NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 15, 2024

by | Oct 15, 2024 | News, NHL | 30 comments

In today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines, recaps of Monday’s action, the three stars of the week are revealed, league commissioner Gary Bettman responds to a question about the possibility of a franchise in Quebec City and more.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Josh Norris lifted the Ottawa Senators to an 8-7 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Norris finished with two goals and an assist, Zack MacEwen tallied twice and Drake Batherson had a goal and two assists for the Senators. Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere each scored two goals and Anze Kopitar and Brandt Clarke each collected three assists for the Kings.

Ottawa Senators forward Josh Norris (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators starting goalie Linus Ullmark missed this game with a lower-body strain. While it isn’t considered serious, he’s undergoing further testing and might not be available for Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

The Senators called up goalie Mads Sogaard, who replaced Anton Forsberg after he gave up three goals on nine shots.

Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury following a big hit from Kings forward Tanner Jeannot. The Senators also played without forward Ridly Greig, who is out for one-to-two weeks with an upper-body injury.

The New York Islanders picked up their first win of the season by trouncing the struggling Colorado Avalanche 6-2. Brock Nelson netted two second-period goals and Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots for the Isles. Avalanche rookie Calum Ritchie scored his first NHL goal.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance. “There are no excuses. I didn’t like our game tonight,” said Bednar. “Top to bottom. It’s terrible.” They’re 0-3-0 to open this season.

Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews missed this game with a lower-body injury. He joined teammates Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Jonathan Drouin (upper body) and Valeri Nichushkin (NHL/NHLPA player assistance program) on the sidelines.

Florida Panthers forwards Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell each tallied two goals in a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 24 shots for the win. John Beecher and Mason Lohrei each had a goal and an assist and Mark Kastelic picked up three assists for the Bruins.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk missed his second straight game due to illness and is expected to miss their next two games. It’s hoped he’ll return to action next Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

The New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1. Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, Igor Shesterkin kicked out 31 shots and Reilly Smith potted his first goal as a Ranger. Dylan Larkin replied for the Red Wings.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Red Wings sent goaltender Ville Husso to their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids before this game and recalled forward Austin Watson.

Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin scored his 499th career goal and Lars Eller tallied twice in a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Malkin finished with a goal and two assists. Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists for the Canadiens.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held off the scoreboard and remains one point shy of 1,600 for his career. Crosby also needs eight goals to reach 600 and 24 games to reach 1,300.

The New Jersey Devils got a 20-save shutout from Jake Allen to blank the Utah Hockey Club 3-0, handing the latter their first loss of the season. Seamus Casey, Stefan Noesen and Nico Hischier were the goal scorers.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Utah defenseman Sean Durzi left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury following an awkward hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler.

HEADLINES

NHL.COM: Utah Hockey Club winger Dylan Guenther, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel were the NHL’s three stars for the week ending Oct. 13.

THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked about the possibility of a new franchise in Quebec City when he met with reporters before Monday’s Penguins-Canadiens game at the Bell Centre.

Bettman said the league isn’t focused on expanding from 32 to 34 teams but would consider it if the right opportunity came along. As for the NHL returning to Quebec City, he said that depended on a lot of factors out of league control, “including someone – or an entity – that is engaged enough and committed enough financially to want to be even considered and it hasn’t happened yet.”

SPECTOR’S NOTE: There’s an assumption that media giant Quebecor, which operates the 18,259-seat Videotron Centre, would be the likely bidder to bring the NHL back to Quebec City via expansion or relocation of an existing franchise. Bettman’s comments suggest Quebecor hasn’t made any pitch for a franchise or made a failed attempt.

Quebec City may be an emotional choice but factors such as its market size mean it faces long odds when going up against bigger US-based markets in Houston and Atlanta. Those cities are considered the likely destinations when the league inevitably expands to 34 clubs in a few years.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Johnny Gaudreau’s father Guy Gaudreau joined the Blue Jackets’ practice on Monday as a guest. The club will honor Johnny’s memory on Tuesday in a pregame ceremony before their first home game of this season when they face the Florida Panthers.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will be playing right wing for the first time in a decade as the club attempts to shake up its offense after dropping its season-opener to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Capitals defenseman Matt Roy is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury suffered during Saturday’s games.

