NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 13, 2024

by | Oct 13, 2024 | News, NHL | 15 comments

The Flames pay an emotional pregame tribute to Johnny Gaudreau, Evgeni Malkin reaches another milestone, the Avs and Oilers continue to struggle, Utah HC wins again, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

NHL.COM: The Calgary Flames held an emotional pregame ceremony to honor the late Johnny Gaudreau before skating to a 6-3 home-opening win against the Philadelphia Flyers. Jonathan Huberdeau led the way with two goals and two assists. Nazem Kadri tallied twice and Dustin Wolf got the win with a 37-save performance. Travis Konecny had two goals for the Flyers.

Calgary Flames honor Johnny Gaudreau (NHL.com).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gaudreau spent nine of his 11 NHL seasons with the Flames before signing with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022. A drunk driver killed him and his brother Matthew in August.

During the ceremony, Gaudreau’s family shared a heartfelt message to the Flames and the city of Calgary, expressing their “deepest gratitude” to the team and the city for their support.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander scored two goals in a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mitch Marner had a goal and an assist for the Leafs. Penguins center Evgeni Malkin collected two assists to reach his 1,300th career NHL point.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Leafs center John Tavares missed this game due to illness. Penguins winger Bryan Rust made his season debut after missing his club’s first two games with a lower-body injury.

The Columbus Blue Jackets upset the Colorado Avalanche 6-4. Sean Monahan, Kirill Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov each had a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets. Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev was pulled for the second straight game after giving up three goals on nine shots. His replacement, Justus Annunen, fared little better, allowing two goals on 13 shots.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar defended Georgiev following this game, expressing “full faith” that he’ll bounce back. The 28-year-old netminder has shown he can rebound from some bad performances but his erratic play since last season is becoming a cause for concern among Avalanche followers.

Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard scored his first of the season and picked up two assists in a 5-2 upset of the Edmonton Oilers. Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and two assists, Seth Jones had a goal and two assists, and Petr Mrazek turned aside 36 shots for the Blackhawks. Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers and Calvin Pickard allowed five goals on 20 shots.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A well-deserved win for the rebuilding Blackhawks against a Stanley Cup finalist still searching for its groove two games into this season. The Oilers also got off to a flat start last season before they turned things around but it took a coaching change to wake them out. Current bench boss Kris Knoblauch isn’t in danger of losing his job at this stage in the season but that risk could increase if his players don’t elevate their play over the next few weeks.

The Utah Hockey Club upset the New York Rangers 6-5 on an overtime goal by Clayton Keller, who finished the night with two goals and an assist. Dylan Guenther also scored his fifth of the season for Utah, extending his goal streak to three games. Artemi Panarin tallied twice for the Rangers and Adam Fox had three helpers.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Utah is 3-0-0 to start the season.

Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger had a 34-save shutout to blank the New York Islanders 3-0. Tyler Seguin tallied twice and Jamie Benn also scored for the Stars. Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves for the Islanders.

David Pastrnak’s overtime goal lifted the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Bruins. Trevor Moore opened the scoring for the Kings and Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots.

The Buffalo Sabres picked up their first win of the season by dropping the Florida Panthers 5-2. Devon Levi turned aside 23 shots and Alex Tuch had a goal and an assist for the Sabres. The Panthers played without captain Aleksander Barkov (lower-body injury) and winger Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Barkov injured his leg during the final minutes of the Panthers’ 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. He will be sidelined for two to three weeks.

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot turned in a 42-save performance to shut out the Nashville Predators 3-0. J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp and Dylan Larkin were the goal scorers for the Red Wings as they picked up their first win of the season. Steven Stamkos is still seeking his first point since joining the Predators as a free agent in July.

The Montreal Canadiens got two goals from Cole Caufield to end a nine-game losing skid to the Ottawa Senators with a 4-1 win. Sam Montembeault kicked out 24 shots and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson picked up two assists for the Canadiens. Tim Stutzle scored for the Senators.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Caufield has four goals in his first three games of this season.

New Jersey Devils forward Paul Cotter scored two goals to extend his goal streak to four games in a 5-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. Stefan Noesen and Erik Haula each collected three assists for the Devils. Dylan Strome and John Carlson each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who also lost defenseman Matt Roy in the second period with a lower-body injury.

Seattle Kraken captain Jordan Eberle scored two goals, including the 300th of his NHL career and the winner in a shootout, to lead his club to a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Joey Daccord stopped 34 shots for the Kraken. Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists while his teammates Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy each had a goal and an assist.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek was injured in the second period when he caught an elbow in the nose from Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson. There was no call on the play. He returned for one shift in the third period and didn’t travel with his teammates to Winnipeg for their Sunday game against the Jets.

