NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 9, 2024
The Bruins shut out the Canucks in the battle of the league’s top teams, the Hurricanes’ Martin Necas nets a quick hat trick, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Two shorthanded first-period goals by Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen powered the Boston Bruins to a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in the battle of the league’s top-two teams. Linus Ullmark made 17 saves for the shutout while David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle each had two points for the 32-10-9 Bruins, who sit first in the Eastern Conference and sit second in the overall standings with 73 points. The Canucks (73 points) maintain first overall with two more victories (34-12-5) than the Bruins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet summed it up best following this game when he said the Bruins’ best players turned up to play while those on his club did not. Giving up two shorthanded goals in the first period put the Canucks on the back foot for the rest of the game.
Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas (NHL Images).
A natural hat trick by Martin Necas in the opening 16:51 carried the Carolina Hurricanes over the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. Teuvo Teravainen collected four assists for the Hurricanes (29-16-5) as they sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division with 63 points. Zach Parise scored his first goal of the season for the 32-16-4 Avalanche as they remain in second place in the Central Division with 68 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta with a lower-body injury while defenseman Brett Pesce missed this game due to illness. Meanwhile, Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was held scoreless and remains in second place in the NHL scoring race with 85 points.
Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny had a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist and a fight) in a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets, leaving the latter winless in five games (0-4-1). Samuel Ersson stopped 28 shots while Ryan Poehling had a goal and an assist for the 27-19-6 Flyers, who remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 60 points. Kyle Connor scored for the Jets (30-14-5) as they sit third in the Central Division with 65 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Less than a month ago, the Jets were jockeying for first place in the overall standings. There’s plenty of time for them to pull out of this current skid but this is reminiscent of last season when the Jets stumbled down the stretch following a strong first half of the season and barely made the playoffs.
The Florida Panthers doubled up the Washington Capitals 4-2 on third-period goals by Ryan Lomberg and Eetu Luostarinen. Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and two assists for the Panthers (32-15-4), who sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with 68 points. Alex Ovechkin netted his 11th goal of the season for the 22-20-7 Capitals, who are winless in their last six games (0-5-1).
New York Islanders forwards Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal each had a goal and an assist to thump the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2. Ilya Sorokin turned aside 18 shots for the 22-17-12 Islanders (56 points) as they sit two points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa Bay (27-20-5) as he holds a two-point lead over Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in the scoring race with 87 points. The Lightning hold the first Eastern wild-card spot with 59 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev could be out for the season after undergoing surgery on Thursday to repair a fractured tibia and fibula in his left leg suffered during Wednesday’s game against the New York Rangers.
A three-goal first period enabled the Vegas Golden Knights to hold off the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 3-2. Jonathan Marchessault and Nicolas Hague scored 58 seconds apart for the Golden Knights (31-15-6), who sit second in the Pacific Division with 68 points. Connor Ingram got the hook after giving up three goals on six shots for the 23-23-9 Coyotes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Coyotes forward Barrett Hayton returned to action after missing nearly three months with an upper-body injury.
The Calgary Flames kept their playoff hopes alive with a 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils. Jacob Markstrom kicked out 37 shots, Connor Zary and Andrew Mangiapane each had a goal and an assist and Andrei Kuzmenko tallied his second goal in as many games with the Flames (24-22-5) as they sit one point out of the final Western Conference wild-card berth with 53 points. Ondrej Palat tallied twice and Jesper Bratt had three assists for the 25-21-3 Devils (53 points) as they sit five points out of the final Eastern wild-card spot.
HEADLINES
STLTODAY.COM: Blues defenseman Justin Faulk and Scott Perunovich are listed as week-to-week with lower-body injuries.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars forward Mason Marchment was fined $5,000 by the NHL department of player safety for interference against Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe on Wednesday.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson is expected to miss Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs with a lower-body injury.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: San Jose Sharks winger Anthony Duclair recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new outdoor synthetic ice surface on the campus of Boyd H. Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida.
USA HOCKEY: Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin has been named the GM of Team USA for the NHL’s 2025 4 Nations Face-off tournament and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Former NHL defenseman Janne Niinimaa was recently found guilty by a Helsinki court of tax fraud for failing to report over 300,000 euros in earnings from the United States in 2020. It was determined that he still owes nearly 55,000 euros in income tax in his native Finland. Niinimaa, 48, received a four-month suspended sentence and must pay those back taxes as well as cover the court costs and pay a standard crime victim fee.
Watching last nights Boston – Vancouver game was interesting! As bad as Boston was against Calgary,the Canucks were that bad against Boston!17shots on net by Vancouver made it as close to a no show as possible!This comes after an all star break where teams should be well rested! If this is the top 2 teams point wise in the league I would say the NHL is wide open!
Just goes to show all teams can have an off night
I hated to see how bad the Canucks were, since my Red Wings get them next. I expect to see a very motivated
Vancouver team after last night’s debacle.i
A quick look tells me the last team that won both the President’s trophy and the Cup was Chicago in 2013.
That so, the NHL has always been wide open.
All star breaks are tough on teams, 1st to 3rd game back
We already seen two completely different Boston teams over the past two days both on TV….!
