NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 4, 2024
Nikita Kucherov sets a Lightning scoring record and regains the league scoring lead, the Stars set a franchise-record win streak, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov collected three assists to set a single-season franchise record with 130 points in a 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 shots for the 42-26-7 Lightning, who hold the first Eastern Conference wildcard berth with 91 points. Auston Matthews tallied his league-leading 63rd goal of the season for the Leafs (43-23-9) as they sit third in the Atlantic Division with 95 points.
Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Lightning have been hot recently, winning eight of their last 10 games. Kucherov holds a three-point lead over Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon in the race for the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s points leader.
TSN recently asked if Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe should let Matthews push for 70 goals or rest him for the playoffs. Given the Leafs’ postseason record, let Matthews go for 70. It could be the high point of their season. I’m kidding, of course…or am I?
The Dallas Stars collected their franchise-record eighth-straight win by blanking the Edmonton Oilers 5-0. Jake Oettinger kicked out 35 shots for his second straight shutout and Wyatt Johnston scored his 30th goal of the season as the Stars improved to 48-19-9 (105 points) to sit one point behind the league-leading New York Rangers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Johnston joined Brian Bellows as the second player in franchise history to have a 30-goal season before age 21. Teammate Jason Robertson reached the 50-assist plateau for the second straight season, becoming the sixth player in Stars history to achieve that feat.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid remains third in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 126 points.
Speaking of the Rangers, they blew a 2-0 lead but rallied for a 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils. Chris Kreider broke a 3-3 tie while Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere each had a goal and an assist for the 51-21-4 Rangers. Nico Hischier tallied his 25 goal of the season while Jesper Bratt had two assists to exceed 50 this season for the 36-36-4 Devils (76 points), who remain six points out of the final Eastern wildcard.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This game began with a line brawl resulting in eight ejections, six fights and 164 PIMs before the dust settled.
The Vancouver Canucks nipped the Arizona Coyotes 2-1. Conor Garland snapped a 1-1 tie late in the third period and Quinn Hughes had a goal and an assist as the Canucks (47-21-8) rose to fourth overall with 102 points. Dylan Guenther replied for the 31-39-5 Coyotes.
Los Angeles Kings wingers Trevor Moore tallied a hat trick in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Pierre-Luc Dubois collected three assists as the Kings improved to 39-25-11. They hold the final Western Conference wildcard spot and sit one point behind the Nashville Predators. The Kraken (31-31-13) were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
HEADLINES
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers head coach John Tortorella addressed his critics and those who doubt his club’s playoff chances during a press conference on Wednesday.
“It follows me around, and so be it. If a player is going to quit on me, or players are going to quit on me because I’m trying to make them better people and better athletes, you’ve got the wrong damn coach here, and you’ve got the wrong damn people here,” said Tortorella.
“My job is, I’m going to push athletes…I was in control the other night. What I said I meant. And, quite honestly, when I watch the tape now, I’m more concerned than just the second period.”
Tortorella expressed his pride in the underdog Flyers getting where they are this season.
“And I guess now that narrative out there is, because I’ve heard from other people, is that they’re young, they’re not supposed to be here…bull***! We’re here! We’re here; face it!”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I don’t doubt Tortorella’s proud of his club for exceeding expectations this season when no one considered the Flyers to be a playoff contender when this season began They’ve been in third place in the Metropolitan Division for over three months.
The Flyers have been struggling in recent weeks and are in danger of slipping out of a playoff berth as they try to hold off division rivals like the Washington Capitals, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. Tortorella could be trying to take some of the media heat off his players by putting it onto himself.
WINNIPEG SUN: Jets winger Nino Niederreiter has been sidelined for at least a week after suffering a skate cut during Monday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets. Head coach Rick Bowness said the injury would’ve been much worse if Niederreiter wasn’t wearing cut-resistant socks.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and is unavailable for Friday’s game against the New York Rangers.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner and his wife announced their son Dawson was stillborn on March 31. They appreciate everyone respects their privacy through this difficult time.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My sincere condolences to the Jenners.
I really want to know if the NJ,NYR game,could the fights have been predetermined in the locker room or do they just react spontaneously!
These staged fights are a disgrace!
As it looks today first round matchup
Bos vs TB
Flr vs Tor
Col vs Wpg
Edm vs LV
Some cup favorites won’t make it out of the first round.
Well if they weren’t matched up like that now, they would eventually be. Either face them now or face them later, you still need to beat them eventually.
I think the current playoff system has most of the excitement in the opening rounds and slows down in the latter rounds as teams you’d expect to see later have long gone weeks ago.
For tv ratings or overall interest throughout the long post season, I think changing the format might be a course of action the league might want to take…but on the other hand, this format insures a lesser team can go further in the post season lining small market team owners with cash they otherwise wouldn’t get.
Caper.. right on about Bruins so unless Leafs go on a losing streak it’s going to be B’s/TB and it could be a series and done for the Bruins ..like their chances of advancing against Toronto more .. formula for the SC playoffs .. hot goaltending.. team D .. strong on PP & PK
Ya Caper, should be must see TV. EDM vs Vegas seems like the toughest to call. Hertl is a full practice participant now, we don’t know about Stone yet. But add those 2 guys and look out. They actually look better, on paper, than the team that won it all last year.
I’m pretty confident on who I would take to win the other 3 if I was to bet, but can’t bet against my B’s, so maybe just the other 2 will get a wager.
I will take TB, FLA, COL – feel fairly confident in all of those, but hey, in RD 1 a tender can steal a series.
I live in EDM so biased. If Stone is back the bet is Vegas, if he isn’t take the Oil.
Colorado vs Winnepeg that would be some kind of series. The Jets would give the Avalanche all they can handle. I think the Avalanche would prevail in 6 or 7. TB FLA and Vegas would be my picks for the others. However, none of this really matters Caper because the playoffs don’t start today? But good for discussion, I guess?
I think Torts is wound a little too tight but he’s a great coach. You have to give him credit. I didn’t think the Flyers would make the playoffs but here they are. It seems like the other teams don’t want it. So, they might as well take it. Capitals, islanders and definitely not Pittsburgh to me don’t seem as good as the Flyers? Capitals, maybe if they take advantage of the games in hand and Flyers keep falling. Slight edge to Flyers IMO!
Yes Lyle I do think it would be great, though not expected, that Matthews pots 70 goals. Having an American superstar do that will be good for the league and help raise awareness about the league.
As for going far in the post season, well it is what it is and this will be their 8th year in a row they qualified for the post season since their tank season. A great feat on its own right and isn’t normally expected as we can all see teams who have tanked and still haven’t been able to come close to sniffing a playoff spot.
Same old maple laughs. Same group of 4 leaders, same results. Expect the same in the playoffs. This is on management.
It was on the previous management too. They just don’t get how good physical defensive positioning wins playoff series. Neither did Dubas. “we’ll score our way out of trouble”. Maybe in the regular season….70 goals and all. But in the playoffs other teams stop going for it. It becomes all about impeding player progress without it being called interference. Every face is 3-5 “pick plays” right out of basketball. Your top scorers have less time, less space, less chances. And if your defenders can’t adjust and play the same game, you’ll get steam rolled.
Tamp
Florida
Col
Edm
of the choices provided.
Lyle, I haven’t noticed any posts on the notable college free agent signings. Apologies, if I missed them.
The race to the playoffs has left little room for me to note college signings at this time of year. I usually try to do a round-up of the most noteworthy but it depends on how much NHL news there is.
Bruins…end of long tough road trip with a big game against Panthers on Saturday I expect the Bruins to have a very tough time tonight against the Canes