NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 20, 2025
Recaps of Sunday’s games, the Canadiens unveil their Quarter-Century Team, Connor McDavid faces an in-person hearing for cross-checking Conor Garland, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING SUNDAY’S ACTION
NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Patrik Laine lifted the Montreal Canadiens to a 5-4 victory over the New York Rangers. Canadiens rookie goalie Jakub Dobes stopped 23 shots for his fifth win in as many starts while Brendan Gallagher and Christian Dvorak each had a goal and an assist. Rangers netminder Jonathan Quick made 33 saves while Adam Fox picked up two assists.
Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Montreal (50 points) sits one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson tied Barry Beck for the second-longest assist streak for rookie defensemen (eight games). The Habs called up forward Owen Beck for this game.
This loss left the Rangers two points behind the Canadiens.
The Ottawa Senators got a 25-save performance (16 in the first period) from Anton Forsberg to nip the New Jersey Devils 2-1. Senators rookie Zack Ostapchuk scored his first goal of the season and Artem Zub tallied the game-winner. Tomas Tatar replied for the Devils.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The win vaulted the Senators (51 points) over the Blue Jackets into the first Eastern wild-card spot, extending their points streak to six games (5-0-1). The Devils sit second in the Metropolitan Division (58 points) but are winless in their last four contests (0-2-2).
First-period goals by Matej Blumel, Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque gave the Dallas Stars a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Robertson extended his goals streak to five games while Jake Oettinger kicked out 33 shots for the Stars. Marco Kasper scored for the Red Wings (46 points), who sit five points behind the Blue Jackets in the Eastern wild-card race.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Stars (59 points) snapped a two-game losing skid and sit second in the Central Division. The Red Wings have dropped three of their last four contests.
IN OTHER NEWS…
NHL.COM: The Montreal Canadiens unveiled its Quarter-Century Team on Sunday.
The First Team consisted of goaltender Carey Price, defensemen Shea Weber and Andrei Markov, and forwards Saku Koivu, Tomas Plekanec and Alex Kovalev.
The Second Team featured goalie Jose Theodore, defensemen P.K. Subban and Sheldon Souray, and forwards Nick Suzuki, Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher.
THE SCORE: Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers face in-person hearings for cross-checking incidents that earned them match penalties on Saturday. The hearings are scheduled for Monday.
DAILY FACEOFF: Speaking of the Oilers, they placed center Derek Ryan on waivers and loaned defenseman Josh Brown to their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The Sabres called up goaltender Devon Levi to replace sidelined netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. They also placed forward Ryan McLeod on injured reserve.
With the Devils struggling of late, and having lost the day before to Philadelphia, and Ottawa coming off a SO win over Boston also the day before and starting a struggling goalie in Forsberg in Jersey, I fully expected NJ to come out like gangbusters to try and rattle Forsberg.
Which they did, out-shooting Ottawa in the 1st 16 to 2! But, go figure, Forsberg stood on his head, turning aside all 16. From that point to the end, with NJ having shot their bolt from an energy aspect, all they could manage were 10 more shots over 2 periods with their only goal coming from a guy (Tatar) potting just his 4th.
Ottawa, meanwhile, kept it tied with a guy (Ostapchuk) getting his first, and won it in the 3rd with D-man Zub getting just his 2nd. So, all the scoring coming from secondary scorers in a tight game.
It’s crazy how competitive the wild card positions are now. 7 teams are legit wild card contenders: 3 teams have 9 points in their last 5 games, one has 8, one has 7 and one has 5.
And I echo the comments by Pup and George: why the Rangers keep putting Rempe in the line up is just bizarre. At least the Habs finally wised up and kept Pezzetta out of the line up. Pez is not a goon like Rempe but he was adding dick all.
Re A Trade, NJ & Canucks…🤔
A Dawson Mercer $4.M 23 yr old centre,
&
LW Erik Haula $3.1M.. Or A Ondrej Palat LW @$6.M
&
2nd round pick in the 2025 Draft
for
Canucks TJ.Millar, 31yr old Centre @ $8.M who have 5.3 years left who will be 37 yr old at the end of his deal…..âť“
Thoughts
And nice bounce-back effort from the Habs to remain solidly in the playoff hunt after that collapse against the Leafs the night before.
Laine continues to show that his acquisition was a shrewd move by Hughes and that, when it comes to scoring, he’s not a one-trick pp pony blasting away from the same spot, with a nice tip-in OT goal to win it.
Matt Rempe pretty much sums up the NYR right now. Puff your chest out then get pummeled into a puddle of goo. What an embarassment.