Williew, I guess I will take your view on “all star
breaks are tough on teams 1-3 rd game back” but regardless of that, I still see concerning things about the Avalanche: some shaky goaltending at times, poor decisions with the puck and being very lackadaisical 5×5 and especially on the power play. It baffles me how they still have difficulty playing some teams like Carolina despite knowing what they’re up against? Seattle, Carolina, Vegas, Winnepeg, etc do not give you the luxury of playing like you are in the all star game. Giving them easy lay up goals don’t help. Better correct it now or I don’t see the Avalanche doing anything special!
Hey Tommy,
Agrred on the Avas, with Pavel Francouz out for the season and the Ave’s have No Cap space❗️ They will need to figure out a back up goaltender as they cant keep playing Georgiev’ who has played 43 of 49 games this season so far….
he has looked tired before the ASB,
They have 8 roster UFA players and a back up to sign for next season with only $2.65M in Cap Space…..❗️😳
they will need to Move Out $4-6M in salarys out to fill there Roster for the 2024-2025 season
I think if Carolina can get a starting goaltender they could do some damage, they have $6.6M in Cap space for the trade deadline to add…..
Goaltending thats there weak spot….❓
Jets skid is reminiscent of last couple years as stated, however, this year’s team looks and sounds different. In the past there was a lethargy and indifference around the skid. this years team is battling back more with better puck battles and showing some pride. Interviews sound more engaged and upbeat, the players look like they like each other and are having fun.
Its no co-incidence that the skid started when Scheifele got injured, Connor is coming back from a longer term injury and Morrissey missed a couple games due to injury.
Look for the Jets to add a physical defenseman. I think they could use another winger that goes to the net but not too worried about that.
Danton Heinen just skating away from Quinn Hughes.. I didn’t see that coming.
The Canucks came out with the same game plan as the flames and quickly drew a penalty and Marchand scores the shorty. That pretty well erased the game plan.
One concerning trend that Boston will need to address is Marchand has a target on his back every game as of late. He can handle it but the bruins need to try an find away to eliminate some of it.
Ya, he can handle it Caper, until he gets hurt from it I suppose. Or he snaps, again, and gets suspended.
That being said it isn’t like it hasn’t been this way his entire career. And to be fair, he has earned some of it and plenty of players and teams looking for payback. He takes his liberties too, especially when the games get intense and physical. Which came first? I dunno.
Problem is, you can’t play a guy like Lucic on his line all the time, as the end result is you just nullify that line offensively. Not going to happen. If you throw him on their for a shift, what is that going to do? And if Lucic is sitting on the bench, nobody gives a crap and it won’t deter anything.
Marchand will keep going to the dirty areas where he takes his shots, and will give it out every chance he gets and keep talking sh*t with the best of them. It’s what he does, and part of why he is so valuable.
It’s also why he works out so hard, strong little fuq’er.
Heinen is definitely not known for his wheels. For a reason.
Ray, i don’t think a tough guy needs to play on the line to be a deterrent.
After a questionable hit, the coach just need to make sure there is a quick line change when said player is on the ice.
The message doesn’t always have to be immediate but there has to be a message.
The snap part is the bothersome part because he will be suspended; however if the opponent knows Marchy is about to snap, less likely to take liberties. Not that i encourage such behavior.
Ya Caper, there is truth in that. Probably works in some cases. But again, what would a guy like Lucic actually do? Chase the guy around and hope he fights him because he probably won’t.
Even if they do fight, with visors now, all you have to do when fighting a bigger guy is grab some jersey on the shoulder, get in tight, tuck in your chin, and aim for your hand holding the jersey. If you get tossed to the ground, stay hung on and in tight for a couple secs, the linesman break it up. You get punched in the visor or helmet 90% of the time unless the guy can get some uppercuts in. Pretty small target for that too and no leverage for power if in tight. It’s hard to hurt a guy wearing a visor in a scrap where you square up and go.
Not many guys like Wilson out there, who can fight anyone and play with good players and be a constant deterrent. I guess that is my main point.
It’s kinda the way it is these days, you need to be able to play. Right or wrong is debatable I guess.
Since most fans comment about refs only after making a bad call when it happens against your own team, I have to wonder what the league will do to the refs that told Keith the hit on McCabe was clean when it clearly wasn’t therefore the need for the $5000 fine. Shouldn’t the league do something with the refs, since they’re unaware what is a good hit as they told Keith it was a good clean hit?
Isn’t this a golden opportunity to educate refs so when games that do matter are played they don’t do these bonehead bad calls?
Referees get graded both in season, at the end of the season to determine which ones get to ref the playoffs, and during the playoffs to see who refs after each round.
In addition you might be surprised at the dialogue on the ice between the refs and players. Not talking about the heat of the moment complaining, but in a calmer fashion in between whistles.
True LJ, they do. I would also think they do reviews in season somewhat regularly, and would not be surprised if the Director of Officiating set up a call to review this with the official(s) in question. Specifically the one staring right at it with a clear/perfect view from the opposite corner in the zone.
Ron, I didn’t watch that game, but watched the video after seeing your post. I am assuming they did not review it in game? Because that would be even worse.
Run Janne, run.