NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 8, 2025
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon widens his lead in the points race while Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl becomes the first player this season to reach 40 goals. Details and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Colorado Avalanche forward Martin Necas’ third-period goal lifted his club to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and three assists while Cale Makar tallied twice and collected an assist as the Avalanche have won four of their last five games, holding the first Western Conference wild-card berth with 68 points. Leon Drasaitl and Corey Perry each scored two goals for the Oilers, who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 72 points.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: MacKinnon opened a four-point lead over Draisaitl in the points lead with 87 while Draisaitl is the league leader in goals with 40. He’s on pace to eclipse his career-high of 55 goals.
The Winnipeg Jets defeated the New York Islanders 4-3, tying a franchise record with their eighth straight win. Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves while Gabriel Vilardi scored two goals and picked up an assist as the Jets hold sole possession of first place in the overall standings with 81 points. This was the first loss for Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin since Jan. 16. With 57 points, the Isles are four points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hellebuyck remains on pace to become the first goalie to win the Vezina Trophy for the third time since Martin Brodeur in 2006-07. He’s also making a strong case to become the first netminder to win the Hart Memorial Trophy since Carey Price in 2014-15. He leads the league with 34 wins, a 2.06 goals-against average and six shutouts and is second in save percentage (.925).
Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist in regulation and scored the only goal in the shootout rounds to beat the Dallas Stars 5-4, giving the Kings their third straight win. Matt Duchene scored twice and added an assist for the Stars, who hold second place in the Central Division with 70 points. The Kings sit third in the Pacific Division with 64 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin missed this game with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
The Pittsburgh Penguins got three second-period goals by Blake Lizotte, Rickard Rakell and Philip Tomasino to hold off the New York Rangers 3-2. Bryan Rust collected two assists for the Penguins, who were playing without captain Sidney Crosby in this contest due to an upper-body injury. Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (56 points), who sit five points out of the final Eastern wild-card berth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Crosby participated in practice on Friday but there is no timetable for his return. This game was a golden opportunity for the Rangers to take advantage of the struggling, injury-battered Penguins and gain ground on the Red Wings for that wild-card spot. They can’t afford many more losses like that if they hope to bounce back from their first-half collapse and clinch a postseason spot.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato scored twice and picked up two assists in a 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. Connor Bedard, Seth Jones and Frank Nazar each had a goal and an assist and Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots for the Blackhawks as they ended a three-game losing skid. Colton Sissons and Tommy Novak replied for the Predators, who have dropped six straight.
IN OTHER NEWS…
MSN: The Vegas Golden Knights placed center William Karlsson on long-term injury reserve. Karlsson hasn’t played since Jan. 20 when he suffered a lower-body injury. There’s no timeline yet for his return.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The conspiracy theorists will immediately claim the Golden Knights are shutting Karlsson down for the regular season to free up his $5.9 million cap hit and put the savings toward acquiring a player at the trade deadline. However, Karlsson is expected to return before the end of this season.
TSN: There was another Friday trade but not a blockbuster compared to the Mikko Rantanen move two weeks ago and last week’s J.T. Miller deal. The Vancouver Canucks traded defenseman Mark Friedman to the Predators for future considerations.
If Mark Messier had as little talent surrounding him as Bedard has in Chicago, he should back off a bit.
Bedard will learn the defensive aspects of his game but its takes time. Jeff Skinner in Edmonton is having to learn this at 32.
Oilers two poor games in a row. Chicago and Colorado. Skinner pulled. Boy there are a lot of negative comments about him. Questions about Bouchard and McDavid. Mcdavid off to Bettmans pet project.
For the Oilers to make a deep run this year, they have to find themselves a true No. 1 goalie, not an easy task at this point in the season and the other GMs know this so it will cost them a king’s ransom. Skinner may be home grown but his inconsistency is scary.
