NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 11, 2024
The Islanders move back into a playoff berth, the Oilers’ Connor McDavid continues to gain ground in the scoring race, and Flyers coach John Tortorella was fined and suspended. Check out the details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: For the first time since Jan. 13, the New York Islanders hold a playoff berth following a 6-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Kyle Palmieri tallied his 20th goal of the season while Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson each had a goal and an assist for the 29-20-14 Islanders, who picked up their sixth straight win and hold the final Eastern Conference wildcard berth with 72 points. Alex Killorn scored for the 23-38-3 Ducks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That six-game streak enabled the Islanders to overtake the slumping Detroit Red Wings, who’ve dropped five straight games. Both clubs have the same points but the Isles hold that wildcard spot with one game in hand.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists as his club blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0. Calvin Pickard turned in a 41-save shutout and Darnell Nurse tallied twice for the Oilers (39-21-3) as they hold second place in the Pacific Division with 81 points. Tristan Jarry stopped 38 shots for the fading Penguins (28-27-8) as they’ve lost three games in a row and six of their last seven.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid is gaining ground in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. With 103 points, he’s just four behind Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov and eight back of the current leader, Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon.
An overtime goal by Matt Boldy lifted the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Boldy also collected two assists while Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and an assist for the 31-27-7 Wild, who sit six points out of the final Western Conference wildcard spot. Ryan O’Reilly tallied his 24th goal of the season for the 37-25-4 Predators as they hold the first wildcard berth with 78 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild head coach John Hynes made a bold move in overtime by pulling goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to create a 4-on-3 advantage, setting the stage for Boldy’s game-winner. Had the move backfired and the Predators scored into the empty net, the Wild would’ve forfeited the extra point received after regulation.
The Carolina Hurricanes gained ground on the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers by crushing the Calgary Flames 7-2. Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and two assists for the 39-19-6 Hurricanes (84 points) as they moved within two points of the Rangers. Yegor Sharangovich scored his 27th goal of the season for the 31-28-5 Flames.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Colin Blackwell tallied a hat trick in a 7-4 romp over the Arizona Coyotes. Rookie star Connor Bedard scored twice and collected an assist while Seth Jones had four assists for the 17-43-5 Blackhawks. Clayton Keller netted two goals and Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists for the 26-34-5 Coyotes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bedard leads all rookie scorers with 19 goals and 46 points. He’s also the Blackhawks leading scorer despite missing 14 games with a fractured jaw. With 17 games remaining in the Blackhawks’ season, he’s within range of 25 goals and 55 points.
HEADLINES
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: The NHL fined Flyers head coach John Tortorella $50K and suspended him for two games for unprofessional conduct toward officials after refusing to leave the bench after being assessed a game misconduct. The incident occurred on Saturday during the first period of the Flyers’ 7-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Tortorella won’t have to worry about the fine. Flyers CEO Dan Hilferty said he would cover that hit to his coach’s wallet.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor’s season is over. He’ll be undergoing hip surgery and won’t return regardless of how far the Avalanche advance in the playoffs.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: An update regarding the status of Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen could be made on Monday. He left Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights with an undisclosed injury.
TSN: The New York Rangers signed goaltender Louis Domingue to a one-year contract extension. Cap Friendly indicates the salary cap hit is $775K.
ARIZONA SPORTS: Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther and his roommate and teammate Jack McBain recently had their water shut off when they failed to pay their utility bill.
Guenther explained they thought the water and electric bills were a “two-in-one” when they were separate. “I think we’re kind of the laughingstock of the team as far as our living situation goes,” joked Guenther. He said they’ve paid what they owed and the water was turned back on.
The Wings without Larkin are like a rudder-less ship.
The Dylan Guenther / Jack Mcbain story is absolutely hysterical.
This reminds me of both my sons when they went off to college. My youngest to this day still shocks me at least once a month.
The latest, he doesn’t use his car daily because it’s just easier to walk to wherever he needs to go, campus, fraternity house, friends etc.
I told him, “ you need to run your car at LEAST once or twice a week. “
He called me because his car wouldn’t start, he has roadside assistance on his car, sent them out to jumpstart it. Asked “are you running your car?”
Replies “yep”
Two weeks later same thing. The car is less than a year old????
I went down myself, this time, now it needed a new battery.
“Are you running this car like I asked?””
“Yep”
Me: “you sure”
Him: “yep, I get it in start it and turn it off”
Me: “you don’t let it run or drive it for a bit”
Him: “oh I have to drive it or let it run, I just turn it on and off”
🤷♂️ 🤦🤷♂️🤦🤷♂️🤦
CO,
Thats a Great Story…. i have been there and done that with both our girl’s when they were younger….
Last year i got a call from my oldest who is 32 and married 3 years,
Dad i got a flat tire , Im on the highway & its 5km from her home, we are about 20km away…
I said did you call_____ your husband….. eh No…❗️ My wife and i still get calls😂
Lmao. I’m glad to hear I’m not alone. The struggle is real!
I thought ownership couldn’t pay fines of their GM or coach or players?
Kinda defeats purpose of fines if a rich owner pays them for you. No penalty to Torts at all really. Does that not encourage repeat behaviour? Torts back to the Torts of old????
Penguins reeling and in free-fall now.
Google “PK Subban rips Kyle Dubas” and see his rant.
Agree wholeheartedly with PK on this.
Many reporters posting that Crosby continues publicly to state that he wishes to end his career here but they (reporters) would not blame him nor would be surprised, if he moved on.
This (Dubas acquisitions, moved and non-moves) is truly tragic and abhorrent behaviour.
Hextall did bad moves but Dubas was brought in to at least start the repairs towards a complete fix.
Instead , he’s grossly made things worse culminating in a trade of the top player on the trade bait board for a return that fell way way below what he should have gotten.
Why?
Because he made it imperative that he had as the key piece coming back, a familiar face (from Leafs) that is already experiencing multi-year decline in play. He did the same with Accairi (3 years of successive decline is rewarded by 60% raise AND term, because Dubas was familiar with him).
My gut feeling as at now is that Crosby might want to move to Denver to play with MacKinnon.
Very sad
Tell Sid he can play with his pal Marchand and hang around with someone his age!
Even the most diehard pg Penguins fans need only look at their record over the past 10 games when. those teams with realistic hope of a playoff spot were upping their efforts (such as the Islanders), they were going 4-6 while being outscored 40 to 25.
They’ve been in free-fall for some time.
But take heart, Pens fans, a glimmer will come when you play Ottawa next.
Colorado has 65 games played and Edmonton 63; McDavid with two games to get some points.
In their last 5 games McDavid got 8pts and McKinnon 13pts.
Should be an interesting battle to the end; hopefully both players stay healthy.
RE; The Pen’s
I feel Sorry for Sid, losing his wing man he has played with for 6+seasons, he has 1 more season at $8.7M then he is a UFA, I think he go’s west to Denver or Edmonton to win one more cup
The Pen’s have $12.3M in Cap space next year and Nothing as far as prospects that are going to make a difference to the team going forward
they have 4 RFA to re-sign and back up goaltender
Alex Nedeljkovic to re sign….. thats going to eat up $5.5 to $6M….
Sid will come to Detroit to play with Patty Kane! 😁
Norris out for the rest of the season with yet another shoulder surgery . File that under “what else is new/”