NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 25, 2025
Recapping Thursday’s playoff action and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF THURSDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES
NHL.COM: St. Louis Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich tallied a hat trick and an assist and defenseman Cam Fowler had a goal and four assists to thump the Winnipeg Jets 7-2 in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round series.
St. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich (NHL Images)
Center Robert Thomas set up four goals for the Blues while David Gustafsson and Neal Pionk replied for Winnipeg. Jets backup goaltender Eric Comrie replaced starter Connor Hellebuyck after the latter gave up six goals on 25 shots. Game 4 is Sunday, Apr. 27, in St. Louis at 1 pm ET. The Jets lead the series two games to one.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blues did a fine job smothering the Jets’ top offensive players with their physical plan. Mark Scheifele had five points in the first two games and Kyle Connor had four, but both were held scoreless in this contest. Winnipeg defenseman Dylan DeMelo was a late scratch due to an illness.
An overtime goal by Simon Benoit gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of their first-round series. Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews also scored for Toronto while Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk replied for the Senators, who find themselves on the brink of elimination down 3-0 in this series. The Leafs can wrap things up in Game 4 on Saturday, Apr. 26 at 7 pm ET in Ottawa.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was the second straight game the Senators suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime defeat. Their lopsided loss in Game 1 aside, they’ve played well against the Leafs, but the latter’s depth and experience have been the difference thus far. Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been terrific between the pipes throughout this series.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov scored two goals for the second straight game to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2. Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi each had a goal and an assist, and goalie Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 shots as the Wild took a 2-1 lead in the series. Alex Pietrangelo and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights. Game 4 is Saturday, starting at 4 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights are having difficulty containing the Wild’s two leading scorers. Kaprizov is tied for the postseason lead with seven points, while Boldy is right behind him with six points. The Wild probably wouldn’t have struggled down the stretch had “Dollar Bill Kirill” been healthy during that period.
The Florida Panthers blanked the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in Game 2 of their series. Sergei Bobrovsky made 19 saves for the shutout while Nate Schmidt and Sam Bennett were the goal scorers as the Panthers took a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 is Saturday, starting at 1 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was a costly victory for the Panthers as team captain Aleksander Barkov left the game in the third period with a possible upper-body injury following a big hit from Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, who received a five-minute major penalty for interference. There was no post-game update on Barkov’s condition.
IN OTHER NEWS…
TSN: Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen remains day-to-day with a knee injury. He participated in two-on-two drills during practice on Wednesday. Heiskanen’s been sidelined since suffering the injury on Jan. 28.
The Stars hold a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series with the Colorado Avalanche. Game 4 is Saturday, starting at 9:30 pm ET.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Barring a last-minute change of heart, the Oilers will start backup goalie Calvin Pickard on Friday against the Los Angeles Kings, who hold a 2-0 lead in their series. Pickard replaced struggling starter Stuart Skinner after he gave up five goals on 28 shots in Game 2. Skinner also allowed six goals on 30 shots in Game 1.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen underwent surgery on March 26 to repair a right tricep rupture. His recovery is six months, meaning he’ll likely miss training camp in September.
Watched the Panthers/Lightning tilt last night
Completely different reffing (in that game) from the Habs/Caps last game.
Reffing needs to be consistent
An aside
Hagel , re 5 minute penalty:
Easily avoidable. All he needed to do was gain 60 lbs and an inch in height, take off the 3 on his back, sprinkle/spray some white paint in his hair to give him a nice salt/pepper look, and change all the blue on his jersey to red.
Result, no call, high five from ref
Joking aside. That’s a 2minute interference and not a 5.
Saw the highlights of Blues/Jets. Definitely a goal by Perfetti. “Can’t definitively tell that the puck crossed the line”?!?! what the ….??
Hello, McFly!!!!
Im sorry 87 but the puck was no where near Barkov & it was a dirty hit as he rounded the corner. The major for interference could also of been called intent to injure. That was a dangerous play & Im not a Panther fan.
Hi Potlicker
Sorry with my humour I miss conveyed the main intent of my post:
1) inequity and inconsistency in reffing foursomes; and more importantly
2) What Hagel did; has been done (twice already this playoffs, many times this year; tons of times over his career) by Ovi; but Ovi doesn’t get called
I’ve no challenge with the interference call on Hagel:
Barkov missed(didn’t touch ) the puck, which in and of itself is interference.
Also, the puck passed by Barkov and the hit was .8 seconds later (commentators say more or less .5 seconds is the rule of thumb) ; so even if he’d touched the puck; by rule, interference
The 5 minute penalty given as read out of the rulebook by commentators basically said it can be awarded with head contact (didn’t happen) or intent to injure (whether a player is injured or not is irrelevant).
To me there was no “intent to injure” (which by the way is every hit from Ovi or Wilson and most often with Dowd), and the injury in and of itself was just angle that Barkov was turning. Barkov outweighs Hagel by 35 pounds
I’m a Penguins fan so have no vested interest in either Panthers or Lightening; it is just me saying 2 not 5 as my assessment.
