NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 13, 2025
The Jets clinch top spot in the Western Conference and Central Division, the Golden Knights secure the Pacific Division title, the Rangers, Islanders and Red Wings are eliminated from the playoff race, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Winnipeg Jets clinched first place in the Western Conference and the Central Division with a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Cole Perfetti tallied the game-winner in the shootout and Josh Morrisey scored twice for the Jets (114 points). Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets hold a five-point lead over the second-place Washington Capitals in the overall standings but they have two games left while the Capitals have three. Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers left the game in the second period after accidentally colliding with a linesman. There was no postgame update on his status.
This was also the final game for Blackhawks forward Patrick Maroon and defenseman Alec Martinez as both players retired after this game. They will not be joining the Blackhawks on their season-ending two-game road trip.
The Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title for the fourth time in eight years by defeating the Nashville Predators 5-3. Noah Hanifin broke a 3-3 tie with 1:55 remaining in the third period while Brett Howden and Nicolas Roy each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (107 points). Former Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault scored in his first game in Vegas since joining the Predators last summer.
Carolina Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis had a goal and two assists in a 7-3 victory over the New York Rangers, eliminating the latter from the playoff race. The Hurricanes clinched a playoff berth last week and will face the New Jersey Devils in the opening round. J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist for the Rangers.
A shootout goal by Bobby Brink lifted the Philadelphia Flyers over the New York Islanders 4-3 to eliminate the latter from the postseason chase. Tyson Foerster tallied twice for the Flyers while Bo Horvat, Anders Lee and Noah Dobson each had a goal and an assist for the Islanders.
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).
The Montreal Canadiens failed to clinch the final Eastern wild-card berth as they dropped a 1-0 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mitch Marner scored in overtime for the Leafs, who hold first place in the Atlantic Division with 102 points. Jakub Dobes stopped 35 shots for the Canadiens (88 points), who picked up a point to move seven ahead of the Detroit Red Wings, eliminating the latter from the playoff race.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs also announced that former general manager Gerry McNamara died on Friday at age 90.
A minor-league goaltender for most of his playing career, McNamara appeared in seven NHL games with the Leafs between 1960-61 and 1969-70. He was a scout for the Leafs in the 1970s and was GM from 1981-82 to 1987-88.
My condolences to McNamara’s family, friends, former teammates and the Leafs organization.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves made 21 saves for his first NHL shutout in a 7-0 drubbing of the Washington Capitals. James van Riemsdyk had a goal and two assists and Adam Fantilli scored twice as the Blues Jackets kept their playoff hopes alive. They’re five points behind Montreal but have three games left while the Canadiens have two.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blue Jackets face Washington on Sunday in the second game of their back-to-back. They will be eliminated if they lose that game in any fashion.
The Capitals gave captain Alex Ovechkin the day off on Saturday but he could return to the lineup for Sunday’s contest. Teammate Jakob Chychrun was also absent Saturday as he’s battling an illness while Hunter Shepard gave up seven goals on 26 shots. Charlie Lindgren will be their starter on Sunday.
Minnesota Wild winger Mats Zuccarello scored in overtime to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2. Brock Faber and Marcus Foligno scored in the third period as the Wild overcame a 2-0 deficit. Marcus Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk scored for the Canucks. With 95 points, the Wild sit one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues in the first Western Conference wild-card spot and five points ahead of the Calgary Flames.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Canucks announced center Elias Pettersson is done for the season as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury suffered on March 22 against the New York Rangers. Wild forward Yakov Trenin was ejected after hitting Canucks defenseman Derek Forbort with a late punch while the latter was lying on the ice following a fight between the two players.
The St. Louis Blues fell 4-3 to the Seattle Kraken on a shootout goal by Chandler Stephenson. Nick Leddy had a goal and an assist in regulation play for the Blues, who sit one point behind the Wild in the final wild-card spot, four points ahead of the Flames.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Wild and Blues each have one game left in their schedules while the Flames have three games. The latter still has a chance to clinch a wild-card spot if they win all three games while the Blues lose their final game. Speaking of the Blues, defenseman Colton Parayko returned to action in this game after injuring his right knee on March 5 against the Los Angeles Kings.
Speaking of the Kings, they held off the Colorado Avalanche 5-4. Kevin Fiala scored two goals while Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere each had a goal and two assists for the Kings, who sit second in the Pacific Division with 101 points. Colorado center Brock Nelson scored twice, including his 300th NHL regular-season goal. The Avalanche will face the Dallas Stars in the first round.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Kings will meet the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round for the fourth straight year. They’ll face an Oilers team lacking a key defenseman as Mattias Ekholm will be sidelined for “quite some time” with an undisclosed injury.
