NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 28, 2025
A five-point game for Utah’s Clayton Keller, the Predators end the Jets’ win streak, the Oilers drop their fifth straight, the Blue Jackets beat the Red Wings ahead of Saturday’s Stadium Series game, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Utah Hockey Club winger Clayton Keller had a career-high five points (one goal, four assists) in a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists for Utah (63 points) as they moved within two points of the Vancouver Canucks for the final Western Conference wild-card berth. Frederick Gaudreau scored for the Wild, who sit third in the Central Division with 72 points.
Utah Hockey Club winger Clayton Keller (NHL Images).
The Nashville Predators ended the Winnipeg Jets’ franchise-record win streak at 11 games with a 2-1 victory. Juuse Saros made 24 saves, while Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak scored for the Predators. Neal Pionk replied for the Jets, who remain first overall in the standings with 87 points.
Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell had a goal and two assists to hold off the Edmonton Oilers 4-3, handing the latter their fifth straight loss. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 shots for the Panthers as they vaulted over the Toronto Maple Leafs into first place in the Atlantic Division with 75 points. Leon Drasaitl tallied his league-leading 44th goal and Zach Hyman netted his 20th as the Oilers sit second in the Pacific Division with 72 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Edmonton captain Connor McDavid has been struggling since scoring the tournament-winning goal for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off. He admits he hasn’t played up to his usual standard, managing three assists in his club’s last four games. Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse missed this game as he’s day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Meanwhile, sidelined Oilers winger Evander Kane’s full no-trade clause reverts to a 16-team no-trade list on Feb. 28.
The Columbus Blue Jackets scored four second-period goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings ahead of their Stadium Series game on Saturday in Columbus. James van Riemsdyk scored two goals and Boone Jenner collected three assists as the Jackets picked up their third straight win. They hold the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 66 points and 29 regulation wins. J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (66 points), who hold the first wild-card spot with 30 regulation wins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The two teams will face off on Saturday before an estimated 90,000 fans at Ohio Stadium. Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan wasn’t pleased with the performance of several of his core players, singling out team captain Dylan Larkin among the no-shows.
St. Louis Blues defenseman Philip Broberg scored twice as his club defeated the Washington Capitals 5-2. Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist while teammate Brayden Schenn played in his 1,000th regular-season NHL game as the Blues (62 points) sit three points behind the Canucks in the Western wild-card race. Connor McMichael had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who’ve lost two straight games but remain first overall in the Eastern Conference with 84 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Brayden Schenn joined his brother, Predators defenseman Luke Schenn, as the 10th siblings in NHL history to play 1,000 games. Luke played his 1,000th game on Oct. 17th against the Oilers.
Anaheim Ducks forwards Ryan Strome and Troy Terry each had a goal and two assists in a 5-2 upset of the Vancouver Canucks. Tyler Myers had a goal and an assist for the Canucks as they cling to the final Western wild-card berth with 65 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canucks defenseman Noah Juulsen is set to undergo season-ending hernia surgery. He’s been out since Feb. 2. The Ducks added winger Robby Fabbri (upper body) to their injured reserve list.
The Tampa Bay Lightning got a 27-save shutout from Andrei Vasilevskiy to blank the Calgary Flames 3-0. Brandon Hagel and Victor Hedman each had two points as the Lightning picked up their seventh straight win (72 points), moving within two points of the second-place Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division. The Flames remain one point behind the Canucks in the Western wild-card race.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Lightning learned that backup goaltender Jonas Johansson will be ready for action by as early as next Tuesday. He’s been sidelined since Jan. 28 with a knee injury.
Carolina Hurricanes winger Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Taylor Hall scored his first goal with the Hurricanes since he and Rantanen joined the team on Feb. 24. Carolina sits second in the Metropolitan Division with 72 points. Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres.
The Vegas Golden Knights scored five first-period goals on their way to a 7-5 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. Ivan Barbashev scored twice and collected two assists, Keegan Kolesar tallied two goals, and Jack Eichel collected an assist to set the Golden Knights’ single-season franchise record with 51 assists. Vegas holds first place in the Pacific Division with 76 points. Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy had three assists and forward Frank Nazar had two helpers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury. There was no post-game update on his status.
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin kicked out 38 shots to nip the Boston Bruins 2-1. Alexander Romanov and Kyle Palmieri scored for the Isles. Boston winger David Pastrnak scored, extending his points streak to 16 games while reaching the 800-point plateau. However, the loss left the Bruins (62 points) four points behind the Blue Jackets in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Bruins announced that forward Trent Frederic is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. They also placed forward Oliver Wahlstrom on waivers.
The Montreal Canadiens kept their playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks. Cole Caufield tallied the winning goal, while Nick Suzuki scored twice and collected an assist as the Canadiens (61 points) won their third straight game and sit five points back of the Blue Jackets. Will Smith and Alexander Wennberg each had two points for the Sharks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson collected his 40th assist in this game, becoming the first rookie defenseman to reach that milestone in less than 60 games since Hall-of-Famer Nicklas Lidstrom in 1991-92.
Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin scored the tying and winning goals as his club overcame 3-0 and 4-2 deficits to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-4 in overtime. Malkin also had two assists on the night, while Erik Karlsson scored two goals and picked up an assist. Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov also had two goals and an assist.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins came to life after goalie Alex Nedeljkovic ripped into his teammates and coaches after he was pulled from the game with the Flyers leading 3-0. Penguins forward Michael Bunting missed this game after undergoing appendix surgery and is sidelined indefinitely.
Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway was helped from the ice in the second period after receiving a blindside hit from Penguins forward Bokondji Imama, who was penalized for interference.