For the life of me I don’t understand why the Rangers keep inserting that guy into the line-up! He was jawing right from the get-go to get into it and it did absolutely nothing towards the NYR effort – one way or another.
“Intimidation” as a “motivation strategy” is long gone from the game and only dinosaurs like Laviolette keep dredging it up.
Yes, Xhekaj won’t hesitate to drop the gloves, but at least he shows promise as also developing into a dependable D-man. Rempe shows nothing on that regard.
For the life of me I don’t understand why the Rangers keep inserting that guy into the line-up! He was jawing right from the get-go to get into it and it did absolutely nothing towards the NYR effort – one way or another.
“Intimidation” as a “motivation strategy” is long gone from the game and only dinosaurs like Laviolette keep dredging it up.
Well, that was a garbled post! So much for the cut-and-paste method of editing before hitting “send.” LOL
I don’t disagree about Rempe,but?
“Sums up the NYR’s right now”
The Rangers are 6-1-3 in their last 10 right now.
You’re a couple of weeks behind on that comment.
And I still think the Rangers will be right there when the playoffs arrive. They just have to find a better option than Rempe to trot out there.
Huge game tomorrow at MSG against the Senators – likely pitting the rookie Merilainen against Shesterkin … although some coaches – Green included – do often subscribe to the approach to continue with the hot hand, which could mean another start for Forsberg.
Marcel Bonin passed away yesterday. He played on three of the Habs five straight Cup winners of the 1950s. That leaves only two men who played regular roles on any of those 5 teams. Phil Goyette and Andre Pronovost. They were not on the 1956 team but played on the next four.
Another smallish but effective, hard-working winger who never gave less than 100%.
I remember him with the Quebec Aces of the QSHL, often alongside Beliveau, when they’d come to Ottawa to play against the Senators.
R.I.P. Marcel.
I say again, George: Time to come back to your roots. The Habs are in your DNA.
I would like to know what discipline the two refs are getting because of the two crosschecking incidents on Saturday. If they would’ve done their jobs and call a penalty on Garland, then neither of the crosschecks would of happened. Typical NHL incompetence. This is why the players feel the need to put things in their hands, because the refs don’t do their jobs!
I think they were going to call a penalty KevJam, but I might be wrong about that. So as per the rule, they aren’t supposed to. The Oilers never gave the puck up the entire time, so if the the refs blow it down, play stops and a face off. Not sure that would have been better with only a few seconds left.
McDavid is the type of player you want to keep in your lineup, so while difficult to contain the urge to cross check that POS in the head, now he/they will just keep doing it.
Actually they will keep doing anyway, what was I thinking. Fine that he did it, just don’t do it often and not in the playoffs.
Myers was worse, Bouchard didn’t do anything and doesn’t play that way every game like Garland does. And it was straight in the face.
Ray and Kevjam
Fully agree Kevjam that whole game was reffed inconsistently and brutally and directly led to 12 players (yep 12) getting penalized on the play , per McCauley “all other players on ice get a 2 minute minor”
Re call on Garland not made
No hand went up at all prior to skirmish; AND they did actually get possession for a millisecond by trying to clear it out; but it failed.
The poor reffing was all game
Questionable call leading to a PP goal on which there was a blatant trip (should then have been 4 on 4)
That lead to knaublock chewing a strip of both McCauley and Lee
Then they let a blatant Oiler high stick slide
Then Toccet chews a strip off McCauley/Lee
Rinse/repeat 2 more times
Now 2 players will both get a minimum of two games; one player has to check his chicklets; another will need a gallon of A-535 on his neck
Lee/McCauley…. Should get same suspension length for completely losing hold of that game
And I do like McCauley, so that shows you how bad they were
I only saw the highlights 8787, so have no idea if a ref had his arm in the air or not, but the Oil did have the puck except for a “millisecond”, which I don’t even remember, but take your word for it. I didn’t the backside ref in the highlight pack I saw.
Agree that when refs don’t make or miss the obvious calls, tensions rise and it escalates. Just like what happened. It’s predictable.
Unfortunately for McDavid, the NHL usually doesn’t see it that way. He crossed checked a guy in the side of the head/neck and is getting suspended. As will Myers.
Even the commentators were surprised Garland wasn`t getting a penalty for his rodeo exhibit, but then guys like McDavid, McKinnon and Matthews don`t draw penalties often considering the crap they go through. The whole day`s worth of games were a display of bad calls, non existent calls and mystery calls. But what do you expect from a bunch of guys who get paid peanuts to police a game of millionaires. Want better refs, they need to pay a fair wage to attract them. Refs take a lot of abuse from all sides, the travel is worse than any NHL` players travel and they do it for a fraction of the money.Linesmen are even worse off than the refs, the linesmen rarely see home during the season. I`ve refereed peewee games and even at that level, there`s a lot going on. If one can`t learn to shut the outside noise off, tough job
Well said, Yogi.
