NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 27, 2023
Oilers captain Connor McDavid enjoyed a second straight four-assist game, David Perron and Shayne Gostisbehere had a big game for the Red Wings while the Predators are rising in the standings. Get the details and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists in an 8-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks. It’s the second straight game that McDavid has collected four assists. Zach Hyman scored twice and set up another while Darnell Nurse had three helpers for the 7-12-1 Oilers. Max Jones scored both goals for the Ducks as they dropped to 9-12-0.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid is the fourth player in Oilers history to have four-point performances in consecutive games, joining Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Paul Coffey. He also joins Gretzky and Kurri as the third Oiler to have consecutive four-assist games. McDavid is the fifth active NHL player with at least six career contests of four or more assists, joining Nicklas Backstrom (12), Leon Draisaitl (nine), Sidney Crosby (eight) and Blake Wheeler (six).
The Detroit Red Wings dropped the Minnesota Wild 4-1, handing the latter their seventh straight defeat. David Perron scored twice (including his 300th career goal) while Shayne Gostisbehere had a goal and three assists for the 11-6-3 Red Wings, who picked up their third straight victory. Joel Eriksson Ek replied for the 5-10-4 Wild.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild forward Pat Maroon wasn’t pleased with his club’s performance. “F**king unacceptable…Guys should be pissed off,” said Maroon. Head coach Dean Evason claimed some players were “not pulling their weight.”
Meanwhile, Wild forward Ryan Hartman faces a hearing with the NHL department of player safety for slew-footing Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat, who avoided injury from the incident.
Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi had a goal and two assists as his club held off the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 3-2. Juuse Saros made 32 saves as the Predators rose to 10-10-0, putting them just one point out of the final Western Conference wild-card spot. Josh Morrissey and Cole Perfetti scored in the third period for the 12-6-2 Jets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: On November 14, the Predators were 5-10-0 coming off four straight losses that put them near the bottom of the Western Conference. They’ve since won five consecutive games including victories against good clubs like the Jets and Colorado Avalanche.
Speaking of the Predators, defenseman Luke Schenn returned to action from a lower-body injury that had sidelined him since opening night.
The St. Louis Blues doubled up the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists while Jake Neighbours tallied twice for the Blues as they improved their record to 11-8-1. Ryan Donato had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks as they slipped to 6-13-0.
Three unanswered goals by Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brady Skjei and Andrei Svechnikov gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Svechnikov’s game-winner was also his first goal of the season while Seth Jarvis collected two assists as the Hurricanes improved to 12-8-0. Elvis Merzlikins made 40 saves and Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist for the Blues Jackets (6-12-4), who sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with 16 points.
TSN: The New Jersey Islanders traded minor-league forward Arnaud Durandeau to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for minor-league forward Tyce Thompson.
Detroit was lucky on 2 counts yesterday:
One, they were lucky that DeBrincat wasn’t injured by Hartman’s classless slew-foot, which happened close to the boards.
Two, they were lucky to win the game. The Wild were the better team for the 2nd and 3rd periods, and only a solid game by Lyon plus some breaks put up a “W” for the Wings.
Seth Jarvis has been Carolina’s most consistent forward all year. He leads the team with 17 points and plays a solid 200ft game. He has also been Carolina’s best player in the last two playoffs. He is still only 21 years old and has a cap hit of 894K. Carolina needs to lock him up long term while he is still affordable.
Jarvis is a beauty.
A really high IQ coupled with a big motor means a really exciting player.
Didn’t want it to but it did show up ..The Bruins D isn’t really that good … problems getting the puck out of their Dzone forwards aren’t helping either this is where they miss #37….they lack overall team toughness & that legit 1st line center…. to many moving pieces going in and out of the lineup ..
No time to panic they are fine doing better then 99% of people thought they would be doing Only matters in playoffs rest is just 82 game practice
Count me in the 99% MB4, so thrilled with where they are in the standings. I had them as a playoff bubble team, so having these points in the bank is a huge plus.
As the sample size gets bigger, we are seeing what they are, and what many of us thought they were: top shelf tending, very good D core, lack of depth and scoring up front. Good special teams.
At 5 on 5, the B’s don’t have the puck as much as their opponents. They give up more chances than they generate. They just get more saves than the team they are playing against, so far.
Joe, I don’t think it’s the D core, but team defense isn’t as good as last year by a little bit, which was expected when you lose a guy like Bergy and guys like Coyle and Zacha get different roles and focus more on scoring as well. The B’s simply spend more time defending vs attacking now. Not by a huge amount, but they do.
We need our tenders to be consistently better than the other team, or we will lose more than we win. So far, so good.
Looks like a season of let’s see how far the Bruins can go with what they have … if they make the playoffs OK if they get into the 2nd rd of the playoffs better …Next offseason with trades and cash in hand they could trade for and sign difference makers ..
Joe
That should be their plan