Meanwhile, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could join his teammates for their series with the Stars. He’s currently on a conditioning stint with their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. On Saturday, Landeskog scored a goal in his second game with the Eagles. His last NHL game was Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
The Stars, meanwhile, dropped a 5-3 decision to the Utah Hockey Club. Logan Cooley had a goal and two assists for Utah. Jason Robertson scored his 35th goal of the season and Wyatt Johnston his 32nd for the Stars, who clinched second place in the Central Division.
A shootout goal by Anton Lundell gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Carter Verhaeghe had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who sit third in the Atlantic Division with 98 points. Rasmus Dahlin and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres.
Lyle… who you like in the SC finals
I’m picking Stars & Hurricanes
Jets and Lightning.
Going with the goalies I see …good choice
And Then There Was One – Both East and West.
Yesterday saw 3 would-be playoff teams in the East come to the end of the line, either through losses (both NY city teams) or the Habs grabbing that all-important point in their 1-0 OT loss in Toronto – a clutch performance if ever there was one in the second of a back-to-back, eliminating Detroit.
Now it’s only Columbus hanging in, 5 points back with 3 to go and Montreal needing just 1 point from their final two games – against Chicago and Carolina, both at home.
Out West, the Flames trail the Blues by 4 and the Wild by 5 but have 3 games left while both Minnesota and St. Louis are down to one each – but where the Blues are concerned that’s at home on Tuesday against Utah, while Minnesota is at home Tuesday vs the (Lame) Ducks.
The Flames are at home today vs San Jose, at home Tuesday against Vegas and in L.A. next Thursday. Good luck with those chances!
George, doesn’t Montreal need 2 points to clinch? One point would give them 90. However, should the Blue Jackets finish the season with 3 regulation wins, they would also have 90 points.
Tied at 90, CLB would boast 30 regulation wins versus 29 for MTL.
It’s an embarrassment for the NHL that a team with fewer than 30 regulation wins could make it into the playoffs.
In the 1987-88 season, 16 of 21 teams made the playoffs. Toronto got in with 52 pts, a 29-41-10 record. I don’t think the NHL is capable of being embarrassed.
You’re right, of course, Hammer_of_the_Gods.
Hammer_of_the_Gods, you want embarrassment look no further than the 1967-68 season. The year after they last won the cup, the Leafs missed the playoffs with a 33 31 10 76 pts .519 record in the 6-team (original 6) Eastern Division, while the 4 playoff teams in the expansion Western Division all finished with fewer points than the Leafs and none managed even a .500 record.
Pulling the Goalie and George, thanks for the past low lights. That was decades ago, a different era when the NHL teams were not swimming in profits.
Would like to see 3 points awarded for a win, but it wouldn’t have made much difference this year. Same teams would make the playoffs. However, the Rangers (33 reg wins) would be much closer, maybe they would have played more competitively down the stretch.
Ottawa is a little scary now that a real goalie is tending the net. Tough to decide a preference between the Panthers and the Sens as they are both tough outs for the Leafs.
Two years ago the Bruins easily won the Presidents’ Cup. This year Boston likely earns a top 5 draft pick.
And last season’s President’s Cup winners are on the verge of dropping down into the Top 10 picks range. Heh. If I were Winnipeg I’d let Washington catch me.
GeorgeO,tell your Sens to relax today and let Philly beat your boys! Boston as a divisional partner would be entirely grateful. This would possibly ensure Boston getting the 4 th pick in the draft and a potential franchise player which they desperately need!
Sr……that potential franchise player’s name is on the tip of my tongue…IF Sweeney still has the job he needs to get this right
Porter Martone
Brampton Steelheads
He will lead the Bruins to Greatness!!
Bingo
Heh Sr ,,, if Forsberg starts in goal and has one of his crappy games you’ll get your wish.
Yep. It’s Forsberg. And the Senators are resting Tkachuk, Greig, Perron, Jensen and Ullmark for this one, while both Cozens and Cousins are in the line-up – must be driving the play-by-play guy nuts.
Well, the Flyers are up 2-1 after 2, Sr.
I guess you’ll have to settle for 1 point – Ottawa won 4-3 in OT.
That’s the last time I tell ’em to relax, Sr, if those stupid Bruins of yours are gonna go out and WIN a game at the same time! Can they even spell
“T – A – N – K?
