NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 19, 2024
The Oilers force Game 7 with the Canucks, Aleksander Barkov wins the Selke Trophy, and the Hurricanes re-sign coach Rod Brind’Amour. Get the details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAP
NHL.COM: There will be a seventh and deciding game in the second-round series between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks as the Oilers rolled to a 5-1 victory in Game 6.
Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and two assists, Connor McDavid had three assists and Leon Draisaitl had two assists for Edmonton. Dylan Holloway opened the scoring for the Oilers with a brilliant individual rush. Nils Hoglander replied for the Canucks.
Game 7 will be in Vancouver on Monday, May 20, at 9 pm EDT.
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was a dominating performance by the Oilers, who entered this game facing elimination. McDavid silenced his critics after being held to just one assist in the previous three games. So did Zach Hyman, scoring his first goal since Game 1 of this series.
The last game saw Vancouver shut down Edmonton’s scorers. This time, the Canucks struggled to generate offense, finishing with 15 shots on goal. The pressure has shifted to them as the Oilers will enter Game 7 riding the high of their convincing win in the previous game.
Stuart Skinner returned in goal for the Oilers and played well, helped by his teammates’ solid defensive play. Speaking of goaltenders, the Canucks confirmed that sidelined starter Thatcher Demko won’t be playing in Game 7. They’ll stick with Arturs Silovs, who has carried them since Game 4 of their first-round series with the Nashville Predators.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl became the third-fastest player in NHL history to reach 100 career playoff points, accomplishing the feat in 60 games. Wayne Gretzky was the fastest (46 games) followed by Mario Lemieux (50).
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as this season’s top defensive forward. Barkov previously won this award in 2020-21.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The voting wasn’t even close. Barkov got 165 of the 194 first-place votes.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: cited ESPN’s Kevin Weekes’ report that the Carolina Hurricanes signed head coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff to multi-year contract extensions.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was rumored earlier this month that the Hurricanes had pulled their offer, leading to Brind’Amour questioning his future in Carolina. All sides quickly denied it, insisting they were closing in on a deal.
The Hurricanes’ second-round elimination by the Rangers did nothing to affect those negotiations. If there are to be any changes during the offseason it will be to their roster.
NHL.COM: The Western Conference Final schedule was announced on Saturday. Game 1 will begin on Thursday, May 23, at 8:30 pm EDT.
DAILY FACEOFF: Buffalo Sabres defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Bowen Byram had early exits during preliminary round action on Saturday at the 2024 IIHF World Championships.
Playing for Sweden, Dahlin was ejected for a dangerous hit against Latvian defenseman Harald Egle. Byram, skating for Canada, was booted from his team’s game against Finland for slashing winger Jesse Puljujarvi.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan was named the head coach for Team USA at the 2025 Four Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
So now we’re headed for a thrilling (hopefully) 3rd 7-game series, with 4 series having gone 6, 4 taking 5 games and one 4-game sweep.
Edmonton or Vancouver can be proud of one thing,there is a Canadian team that will make it to the conference final! Problem is they face that hockey hotbed in Dallas who if Hintz is Ok is my pick for the Cup!
Yep. And if it’s Vancouver it will mark their 2nd Conference final series in the 31 years since a Canadian team last won the cup, and if it’d Edmonton it will be their 3rd Conference final in that 3 decade span. Each has been to one Cup final in 31 years.
I believe Vancouver made 2 cup finals. 94 with NY and the year Boston 2011
They made three. The first was against the Islanders in 1982.
I was looking at the years following the last cup in Canada – Montreal in 1993. But you’re right CaptainObvious – I overlooked the 1994 Cup final
Quite a dry spell for the land of hockey!
Oilers & Canucks game
if the Oilers play like they can ( last Nite)
They should beat the Canucks on Monday in Vancouver
Good to see Sam Carrick last night that what the Oil needed some toughness and hitting from him….đź‘Ť, Corry Perry was out of Gas he neeeds a few game off,
Would like to see Sam Gagner in for Connor Brown on mondays nights game
I bet an Oilers/Rangers SC final …
Wish the Bruins had $30 million to spend they are going to need it to build a SC playoff team vs a regular season team
NHL and NBA are 8 months long which is to long