NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 29, 2024

by | Sep 29, 2024 | News, NHL | 12 comments

Recapping Saturday’s preseason action, Patrik Laine suffers a knee injury, Jonathan Marchessault and Sean Monahan made impressive debuts with their new teams, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

RECAPS OF SATURDAY’S NHL PRESEASON GAMES

NHL.COM: The Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens was overshadowed by what appears to be a serious knee injury suffered by Canadiens winger Patrik Laine following a knee-on-knee hit by Leafs forward Cedric Pare early in the first period. Nick Robertson scored both goals for the Leafs while Kirby Dach replied for the Canadiens.

Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Laine had to be helped off the ice and reportedly left the arena on crutches wearing a knee brace following the game. There was no update on his condition but it’s obvious that the injury is serious.

Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj retaliated against Pare by pummelling the Leafs forward, earning 17 minutes in penalties including a game misconduct.

Laine wasn’t the only Hab to depart with a leg injury. Rookie defenseman David Reinbacher left in the game’s opening seconds after falling awkwardly on his left leg following a check by Leafs forward Marshall Rifai. There was no update regarding his injury after the game as he’ll be re-evaluated on Sunday.

Philadelphia Flyers rookie winger Matvei Michkov scored twice, including the winner in overtime, to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2. Joonas Korpisalo made 37 saves for the Bruins.

The Edmonton Oilers nipped the Seattle Kraken 5-4 with Raphael Lavoie scoring the game-winner late in the third period. Mattias Ekholm scored a goal and collected two assists for the Oilers.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard left this game following a first-period goal-mouth collision with teammate Noah Philp. Following the game, Oilers coach Kris Knoblach said he’d know more about Pickard’s status on Sunday.

Nashville Predators winger Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and two assists in a 6-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Juuse Saros made 23 saves for the shutout. This was Marchessault’s first game with the Predators since joining them on July 1 as a free agent.

The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Buffalo Sabres 6-3 with Sean Monahan scoring two goals. Elvis Merzlikins got the win with a 28-save performance. This was Monahan’s debut with the Blue Jackets, having signed a five-year deal with them in July.

St. Louis Blues winger Dylan Holloway’s second goal of the game was an overtime winner in a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, who had a 2-0 lead at one point in this contest.

The Calgary Flames doubled up the Vancouver Canucks 4-2. Ryan Lomberg and Brayden Pachal each had a goal and an assist for the Flames.

Florida Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist was the overtime hero in a 5-4 comeback victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Panthers scored the final four goals of this game after the Hurricanes went up 4-1 early in the second period.

The Los Angeles Kings downed the Anaheim Ducks 3-2. Alex Laferriere scored twice and Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Lukas Dostal turned aside 30 shots for the Ducks.

IN OTHER NEWS…

PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings game scheduled for Saturday was postponed and rescheduled for Monday in Detroit. Mechanical issues prevented their plan from flying to Detroit on Saturday afternoon.

YARDBARKER: Former NHL center Evgeny Kuznetsov suffered an undisclosed injury during a recent game. It’s expected he’ll be sidelined for at least two months.

TAMPA BAY TIMES: Lightning owner Jeff Vinik announced the Lightning Foundation will donate $2 million toward relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Helene in Florida.







12 Comments

  1. Does it make sense to have your best players injured on hits by no name players trying desperately to make impression on management? The latest incident on Laine and Domi s cross check on Hutson should make the NHL look at their preseason plans!

    • Sr

      I don’t think the knee on knee was intentional at all. Unfortunately it happens

      • The Laine injury was very unfortunate especially considering that it’s still preseason, but it was not a penalty. Pare’s leg was stationary and Laine was trying to make way between two players. Pare just held his position as he has right to do. What followed with Arber is what is wrong with hockey in my opinion. It’s the code and lunatics like the Xhekajs that are the problem.

      • Point being if it happens in a regular season game,so be it! But in a meaningless preseason game,No!