How about 0.5% of every player’s salary goes into a fund with which to at attract/train and pay enough officials to not only pay them better, but cut down on their travel?
At the extreme end, a player making $14 mil would fork over $700,000 while those on a basic ELC of $750,000 would cough up $37,500. Less than most fines. And I doubt they’d miss it at either end.
Looking through various team stats, I was startled to discover that, when it comes to shut-outs, Ottawa leads with 7, followed by Winnipeg with 6, New Jersey 5 and 7 tied with 4 each: Boston, Calgary, Montreal, NYR, Sr. Louis, Vancouver and Nashville.
At the other end of the scale, 5 have just the 1 SO to date: Colorado, San Jose, Anaheim, Seattle and Utah, while 2 – Chicago and Pittsburgh – have yet to register one.
https://www.espn.com/nhl/stats/team/_/view/goaltending/table/defensive/sort/shutouts/dir/desc
I forgot kovalev played for Montreal.
Played for Ottawa too – just the one season
I’m not a Rempe fan but he really is less penalized when he’s in the AHL than when he dresses in the NHL.
Laviolette could learn some lessons from St. Louis and turn him into a player instead of treating him like a piece of meat.
Xhekaj fought more than he does now, St. Louis was excoriated for reining him in but he was doing his job, making him a player who can fight not a fighter that spends more time in the penalty box than on the ice.
Laviolette coaches like a neanderthal and is throwing this kids future into the toilet.
Unrelated but typical Laviolette, Fox swats a puck over the glass and is called for delay of game and Laviolette is doing the hand motion for a “deflection” so it shouldn’t be a penalty, ffs it was batted out of the air, not even a remotely close all.
Perfect example was Reeves goating Xhekaj on Saturday night. Xhekaj already whooped his ass once before. Didn’t take the bait and instead leveled Reeves with an open ice hit.
I doubt Xhekaj was interested in fighting Rempe until Rempe dropped his gloves and got a few quick ones in. When was the last time the reigning NHL heavyweight was also a serviceable hockey player?
John Ferguson.
The Habs quarter century team is a reminder of how poor to middling the team has been.
Koivu and Plekanec were 2C’s playing as #1.
Kovalev spent most of his career in NY and Pittsburgh.
Weber spent most of his career in Nashville.
At least talent is back in Montreal now.
Bring Rempe home to the Flames. I find value in the dude and I don’t think he lost the fight. It was a tie.
A tie?
Explains why you see value in Rempe.
Look at the full fight. And George O whatever dude. He didn’t go Bambi and those dudes did exactly what they knew was gonna happen. It was a good fight. I wouldn’t declare a winner. Its Just eastern nhl hype.
The only one of the two who went rubbery legs after taking a hit was Rempe
Rempe started throwing before Xhekaj even had his mitts off, so looked like he had an edge early.
But once Xhekaj was fully engaged, and tied up Rempe’s arms, he got it going and won in a clear decision. Xhekaj landed a few clean shots vs a couple glancing blows from Rempe.
They both knew it was coming so implying he’s unprepared is dumb. The Hab just didn’t want the instigator. He didn’t win the fight and ufc foot sweep at the end is whatever.
I didn’t say that he didn’t know it was coming, suggesting so is dumb, or that you lack basic comprehension skills. They did the gloves to the face/pushing dance, Rempe dropped his gloves and started throwing first. Clear as day.
It wasn’t the both drop while apart, everybody clears out, then they go thing. Which is the other option heavy weights sometimes take.
He landed clean shots, Rempe didn’t, pretty simple. Decision Xhekaj. Name calling doesn’t change it.
Lack basic comprehension skills isn’t name calling?
Don’t waste your time, Ray. But I’m sure you have the measure of H now.
Yes, it was name calling H.
Intentional, but simply returning fire.
I always address it LJ, whether directed at me or anyone else. It’s what I do.
I appreciate everyone’s opinion on this site. I don’t mean to come off that way. I just saw the fight differently. And I like George o’s analysis on hockey. I read it every morning. Dumb was a bad choice of words. Let’s drop it.
Already forgotten H
Yep, all good
Nice recovery.
That’s how you’re supposed to handle difference of opinion in here, H.
Stick tap to you and the regulars for being civil.
Spiffy.