NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 1, 2024
In today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines: a four-point performance for Martin Necas, multi-point nights for Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl leads the Oilers over the Predators, and much more.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Carolina Hurricanes got a four-point performance from Martin Necas (one goal, three assists) to crush the Boston Bruins 8-2. Andrei Svechnikov and Jack Roslovic each scored two goals as the Hurricanes picked up their fifth straight win. Brad Marchand and Hampus Lindholm scored for the Bruins, who’ve managed only two wins in their last eight games (2-5-1).
Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Necas is on a tear to start this season, sitting among the league’s top-10 scorers with a team-leading 15 points in nine games. The Bruins, meanwhile, are at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings.
Before this game, the Hurricanes announced that goaltender Frederik Andersen is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. They recalled Spencer Martin to back up Pyotr Kochetkov.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had a goal and two assists in a 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Poitras each had a goal and an assist as the Capitals have won five straight home games. Canadiens winger Cole Caufield scored his 10th goal of the season, tying New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier for the league lead.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ovechkin has 858 career regular-season goals and needs 37 to surpass Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894. The Capitals captain has five goals and 10 points in nine games this season.
This game was tied 3-3 heading into the third period when the Capitals scored three unanswered goals. Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis wasn’t pleased with his club’s meltdown in the final period, describing it as throwing up all over themselves.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby tallied twice, including the winner in overtime as his club nipped the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks, who got a 44-save performance by goaltender Lukas Dostal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins activated forward Blake Lizotte off injured reserve for this game.
The Edmonton Oilers beat the Nashville Predators 5-1 with Leon Draisaitl scoring twice and collecting an assist. Oilers winger Zach Hyman sniped his first goal of the season. Filip Forsberg replied for the struggling Predators, who finished October with a record of 3-6-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Draisaitl stepped up as the Oilers leader with captain Connor McDavid sidelined with an ankle injury for two to three weeks. He did the same thing during the 2019-20 season when McDavid was hampered by a quadriceps injury, winning the Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award.
Predators forward Mark Jankowski was a late scratch from this game with an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander scored twice and captain Auston Matthews had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken. Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots for the Leafs to pick up his first win of the season. Eeli Tolvanen replied for the Kraken.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Kraken were without their two top defensemen for this game. Vince Dunn remains sidelined with a mid-body injury until mid-November while Brandon Montour returned to Seattle to be with his wife for the birth of their second child.
San Jose Sharks rookie Will Smith scored his first two NHL goals, including the game-winner in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Ryan Donato and Tyler Bertuzzi replied for the Blackhawks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks have won three straight after opening the season with a record of 0-7-2.
The Philadelphia Flyers squeaked past the St. Louis Blues 2-1 as Bobby Brink snapped a 1-1 tie late in the third period. Garnet Hathaway also scored for the Flyers and Samuel Ersson made 20 saves for the win. Nathan Walker scored for the Blues.
HEADLINES
TAMPA BAY TIMES: Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is one win away from becoming the fastest netminder to reach 300 career regular-season victories. He can achieve that feat on Friday with a win over the Minnesota Wild. Vasilevskiy would reach that milestone in 487 games, shattering the current record of 521 games held by Jacques Plante.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators are open to signing Claude Giroux to a contract extension. The 36-year-old forward is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next July. Giroux is in the final season of a three-year contract with an average annual value of $6.5 million.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde wants a better effort from team captain Dylan Larkin. He believes the 28-year-old center is capable of elevating his game.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: The Avalanche hope to have winger Valeri Nichushkin join practice sessions ahead of his eligible reinstatement date of Nov. 13. Nichushkin, 29, is serving a six-month suspension as part of Phase 3 of the NHL-NHLPA player assistance program.
NHL.COM: Regarding the Avs, forward Mark Stienburg received a two-game suspension for charging Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak during Wednesday’s game between the two clubs.
DAILY FACEOFF: New Jersey Devils forward Curtis Lazar is sidelined indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his left knee.
