NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 19, 2023
Recaps of Saturday’s 13 games include a milestone for the Avalanche’s Cale Makar and the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin extending his season-opening points streak. Details and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Ottawa Senators nipped the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on a shootout goal by Josh Norris during the NHL’s Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden. Anton Forsberg made 24 saves in regulation and overtime for the win while Erik Brannstrom scored the game-tying goal as the Senators improved to 8-7-0. Marco Rossi scored for the Wild (5-8-3), who’ve won just twice in their last 10 games.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (NHL Images).
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar collected three assists in his club’s 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars, making him the fastest blueliner in NHL history to reach 200 career assists. Mikko Rantanen, Valeri Nichushkin and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who’ve won six straight as they improved their record to 11-5-0. Tyler Seguin tallied twice for the 11-4-1 Stars.
New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin scored twice to extend his season-opening points streak to 15 games as his club down the New Jersey Devils 5-3. Jimmy Vesey also scored two goals while Vincent Trocheck had three assists for the 12-2-1 Rangers, who sit second overall in the Eastern Conference with 25 points. Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist in his return from a five-game absence due to injury as his Devils dropped to 8-7-1.
The Boston Bruins (13-1-2) maintained their hold on first place in the overall standings (28 points) with a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Trent Frederic tallied twice while David Pastrnak collected three assists to move into fourth in the NHL scoring race with 27 points.
Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (7-9-2) as they’ve dropped four straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Bruins announced that winger Milan Lucic was taking an indefinite leave of absence following his arrest early Saturday morning in Boston on an alleged incident of domestic abuse. Lucic’s wife reportedly called the police claiming that he had attacked and choked her. He also appeared to be drunk at the time of his arrest.
An overtime goal by Sean Couturier lifted the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 upset of the Vegas Golden Knights. Couturier and Owen Tippett each had a goal and an assist for the 9-7-1 Flyers, who’ve won four straight games. Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals and collected an assist for the 13-3-2 Golden Knights.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vegas center Chandler Stephenson received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for a cross-check to the chin of Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway.
The Winnipeg Jets beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2. Mark Scheifele led the way with a goal and two assists while Kyle Connor scored his league-leading 14th goal of the season as the Jets raised their record to 10-5-2. Matias Maccelli and Matt Dumba replied for the Coyotes as they dropped to 8-7-2.
Seattle Kraken winger Jordan Eberle had a goal and two assists while Matty Beniers scored the winning goal as their club held off the Vancouver Canucks 4-3. Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each picked up a point as the Canucks stars remain tied atop the NHL scoring race with 28 points. The Kraken improved to 7-8-4 while the Canucks (12-5-1) have lost two straight games.
The Nashville Predators snapped a four-game losing skid with a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Craig Smith scored two goals while Kevin Lankinen stopped 29 shots for the 6-10-0 Predators while Chicago dropped to 5-10-0. Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (14 points) picked up an assist to hold a two-point lead over Arizona’s Logan Cooley in the rookie scoring race.
A four-goal third period carried the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Edmonton Oilers 6-4. Nikita Kucherov scored twice and added an assist while Luke Glendening netted the game-winner for the Lightning as they moved to 8-6-4 on the season. Derek Ryan scored twice and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two assists for the Oilers (5-10-1) as their three-game win streak came to an end.
Two third-period goals by Seth Jarvis carried the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jarvis finished the night with three points while Sebastian Aho and Brent Burns each had a goal and an assist for the 10-7-0 Hurricanes. Sidney Crosby scored both goals for the Penguins as they slipped to 8-8-0.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Penguins forward Jeff Carter missed this game with a lower-body injury, marking the fourth straight contest he’s been out of the lineup. His teammate Pierre-Olivier Joseph (lower body) was placed on injured reserve.
The New York Islanders ended a seven-game losing skid by nipping the Calgary Flames 5-4 on a shootout goal by Oliver Wahlstrom. Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves while Brock Nelson had a goal and an assist for the Islanders as they improved to 6-6-5. Nazem Kadri and Connor Zary each collected two assists for the 6-8-3 Flames.
Washington Capitals rookie forwards Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas each had a goal and two assists as their club defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3. Alex Ovechkin also scored as the Capitals (9-4-2) have won four straight games. Johnny Gaudreau scored one of the Blue Jackets goals as they dropped their eighth straight and slipped to 4-10-4 on the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson made his season debut after being sidelined since preseason with an injured hand.
A four-goal first period carried the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist to take over his club’s scoring lead with 18 points while Cam Talbot kicked out 29 shots for the Kings (10-3-3). Jake Neighbours replied for the Blues as they fell to 8-7-1.
Like looch as a player especially earlier …..
But ZERO excuses to abuse a woman. Smash the drywall instead or go for a long walk to reset. Not hard to do …. hopefully he gets proper help so his family can move forward
That news yesterday was so disappointing to read.
I hope his wife and children are OK.
Why any man would think it’s ok to grab, hit or choke a woman is beyond me. I don’t care if he was drinking or not, no excuses.
If you can’t handle your alcohol than don’t drink.
His playing career is over.
Sounds like Lucic is one more professional athlete – among many over the years – who simply can’t face the pending end of a lifestyle that most can only dream of.
