NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 18, 2025
Recaps of Monday’s games, the three stars of the week are revealed, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored two goals and collected an assist to lead his team over the Calgary Flames 6-2. William Nylander had a goal and two assists for the Leafs (83 points) as they moved within two points of the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers. Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl replied for the Flames (71 points), who remain two points behind the Vancouver Canucks for the final Western Conference wild-card berth.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Matthews set an NHL record among American-born players with 36 multi-goal periods, surpassing Hall-of-Famer Jeremy Roenick (35). The Leafs are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning but the latter holds second place in the division with 34 regulation wins. Meanwhile, the Flames have lost seven of their last nine games.
Speaking of the Lightning, they got a 21-save shutout from Andrei Vasilevskiy to blank the Philadelphia Flyers 2-0. Nikita Kucherov and Jake Guentzel scored for the Lightning as they pulled within two points of the division-leading Panthers. The Flyers have dropped eight of their last 10 games.
New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen kicked out 45 shots in a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, handing the latter their fourth straight loss. Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt each tallied their 20th goals of the season. Mathieu Olivier scored for the Blue Jackets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Devils are third in the Metropolitan Division with 80 points. The Blue Jackets (70 points) remain two points behind the New York Rangers for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Third-period goals by Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson gave the Minnesota Wild a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings, snapping the latter’s five-game win streak. Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings (81 points), who remain one point behind the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. The Wild hold the first Western wild card with 81 points.
An overtime goal by Alex Tuch lifted the Buffalo Sabres over the Boston Bruins 3-2. Owen Power had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who won two of their last three games. Morgan Geekie had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (69 points), who’ve lost six of their last eight and remain three points out of the final Eastern wild card.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sabres forwards JJ Peterka, Josh Norris and Jiri Kulich missed this game due to injuries. Peterka and Norris are expected to return to action later this week.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Los Angeles Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, New Jersey Devils winger Jesper Bratt, and Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour are the league’s three stars for the week ending March 16, 2025.
The San Jose Sharks have been officially eliminated from the 2025 playoff race. A lack of secondary scoring doomed the rebuilding club’s postseason hopes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks’ postseason drought has reached six seasons. Before 2019-20, their longest stretch without playoff appearances was two years (1991-92 to 1992-93, 1995-96 to 1996-97).
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog joined his teammates for a full practice on Monday, though he’s still not cleared for contact. It marks the first time this season Landeskog has participated in a full practice as he attempts a comeback since undergoing knee surgeries nearly three years ago.
ROTOWIRE: Speaking of the Avalanche, defenseman Josh Manson will likely be sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury suffered during Friday’s game against the Calgary Flames.
NEW YORK POST: The Islanders will continue to rely heavily on goaltender Ilya Sorokin as they attempt to remain in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
TSN: Clarification on goaltender interference and other coach’s challenges were the main topics on Monday during the league’s annual spring general managers’ meeting.
NHL.COM: Former NHL defenseman Tomas Kloucek sided Sunday following a skiing accident in Czechia. He was 45 years old.
Kloucek appeared in 141 NHL regular-season games with the New York Rangers, Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers from 2000-01 to 2005-06, tallying two goals and eight assists for 10 points and 250 PIMs. He spent the remainder of his playing career in Europe, retiring in 2017.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Kloucek’s family, friends, former teammates and coaches.
“Clarification on goaltender interference and other coach’s challenges were the main topics on Monday during the league’s annual spring general managers’ meeting.”
There has certainly been some inconsistent reffing lately
Watched thr Avs/Stars tilt yhe other day and no call on Robertson’s cross-check to Makar’s face and later on a phantom trip call
Last night I watched the Flames/Leafs game where it was rife with missed trips and hooks and then questionable calls actually made. On top of that, a goal called back for off side with 6 players right on the blue-line blocking the view of the puck . How did they determine it was actually off-side.
Hey 87, some would argue that the reffing has been remarkably consistent. Consistently not calling penalties. And that it’s been a trend for more than a decade. So unless folks think players have suddenly become more disciplined, one could believe it is intentional on the leagues part, or they are ignoring an obvious problem.
So Jason Gregor did a deep dive into the data on Oilers Nation, and discussed it on his radio show yesterday.
Key data points:
1 – PP’s/game this season are at their lowest point since the league started tracking them in 1978.
2 – the 11 lowest PP’s/game seasons have been the last 11 seasons. That’s an eye opener.
So how do you explain that NHL?
If you want to read it, link is below.
https://oilersnation.com/news/monday-musings-power-plays-are-way-down-leon-draisaitl-a-rare-dual-threat-and-more
Man you’re a weird dude 8787. Who watches a game of a team you despise? Hate watch much?
