NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 12, 2024

by | Jan 12, 2024 | News, NHL | 13 comments

The Jets, Oilers, Panthers, and Kraken extend their win streaks, the Hurricanes extend their points streak and the Sharks end their long losing skid. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

NHL.COM: Third-period goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers lifted the Winnipeg Jets over the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1, extending their points streak to 14 games while setting a franchise record with their eighth straight win. The Jets (28-9-4) remain in first place in the overall standings with 60 points. Connor Murphy scored for the 12-28-2 Blackhawks.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets center Mark Scheifele left this game in the second period with a lower-body injury. Earlier in the day, Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he’s opened contract extension talks with pending unrestricted free agents Dylan DeMelo and Brenden Dillon.

The Edmonton Oilers tied a franchise record with their ninth straight win by downing the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on an overtime goal by Darnell Nurse. Zach Hyman had a goal and an assist for the 22-15-1 Oilers as they moved into the first NHL wild-card berth with 45 points. Alex Lyon kicked out 44 shots for the Red Wings (20-16-5) as they sit two points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 45 points.

Florida Panthers winger Sam Reinhart (NHL Images).

An overtime power-play goal by Sam Reinhart gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, extending their win streak to nine games. Reinhart finished with two points while Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves for the 27-12-2 Panthers, who sit second in the Atlantic Division with 56 points. Cam Talbot stopped 37 shots for the 20-10-8 Kings as they’ve won just twice in their last 10 games and sit third in the Pacific Division with 48 points.

The Seattle Kraken extended their win streak to eight games and their points streak to 12 games by dropping the Washington Capitals 4-1. Joey Daccord turned aside 25 shots to extend his win streak to seven games and points streak to 11 games as the Kraken (18-14-9) sit just outside the final Western wild-card berth with 45 points. Max Pacioretty scored his first goal of the season for the Capitals (19-14-6) as they sit three points out of an Eastern wild-card spot with 44 points.

Carolina Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists in a 6-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The Hurricanes extended their points streak to seven games (23-13-5) and sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 51 points. John Gibson made 20 saves for the 14-26-1 Ducks before leaving this game following the second period with an upper-body injury.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gibson wasn’t the only goalie to leave this game early as the Hurricanes’ Pyotr Kochetkov departed midway through the second period with an undisclosed injury following a collision with Ducks forward Isac Lundestrom.

Earlier in the day, the Ducks announced forward Trevor Zegras was sidelined for six to eight weeks with a broken left ankle while defenseman Pavel Mintyukov would be out for six weeks with a separated shoulder. The pair suffered those injuries during Tuesday’s game against the Nashville Predators.

The San Jose Sharks ended a 12-game losing skid by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-2. Mackenzie Blackwood got the win with a 33-save performance for the 10-29-3 Sharks while Sam Montembeault stopped 32 shots for the 17-18-6 Canadiens.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The score flattered the Canadiens as the Sharks dominated them through most of this game.

Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson scored in overtime for a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pettersson had two goals and collected two assists while Brock Boeser tallied twice for the 28-11-3 Canucks (59 points) as they sit one point behind the league-leading Jets. Sidney Crosby scored two goals for the 20-15-5 Penguins (45 points), who are two points out of the final Eastern wild-card berth.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Penguins winger Reilly Smith left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury following a big hit by Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

Speaking of four-point performances, Mathew Barzal had a goal and three assists as the New York Islanders nipped the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Barzal netted the winning goal in overtime while Noah Dobson collected four assists for the 19-12-10 Islanders (48 points) as they sit third in the Metropolitan Division. Auston Matthews scored twice to extend his league lead in that category to 33 as his Maple Leafs (21-10-8) sit third in the Atlantic Division with 50 points.

A hat trick by Jordan Kyrou powered the St. Louis Blues to a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers. Jordan Binnington made 40 saves while Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists for the 21-18-1 Blues (43 points) as they sit two points out of the final Western wild-card berth. Mika Zibanejad was sidelined by illness as his Rangers (26-12-4) sit in first place in the Metropolitan Divison with 54 points.

Speaking of hat tricks, Yegor Sharangovich’s three goals lifted the Calgary Flames over the Arizona Coyotes 6-2. Blake Coleman had a goal and two assists while Jacob Markstrom stopped 32 shots for the 19-18-5 Flames (43 points) as they’re also two points out of the final Western wild-card spot. Clayton Keller netted his 15th goal of the season for the Coyotes as they slipped to 20-18-2 and sit three points out of the final Western wildcard spot.

