NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 17, 2025
The Avalanche spoil Mikko Rantanen’s homecoming, Oilers star Leon Draisaitl extends his points streak, plus the latest on Auston Matthews, Travis Konecny and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Colorado Avalanche spoiled Mikko Rantanen’s return with a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. Cale Makar scored in overtime and collected two assists while teammates Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin each had a goal and an assist. Rantanen collected an assist on Jason Robertson’s game-opening goal while teammates Mavrik Bourque and Matt Duchene scored in the third period to force the extra frame.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rantanen received a standing ovation from the Colorado fans during his video tribute. He spent nearly 10 seasons with the Avalanche.
The Avalanche are 8-0-1 in their last nine games, gaining ground on Dallas in the Central Division standings. They sit two points behind the Stars in third place with 85 points. Dallas has dropped three of their last four contests.
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (NHL Images).
Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl had an assist to extend his points streak to 18 games as his club downed the New York Rangers 3-1. Connor McDavid scored and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins collected three assists as the Oilers (82 points) moved one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings into second place in the Pacific Division. Will Cuylle replied for the Rangers as they cling to the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 72 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers winger Zach Hyman missed this game with an undisclosed injury.
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek made 18 saves to shut out the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0. Albert Johansson, Lucas Raymond and Marco Kasper scored for the Wings as they picked up their second win in their last nine games. The victory moves within two points of the Rangers in the wild-card race. The Golden Knights sit first in the Pacific Division with 86 points but have dropped four of their last five games.
The St. Louis Blues cruised to a 7-2 drubbing of the Anaheim Ducks. Jordan Kyrou collected three assists while Dylan Holloway and Jake Neighbours each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who are tied with the Vancouver Canucks with 73 points. Cutter Gauthier and Mason McTavish each had two points for the Ducks.
Speaking of the Canucks, they dropped a 3-1 decision to the Utah Hockey Club. Logan Cooley snapped a 1-1 tie and Clayton Keller put the game away with an empty-net goal as Utah sits two points behind the Blues and Canucks. Quinn Hughes scored for Vancouver, who hold the final Western wild-card spot with a game in hand.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The race for the final Western wild card is heating up. For a while, it was just the Canucks and the Calgary Flames jockeying for that spot, but the Blues and Utah have surged over the past couple of weeks to make this interesting.
Canucks center Filip Chytil missed this game as he’s in concussion protocol following an unpenalized blindside hit by Chicago Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Utah Hockey Club announced that a lower-body injury has sidelined forward Liam O’Brien for the next four weeks.
The New York Islanders kept their playoff hopes alive by doubling up the Florida Panthers 4-2. Marc Gatcomb, Maxim Tsyplakov, Noah Dobson and Simon Holmstrom scored four unanswered third-period goals for the Isles (68 points), putting them four points behind the Rangers. Sam Reinhart and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who hold first place in the Atlantic Division with 85 points but have dropped three of their last four games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Islanders defenseman Mike Reilly returned to action after undergoing surgery in November for an abnormality in his heart, skating over 14 minutes and collecting an assist. Teammate Adam Pelech missed this game with a lower-body injury. Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury.
HEADLINES
TORONTO STAR: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews continues to be hampered by an undisclosed injury that has affected his scoring. Nevertheless, he’s determined to remain in the lineup as the Leafs jockey for playoff positioning with 16 games left in the regular season.
THE ATHLETIC: Philadelphia Flyers winger Travis Konecny is mired in a goal-scoring slump with one goal in his last 21 games. He’s also dealing with the departures of friends and former teammates Scott Laughton, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee this season.
ROTOBALLER: Buffalo Sabres forward Jiri Kulich is in concussion protocol following a hit by Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden on Saturday.
DAILY FACEOFF: Sunday’s PWHL game between the Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens drew 14, 288 to Detroit’s Little Caesar’s Arena, setting the US attendance record for women’s hockey. The Sirens defeated the Frost 4-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The PWHL has drawn 1 million fans in just two seasons.