I love people like you who can’t see how so it must of been a bad call. There was one replay they showed that 1 they did not have control of the puck on entry and 2 the puck hit the leg/skate of a player and bounced towards where Kadri was already a foot or two offside. That’s how they determined it offside.
Ron,
You spelled Pengy wrong.
And he’s a huge Leafs fan!
And watched their last cup win seated on his daddy’s knee
In hockey refereeing will always be inconsistent. Judgement calls made by 2 refs while trying to avoid 10 players travelling at 30+ kph, pucks at 5 times that speed, plus they have to keep up with the play. Not to mention the low pay, always on the road and doing as many as 120 games in a season. Minor details. Refs have more camera angles to view than we see on the TV. And Captain Obvious who obviously misses it again. Pengy/Penguins, he was never a Leafs fan. Just because someone talks about the Leafs once in a while doesn`t make him a Leafs fan. If that was the case then everyone who posts in this forum would be Leafs fans, now that wouldn`t be any fun at all
Pengy was / is a leafs fan from Canada. This was openly discussed before he threw on his 8787 persona and decided he was only a Pens fan.
He was a fan of both. Not impossible. I’m a Ranger fan that follows Tampa. Until they play each other.
Same with me and Ottawa and the Habs. As I posted a month or so ago, I’d love to see both get in the playoffs … and the possibility is still strong.
A perfect outcome tonight would be a Montreal win in OT or the SO – 2 points for them to vault over the Rangers and 1 to push Ottawa to 78.
They’d need NY to lose to Calgary tonight as well.
I’m not hoping for any of that. But I did resign myself in November/ December that NY reaching the playoffs was a long shot.
Yeah, overlooked the fact this is the second of a back-to-back for the Flames … and not in an easy place to pull off a win.
Rangers should prevail tonight.
Jake Allen certainly did his former Habs teammates a good turn last night.
He did. Jake just needs to play 14 more games to turn the third round pick to a second.
The Devils have only 13 games left so it’s not happening.
Poof goes that hope.
Carolina doesn’t get much press so I am sure that this NHL record went unnoticed. Quote from Hurricanes website… Although the NHL has only officially kept track of the data since the 1997-98 season, Jankowski is the first player on record in those 28 seasons to score four goals on his first four shots with a franchise. Jankowski came from Nashville at the trade deadline. The kid has not missed a shot yet.
Thanks Snuffy! That’s crazy.
Should saved for shoot outs
Frequently this season there have been threads in here with many of us taking pot-shots at the Buffalo Sabres as to how bad – or at least hopelessly dysfunctional – they are (I am as guilty as anyone in that regard). But you know what? When you look at their current record closely – built over 66 games – and take into account that crushing 13-game winless streak from Nov 23 to Dec 24, I think they may be closer to finally turning it around.
After their win over Boston last night they sit with a 27 33 6 60 pts record with 209gf and 232ga for a differential of -23. Compared to the teams now in a battle for that second WC spot, that’s just
6 wins less and 4 losses more than the NYR (who have played 2 more games), with 5 more goals scored than NY and 28 more relinquished
5 wins less and 6 losses more than Montreal (same # of gp) with 12 more goals scored and 16 more relinquished
5 wins less and 4 losses more than Detroit (who have played 1 more game) with 15 more goals scored and 11 more relinquished
4 wins less and 5 losses more than Columbus (who have played 1 more game) with 9 fewer goals scored and 9 more relinquished
3 wins less and 3 losses more than Boston (who have played 3 more games) with 23 more goals scored and 11 more relinquished
3 wins less and 5 losses more than the NYI (same # of games played) with 30 more goals scored and 36 more relinquished.
It would probably take an analyst to sort out all the factors that contributed to that 13 game skid when they went 0 – 10 – 3 – something no other team has come close to this season I don’t believe – but when you look at it closely, with the exception of a couple of blowouts just before it ended – by which point they were probably frustrated beyond belief – they were in most of them:
0-1 to Minn; 3-4 to Vanc in OT; 0-3 to NYI; 4-5 to Col; 2-3 to Wpg in OT; 2-5 to Utah; 5-6 to Det in a SO; 2-3 to NYR; 2-4 to Wash; 3-5 to Tor (incl, an empty-netter); 1-6 to Mtl; 3-6 to Tor; 1-3 to Bos before finally ending it with a 7-1 win over NYI on Dec 24.
Take that streak out of the equation and over 53gp they have gone 27 – 23 – 3 with 181gf and 178ga +3
Thanks George. Right now I would gladly trade all the Canucks for all the Sabres. At least they have some youthful high end talent entering their prime. Take away Quinn Hughes and we have… Not much at all these days.
George, did something special make it into your coffee today? Taking your example of being close as 6 games = 12 points. That’s a lot.
Looking at their regular season record for the past 10 years, the Sabres “winning” percentage is .465.