Now, I’m not saying I KNOW that’s the case, for certain … but it’s not like he’s the first to ever resort to that, nor will he be the last.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/nhl/predators/2018/09/19/nfl-domestic-violence-sexual-assault-child-abuse-nba-mlb-nhl/1335799002/
He’s more than likely done with the Bruins and to bad he seem to really like being back in Boston and help the team anyway he could
Hopefully his wife leaves him, pronto. Guys that behave that way very seldom change!
This is probably just the straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m sure that Lucic did not just start this kind of behavior recently. Looks like there was a police report filed as far back as 2011 on him abusing a woman whom I will assume was his future wife. Guys like this are just bully’s and sad to say but most victims never come forward until it’s too late. By then so much damage has been done that they finally have no choice but to call the authorities. Because of his star status he will probably get off with a slap on the wrist. He should be locked up for attempted murder. His playing days should be over. I have no respect nor do I have any sympathy for guys like him. They are dangerous and should be dealt with accordingly.
Totally agree snuffy1953 … and what amazes me is that, in the vast majority of cases, they are hulking and muscle-bound
https://www.ranker.com/list/athletes-charged-with-domestic-violence/people-in-sports
Then there are Hall Of Famers like Bobby Hull
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bobby-hull-legacy-abuse-1.6732539
Anyone watching that game between the Avalanche and Stars has to be impressed with the Avalanche. A character win while facing some adversity! Down 3-0 to a good team like the Stars, they could have packed it in? They kept skating and overcame not only the deficit but horrible officiating!! I don’t know what game the refs were watching but it wasn’ t in Dallas. This should be a good lesson for the Avalanche. When they play north and South, they can be like a juggernaut when they give the puck away like MacKinnon does consistently and try to complicate their game, they are very beatable. This type of game drives Bednar nuts. Just keep it simple and look what the results are? Nichuskin was a human dynamo. GO AVS!!!!
The Habs have been on a good run to start the year but crashed down to earth last night versus the Bruins.
They won close games, played decently in losing efforts as well but they were totally discombobulated last night.
I don’t watching them lose when the work ethic is there and the learning curve is visible but they played as if they were sleepwalking (sleepskating?)
I don’t care about the score, I care about losing the puck battles with regularity, not showing NHL physicality.
This is a team that needs to be 100% on it’s game to be competitive and last night they were well below that mark.
Team is still building! Need more character guys like Gallagher!
HF30, I have a different view. I only saw the Vegas loss “highlights” and the summary doesn’t always tell the story. But St. Louis said they deserved their fate that game.
I did have the grievous misfortune of watching last night’s game against the B’s. At one point the stats had the B’s winning 82% of puck battles and I am not surprised. A pathetic lack of compete. Lose puck battles, chase the game. Chase the game, take penalties.
The Habs are the third most penalized team behind only Anaheim and Arizona. And the Habs can’t kill penalties.
Your tolerance for bad hockey seems a lot higher than mine. A player can’t fairly be asked to be more skilled than they can be, but a player can fairly be asked to win 50% of puck battles – which is tenacity more than talent. 2 – 7 – 1 says much, and none of it encouraging. St.Louis surely must be in counselling right now.
LJ, young teams … and the Habs are virtually a carbon copy of the Senators in that respect at least … frequently “get off” their game plan and resort to the same sort of stuff that made them “stars” in junior or college (where 85% to 90% of those playing at those levels at the time never even get a sniff of the NHL.
It takes time and patience to get them concentrating for 60 minutes on whatever game plan the coaches have devised.
In a recent game in Sweden, a tight, relentless forechecking and back-checking style got the Senators into a 4-0 lead by early in the 3rd … only to abandon what got them there and attempt to “open it up” to fatten their stats. And, of course, Detroit tied it.
Only an unlikely goal by Stutzle – one that Reimer had no chance on – got Ottawa the win.
In their second game there, against Minnesota, they played it tight all the way in a 2-1 SO win.
Young teams can frustrate the Hell out of you.
I appreciate your trying to talk me down off the bridge, George.
I looked up teams by average age, and yes indeed the Habs are the third youngest NHL team at 26.3. That’s essentially a tie for first with Buffalo, 26.0.
That said Vegas, Boston, Vancouver and Toronto are all at 2 years or less older. Does that make a difference? Surely it comes down to other factors.
I’m not ready to climb down yet. Can you order me pizza?
With a Guinness (in the can, of course)? Sure! lol
I don’t think there was a single Carolina Hurricanes fan that didn’t cringe when they saw the pregame line up of Deangelo (-10) and Orlov (-11) together on the third pair. Some fans call the pair the sevens or 3 sevens because of their numbers 7 and 77. It didn’t take long for Pittsburgh to get Crosby on the ice and take advantage of a fourth line and the sevens. After that goal BrindAmour finally quit trying to make the Orlov Deangelo 3rd pair work and split them up.
BrindAmour started the season by playing 7 D mixing in Chatfield to play with either player. Playing 7 D did not work. Chatfield is a much better all around defenseman than Orlov or Deangelo but BrindAmour has had him as a healthy scratch. Last year when a top 4 defenseman was injured BrindAmour could move Chatfield to the top 4, this year he can’t. Waddell needs to fix what he broke and trade either Deangelo or Orlov for a defensive defenseman.