RG.ORG: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk officially announced his retirement last week. The first-overall pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2001 NHL Draft, Kovalchuk spent 13 seasons in the league with the Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. Winner of the Maurice Richard Trophy in 2003-04, he finished with 443 goals and 433 assists for 876 points, and 11 goals and 28 points in 40 playoff games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kovalchuk was among the league’s most dazzling goal-scorers in his prime, He exceeded the 40-goal plateau six times between 2003-04 and 2009-10, including two 52-goal seasons.
Dylan Holloway got his 22nd goal and 29th assist for St.Louis. Victor Arvidsson got his 9th goal for Edmonton. That sums up the Oilers.
@ Alan Pinder-Moss … and you can bet the results have not been lost on other teams as we approach another season of RFA negotiations and possibly more offer sheets.
The Blues, with their win, are now tied with Vancouver at 73 pts each for the 2nd WC spot, although the Canucks do have a game in hand, and very instrumental in the Blues 7-2-1 surge over their past 10 have been Holloway (68gp 22g 29a 51 pts +11) and D-man Broberg (55gp 6g 15a 21pts +12).
I wouldn’t count the Oil out just yet, but ya, they should have matched Holloway. Or signed them sooner. But hindsight is easy.
Jackson (this all happened before Bowman) bet that they wouldn’t get offer sheeted and signed Skinner and Arvidsson before signing Holloway. That has definitely been the trend over the years, so not a unrealistic bet, and teams drag out the RFA’s until well after UFA’s are signed. Every year, every team, for years. Other than the obvious high end guys.
This year it changed, by one team, St Louis, and the Oilers got burned.
Guessing this will change RFA negotiations moving forward. Get em done prior to July 1. Guessing it pushes up the ask from agents, and what RFA’s get earlier in their careers.
GeorgeO I would like to see more RFA s offered! It would shake up the old guard!Edmonton has been hurt by having no depth all year!Losing Holloway and Broberg has really hurt them! Don t see Frederic signing there!
I really think we might see more offer sheets, Sr as the lesson is hitting home that the gamble – if you’re sure of the target – is worth what you have to relinquish in picks. Holloway was certainly worth it.
What a game!!! Avalanche get the job done. Nelson and Coyle, I like what they bring to the lineup. Too many turnovers ; however, they need to correct those things and too casual on PP
They skated circles around the Stars for 50 minutes of that game. Colorado looks soooo dangerous. Makar is on another level.
Starsfan, so when is Heiskanen back? Going to be tough to beat COL if you can’t put him on the ice against MacKinnon every chance you get.
You could make a good argument he is their best or at least most important player since he plays over 25 minutes a night.
When you play those type of minutes, at that level, he changes the team.
Plus that Harley kid on D was an eye opener in the 4 nations. Big, skates, handles, defends and amazingly poised in that difficult situation.
2 really good young D on that team. Nil deserves some credit. Plus he played in the AHL for the better part of 3 years so was ready when he came up.
COL is stacked up front plus Makar and Toews on the back end. Should be a great 1st rd series. One really good team will lose in round 1. As a reward, the winner get Winnipeg.
Starsfan, they are what concerns me about the Avalanche is they need to pay attention to little details of the game: managing the puck! But the are lethal when their on their game. It will be must see TV when these 2 teams are going to meet up. Dallas is very good and tough to play against. I don’t think a lot of fans realize the difficulty of the Central Division: jets, Avalanche, stars, blues, Minnesota Utah, Chicago. Every team despite their records on the bottom are all difficult teams to play against. Left Nashville out, lol but everyone is a challenge! I’m just happy the Avalanche are good. They are fun to watch
Thought the Jets played Seattle last night?
Jets wins so common these days they don’t even get a mention.
Vegas’ Brett Howden played against the Red Wings.
I wonder when the NHL Department of Player Safety will meet with Howden to discuss the intentional hit and injury to Buffalo’s Jiri Kulich.
Howden was suspended at least three weeks ago. He would be a repeat offender and could miss three or more games in a suspension.