NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 11, 2025
Capitals clinch first place in the Eastern Conference, Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and Panthers coach Paul Maurice each reach notable career milestones, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF THURSDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: The Washington Capitals clinched first place in the Eastern Conference and in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Pierre-Luc Dubois netted the winning goal in the shootout and also scored in regulation while Tom Wilson tallied his 33rd of the season. Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis scored late in the third period to force overtime and the shootout. The Capitals have 109 points, three behind the first-overall Winnipeg Jets. With 97 points, the Hurricanes have secured second in the Metro.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Capitals also honored team captain Alex Ovechkin’s record-breaking 895th regular-season goal with a pregame ceremony. Ovechkin tallied that goal against the New York Islanders on Sunday.
Speaking of the Jets, they secured a stranglehold on the Central Division crown by blanking the Dallas Stars 4-0. Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for his league-leading eighth shutout of the season and Kyle Connor tallied twice for the Jets (112 points), who sit six points ahead of the Stars in the Central.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hellebuyck collected his single-season high and franchise-record 45th win of the season. He’s the seventh goaltender in NHL history to reach the 45-win milestone, joining Braden Holtby and Martin Brodeur (48 each), Bernie Parent and Roberto Luongo (47 each), Evgeni Nabokov (46) and Miikka Kiprusoff (45).
Brad Marchand scored his first goal with the Florida Panthers in a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Gustav Forsling collected two assists and Florida head coach Paul Maurice picked up his 915th regular-season win to move into third place on the all-time list as the Panthers sit third in the Atlantic Division with 96 points. Alex DeBrincat replied for the Red Wings (79 points), who remain eight points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maurice sits behind Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins) and Joel Quenneville (969 wins). Meanwhile, Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been granted permission by the league and the NHLPA to rejoin the club in all team activities except for games. He’s serving a 20-game suspension for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Ekblad can return to action during Game 3 of the Panthers’ first-round playoff series.
The New York Rangers kept their thin playoff hopes alive by thumping the New York Islanders 9-2. Igor Shesterkin kicked out 44 shots while Artemi Panarin and Brett Berard each scored two goals for the Rangers, who sit six points behind the Canadiens in the Eastern wild-card race. Maxim Tsyplakov and Hudson Fasching scored for the Islanders, who remain eight points behind the Canadiens.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin missed this game with an upper-body injury. The Rangers and Islanders will be eliminated from the postseason race if the Canadiens pick up one point in their four remaining games.
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves stopped 39 shots as his club overcame a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. James van Riemsdyk, Zach Aston-Reese and Boone Jenner scored for the Jackets, who sit six points behind the Canadiens. JJ Peterka and Rasmus Dahlin scored for the Sabres as their five-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blues Jackets’ playoff hopes also hang by a thread. They will be eliminated if the Canadiens collect three points in their remaining games.
The Vegas Golden Knights held off the Seattle Kraken 2-1. Adin Hill turned aside 24 shots while Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 105 points. Kraken winger Jared McCann scored to reach 60 points on the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl returned to action following an eight-game absence with a shoulder injury.
Los Angeles Kings winger Kevin Fiala scored two goals in a 6-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko each had three assists as the Kings remain six points behind the Golden Knights in second place with 99 points. Ducks rookie winger Cutter Gauthier netted his 20th goal of the season.
Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 31 shots to upset the Colorado Avalanche 4-1. Kiefer Sherwood and Dakota Joshua each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks. Devon Toews replied for the Avalanche, who will finish third in the Central Division with 100 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon missed this game and could be out for their remaining two games as he deals with a minor injury.
A three-goal third period lifted the Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins. Nick Foligno scored twice for the Blackhawks while David Pastrnak netted his 42nd goal of the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Bruins announced that sidelined defenseman Charlie McAvoy and forward Mark Kastelic are done for the season.
Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros made 39 saves to backstop his team for a 4-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club. Filip Forsberg scored the winner in the shootout while Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist for the Predators.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Predators head coach Andrew Brunette rejoined the team after taking time away dealing with a personal matter.
IN OTHER NEWS…
OTTAWA SUN: Senators captain Brady Tkachuk will miss his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury when his club faces the Canadiens on Friday. However, he’s confident he’ll be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs starting next weekend.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Tkachuk could return for action for one of their remaining three regular-season games after Friday. However, the club might prefer he sit out the rest of those games rather than risk reinjuring himself in a meaningless regular-season contest.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was named the GM for Canada’s 2025 World Championship team. The Penguins also announced that sidelined players Rutger McGroarty, Noel Acciari, Blake Lizotte, Matt Nieto and Tommy Novak are finished for the season.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro’s season is over after suffering a lower-body injury during Wednesday’s games against the Minnesota Wild.