ROTOWIRE: Former NHL forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare signed a one-year contract with HC Ajoie in Switzerland. He was on a professional tryout offer with the Avalanche during training camp but was released before the start of this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The 39-year-old Bellemare spent 10 seasons in the NHL from 2014-15 to 2023-24 with the Flyers, Vegas Golden Knights, Avalanche, Lightning and Kraken, scoring 64 goals and 138 points in 700 regular-season games and 15 points in 85 playoff contests.
RG.ORG: James Murphy interviewed Boston College forward James Hagens, who is projected to become the first-overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. The 17-year-old Hagens said he always wanted to play the game like Patrick Kane and is looking forward to playing for Team USA in the World Juniors.
The Capitals and Hurricanes are both indicating that they, along with the NYR,, will be the top dogs in the Metropolitan Division, and in the midst of Washington’s surprising resurgence is Alex Ovechkin and his relentless chase of Gretzky’s 894-goal record. He entered the season needing 36 to tie.
After 9gp, he has 5g 5a 10 pts – a pace – if continued – that would give him 46.
That, along with the Blue Jackets staying in the playoff chase, would make this a season to remember.
Actually, he entered the season needing 41 to tie – the 5 scored to date has that down to 36.
What is wrong with Nashville? They went and got some great players and are pretty darn mediocre. Is it just not being able to find the chemistry right away?
I think Nashville will be OK Dark G, not like a top contender, but a solid playoff team. Kinda like the Oil and the Avs, out chancing the opposition, but puck not going in as much as expected, or will in the long run, and not getting saves.
The sh% will almost surely go up to at least average, but the tending is always a who the F knows. Saros hasn’t been as good as he has been historically. Probably gets back to form but you never flippin’ know. That’s the hard to predict part.
My Bruins on the other hand, WTF.
Getting out chanced nightly. Especially from where the goals are scored. PK not good, PP looks brutal, 5 on 5 they get caved nightly, which is the hugely concerning part. Tending ain’t saving them like last year.
I am way more pessimistic about the B’s than I am about the Preds, Avs, Oilers or some other good teams who have started slow. Their record is actually better than they deserve, and it ain’t good. And there is no obvious answer, other than perhaps they just aren’t as good as we thought they were. I got seriously bad vibes about this season. They look lost.
Why didn’t Dubas have Lizotte on LTIR?
He was injured for first 11 games
LTIR (10 games) gets cap relief.
Great game by Crosby; he alone can’t get them in the playoffs. Still game stretches of poor defensive play by all skaters.
A couple of great saves; a flying phantom stick block, defensemen pulling puck from surely going in…. Any of those go in; loss in reg; we’re 32nd (instead of 28th ) this morning
Lineup changes still must happen
“LTIR (10 games) gets cap relief.”
Are you sure about that?
but only if you need a player to take that spot.
They’ve had call ups so yes they would have had Cap relief
I know a team can retroactively change an IR to an LTIR; but I’m not sure when/if there is a specified timeframe (games on IR) that this has to be done by
When he was injured for the start of the season they knew then that he was out a minimum of 2 weeks (note Pens started season playing 6 games in first nights).
Pens’ 10th game was last Sat in Vancouver… why didn’t they changd him from IR to LTIR
Nieto , conversely, IS and HAS BEEN on LTIR
Lizotte’s Cap hit is twice that of Nietto’s
Why did Dubas not put Lizotte on LTIR??
Well I truly hope Giroux stays in Ottawa. I could see that guy being a coach one day.
It’s 2’s day
in the east
only 2 teams have fewer goals then Boston (Det, NYI)
only 2 teams have given up more goals then Boston (Mtl, Pitts)
only 2 teams have a worst +/- goals for / goals against differential (Mtl, Pitts)
Jeremy Swayman is 46th in Gaa and 38th in sv%
What happen?
Imo this team was going to struggle to score goals, it was their defense that was suppose to keep them in games.
I thought Boston had one of the best defense in the league and they may still have, but at this moment they are one of the worst.
They have one defenseman in the plus, Zadorov +1 every other dman is a minus.
This team can’t generate offense last night 15 shots on net, the game against philly they had 3 shots in the third period, against a team that was giving up over 4 goals per game.
McAvoy, Marchand been playing the worst hockey i’ve seen them play.
