NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 6, 2023
The Ducks upset the Golden Knights, the Devils defeated the Blackhawks, plus the latest on Jack Hughes, Igor Shesterkin, Mathew Barzal and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Anaheim Ducks tallied four unanswered third-period goals to upset the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2, ending the latter’s points streak at 12 games. Sam Carrick scored twice while John Gibson made 30 saves as the Ducks improved to 7-4-0. Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (11-1-1), who sit atop the Western Conference with 23 points.
Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Offseason acquisition Alex Killorn made his season debut with the Ducks but was held scoreless in this contest. He’d been sidelined with a fractured finger through their first 10 games of this season.
New Jersey Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek stopped 32 shots as his club doubled up the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2. Dawson Mercer scored his first goal of the season while Curtis Lazar netted what proved to be the game-winner for the 7-3-1 Devils. Taylor Hall and Ryan Donato replied for the Blackhawks (4-7-0), who got a 36-save effort from Arvid Soderblom.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was the Devils’ first game without leading scorer Jack Hughes. He is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered during Friday’s game against the St. Louis Blues.
HEADLINES
NEW YORK POST: Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is reportedly day-to-day with “minor soreness.” He could miss Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
DAILY FACEOFF: New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal was fined $5,000.00 for high-sticking Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo on Saturday.
CALGARY SUN: Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane received a one-game suspension for a “reckless cross-check” on Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann on Saturday.
THE ATHLETIC: The Toronto Maple Leafs recently held a team meeting to address what was considered their meek response to Timothy Liljegren suffering an ankle injury after being tripped by Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand on Thursday.
“I hated everything about it,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. He and general manager Brad Treliving addressed the players about the issue before their 6-4 loss on Saturday to the Buffalo Sabres.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Treliving added Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Ryan Reaves during the offseason in the hope they would bring more toughness and character to the Leafs lineup. So far, however, the results have been disappointing.
Bertuzzi and Domi are struggling to score and haven’t had much of a physical impact. Reaves, meanwhile, is a first-class chirper but he hasn’t backed up his words with actions. Indeed, he’s been a non-factor since getting roughed up by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj during the season-opener for both clubs last month.
THE SCORE: Kent Johnson is adjusting to his recent demotion from the Columbus Blue Jackets to their AHL affiliate in Cleveland. The fifth-overall pick in the 2021 draft, Johnson had three points in eight games to start the season with the Jackets before his demotion.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Johnson is taking his situation in stride and understands that he remains part of the Jackets’ plans. Nevertheless, his demotion and his recent change of agents sparked some speculation about his future. I’ll have more about that in today’s Rumor Mill.
SPORTSNET: A former Chicago Blackhawks player is suing the club alleging former video coach Bradley Aldrich “groomed, harassed, threatened and assaulted him” and the club hushed up his complaint during their 2010 Stanley Cup run.
The player is listed as “John Doe” and was a teammate of Kyle Beach. Both were call-ups from the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate in Rockford who practiced with the team during their Stanley Cup run in case someone got injured.
A review from an outside law firm hired by the Blackhawks in response to two lawsuits in 2021 found the club mishandled Beach’s allegations that he was assaulted by Aldrich. The club reached a confidential settlement with Beach.
General manager Stan Bowman and former coach Joel Quenneville resigned following the release of the report. Quenneville was the head coach of the Florida Panthers at the time.
With the Hawks “sex” scandal back in the news, Coach Q probably will not be considered to coach the Oil and definitely not the Sens with all their recent “stuff”.
As George posted yesterday, Q is done as an NHL coach.
An article on The Hockey Writers website about Johnson’s demotion states that he understands why he was demoted and is actually having fun playing with the Monsters. He’s simply not progressing as expected and needs a little time in a lower pressure situation to get back on track.
When the last time a player from Canada was not in the top 10 scoring in the NHL.
Braden Point is the top Canadian scorer listed at 14th spot.
The next Canadian player is Mitch Marner
Ryan Reaves said Marchand was lucky that He wasn’t on the ice with him and that he didn’t get a shift against Marchand.
In fact there is a video of Reaves on the ice against Marchand not once but choice after the incident.
No Marchand wants no part of Reaves, simply could be these players seen the play as a hockey play but the Toronto media and all the talking heads out of Toronto said something else and wanted actions.
Or could be coaching, Reaves likes the physical play and Domi is very good at being a dirty player but they choice no actions
Watching Bertuzzi actions and where he was sitting i think he was wishing he was still playing in Boston.
Caper, at a cap hit of $1,350,000 per for 2 more seasons after this, and turning 39 in the midst of his last season, Reaves is a complete waste of a roster spot for a team searching around for every nickel of space.
Reeves 6’2”… 230 .. Marchand 5’9” 180 ….come on tough guy find someone your own size
Exactly!
If Reaves starts beating up on Marchand it wouldn’t be long before Lucic is taking liberties with Marner.
Tough guys should fight tough guys not little guys.
It is team toughness that is lacking not Reaves toughness.
Of far greater concern should be Bertuzzi sitting on the bench laughing after the incident.