NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 16, 2024

by | Jun 16, 2024 | News, NHL | 15 comments

The Oilers stave off elimination in the Stanley Cup Final with a lopsided win over the Panthers. Details and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAP

NHL.COM: The Edmonton Oilers avoided elimination from the Stanley Cup Final by trouncing the Florida Panthers 8-1 in Game 4.

Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists, Dylan Holloway scored twice and collected an assist, Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman each had two assists, and Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist. Stuart Skinner made 32 saves for the win.

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).

McDavid has 32 assists in this postseason, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 31 in a playoff year.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored Florida’s only goal. Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots and was replaced by Anthony Stolarz in the second period.

The series returns to Florida for Game 5 on Tuesday, June 18 at 8 pm EDT.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers dominated this game from start to finish. Their biggest stars – McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hyman – finally came through. So did their special teams, finally tallying a power-play goal and picking up a shorthanded goal while killing off four penalties. They also continued to get production from their role players. 

The Oilers also caught a break early in the game when defenseman Darnell Nurse was only assessed a minor penalty for a knee-on-knee hit on Florida forward Sam Bennett. The Panthers struck the post twice on the ensuing power play before Janmark’s shorthanded goal opened the scoring. Adam Henrique scored to give the Oilers their first two-goal lead of the series.

Florida momentarily quieted the fans at Rogers Place when Tarasenko cut the lead to 2-1. Holloway restored the two-goal lead minutes later and the Oilers never looked back. They blew it open in the second on goals by McDavid, Nurse and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

The reaction by Oilers fans on social media was a mixture of joy, relief, and incredulity. Many wondered where that offensive effort was earlier in the series.

Desperation to avoid elimination was likely a factor for the Oilers. So was the determination not to be swept on home ice. This was also a total team effort on their part. They were better defensively and won the puck battles at both ends of the ice. The biggest factor was lighting up Bobrovsky after he stoned them in the first three games.

Meanwhile, the Panthers lacked the energy from their last two games. Bobrovsky had a rough night but so did his teammates. The solid defensive effort they’d used to nullify the Oilers’ offense in Games 2 and 3 was nowhere to be found in this game.

The Panthers return home still holding a commanding 3-1 lead in this series and can wrap this up in Game 5. We can expect a more determined effort from them in front of their fans in that contest. However, the Oilers served notice that they’re not going quietly. If the Panthers aren’t careful, they could find themselves heading back to Edmonton for another game on Friday.

IN OTHER NEWS…

TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs announced assistant coach Guy Boucher will not return for next season. He was brought in last year to run the Leafs power play. It was assumed his position wasn’t secure after the club struggled with the man advantage in their first-round series against the Boston Bruins.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: Radim Simek is returning to Czechia as he signed a three-year contract with Liberec of the Czech Extraliga. He spent five seasons with the San Jose Sharks from 2018-19 to 2022-23. He was traded to the Detroit Red Wings this season but spent the entire season in the AHL.

OTTAWA SUN: The Senators announced David Bell, the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Belleville, has signed a two-year contract extension.







15 Comments

  1. Strange twist of events in the latest NBA and NHL games! Both teams Celtics and Panthers got blown out going for the sweep! Could this be a plan to clinch at home and get their owners one more huge payday in parking,ticket sales ,concessions and other royalties?

    • You mean a conscious total team effort, from the goalies out, to give a lousy team effort to please a deafening crowd at home and put extra $$$ in the pocket of the team owner? Talk about a conspiracy!

      • Ya, doubt that highly, as well George. Desperation combined with a let down in intensity. Happens more often than it doesn’t when at 3-0.

        Oil dominated chances in first 2 periods, just like games 1 & 3, except they found the net this time.

        Stretch passes, win the one on one battle up ice, hit the boys flying down the ice for rush chances, they tried it more and it worked on 3 goals in first 2 periods. Even Bob can’t stop all of those. Will it slow Florida’s forecheck? Doubt it, they will stick with the plan.