My biggest take away is team structure, there isn’t any. The forwards are not picking up anyone and most times they don’t skate back to help out their defenseman. Last night Lindholm (dman) had the puck behind Boston net for about 6 seconds or more, because he didn’t have an outlet, everyone else was down by Carolina blue line.
Swayman numbers reflect a porous defense but he still needs to play better.
Team structure belongs to the coach, I’m not saying it’s time to fire Monty, I am saying you can’t let this go on much longer. Boston already needs to play 570 hockey to get to 91pts last season points for the last playoff spot.
I said after last night game i wouldn’t be surprised when i got up this morning that he would be fired.
I would have to think Monty leash is short, because the way the team is playing, there isn’t a trade available to make a difference.
I should exclude the 4th line from all the above comments as they are playing terrific. Last night Monty broke them up and but one on the 1st line, one on the second line and one on the third line. It didn’t work.
Caper, I didn’t see your post until I after I went on a short rant as well.
You’re seeing what I’m seeing, and am sure other B’s fans on here are seeing. Yikes!
I am sure Neely is stomping around the office or hotel as we speak.
Monty has to be on a short leash, as that is the only real card Sweeney has to play at this time in the season. Plus he has done a good job last couple seasons and is a good coach. But it is what it is, whether he deserves it or not.
The team looks lost to your point about structure. Some new guys to blend in, but this is a veteran team, and this should be coming together by now.
They are getting caved nightly, and it hasn’t really been close against quality teams.
Caper,I honestly thought this might happen last year after the retirement of Bergeron and Krecji! One of the biggest problems in the NHL is that to many players have NMC and NTC or a certain number of teams that they can or cannot be traded to!You can t move any of your top players because of this language in their contracts! So coaches are screwed because it s tough to make significant player changes! It also looks like Marchand is running out of gas!If you look at the forward group,they really only have 3 top 6 forwards ,Pasternak,Lindholm,and Marchand? The rest of their forwards are at best bottom 6 forwards! The strength of their team,the D and goalie have been awful! I thought this group would keep the team afloat while they figured out their forwards! Why hasn t Tyler Johnson been signed! He s offensively better than most of their forwards!
Bigger problem, stupid GM’s that sign lots of players to NTC and NMC contracts. It’s all fun and games until a player gets old, fat, and slow.
Ray, Sr i agree with.
I just watched Monty post game interview, he said something on the line of:
The last two years we were in 1st place at Thanksgiving and done nothing in the playoffs. This year we won’t be but maybe we’ll have a better run in the playoffs.
Optimism for sure, one caveat, you need to make the playoffs.
I’m not saying gloom and doom, but there is some fixing that needs to happen sooner rather then later.
Over the years I have seen the “fall from Grace” manifest itself in both a slow, steady decline (like Pittsburgh is experiencing now) many times, but I have also seen annual top-rung teams drop like the proverbial rock.
In these early days, there are 5 playoff teams from last season preparing to make room for 5 hopefuls – NYI, Nashville, Boston, Colorado, Edmonton.
Sure if the trend continues but we’ve just started the month of November. Come US thanksgiving and nothing has changed might be real reason for concern, but if their play is trending in a positive direction, all bets are off.
It’s always better to slump at the start of the year as some slumps can be credited to fitness, health, schedule, time to form chemistry, etc, etc, etc.
Every trend has its start somewhere.
Exactly! We follow hockey and all its trends to see how it all ends.
Good times!
Look at the Jets, this where you see the value of not overpaying your star players. If a team wants to stay competitive they have to have cap space to do it. Teams like Toronto and Edmonton that have so much invested in a couple of players can`t afford to fill the needs they have to stay on top. Whether it`s a 3rd line centre or top 4 dman, you need cap space. The jets are playing awesome, even in their 1 loss to Toronto they showed how quickly they can strike if given any chances. Chevy signed their top players to reasonable contracts and really has no minimum salaries on the team. Kind of tells the role players that their valued and they`re playing like it. Chevy may be the best GM in the NHL simply because he seems to have a better grasp of reality than the rest. He`s done a great job keeping this team competitive a long time. Remember nobody wants to play in Winnipeg
Seems like the high turnover of vets leaving the Peg may help their salary cap situation as well. W have yet to see if Ehlers joins that bunch.