I don’t think you will find challengers to my assertion of inconstancy in reffing; and it would be absolutely unbelievable to think that anybody not cheering for Caps would actually think that Ovi doesn’t get more of a free ride on penalties than ANYBODY else in the league (and that includes Wilson)
Pierre Lebrun said yesterday that this Leafs team looks different. He’s right. They’re definitely playing better and with more confidence than in past playoffs.
I still don’t think they’ll win the Cup. They may not even get past Florida in the next round (assuming Barkov won’t be out long term), but this is the best they’ve looked in the playoffs in decades.
Lyle, Hagel received the interference major not Point.
Fixed.
Howard,the best thingTML did was come in first place,insuring that they would play Ottawa. I need to see them beat Fla. or TB to be convinced they aren t a soft team.
Agreed. That’ll be the real test. But their play is improved so far from past seasons.
Whether a team wins or loses has nothing to do with how tough they are. Ottawa will tell you they`re tougher than Toronto, but they`re down 3-0. Being tough is how you play the game, certain players aren`t built to take as much punishment as others and no size doesn`t determine how tough you are. If you`re talking blocking shots and the ability to take hits, I doubt Florida is going to throw more hits than Ottawa has already done and Toronto as a team already blocks more shots then Florida. Ottawa tried to intimidate Toronto as their game plan, you might of noticed it hasn`t worked. How tough a team is might have more to do with winning the cup, than anything. Playing 4 rounds, the travel, playing with the pain. Toronto hasn`t won yet and neither has Florida
He’s another one where you shouldn’t waste your time on.
Some people can’t give credit where it’s due. This series has two very good teams. With the exception of goaltending and experience I think they are pretty evenly matched and the scores of the last two games proves that.
A flip side to the review of the Leafs/Sens series is that with 2 OTs, Sens were 2 shots away from being up 2-1 in the series
3-0 in series is not truly indicative of hoe close these two teams are
Sens are a physical team, they play a hard game with pressure and plenty of sneaky dirty play that draws a boatload of retaliatory penalties.
TML are still an uptempo team but have added the grit to not be pushed around.
I don’t know how far they will go but believe they can beat Florida with less trouble than Tampa.
The Sens are just gaining some playoff experience. Do I wish they would get at least one win? Yes. But the fact they have played hard enough to keep two games this close really gives my confidence in the future of this team.
I think the Panthers will win the battle of Florida and that is when TML will really be tested.
Well, the Sens do have the captain of the most Recent team to come back from a 0-3 series lead….
The Oilers did it last year…
Sorry… I misread…Edmonton came back to tie it up and we are talking about coming back and winning the series.
Before Ottawa takes the next step, there`ll be lots of changes to the team, just like Toronto`s done over the past few years. Berube has badly out coached Green,Toronto`s 4th line has totally destroyed Ottawa`s 3rd and 4th lines. The forwards and defence don`t do a very good job of helping Ullmark or each other. They haven`t adapted very well, that`s on Green (a game plan of intimidation by hitting and cheap shots didn`t work in game 1 and yet they still kept trying) By the time you can call Ottawa a real contender most of the players you see now will be gone, as is the case with most teams. Toronto made the playoffs early in their rebuild and yet years later still trying to get it right. The core is the key
Oh yes of course. It’s the core I care about getting the experience.
A couple of these guys are showing they have some playoff style grit already so that is something to build off.
I like what I see from Pinto and Greig and I acknowledge that if they played for any other team I would HATE them… but those two and Brady are poised to be big post season performers… Brady needs to calm down a little. he will as he matures.
Greig is like Bunting, he`ll out live his usefulness. They aren`t talented enough to be key pieces, not something to build around. Brady like Matthews not my choice as captain material. To me Chabot, Sanderson and Stutzle are the keepers, with Yakemchuk a good solid prospect. Not sure Brady will mature enough to make himself as good as he could be. But there`s definately enough there for Ottawa to build around. If Toronto`s stupid enough not to resign Tavares, he`d look good in Ottawa. He`d help Brady a lot
That goal scored by Matthews is exactly why a player like Marner is so good. I mentioned how one of Marner’s best skills is how effortlessly he can move the puck off the walls from a low danger area to a prime scoring opportunity. That pass to Matthews was exactly what I mean. Very few players can do that and do it that well consistently. All I’m gonna say is whoever signs Marner is gonna get a heck of a player.
Any body can do what Marner did Ron, it was a set play, they practise it. What sets Marner, Riley and Matthews apart from the rest is that they think of doing things like that during a game.All 3 need to recognize what the other 2 are doing in an instant. So you just can`t give Marner the credit for the perfect play. Without Reilly and Matthews there`s no play. It`s like Domi got all the credit for his overtime goal, without Benoit there`s probably no goal
Agreed Ron, Marner will get paid because he is a really good player. He is producing in the playoffs again. He has had some good playoff years some not good, like a lot of really good players.
I was away on business last 5 days on pacific time, so missed much of the series, but the data provides an interesting tale on this series.
Overall play has been close, Stolarz playing way better than Ullmark, Leafs PP is killing it and getting too many chances to kill it. Leafs top offensive guys are producing offence.
Leafs look good, Panthers will be really tough if both close this out. But the Leafs can beat them if PP and Stolarz keep it going.
Must see TV.