’s condition on Sunday. With the Oilers stumbling from the gate, losing their best player for any significant period could be a significant blow.
Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand scored two goals and added an assist to double up the Los Angeles Kings 4-2. Bruins winger David Pastrnak tallied his fifth goal of the season while Jeremy Swayman got the win with a 32-save performance as the Bruins improved to 4-0-0. Kings captain Anze Kopitar set a franchise record by skating in his 1, 297th game as his club’s record dropped to 2-2-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk was a healthy scratch from this game as he was late for a team meeting.
The Colorado Avalanche are 5-0-0 after beating the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4. Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and three assists while Logan O’Connor scored a shorthanded goal for the third straight game. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jaccob Slavin each had a goal and an assist for the 3-3-0 Hurricanes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The injury-depleted Hurricanes lost another player as Brett Pesce missed this game with a lower-body injury. He joins center Sebastian Aho and goaltender Frederik Andersen on the sidelines.
The Detroit Red Wings downed the Ottawa Senators 5-2. Dylan Larkin had a goal and two assists, Joe Veleno tallied twice and Ville Husso made 35 saves as the Wings improved to 4-1-0. Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig replied for the 3-2-0 Senators, who managed to hold Alex DeBrincat scoreless in his first game in Ottawa since being traded to Detroit in July.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators fans gave DeBrincat a “warm” welcome by booing him every time he touched the puck. Nevertheless, the Wings’ convincing victory gave him the last laugh.
Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots in a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Jason Zucker and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes (3-2-0) while Frank Vatrano tallied for the 1-3-0 Ducks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zucker left this game with a lower-body injury while teammate Michael Carcone suffered an upper-body injury. Meanwhile, Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott became the first NHL player to defy the league’s ban on using Pride Tape, sporting a few strands of the rainbow-colored tape near the top of his stick.
The Buffalo Sabres defeated the New York Islanders 3-1. Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist while Casey Mittelstadt collected two assists as the Sabres moved to 2-3-0. Semyon Varlamov made 40 saves and Noah Dobson scored for the 2-1-1 Islanders.
Third-period goals by Andrei Kuzmenko and Brock Boeser gave the Vancouver Canucks a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Kuzmenko and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and an assist, Ilya Mikheyev collected an assist in his first game since his knee surgery in January, and Casey DeSmith kicked out 34 shots for the 3-2-0 Canucks. Sam Reinhart scored two goals for the 2-3-0 Panthers.
An overtime goal by Cole Caufield lifted the Montreal Canadiens over the Washington Capitals 3-2. The Canadiens (2-1-1) led 2-0 on goals by Sean Monahan and Brendan Gallagher but Capitals forward Dylan Strome netted two goals to force the extra frame. Jake Allen got the win with a 31-save performance while the Capitals sank to 1-2-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin remains stalled at 822 career goals four games into his season as he’s yet to find the back of the net.
The Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2-0) overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on an overtime goal by John Tavares. Matthew Knies scored twice and collected an assist while Joseph Woll made 29 saves for the win after Ilya Samsonov got the hook when he gave up three goals on four shots. Nikita Kucherov also scored twice and collected an assist while Jonas Johansson stopped 48 shots as the Lightning dropped to 2-2-2.
Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski scored in overtime to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4. The Flyers overcame a 4-2 deficit to force the extra frame. Stars forward Wyatt Johnston had a goal and two assists as his club improved to 3-0-1. Travis Konecny scored twice for the 3-1-1 Flyers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flyers defenseman Marc Staal is expected to miss four-to-six weeks with an upper-body injury after being placed on injured reserve on Friday. He was sidelined during Thursday’s win over the Edmonton Oilers.
An overtime goal by Jack Roslovic lifted the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild. Blue Jackets rookie Adam Fantilli netted his first career NHL goal while his club improved to 3-2-0. Filip Gustavsson made 49 stops for the 2-2-1 Wild.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Blue Jackets announced that center Patrik Laine is day-to-day after being elbowed in the head on Friday by Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who received a four-game suspension for the incident. Earlier in the day, the Blue Jackets lost forward Liam Foudy as he was plucked off the waiver wire by the Nashville Predators.
Speaking of the Predators, they got two goals from Tommy Novak to down the San Jose Sharks 5-1. Juuse Saros stopped 31 shots to backstop his club to a 3-3-0 record. Tomas Hertl replied for the 0-4-1 Sharks.
A two-goal performance by Brandon Saad gave the St. Louis Blues a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jordan Binnington got the win with 31 saves as the Blues improved to 2-1-1. Evgeni Malkin scored to extend his goal streak to four games but his Penguins dropped to 2-3-0.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The second period has been death for the Penguins in their last three games as they’ve been outscored 6-0 in that frame.
New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin scored twice in a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Filip Chytil collected three assists as the Rangers moved to 3-2-0 on the season. Justin Schultz tallied for the Kraken as they sank to 1-4-1.
There’s an easy way to stop intentional head hunting, a la Andersson. Make the suspension last as long as the injured player is out. And if the injured player has his career ended because of the cheap shot, the guy who did the deed is banned for life.
I agree that repercussions for intentional hits to the head are not severe enough but I’m not sure about lifetime bans as not all head contact is intentional and deciding on the end of a career would be difficult. Maybe for a second offense.
If you’ll reread my post, you’ll see that I was speaking solely about intentional headhunting. Andersson is a dirty player who has a history of headhunting and targeting one of a team’s most important players to attack. He gets a 4 game suspension because he hit Laine and the Jackets are not important to the league’s image, according to the DPS. What if it been Connor McDavid? Or Sydney Crosby? Or current golden boy, Connor Beard?
All I’m suggesting is making the punishment fit the crime.
Paul, it’s not just Columbus. The league would have given the exact same suspension regardless of the superstar. The league has a problem but I honestly don’t think their punishments are biased based tv or metro market
Randino, I don’t agree. Look at the history of the ill named Department of Player Safety and stronger penalties are handed out when the “victim” is one of the faces of the league, ie, superstars.
Columbus fans won’t be happy when Rasmus ends up only serving a deuce instead of 4 games.
It has zero to do with star power, as Laine is a legit star in the league and more to do with the fact that Anderson isn’t a dirty player.
Let s see how Debrusk handled his benching in tonight s game?
The God ones usually play better when they’re playing guilty.
Carolina has gone from the second best goals against 2.56 last season to the worst in the league at 5.0 this year.
If Rod Brind’Amour keeps playing Orlov and Deangelo together Carolina may not even make the playoffs. There are many opinions on the value of the Plus/Minus stat but Orlov’s -10 is an accurate representation of his play so far. Compare that to Slavin +5, Burns +2, Skjei +5, Pesce +3, Chatfield even, and Deangelo -6.
Carolina is also playing the worst team defense of the Brind’Amour coaching era. Neither Raanta or Kochetkov are good enough to overcome the teams defensive play.
I am starting to wonder if Pesce and Skjei not being extended and signing Orlov (a #6D on Carolina) as Carolina’s highest paid defenseman has sent the wrong message to the team.
It is absolutely shocking to see Carolinas GAA. I would never have expected this. Are they spending too much effort trying to improve their offense ?