NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 18, 2024
In today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines, a hat-trick performance by Rangers winger Artemi Panarin, the Stars re-sign goaltender Jake Oettinger, Nikita Kucherov lifts the Lightning over the Golden Knights, and more.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin tallied a hat trick and collected an assist in a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Vincent Trocheck had a goal and three assists and Adam Fox collected three helpers for the Rangers. J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings.

New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With 11 points, Panarin is tied with Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin for the league scoring lead.
Washington Capitals winger Taylor Raddysh snapped a 2-2 tie as his club upset the Dallas Stars 3-2. Tom Wilson scored for the third straight game and Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves for the win. Colin Blackwell and Jason Robertson replied for the Stars.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Stars announced they signed goaltender Jake Oettinger to an eight-year contract extension with an average annual value of $8.25 million. If those numbers sound familiar, it’s because the Boston Bruins inked goalie Jeremy Swayman to a similar deal, though his deal began this season while Oettinger’s starts next season.
Oettinger, 25, will be the league’s fifth-highest-paid goalie. In a statement, Stars general manager Jim Nill said Oettinger “has established himself as one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL.” He’s backstopped the Stars to three straight playoff appearances and back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Final.
The Tampa Bay Lightning nipped the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3. Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov scored twice, including the game-winner with 55 seconds remaining in the third period. Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning. Jack Eichel collected two assists for the Golden Knights.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Eichel is second among all NHL scorers with 10 points.
An overtime goal by J.T. Miller lifted the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers. Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes also scored for the Canucks while Jesper Boqvist and Anton Lundell scored for the Panthers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers were without center Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and winger Matthew Tkachuk (illness) for the third straight game. Both forwards are expected to return to the lineup next week.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid tallied his first goal of the season as his club doubled up the Nashville Predators 4-2. Brett Kulak scored two goals and Calvin Pickard stopped 25 shots as the Oilers picked up their second straight win. Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Predators, who have lost their first four games of the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following the game, Marchessault acknowledged this season hasn’t started the way they wanted, admitting the roster is feeling a little fragile right now. The Predators began this season with heightened expectations after signing Marchessault, forward Steven Stamkos and defenseman Brady Skjei.
Predators defenseman Luke Schenn reached a personal milestone, appearing in his 1,000th NHL regular-season game.
The St. Louis Blues got a 34-save shutout from netminder Joel Hofer to blank the New York Islanders 1-0. Jake Neighbours tallied the only goal. Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin turned aside 29 shots.
Los Angeles Kings goalie David Rittich made 26 saves as his club ended a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist for the Kings. Justin Barron replied for the Canadiens, who also lost defenseman Mike Matheson in the first period with an upper-body injury, though he’s expected to be ready to play in Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis and team captain Nick Suzuki weren’t pleased with their club’s performance against the Kings, with Suzuki calling it “an immature effort.” St. Louis promised to be proactive in addressing the issue after his club’s record sank to 2-3-0.
New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom kicked out 30 shots in a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Paul Cotter scored his fifth goal of the season for the Devils while Senators captain Brady Tkachuk netted his first of the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Cotter is tied with the Rangers Artemi Panarin and Utah’s Dylan Guenther for second among the league’s goal scorers. Senators backup Anton Forsberg got the start for this game as Linus Ullmark is still recovering from a lower-body strain. He could return for Saturday’s game against the Lightning.
The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the struggling Buffalo Sabres 6-4. Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets while Sabres rookie Juri Kulich potted his first career NHL goal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The battered Blue Jackets suffered another injury as forward Kent Johnson left the game grasping his left hand and wrist. They did have some news as forward Justin Danforth made his season debut after recovering from wrist surgery.
Meanwhile, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said the Blue Jackets “came out hungrier than us.” He believes he and his teammates must be better after opening the season with a 1-4-1 record.
Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann had a goal and two assists to lead his club to a 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Kraken forwards Jordan Eberle and Shane Wright each had a goal and an assist. Scott Laughton tallied twice for the Flyers.
The Chicago Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each picked up two assists and Tyler Bertuzzi scored his first of the season for the Blackhawks. Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund replied for the Sharks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blackhawks announced defenseman Alex Martinez (groin strain) was placed on injured reserve before this game.
IN OTHER NEWS…
DAILY FACEOFF: Utah Hockey Club defenseman Sean Durzi (upper-body injury) will undergo surgery and is expected to miss four to five months.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Durzi is one of Utah’s top defensemen. His absence will be a big blow to their blueline depth.
TRIBLIVE.COM: The Pittsburgh Penguins activated goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic off injured reserve and have sent him to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for conditioning.
CALGARY SUN: Flames rookie forward Samuel Honzek is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Swayman broke the ice! 8.25 looks like the going rate fora young legitimate no. 1 goalie these days!
Saw this posted on Twitter the other day: Hellebuyck $8.5M, Sorokin, Swayman, Ullmark, Oettinger all exactly at $8.25M.
That’s going to put a lot of pressure on NYR to keep Shesterkin well under $12M ask if they want to keep a competitive roster around him for the next several years.
“Shesterkin’s main argument, especially concerning Oettinger, is the ever-growing issue of income tax-free states. Doing some low-stakes math, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period asserted earlier that Oettinger’s take-home pay in Dallas, TX would be approximately $5.22MM after taxes while a $12MM salary for Shesterkin in New York City, NY would net him around $5.29MM. Factoring in the cost of living in New York compared to Dallas one could reasonably ascertain Shesterkin’s justification for his asking price.”
I don’t think this has the road games figured right, because it would be a different rate for each city………..
Why is a states tax structure only a thing in the NHL? You don’t hear any of this in the NBA, NFL, or MLB. If you don’t like the taxes in the the state you live in, move!
Duo to cost of living $12 a season will go a lot further in Edmonton then it will in NYC, including taxes.
You want the NYC life style you have to pay for the NYC life style.
https://www.thesportsgeek.com/blog/nfl-player-salaries-after-taxes/
Agree KevJam, some guys want to play in NYC, Panarin specifically comes to mind. Same with a guy like Marner who says he wants to stay in Toronto. If all that matters is the $$, then by all means you are free to go there when a UFA.
Speaking of Edmonton, much better game by the Oil last night, first complete game all season. Good in both ends, pretty dominant actually. Not sure if that game says more about the Preds or the Oil.
Going on the road may have been just what they needed.
Oettinger, 25. three consecutive playoffs, two conference finals. Swayman, 25, one playoff, won one round. One of these is not like the other
Why didn t he sign for more money?
Not a bad effort by Forsberg last night – 3 goals on 35 shots – but as it turns out he’d have needed a shut-out to win that one.
Rather typical result in a game immediately following one where a team scores a parcel of goals (8 against L.A.), Feast or famine. Amazing how often that happens.
I only watched the condensed version of the game but I thought Ottawa deserved to be ahead after the first. Watched the Canucks vs Florida game. Florida`s struggling because of injuries and the Canucks are struggling because of guys like Pettersson can`t play, his wallet is too heavy now
Yep, I noted this too George. No blaming Forsberg OTHER than the theoretical “maybe the team would have played better if they hadn’t gone down 0-2 so soon.
Markstrom also played quite well.