The Anaheim Ducks blanked the San Jose Sharks 2-0. Lukas Dostal turned in a 30-save shutout while Isac Lundestrom and Trevor Zegras did the scoring. Before this game, the Sharks announced rookie center Macklin Celebrini was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body ailment believed to be a hip injury. There is no word on when he’ll return.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This news came two days after Celebrini scored a goal and collected an assist while logging over 17 minutes of ice time in his first NHL game. It’s uncertain when he suffered the injury during that game.







15 Comments

  1. In that Senators game last night they were out-skated, out-hustled, out-hit and, of course, out-stopped at every turn by the Habs.

    The so-called “swagger” that local pundits wrote “was back” after the opening night win over Florida was nowhere in evidence. In fact, it looked more like the “stagger” was back.

    I know, I know … 2nd game in (3rd for Montreal) but Tkachuk has every reason to be frustrated by that pathetic effort.

    • Detroit had almost as bad a game as the Sens, if it were not for Talbot’s stellar performance. A goolie can definitely win you a game!😄

      • I didn’t see last night’s game, but local media raved about how much better Detroit’s defense and effort was compared to game one: they gave up 42 shots and got a shutout, which makes me believe Talbot had more to do with stealing a win the a suddenly improved defense.

    • Happy Thankgiving everybody

      George,
      The sen’s

      I think with a New Coach,
      New 2nd pairing RD man in Nick Jenson &
      New rookie 3 rd pairing d/man Tyler Kleven
      and New goaltender they willed time to jell and learn what the New coach wants… its onlty the 2nd game…

      Along with 5-6 New forwards… they will have games like this especially there rival habs team

      The habs played very well especially
      Sam Montembeault in goal & Cole the Goal Caufield
      is starting to look like the straw that stirs the drink for the Habs❗️

      I see the wings put Villie Husso on Wavers today

  2. George O way too early for this much emotional involvement! The evaluation process really cannot take place until about 8-12 games with a long home stand and road trip under their belts!

    • There was no “emotional reaction” … I was simply describing it exactly the way I saw it. A – lackluster – total – lack – of – checking – and two-way effort.

      I know it’s early … I’ve said as much about other team’s early games … I’ve also said mid-December is the telling point.

    • Oh, and speaking of “early” … it was clearly a little early for the local media to be describing the team as “having that swagger” back after one game, which is why I tossed in that “stagger” retort.

  3. The beauty of having a goal scorer on your team; can do nothing all game, be completely shutdown, then score the winning goal.

    I’m impressed with the patience Poitras show when he has the puck and how he can slow down the game and make a play. He reminds me of David Krejci.

  4. Caper right on about 88! He was awful all game and he came out smelling like a rose!

  5. The Habs played their 3rd game in 4 nights and I was pleasantly surprised by the push.

    The improvement has come from last years disappointments, Anderson, Armia and Gallagher.

    Lane Hutson continues to impress with his movement and vision

    • Hutson is seriously going to be in the Calder talk as this season wears on. He looks mature beyond his years. I too was impressed by Anderson – Gallagher you more or less figure he’ll be hustling all night when he can.

      • Concerned about his size!Great player but not sure he can avoid contact in some situations!Is very creative and shifty!

  6. The Oilers need to quit reading their press clippings and get to work. It’s a new season and the have to quit patting themselves on their backs.

  7. Very honorable and well deserved tribute to Johnny hockey

    Kudos flames

    Guenther on fire. No way he keeps this pace ; but very good so far

    Congrats (again) to Malkin on another Milestone. Expect the goal milestone celebration this week. Crosby will hit 1,600 points this week as well.

    That’s the good for the Pens. Once again Pens leaving their goalie out to dry. Sure, he should have had Marner’s goal; but saved so many more set up by brutal D and moronic line changes (3 on Oh; c’mon, really?)

    13 goals against (12 really; discounting the EN goal last night). In 3 games….. 10 of those 12, no chance to stop. Jarry could of stopped one; Blomquist could have stopped Marner’s

    10 GAs in poor D and line changes

    Yes, less goals against would not have won the Rsngers game. No way they were winning that game pre puck drop. Yes Leafs (ugh) were favoured last night; so 1W 2 L is where they should be.

    But if they don’t tighten up defensively; 7th in Metro and 15th in East, is NOT out of the question.

    Dubas; offer $1M or less to all 3 of the key remaining UFA RHD’s

    Hopefully one takes it. Demote Grzlyk; save Cap; better the team

    It’s just 3 phone calls

  8. Georgiev’s performance was bad for sure. I listened on radio but can tell by commentary and obviously giving up the goals; especially when you climb back into the game, are brutal. To me the Avalanche are just as brutal in front of him. Bottom line, he isn’t stopping the puck. I wouldn’t mind them going with annunen for a couple of games to see how he does. I think the Avalanche have a mental problem between their ears and bednar sort of alludes to that in his post game comments!!! To me, this has been going on since after winning the cup.