One might argue that it is the most recent results that are pertinent; ok, their best season in those 10 years was in 22-23, but that was an outlier as they have regressed in the last two years.
This season their record is currently .455. And it might be piling on, but about that streak of missing the playoffs? Where is the positive?
And while an individual move in isolation, they just acquired injury plagued Norris for Cozens, and Norris promptly got injured. Ouch, ouch, multiple ouches.
LJ. Norris is back next game. And all I was trying to do there was to point out the close margin of some of the 10 losses in that 13-game skid, and if just half of those had gone the other way, they’d be right in the thick of that WC race. The math doesn’t lie.
Nope. But neither does a consistent track record.
And as you point out in your 12;24 post they don’t have a lot of cap room to bring in an impact player.
Things can change in one big trade that no one sees coming, but even their GM has said they can’t get UFAs to come to Buffalo – no palm trees! So one has to have a very high happy quotient to see sunshine for the Sabres.
https://www.tiktok.com/@truthndbeyond/video/7367425574752636193
You’re funny George, I too was thinking the same thing. They are close to turning it around and like I’ve said they do have some good talent there, I think the coach is the right guy for now but they just need some Washington magic and sign guys that will help them grow and insulate the young inexperienced players.
If they have cap space they should exploit every option to add team character guys that won’t be an anchor. Some time and some smart additions might be the start to something special in Buffalo again.
Ron, they are committed to 10F (Thompson, Zucker, Tuch, Greenway, Lafferty, Krebs, Malenstyn, Benson, Rosen, Kulich) 4D (Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Clifton) and 1G (Luukkonen) at a total cap hit of 67,842,737 and with the cap projected to be $95.5 mil and dead cap of $4,444,444 in the Jeff Skinner buyout, that leaves them with $23,212,819 with which to sign 8.
It’s doubtful they re-up any of their own pending UFAs (RW Brett Murray ($775,000), LD Jacob Bryson ($900,000) and G James Reimer ($1 mil), but it will cost them more to re-up their 4 RFAs (left shot C Ryan McLeod (675gp 15g 22a 37 pts exp. $2.1 mil cap hit), RW Jack Quinn (59gp 10g 16a 26 pts $863,334 exp. cap hit), left-shot C John-Jason Peterka (61g 19g 32 51 pts $855,854 exp. cap hit) and left shot C Tyson Kozak 13gp 1 0 1 pt exp. cap hit $850,000).
Peterka should cost the most, so let’s say the 4 come in at around $10 mil collectively, that leaves then with about $13 mil to sign 4. They would, as you say, be best served by concentrating on at least 2 of the better veteran UFAs who might be abailable.
Hey George! I think you are missing that Byram is an RFA & his qualifying offer going to almost eat up 1/2 of that $$$/cap space for those others you mentioned. Im thinking Byram is going to be looking for a much more significant raise however.
Hey George! I think you are missing that Byram is an RFA & his qualifying offer going to almost eat up 1/2 of that $$$/cap space for those others you mentioned. Im thinking Byram is going to be looking for a much more significant raise however.
thanks Potlicker … don’t know how the Hell I overlooked Byram! And Bernard-Docker – although his cost to re-up should be minimal!
Of course, you’re absolutely right. Byram and Peterka will eat up the greater portion of that cap space. But even then, they should have enough left over to try and target a veteran. It doesn’t have to be one of the premium UFAs – but one who qualifies as a steady, positional player who can bring a bit more veteran presence to that group.
The Sabres have seemingly been close to turning it around for ten years now. Let’s not hold our collective breaths.
You can’t just say that their record would be good if you throw out a long losing streak. That’s what a winning team is all about. Persevering over the ups and downs of a long season. And the Sabres can’t seem to do that.
The Atlantic division is as balanced as I have seen it in years! Boston has slipped but everyone else has improved with Fla.TB and Toronto still the class of the division!Watched the Boston/ Buffalo game last night and Buffalo is not that far away
They need to trade for Lindholm as a vet to guide them. Bruins will take their 2 round pick
Sabres have an ownership problem. Terry Pegula was rated the worst owner in a recent Athletic poll.This is where the problem is. Unlike the Bills, Pegula will not hire anyone outside the organization to run the team. They have hired and fired General Managers and Coaches on a regular basis. They fired Jason Botterill because Pegula wanted to fire the whole scouting staff after Botterill rebuilt it. Pegula fired him because he didn’t do it .
The Sabres problems actually started under Tom Golisano and Darcy Regier. They fired almost the whole scouting staff because Golisano was a shrewd businessman who liked to cut corners. He fired most of the scouting staff to go to video scouting. The Sabres lost a lot of talented scouts and personnel in these bloodlettings.
The Sabres 3 biggest RFA’S are JJ Peterka ,Ryan McLeod, and Bowen Byram. They have plenty of loot to throw around. There problems is 14 years of losing with a bad business model.