As for Bouchard, heck of a shot from the point but a serious liability defensively. The Oilers should trade Bouchard soon before his trade value sinks even more. As it stands, they may be able to get a #1 draft pick & a serviceable
defenseman (or a goalie) but they must act quickly.
No Crosby, No Malkin
@ Rangers
Shesterkin in net
No way would I have bet on a Pens win
Great V for Pens
That said; still not making playoffs AND Rangers loss hinders them eventually getting to 19th overall OR better (Pens pick [Rangers vis Cannucks] is top 13 protected).
Re Crosby in or out of 4 Nations; I am selfishly (and sadly) hoping he rests the tournament)
I thought that would cheer you up 8787. Anyone who bet on that outcome will be drinking champagne for breakfast today.
guess Vegas is freeing up the space now so they can acquire McDavid and Marner at the deadline? maybe Shesterkin or Sorokin as well
I Don t really understand the legalities of the LTIR ,but I wonder why a team like Vegas uses it’s as a weapon and why a team like Boston who has had Lindholm out for 40 games doesn t use it!
Re; Nashville at the bottom
The Nashville Predators GM has made some really bad trades and ufa pick up since becoming the GM, the Team has not jelled at all….
The team is playing bad they are in 30th Spot…⁉️ They got Hammered bye the Blackhawk’s
i wonder who they will trade in the next 3.5 weeks before the trade deadline,
They have $31.M in cap space at the deadline,
They have 3 X 1st round picks and 2 X 2nd round picks in this years draft… one looks to be A
very good one Top 5 pick…👍
the other 2 about 20th pick and 30th pick in the 1st round.
I wonder what his game plan is to Re-tool and or A Re-build…❓
willew, and yet Nashville has 3 players at the 4 Nations – Forsberg and Nyquist with Sweden and Saros with Finland
And Canada’s 3 goalies are Binnington (2.80 gaa – 0.907 save %), Hill (2.64gaa 0.900 save %) and Montembeault (2.99 gaa – 0.898 save %).
Washington, meanwhile, is the ONLY team in the NHL without a representative on any of the 4 teams.
For Team Canada alone you have to wonder about the exclusions of Dylan Strome (15g 37a 52 pts in 54 gp), D Jacob Chychrun (14g 21a 35 pts and +21) and goalie Logan Thompson W24 L2 2.18gaa and 0.923 save %). WTF?
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/43735959/no-capitals-4-nations-face-get-rest
Yes Agreed
I thought Logan Thompson would be on team Canada
I was Shocked they picked
Sam Montembeault
He has been very very inconsistent.❗️
I Was hoping they may pick Stu Skinner at the start of the season But he too has been very Inconsistent
Maybe the New Baby and No Sleep ……🤔❓
Trotz isn’t the only great coach who has made poor GM decisions.
Scotty Bowman was awesome in Montreal as coach but when Sam Pollock retired the GM job went to Grundman, and Scotty left Buffalo as gm/coach.
He never really made it wearing the gm hat.
Kind of a wake up call to all of us GMs and Coaches who know it all, even the guys who DO know can’t always dp it right.
Being a successful GM requires skills far different than being a successful coach. To succeed as a coach you have to know what it takes to win on the ice and to be able to motivate the players and to work with them on improving their games.
To be a successful GM you have to have people skills. You have to deal with agents and other executives on other teams. You have to have patience with people, especially players.
Bowman was a great coach but his people skills were lacking and he tended to make panic moves at the first sign of trouble.
A bit of an oddity in their 14 games each have played since the 41-ga,e half-way mark is the identical records posted by Columbus and Carolina, right down to the number of goals scored and allowed!
Columbus 14gp 8 4 2 .643 40 34 +6
Carolina 14gp 8 4 2 .643 40 34 +6
Be interesting to see how each fares tonight in their final games before the 2-week break.
Carolina is at home to Utah while Columbus hosts the NYR. Surely the scores won’t be identical! I’d like to see the odds on that happening.