SPORTSNET: Buffalo Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin and forward Peyton Krebs had to be separated by their teammates when they dropped the gloves during practice on Monday.

SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sidelined Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini won’t be traveling with his teammates to Dallas for their game against the Stars on Tuesday. He was placed on injured reserve (lower body) retroactive to Oct. 11. It’s hoped he’ll join his teammates on Oct. 18 when they face the Jets in Winnipeg.

DAILY FACEOFF: The St. Louis Blues placed forward Alexandre Texier (upper body) on injured reserve.







30 Comments

  1. Things are getting tense in Saberland! Look for Krebs to be on the trading block if he keeps up the attitude!

  2. Houston ; yes

    Three times a loser in Atlanta; no

    Pre-game last night Gary admitted it had been time to move on from Arizona (to SLC); but didn’t take the blame for that nightmare and certainly didn’t say that it had been time to move on (from Arizona) for MANY years

    Great to see Penguins win; but they are still playing very poor defensively. 16 GAs (call it 15 with one empty netter) in 4 games. Jarry and Bloomquist had s chance at stopping inly 3 of those.

    Like that Puuljarvi was brought up. Very good game. But not at expense of sitting McGroarty.

    Should have been Accari in press box; Pulljarvi in

    And sitting St. Ivany (R) for Shea (L)?????

    Clurman and Brunicke are righties snd better than Shea!!!

    I still think Dubas should make $1M or less offers to all 3 UFA RDs; one will likely take it. At less than $1M it will work

  3. As I posted late yesterday afternoon, Ottawa fans had better hope Ullmark is not gone for any length of time.

    Forsberg – 3 goals on 9 shots – just shows no signs of getting back to what he was prior to last season – a decent backup, and Sogaard (4 goals on 17 shots), entering his 5th year as a pro, is demonstrating no encouraging signs that he’s even remotely ready for the NHL.

    The 7 goals allowed in this one has nothing to do with a poor defensive structure/pk and everything to do with unreliable goaltending.

    Thankfully for the hometown fans. the offense is there, with encouraging signs from Norris and Stutzle, and indications that they could wind up with significantly more offensive contributions from lines 3 and 4 that Ottawa has seen in years, firing 41 shots at Keumper and potting 8 goals.

    Bottom line — they’re not going to score anywhere near that on most nights, so they need to hope their goaltending is up to par. Ullmark is essential. We need a more reliable back-up.

    I also posted late yesterday that I was able to get the Montreal-Pittsburgh game on Prime, which introduced their new Monday Night Hockey. So if you have access to Prime you’ll get another outlet presenting the game.

    https://www.nhl.com/news/prime-video-announces-talent-for-monday-night-hockey-coast-to-coast

    • As a Prime member, I wonder if I set my VPN to Toronto if I could get this?

      • If you use Rogers check out your menu – if you use Ignite use the voice command and say “Prime NHL”

    • George , i am not a fan of Forsberg either but you have to cut Sogaard some slack. He played Saturday night for Belleville and was an emergency call up. Ullmark needs to stay healthy for them to have any chance of competing for a playoff spot.
      Zub going down could be really bad if it means JBD is slotted in to take a RD spot. Chabot continues to be terrible defensively.

  4. Fergy22, if I saw ANY encouraging signs out of Sogaard at ANY time he’s been called upon, then I’ll cut him some slack. He’s been a pro for 4 full seasons – time to start showing he can handle NHL speed and shots.

    Zub, sad to say, will always be going down for one reason or another. As I’ve said several times, he’s like a reincarnation of Volchenkov. His style of play just leads to various injuries (although that solid hit by Jeannot last night would have sent anyone to the dressing room)

    In a 7 goals allowed game, Chabot played 29.04 with a goal and an assist and was just -1 on the night – exact same stats as Sanderson, who played a couple of minutes less.