    • It’s a contact sport and, unfortunately, sometimes that contact results in injury. While part of me would like to engage in a bit of schadenfreude concerning Laine, the rest of me is honestly sorry this happened.

  2. Bad luck or not, it’s crazy how many injuries Laine experiences. I’m guessing he won’t make his regular season Habs debut in 2024.

    • Yeah, that was an unfortunate turn of events. Historically they’re probably looking at 6-8 weeks.

      I just had this feeling that Laine was going to enjoy a banner year with the Habs. That has to be a real downer for the young players who were no doubt looking forward to having him bolster their top lines and the pp, not to mention the rabid, loyal fans.

      I wonder if, with both Price’s $10.5 mil and Laine’s $8.7 mil going on LTIR, in addition to covering the current $2,002,084 over the cap situation, the $19 mil total might be used to get involved in any cap-clearing deals that may crop up between now and the season-openers?

      Habfan30? What’s your take on that?

      • Dr. Harjas Grewal
        @Harjas_Grewal
        ·
        Follow
        Concerns for Laine are as follows

        Torn ACL (season over)
        Torn MCL (depends on grade)
        Torn meniscus (4-6 weeks if trimmed, 4+ months if repaired)
        Bone bruise (week-to-week)

        Can be just 1, multiple or all of the above injuries

        Exam is helpful but MRI tomorrow will clarify

        Hypothetically if Laine is out for the season, I don’t think he’ll be replaced by another high cost player.

        I think they will go with the youth, working in Kapanen, Roy, Heineman
        They don’t need to make the playoffs this year, just continued improvement and development.

        My expectations were low for Laine, I said the trade at best is Laine hitting form and at worst we got another 2nd round pick

        Xhekaj got a fine $3385.42 for as they say in French, son correction à Paré.

  3. i
    t was a knee on knee hit, Pares leg was out and should have been called, intentional or not is debatable but irrelevant. Had a penalty been called there wouldn’t have been “retribution”

    Turned out Habs played 3 men short with 4 D most of the game.

    • Both referees said they saw what happened and neither of them agree with you. Pare didn`t stick his leg out, Laine tried to push past him and Pare started to turn to go with him, exactly what the guys expected to do. On Thursday Tavares took a knee and Minten took a crosscheck that sent him into the boards. Tavares got lucky just a sore knee they`re saying, while Minten suffered a high ankle sprain and could miss a good chunk of time. No penalties were issued and Berube didn`t send the goon out to get revenge. Strange you didn`t whine about those hits. I truely hope Laine`s injury isn`t as bad as it looked and he`s back on his skates quick and goes on to have a good season

  4. The Laine hit was unfortunate but not deliberate. I listened to the postgame interview and Pare seemed sincere. The only way he would have escaped a whooping is if he was thrown out of the game. 2 or 5 minutes wouldn’t have spared him. As a Habs fan what concerns me is we had a relatively stacked lineup and still lost. We took an unknown goalie and made him look like a star. I hope that Laine’s injury doesn’t cause him to miss the entire season but if Saturday night is a sign of things to come, it’s going to be another top 5 pick… which is not necessarily a bad thing.

    • I agree with you Habsman but as habsfan has correctly pointed out it is a process, as well as preseason where stars look bad and no-name AHLers look great. The Habs didn’t look great (preseason hockey) but they didn’t look like they took any steps back which during early stages is important.
      The way I see it, teams like the Sens, Habs, as well as the Leafs are still in the process of figuring things out and each one is really on different stages and all of these teams look like if they do figure things out, they will be scary teams. The Habs have a long way to go and the Leafs have less.

      It’s really not the norm that a team as hopeless as the Leafs finishing last in one year to never missing a playoff in 7 years right after hitting rock bottom. If anything, we can see that not all progress is liner, though it can be, but not a norm. The other thing we can see it nothing in hockey is easy, absolutely nothing…part of what makes the game the best there is.