Oh well, they still hold the # 4 draft position with no chance of sinking any lower anyway.
LOL. Ain’t it amazing that our cheering has come down to this?
GeorgeO,I agree hoping for your team to lose. Imagine Pasternak has 104 pts. On that team.
Carolina finished the season 18-4-4 against teams in their own division.
Jackson Blake’s accelerated development was Carolina’s biggest surprise this year. He went from “can he make the team” to the #1 line in one season.
Alec and Patrick,
Congrats on your careers and enjoy your retirements
Re “The Wild and Blues each have one game left in their schedules while the Flames have three games. The latter still has a chance to clinch a wild-card spot if they win all three games while the Blues lose their final game”
I believe the Flames are also in by winning out AND a regulation loss by Wild in their last game
Still a longshot
Wild host Ducks on Tuesday
Blues host Utah also on Tuesday
Flames need to win out:
Host Sharks today (probable win)
Host Knights Tuesday (Knights locked in Pac 1st, maybe resting players??)
@ Kings Thursday (Note Oilers CAN as at now, still catch Kings for home ice, IF Kings locked in 2nd as of that game, maybe they sit players for rest??)
With Rangers loss; Pens now can’t get their 1st round ‘25 pick
So Rangers, full implosion in ‘25/‘26 please for Pens’ increased chance at McKenna (although he has a paltry 17 points in 6 playoff games, we still want him)
2 veterans on Chicago decide to retire two games before the end of the season?… with all that we’ve read lately about Maroon and Berdard and their treatment from management ( not sure about Martinez, but this sounds fishy)… it sure sounds like Chicago has a BIG issue with the handling of its players again…. what big name or even semi big name is going to wasn’t to play there?
Chag Pesach Sameach
To all here (and their families and friends ) that celebrate the Jewish faith.
Let’s go Peg and panthers with peg winning. That way bruins get a 1st from Florida 🥴. And Canada finally wins a cup. Which should be good for another 30 yrs
Ooooh. That was mean. Accurate as Hell, probably, but nevertheless mean.
MrBruin4, what were the provisions in the Marchand trade from Fla?
To bad the Bruins passed on Wyatt Johnston in the 2021 draft …
Joe they passed on a lot of good players,but none worse than the 2015 draft when they had the 13,14,15 pick in the first round.
SC Finals
Toronto – Colorado
$10 bet gets you $357 for that SC final on DK
2 little tidbits of info. The NHL is about to set a record for the most 20 goal scorers in history. The spin is that there`s better goal scorers in the NHL today and the carbon fibre sticks play a big role. The 2nd tidbit is that the NHL set a record a couple of nights ago. The NHL recorded it`s 500th empty net goal, breaking the old record of 498. That`s more than double what the teams were scoring in the 80`s and 90`s and it might explain why there`s more 20 goal scorers now
Rule of Thumb…
Down 2 goals with 5 to play pull goalie… down 1 goal with 2 to play ( that’s making its way to 3 ) pull the goalie… that’s a lot of time every night for the empty net goals … question is should empty net goals count on player stats
Then, in order for the books to be consistent, you’d have to wipe from the records the empty-net goals scored by Gretzky and Ovechkin (and everyone else, including goalies because I don’t think a goalkeeper ever skated the length of the ice and deked the opposing goaltenders for a goal!)
Wasn`t saying that George. This was in reference to the NHL pointing out that there were more 20 goal scorers than ever. They made a point of pointing that out but not the the fact that more goals were into an empty net. Maybe the increase of empty net goals is because of the so called parity. Maybe make goals for and against one of the tie breakers like it used to be. But you wouldn`t have to change any of the record books. Just I scored 1000 goals and how many of those goals were empty netters in brackets beside it, like 1000 (88) and let the people who view it decide how relevant the empty netters are. We do that anyways. Baseball has stats for every situation and the fans love it. Things like the +/- are screwy because of the empty netters. Before teams put out their most reliable defensive forwards for the final minute if the other team pulled their goalie. Now teams put out their best offensive players to try to put the game away by scoring. Some players have bad +/- simply because they`re on the ice everytime the team pulls the goalie. It is time for the NHL to bring stats up to date to reflect the way the game has changed and everybody loves stats in sports
Yogi, wasn’t questioning your post – that was in response to Joe’s suggestion “question is should empty net goals count on player stats?
Someone should have told the Habs if they won they could have clinched and all they needed to do was beat a short handed team with only 5 defenders but instead they only mustered 15 low danger shots. Sheesh, they stunk up the joint. LJ what did you say about their chances? 😂