San Jose is a talented young team, with a good young coach that shows well and with 6 picks in the first 2 rounds in the next two rounds, they should start to match the eye test.
Regarding my suggestion of tradee yesterday here is a variation on it.
Evans and Armia to Detroit for Christian Fischer and a 1st.
It’s no secret that Detroit is on the cusp but the penalty kill is abysmal, Evans and Armia are one of the better pairs and solve that problem
Habs lose two well liked performing players but the team just isn’t there yet and a 1st will get more when they are ready.
Fischer fills a bottom 6 role to close the year and is also UFA
lago,
Evans and Armia aren’t 2 4th line players, they are bottom six who can move up and down, both with playoff experience.
Mostly they are at the top end of pk duos in the NHL and an improved +/- there gets them into the playoffs.
Success comes with filling in the puzzle and Detroit happens to have one of the better prospect pools, so using that to clear the hump should be a consideration.
Set my proposal aside, what does Detroit need to make the playoffs and have a run? What are the possibilities
Detroit needs a top 4 RHD and a #2C. If they were to offer up their #1 2025 pick, it should only be as part of the package to fill one of those holes in their roster.
Habfan30, San Jose has the worst record in the NHL at 15-36-9,and are -71 for the year! Draft picks are wonderful but it s a crap shoot on whether they develop and how long it will take!
Detroit says ” no thank you” to that offer. Trading a first round pick and a fourth line player for 2 fourth line players doesn’t make sense.
No kidding. As fans we all seam to over value our players
Most of the NHL is looking for a top 4 RH D!Carlo fits this description! Boston should entertain any offers!
Mcdavid has not been himself all season. There are flashes of course but the games he dominated from start to finish are less than expected.
Not sure if it is physical, maybe a nagging injury or mental (ups and downs of cup loss…marriage…four nations..) just trying to peak at the right time…March April and playoffs has historical lyrics been his highest ppg %.
The team was not horrible last night…but they are fragile. And I want to know why Stu did not go to the bench when the Oilers got the puck possession. I don’t think it changes the outcome but was it a mental lapse or miscommunication? It was odd
1Oilerfan, McDavid hasn’t been himself all season, and his been downright awful(compared to his standard) for the last 5 games. Is like a ridiculous minus 10 or something.
Knoblauch saying there were some passengers last night is like Torts trying to fight one of his own guys. Knoblauch saves his bullets and rarely says anything publicly. So that was telling. And I watched it too, they were better, but you could just tell they weren’t going to win that game. It’s like they knew it. Clouds brewing.
Some things are becoming obvious and can’t be ignored:
1 – Bouchard is playing terribly defensively. He used to outscore his mistakes, not anymore. Now it’s so obvious, for so long, it has to be effecting the team. They aren’t blind.
The 3rd goal is a direct result of him either being lazy or stupid and not recognizing and easy play to halt a 1 on 2.
2 – FWD Skinner and Arvidsson are not working out. Again, the players know. And they know the speed, aggressiveness and contributions of the forwards that are gone. McLeod, Holloway and Foegele. Thanks MGT.
3 – Stu Skinner is struggling for a month. I am the least concerned about him, as team D is a major contributor, and he usually gets it going again. He could have saved Bouchard’s butt on that 3rd goal, but he would like it back. A bit of a wiff. Good luck finding a tender.
This lands on Bowman and Jackson. They assumed no offer sheet would come, and I get that, they rarely do, but they got burned. They could have kept 2 of the 3 forwards I mention above vs Skinner and Arvidsson and all 3 if they don’t re-sign Henrique. They would be better.
This team will play better and get it turned around, they don’t suck as bad as they have for the last month, but it’s hard if not impossible to see them repeating the run like they had last year. They aren’t playing close to that level right now and the way they are constructed it seems highly unlikely that they get there.
TDL should be interesting. Give up on this season or make 3 or 4 moves at the TDL to try and save it. It will cost assets to move some guys so best be careful. What’s Connor thinking? 1 year away from UFA.
They don’t need major surgery, but it ain’t day surgery either. Won’t be easy.
Rant over. Frustrated by my Bruins, but my expectations were low. Now my hometown Oilers are struggling to. At least some other Canadian teams are looking good, hopefully one of them makes a run.
OK now the rant’s over.
Very well said Ray Bark.
You could say the same about Austin Matthews. Hard to follow up a season with 69 goals, like shooting a 59 in golf, but Matthews has struggled this year so far. We’ll see how things look in the playoffs.
Detroit needs a top 4 RHD and a #2C. If they were to offer up their #1 2025 pick, it should only be as part of the package to fill one of those holes in their roster.
Lane Hutson is having one of the best seasons for a rookie defenseman in NHL history. He’s currently on pace for 61 points. If he hits that, it’ll be the 7th highest total for a rookie D-man.
Really like the Hutson kid and both his Brothers at BU, but I want to see him in a seven game Stanley Cup Playoff series where the physicality steps up!
As Lyle mentioned the Schenn brothers joining the 1000 game club and I think they are the first to do it in the same season. A further obscure fact is this year the Blues have had Fowler play in game 1000, Suter play game 1500, and now Schenn gets to his 1000th game. All 3 milestones were accomplished while they were wearing this year’s winter classic sweaters, a smart marketing touch by that department.
Luv those Blues Jersey’s Snold 49.
Good to see a couple Saskatoon brothers get to a 1000 games in the same season. Well done boys!
Watch out for Utah, CGY and VCR fans. Got a couple veteran D back and playing well.
They play really good hockey at 5 on 5, their record could easily be better than it is. SH% is low and their PK and SV% could be better.
Those D coming back could help with that.
Turning into a 3 team race for that last WC spot.