Actually the Habs would clinch a playoff spot with one regulation win. Even if they’d lose their other three games and the Jackets win out, the Habs would win the tiebreaker based on ROW. Let’s hope they do it tonight.
A win by Montreal tonight in Ottawa, coupled with a Tampa win over Detroit – in Tampa – eliminates both the Red Wings and the NYR, leaving only Columbus and the NYI with an outside chance of catching the Habs.
Montreal – in that scenario – would have 89 points and would have to lose all 3 games left while the Blue Jackets or Islanders won their 4 remaining each – and Columbus and the Islanders go head to head in the final game of the season for both. Don’t bet on any of that happening … but it’s still great to see the final standings coming right down to the wire.
All of the above is also dependent upon the Habs beating the Senators tonight … which I figure should be no problem since Ottawa is in and so likely won’t have the same intense motivation as will Montreal, who have also been hot of late, and the Habs will, as usual, have a large cheering portion of the fans in the building.
However, don’t rule out a determined approach to the game by Ottawa, who haven’t beaten Montreal so far this season, along with the Habs experiencing a well-established (over the years) difficulty by many teams in notching the necessary clinching points.
We should know by the early minutes how this one will play out.
George, even an OT loss by the Habs tonight would eliminate the Wings, Isles and Rangers no matter what else happens. That would put the Habs at 88 points while those teams can only get to 87 even if they win their remaining games. And as I posted earlier one more regulation win by the Habs eliminates the Jackets as well.
And George, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from recent Habs games it’s that the early minutes have not determined how the games play out.
Heh … maybe not for the Habs, Howard, but they sure do where the Senators are concerned.
MLB policy makes suspended players (for violating steroids agreement) ineligible for the playoffs
NHL needs to update their policy to match that
Mikep, the list of banned substances are long and sometimes include ingredients found in some cold medicines (I’m exaggerating) but you get idea.
If it was an anabolic steroid, they would have treated it more severely plus there is a huge difference between leagues and players.
If it happens again with the same player, well, you’ll have a point on that.
Go Rangers Go!
Re : “Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas was named the GM for Canada’s 2025 World Championship team. ”
👍👍👍👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Looking forward to playing a team that will average 185 and 5’ 10 1/2” that play fast pond hockey but can’t defend a beachball
Very impressive season by Connor Hellybuck. MVP, Vezina..just give him all the awards.
However. He will still have that Mitch Marner stank on him as a regular season guy who disappears in the playoffs if he can’t figure it out.
As for Montreal v. Sens tonight. Montreal “should win” But the Sens third and fourth liners are pushing for playoff spots. There might be some bite to this game. 7-4 Habs win.
A lot depends too, Dark G, on who’s in net for Ottawa and whether or not they are into one of their “stellar” or “smeller” performances.
I votes “smeller” George. For this game only, and then your boys can go on a long run.
This may be interesting only for Habs fans, but I was taken by the reaction of Habs players when asked about Demidov’s arrival.
Polite comments but the consistent response was, we’ve got a playoff spot to win and we’re focusing on team cohesion and focus.
LJ,
I like that they are in a zone, the guys have been in a space since the 4 Nations, circled the wagons and asked Suzuki asked Hughes to keep them together.
Give them a practice or two and he shows his stuff he’ll be taken in like Hutson.
He’s already done the right thing with his number, took 93 because his, 91 , was taken.
Kapanen, who’s SHL number was 19, couldn’t have that obviously (retired, Robinson) took 91.
Kapanen offered it to Demidov, but he passed.
The kid has shown maturity and confidence that belies his young age.
This team has fully bought into the team concept acroos the board, we’ll see how quickly he fits in.
A not inconsiderable part of fitting in and adapting is adjusting to not only the pace of the NHL, but the smaller ice surface.
Coming in at the start of a season where you have early practice sessions followed by exhibition games is one thing … doing it in the heat of a playoff chase is quite something else.
Which is why, George, I am not one to put “saviour” on the kid’s shoulders.
Demidov played for SKA and the arena there happens to be NHL dimensions so there is no adjustment period for him in this regard.
Ahh, did not know that … thanks habfan30. That makes a whole lot of difference.