    • I base my Chabot eval on what I see during the game not what I see in the boxscore , he’s brutal defensively

    • When I say “handle NHL speed and shots” I do so on the basis of his comparative AHL/NHL stats

      AHL – 97gp 2.57gaa – 0.912 save %

      NHL – 28gp 3.52gaa – 0.881 save %

    • That was a Barn Burner in Ottawa… 8-7❗️
      Sen’s goaltending after Ullmark is weak……Forsberg a poor game and the goaltender of the future..?
      Matt Sogaard played poor, yes back to back games but the 24 yr old should be able to handle that
      he has to show more if he wants to be an NHL back one day….??

      After a big hit from Tanner Jeannot on Zub looks like he maybe out for a few games… however its good to see Zack MacEwen (2 goals) and thump Jeannot👍

      Wonder if they re-call up young RD man
      Carter Yamenchuck❓
      best game i have seen Norris play in a long time

      Sen’s now without, Ullmark, Pinto & Zub….. not good
      for the young sen’s

      • Pinto played yesterday – no injury. I think you meant Greig. Just a week – maybe 2.

      • yes your right george it was speedster Greig…
        getting old memory is not that great….!!

  5. Understand it’s only 4 games in; but:

    Trent Frederick 1pt -7
    Charlie Coyle 0pts -5
    Morgan Geekie 0pts -4

    Only seen one game, if these three are playing as a line, it isn’t working so far.

    Meanwhile:

    John Beecher 4pts +6
    Cole Koepke 4pts +6
    Mark Kastelic 5pts +5 (tied for team lead in pts)

    This 4th line is definitely working.

    • Caper. They are not playing as a line as of yet. Coyle Marchy and Geekie. Are supposed to play the 2 nd line but have been awful. Maybe time to make the 3 the 3rd line and swap Brazeau and Poitras. If Brazeau cannot get it done sign Johnson 4 th line is best line so far. 1st line has been good not great. 2 and 3 need work

    • Geekie,Coyle,Frederic played well together last year! Worth another try! How about 63 with 28 and 88!Poitras with Zacha and Brazeau!Zacha can help on face offs with Poitras! Ottawa in trouble in goal! Let’s send Korpisalo back!The throw in, in the deal Kastellic is doing a good job!

      • Sr

        It would be worth a try to get all lines going

  6. Peladeau is all show no sizzle, Quebecor has it’s name on the arena but didn’t put a penny into construction.

    There’s no finance for a team in Quebec or a business community to support it

    • Meant all sizzle no steak

    • I think it’s less that there’s no potential owner to step up and mostly because Bettman doesn’t want a team there.

      • 100% agree Howard

  7. Blue Jackets home opener.
    Tragic loss of Johnny Hockey
    Playing the defending Cup winners
    National TV game? Well no that still isn’t enough.

    • Normally this kinda post would just ring of sour grapes… but in this case you are right. Unless it was deliberate to not put salt in the families wounds? Or make the league seem like they were profiting from his death? But I think the family would have appreciated the recognition.

      • It’s not sour grapes it would have been the right thing to do. Johnny’s Dad is dropping the first puck. He has staked with the team for 2 practices.

      • I agree with you. Bad call from the league.

    • There`s a name I haven`t heard in a long time, nice to see him still going strong. George have you looked into Capwages yet, basically the same format as Capfriendly

      • Yes, I saw your post yesterday and checked it out. Still in the process of familiarizing myself with how to utilize their set-up. Looks good though.

      • I really like the Depth Chart option for each team

      • On Kilrea, he was a skillful C who played 623 AHL games – mostly for Eddie Shore’s Springfield Indians who notoriously treated his players like chattel and often made it difficult for any of them to try and crack the NHL.

        Kilrea got a 1 game sniff in 1957-58 with the powerful Red Wings when he was 23, but after that it wouldn’t be until 1967-68 and the original NHL expansion when, drafted by the L.A. Kings at age 33/34, he would eventually play 25 games with 3g 5a 8 pts.

        In his AHL career he played 623 games scoring 171g 453a 624 pts and, in another 232 games with Troy Bruins in the IHL, had 86g 166a 252 pts – so, career-wise in the minors he was a point-per-game C.

      • I`m quite familiar with Kilrea George, I just hadn`t heard his name mentioned in a long time. It`s always nice to hear about and see people get the recognition they deserve to get