NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 20, 2023
William Nylander extends his points streak as the Leafs win again in Sweden, tough times for the Blue Jackets and Wild, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander extended his season-opening points streak to 17 games with the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild in the NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden. Nylander and Auston Matthews each had a goal and an assist while Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists for the 10-5-2 Maple Leafs. Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist for the Wild as they slid to 5-8-4 on the season.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nylander remains the Leafs’ best player this season, leading them with 27 points and sitting among the league’s scoring leaders.
The Wild, meanwhile, have been struggling this season, prompting general manager Bill Guerin to express his unhappiness over the club’s performance during a team meeting with players and coaches.
Guerin recently attempted to bolster his blueline by shipping Calen Addison to the San Jose Sharks and adding Zach Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Handcuffed by over $14 million in dead cap space due to buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter two years ago, there’s little the Wild GM can do to help his cap-strapped club.
The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2, handing the latter their ninth straight loss. Ryan Poehling had a goal and two assists for the Flyers (10-7-1) as they extended their win streak to five games. Blues Jackets winger Patrik Laine was a healthy scratch as his club fell to 4-11-4. Jackets defenseman Damon Severson left this game during the second period with an upper-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jackets have tied their franchise record for the longest losing streak in a season. The Athletic’s Blue Jackets beat writer Aaron Portzline wondered who’ll take the fall for this club’s poor performance. He doesn’t see head coach Pascal Vincent getting the axe less than two months after being hired. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen has been criticized by Jackets fans but he still has the support of team president John Davidson.
The Flyers, meanwhile, placed goaltender Felix Sandstrom on waivers after taking him off injured reserve.
Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic returned to the lineup with a 38-save performance to shut out the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0. Ryan Graves, Noel Acciari and Evgeni Malkin scored as the Penguins improved to 9-8-0. Golden Knights goalie Adin Hill stopped 30 shots as his team remains on top of the Western Conference with a record of 13-4-2 (28 points).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jeff Carter returned to the Penguins’ lineup as Vinnie Hinostroza is sidelined by a lower-body injury. The Golden Knights activated Nicolas Hague off injured reserve for this game.
The Buffalo Sabres snapped a three-game losing skid by nipping the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and two assists for the 8-9-1 Sabres. Philipp Kurashev has a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks as they fell to 5-11-0.
St. Louis Blues netminder Joel Hofer had a 30-save performance in a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, handing the latter their third straight loss. Pavel Buchnevich scored what proved to be the game-winner as the Blues moved to 9-7-1. John Gibson stopped 28 shots and Mason McTavish scored for the 9-9-0 Ducks.
IN OTHER NEWS…
THE BOSTON GLOBE: Bruins winger Milan Lucic will appear in a Boston court on Monday to face a charge of assault and battery on a family member. Lucic was arrested on Saturday morning following a domestic incident and is on an indefinite leave of absence from the Bruins.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is listed as day-to-day with a knee injury and will miss Monday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
Toronto received a nice schedule in Sweden, played two games and both games were the second game of back to back for their opponents.
Yes – the schedule was set up nicely from Toronto. And Detroit fans are especially unhappy that the Wings were the home team against Toronto instead of Ottawa. We now have two remaining games in Detroit against Ottawa, but will not host Toronto at all this season. Thanks again Bettman, no love lost between us, but I guess Toronto needs all the help they can get
Yeah, having last change is a real hardship. Why not focus on how well Detroit played?
And, believe me when I tell you that Toronto gets zero breaks from Bettman and the league. If they did, Marchant would still be serving his suspension.
Detroit had the advantage in Sweden, against Ottawa both teams long flight, not at home. So even there. Second game no travel for Detroit, had their game legs and Toronto didn`t after a long flight.Big advantage Detroit, not Toronto. If a team can`t play 2 games in a row with no travel in between at this point of the season, there`s something wrong. There`s one possibility that you didn`t explore. How crappy is Detroit and Minnesota. The only advantage Toronto got was both games were considered road games. But then, the NHL is revenue driven, why would you take away home games from the biggest market in the NHL
Not when it comes to attendance
https://www.statista.com/statistics/193749/regular-season-home-attendance-of-national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/
Only a Leaf fan would post these fairy tales.
Hope this place doesn’t run outta cheese and crackers with all the whining. Eww.
Blue Jackets are not very good and lucic is a bum.
That’s the reason they won
As of today, some 41 days into the season, the teams have played a range of a low of 15 games to a high of 19. And that will continue throughout the season – i.e. a difference of about 4 games, until about the last couple of weeks.
For that reason I have always felt the standings should be reflected on the basis of % of potential points – much like baseball.
Looking at it that way, this is how the overall standings would be:
Boston – 16gp .875
NYR – 15gp .833
Vegas – 19gp .737
L.A. – 16gp .719
Dal – 18gp .719
Van – 18gp .694
Col – 16gp .688
Fla – 17gp .677
Wash – 15gp .667
Wpg – 17gp .647
Tor – 17gp .647
Car – 17gp .588
Pha – 18gp .583
St.L – 17gp .559
Det – 17gp .559
T.B. – 18gp .556
Ott – 15gp .533
N.J. – 16gp .531
Ariz – 17gp .529
Pitt – 17gp .529
NYI – 17gp .500
Minn – 17gp .500
Ana – 18gp .500
Sea – 19gp .474
Buf – 18gp .472
Mtl – 18gp .471
Cgy – 17gp .441
Nash – 16gp .375
Edm – 16gp .344
Clb – 19gp .316
Chi – 16gp .313
S.J. – 17gp .206