        Holloway is growing as a player, they have something there. Brown’s speed is back in these playoffs, took him some time to recover I guess. Janmark the swiss army knife, all these guys contributed.

        Nurse was the Oil’s best D-man last night, come on haters, how about a stick tap.

        Expected goals for % for the 2 teams now close to the result, and the Oil’s 4% shooting couldn’t continue. Unfortunately 8 came in one game vs spread through 4 of them.

        At least the seed of doubt is planted after getting lit up. Win the next one mentality, see what happens.

      • Like I posted yesterday, Ray, the Oilers would win last night, and if they can pull off a win in Sunrise in game 5, batten down the hatches!

  2. Bennett was so hurt by Nurses hit, he could barely get off the ice, Ref didn’t buy it this time. Came right back with no sign of any injury, because there wasn’t one.

    Cheater.

    • Was still a careless dirty play by Nurse.

      • I don’t think it was at all potlicker. Penalty, ya, kind of like an accidental high stick IMO.

        He never stuck his leg out, never tried to knee him. Like all of these knee on knee hits so far in this series, the player tried to get out of the way of the hit, and knees collided, because of that.

        The most egregious knee in this series, where a player did stick out his knee, was Bennett on Bouchard, game 1. But still a reaction play IMO, and not a major or intent to injure. And Bouchard didn’t pretend to be injured.

  3. Happy Father’s Day. One thing my dad taught me is that teams will throw playoff games to ensure extra money from an extra game. Looks like this is still true.

    • Yes, Happy Fathers Day to all of the Dads on this site. And to all of the wonderful Dads in our lives.
      Brock, my father always told me that as well. Cynicism and conspiracies have been around as long as trees and lakes.

  4. Bennet’s action of crawling on the ice like he’s mortally injured while looking at the ref for an reaction, seeing no reaction, jumps up and skates of is an absolute embarrassment to himself and the nhl. What an unprofessional piece of cr..p. League needs to address the massive embellishment Florida and others excels at.
    Bennett, the turtle punching the best nhl player repeatedly in the face should have been intent to injure penalties followed up by suspensions. Again nothing but player/league embarrassment.

    Hey 8787 how’s that fat lady singing going. Speaking of embarrassment statements.

    • She just got goosed!

    • Fat Lady singing in triple base voice now

      Never claimed it would be over in 4

      Posted and was hoping for at least another game

      Fat Lady singing reference was to series overall, not when it would happen

      Would love 2 more wins (at least ) by Oilers as that gives us all here a game 7.

      Game 7 in a Stanley Cup final is great to see

      Even better, Game 7 OT

      A loss by Oilers last night would have meant a very boring Stanley Cup final

      Still a huge uphill battle; but if they play like last night, on Tuesday; then a win is reasonable to expect. They get back to Edmonton for game 6…. That would be hard to expect an oiler loss

      The weirdest thing is that this series should be tied. Oiler absolutely deserved game 1

      Had the series been tied after last night ; and with the dominance Oilers had last night…. The remaining (then) best 2 out of 3 just may have had odds makers favouring Oilers

      Just give me a game 7 and I’ll be happy

  5. I started this series cheering for Florida.

    Changed in game 3, all the diving and pretend injuries trying to draw more.

    Now Oiler fans saying crazy crab sounding like they’re up 3-1 not down. All for optimism, but rarely does a game like last night carry over to the next game.

    I would mind seeing some one do a beat down on Tkachuk and Bennet.

  6. Soon we’ll be soccer players to stop flopping like hockey players.

  7. Was at a wedding yesterday, got game updates at the wedding…
    my hope was we would Win as it was about time the Big guns started firing …. and they did

    But @ 8-1 that was Crazy Score… ❗️
    We need to get Shania Twain back for the next Game!
    Oilers attack was different after watching the highlights today….

    Stu Skinner played Great, So did Young Hollywood,
    and Young Broberg Skated real well, he will make the Team next season….👍

    Looking forward to Tuesday nights game in Florida