NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 29, 2025
The Panthers and Stars are on the verge of advancing to the second round, the Vezina Trophy finalists are revealed, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING MONDAY’S PLAYOFF ACTION
NHL.COM: The Florida Panthers have taken a 3-1 stranglehold in their best-of-seven first-round series over the Tampa Bay Lightning following a 4-2 victory in Game 4.
Florida defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones scored 11 seconds apart in the third period and winger Carter Verhaeghe scored an empty-netter to seal the win. The Lightning’s Mitchell Chaffee and Erik Cernak also scored 11 seconds apart in the first period after Anton Lundell opened the scoring for the Panthers.
The Panthers can win the series in Game 5 on Wednesday, Apr. 30, in Tampa Bay, starting at 7:30 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ekblad and Jones scored the fastest two goals by defensemen for one team in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
This game was also a physical contest between the Florida rivals. Ekblad could face supplemental discipline after knocking Lightning winger Brandon Hagel out of the game with a forearm to the head in the first period. There was no call on the play.
Panthers blueliner Niko Mikkola was ejected early in the third period for boarding Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons, who remained in the game.
The Dallas Stars are poised to eliminate the Colorado Avalanche following a 6-2 win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round series.
Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston (NHL Images).
Wyatt Johnston scored twice, including the first nine seconds of the game, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots for Dallas. Artturi Lehkonen and Nathan MacKinnon replied for the Avalanche.
Dallas can win this series in Game 6 in Denver on Thursday, May 1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dallas put Colorado on the back foot early, running up an early 3-0 lead. The Avalanche made it interesting by cutting that lead to 3-2 before Johnston, Mason Marchment and Roope Hintz put the game away for the Stars.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings, and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the finalists for the Vezina Trophy, honoring this season’s top goaltenders.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hellebuyck is the favorite here, leading the league in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight), and finishing second in save percentage (.925) among goaltenders with at least 25 games played this season.
THE WINNIPEG SUN: Speaking of Hellebuyck, he admits he needs to improve after giving up a combined 11 goals in Game 3 and 4 of the Jets’ first-round series against the St. Louis Blues.
“I am going to be better,” said Hellebuyck. “I’ve studied goaltending extremely hard. I’ve probably studied the most out of anyone in this world, so I know what to do and how to get my best game.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets and Blues are tied at two games apiece. Game 5 is Wednesday in Winnipeg at 9:30 pm ET.
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will be expected to improve his performance in Game 5 of his team’s first-round series against the Ottawa Senators. The Leafs hold a 3-1 series but missed a golden opportunity to sweep the Senators in Game 4.
OTTAWA SUN: Veteran center Claude Giroux will try to help the Senators stay alive in their series with the Leafs. Giroux was part of the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers that overcame a 3-0 first-round deficit against the Boston Bruins to win that series in seven games.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Washington Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas could suit up for Game 5 of his club’s first-round series against the Montreal Canadiens. Protas has been sidelined since Apr. 4 after suffering a skate cut to the foot. The Capitals hold a 3-1 series lead and can wrap things up with a win on Wednesday.
TSN: The Capitals and Canadiens were fined $25,000 each by the league for unsportsmanlike conduct during warm-ups before Game 4. Montreal defenseman Arber Xhekaj and Capitals blueliner Dylan McIlrath received individual fines for unsportsmanlike conduct during those warmups.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is staying coy about naming his starting goaltender for Game 5 of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. However, it’s expected Calvin Pickard will get the call following back-to-back wins in Games 3 and 4.
Hellebuyck can study all he wants the fact remains that the Blues are scoring at will against him by going top shelf on nearly every goal in this series. He is a brick wall on low shots that he can smother with his big body but has been vulnerable up high.
And his confidence is in shambles right now. But goalies are weird dudes, one big save early and he could regain his dominance however the opposite is also possible and an early goal could shatter him even more. Regardless all the pressure is on the Jets.
If Eckblad doesn’t get at least a one game suspension then it will be open season on his teammates. That forearm to the neck looked more like MMA than hockey.
Did not like the Hagel hit on Barkov but Ekblad coming in with forearm to the neck was dirty as well.
Eckblad won the game for Florida by knocking Hegel out of it. Overt violence is an integral part of Florida’s game. Typically the results are ‘worth’ the price, as the league clutching their pearls doesn’t change the outcome of the game. There have always been teams that are willing to injure to win; the broad street bullies come to mind, as does Bobby Clarke in the Summit Series. A one-game suspension; meted out haphazardly and often not at all, is a low price v. the impact on game outcomes.
Bang on Richard, that is the calculation.
Personally I think Tkachuk’s hit was the worst of the group given TB had a 4-1 lead late with FLA’s net empty and about to be scored on.
He knew exactly the situation, and drilled Guentzel late. The most intentional of all of them anyway.
After Tkachuks hit on Guentzel and Ekblad on Hagel and Mikkola s hit last night,the question I have is where is the response of the Lightning?They need something out of their big boys like Hedman and Cernak!
Well at least we can be thankful that the league is right on top of those unsportsmanlike plays we saw in the Habs-Caps game and Leafs-Sens. Uncalled headshots are what fans want to see so it makes absolutely perfect sense not to punish teams/players for these egregious hits. Playoff hockey baby, where the game in the game is to get away with cheap hits.
Yep. Everyone’s head/face is fair game … but dribble a puck at an old friend/teammate’s goal in the warm-up, or engage in a bit of trash talk before the opening face-off and we’ll nail you good! Brilliant head office logic.
I think I may be done with the NHL for a while. I’ve been a fan of Hockey since the mid-60’s , played and have purchased plenty of merchandise. But honestly, the crap that the officials is letting players get away with completely confound me. I know that this league has had a “Star System” for years now, but this goes beyond reason. I want to watch hockey, which is a fast and tough game, but if I wanted to watch MMA crap, I would put that on. So I’m packing away all my NHL merchandise and hoping the league comes to it’s senses and stops putting these great athletes at unnecessary risk.
johnnyrad23, since you’ve been a fan of hockey since the mid-60’s (for me it’s been the late 40’s/early 50’s) you’ll know that what you describe as MMA crap has been around for just as long, e.g., the Broad Street Bullies era.
But I agree – at least back then there was also a steady parade to the penalty box … or complete ejections.
Thanks for backing up my Thoughts George O. I sure remember the Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Bruins, but like you said, penalties were called, ejections, suspensions actually happened. Now, 2 guys do the same thing, 1 gets a penalty, ejected or suspended and a second guy does the same thing and he’s called a “Playoff Hero”. Personal vendetta’s are encouraged….Makes no sense.