An overtime goal by Alex Pietrangelo gave the Vegas Golden Knights a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist while Logan Thompson turned aside 32 shots for the 24-13-5 Golden Knights as they sit second in the Pacific Division with 53 points. Matt Grzelcyk scored for the 24-8-9 Bruins (57 points) who sit third in the overall standings but have lost three straight games.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Bruins announced defenseman Brandon Carlo (upper body) was placed on injured reserve while goalie Linus Ullmark and forward Matthew Poitras are listed as day-to-day.

The Tampa Bay Lightning blew a 3-1 lead but would defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 on an overtime goal by Darren Raddysh. Luke Glendening tallied twice and Nikita Kucherov collected two assists for his league-leading 69th point for the 21-17-5 Lightning as they hold the final Eastern wild-card spot with 47 points. Dawson Mercer, Jesper Bratt and Nathan Bastian scored for the Devils (21-15-3) as they sit behind the Lightning with 45 points.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury.

Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson scored two goals in a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators, handing the latter their fifth straight loss. Claude Giroux netted two goals for the Senators, who also lost goaltender Anton Forsberg in the first period to a groin injury. The Sabres improved to 18-20-4 while the Senators are 14-23-0 on the season.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Sabres announced winger Jeff Skinner is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.







13 Comments

  1. Could’ve added Canucks 4 game road win streak with Pettersson getting all 4 GWG’s.

    • An NHL record

  2. News Flash or maybe NOT… Bruins don’t win game in regulation they aren’t winning.

    • Thank god they no have 3 on 3 in playoffs 👍👍

      • For the cup half full take on that, they also don’t lose in regulation often, so at least getting a point.

        Knock on wood.

      • Don’t give the NHL any ideas

  3. “SPECTOR’S NOTE: The score flattered the Canadiens as the Sharks dominated them through most of this game.”

    An understatement if possible considering the Habs showed up for only 5 min.

  4. How are Kings fans enjoying PLD these days?

    • And how many Canes fanes are enjoying Kotkaniemi?

  5. If only the NYRs had a scoring right wing like Buchnevich, oh wait. I know he’s primarily playing the left side these days , but …

    I saw the best description of this years version of NY. “Fraudulent “

    They are nowhere near the team the standings are showing, and I think it’s only going to get worse in the coming weeks.

    They rely way too much on that power play, which is pretty lethal. But their 5on5 scoring is a huge concern. Goaltending, specifically Sheterkin is a concern. Fox seems like he is not the same player since coming off injury. Miller seems to have regressed. Beyond their top 5 , there isn’t much offensive contributions. They’ve tried about 10-12 different guys over the last couple of years on the Kreider / Zibanejad line. Nothing seems to click. Vatrano kinda fit, but nothing since.

    I’m not even sure what fixes what ails them at this point, but some sort of shakeup needs to happen.

    Starting with a RW and 3rd line center. It appears that Chytil is done for the foreseeable future, if not permanently.

    Kakko, even before injury looked awful this year.

    I don’t know the answer, but they need to figure it out with a quickness!

  6. I think the Sens are going for the draft pick this year or something…?

    Except with all the conditions after the Dorion trades I have no idea which picks still belong to Ottawa…

    • Re; the Sen’s

      Ottawa will keep both there 1st round pick this year
      There pick it looks like they will pick Top 5, 🤔
      and there are some Great players in the top 8-10 spots…

      they also have boston 1st pick top 10 protected, that one will land anywhere between 22nd and 32nd pick
      i think they will use that pick to move Joonas Korpisalo & a prospect in a trade for a vet player
      to add leadership some one like Ontario boy & former Blues Captain Ryan O’Reilly…. ❓ 
      from Clinton, Ontario,

      The botom 5 teams are and i dont think this will change much in the next 7-8 they are all prety weak and re-building

      32nd- SJ at 23 points. Games played 42
      31st- Hawks at 26 points Games played 42
      30th- Sen’s at 28 points Games played 37
      29th- Ducks at 29 points Games played 41
      28th- CBJ at 35 points Games played 42

      The Next 3
      27th, Wild 38 points
      26th, Sabers 40 points
      25th, Habs 40 points
      dont see these team finishing out of the botom 10 this season

  7. Festivus Friday!

    I get it, I keep waiting for my B’s to flounder too. Have to think more close ones start going the other way. Especially if the injury bug bites.

    Good news is they have banked enough points where a playoff spot only requires 500 pts percentage from here on in.

    Every team has issues in a cap world I guess.