NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 5, 2025
Alex Ovechkin ties Wayne Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history, Patrick Kane sets a scoring record for American-born players, injury updates, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF FRIDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored twice to tie Wayne Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history (894) in a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. John Carlson collected three assists and Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (107 points), who moved within one point of the league-leading Winnipeg Jets in the overall standings. Blackhawks rookies Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Landon Slaggert each had two points.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was a stellar game for Ovechkin, who tied the record with Gretzky in attendance. The Washington captain tallied his 894th goal in his 1,486th regular-season game, one game fewer than when Gretzky concluded his 20-season NHL career in 1999. His next opportunity to break the record is Sunday against the New York Islanders.
Ovechkin also set the record for the most 40-goal seasons (14) and the most career game-winning goals with 136, moving past Jaromir Jagr. The 39-year-old Capitals superstar is the second-oldest player to score 40 goals in a season. Gordie Howe holds that record, doing so at age 40 in 1968-69.
Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson missed this game with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss at least the next two games.
The Detroit Red Wings kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3. Patrick Kane scored his 20th goal of the season while Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin each had two points. Jaccob Slavin picked up two assists for the Hurricanes, whose three-game win streak ended. The Wings (77 points) are four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth while the Hurricanes sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 96 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kane reached the 20-goal plateau for the 17th time, passing Mike Modano for the most 20-goal seasons by an American-born NHL player. Meanwhile, Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov missed this game with an undisclosed injury.
New York Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, snapping a six-game winless skid (0-4-2). Ilya Sorokin stopped 27 shots for the Islanders (76 points), who moved within five points of the Canadiens in the wild-card race. Mats Zuccarello replied for the Wild, who’ve dropped four straight (0-2-2) but remain in the final Western Conference wild card with 89 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Wild are five points ahead of the Calgary Flames but they’ve been slumping for weeks, causing them to slide in the standings. They’re in danger of being overtaken by the Flames before the end of the regular season (April 17).
HEADLINES
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers star Leon Draisaitl will miss Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury. He’s expected to be sidelined short term but there’s no timetable for his return.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers are also without captain Connor McDavid, defenseman Mattias Ekholm, and starting goaltender Stuart Skinner.
THE WINNIPEG SUN: On Thursday, Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers suffered a lower-body injury against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, he could return to action on Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars head coach Pete DeBoer listed team captain Jamie Benn (undisclosed) as doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
STLTODAY.COM: St. Louis Blues winger Dylan Holloway is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Holloway played a crucial role in the Blues’ recent surge in the standings. He should be ready to return before the playoffs start on April 19.
SPORTSNET: Toronto Maple Leafs forward David Kampf and Jake McCabe will miss Saturday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets with injuries.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky will be the bench boss for Team USA at the 2025 World Championships.
Kind of ironic that Ovie passes up an open net opportunity and the Leonard kid uses it for his first NHL goal! Washington I m sure wants this record broken so they can concentrate on the playoffs.Wonder if they will struggle in the playoffs without the energy they have played with chasing Ovies record.
For the haters out there complaining about Ovechkin’s empty net goals, he could have broken the record with a hat trick but he left the ice and said he doesn’t want it.
Kudos to him, most goals scored, unstoppable even when they no exactly where heis, what he’s goingto do and still, at his age, doing it.
If he doesn’t break it in his next game – which is in NY against the Islanders tomorrow – he’ll likely do so at home on April 10 against Carolina.
Then the question becomes, how much longer does he intend to play and what will his final tally be?
Go Ovie. You’ve been – by a wide margin – THE most exciting, dynamic player to watch since entering the league.
Detroit may have kept their mathematical playoff hopes alive last night …. but with 7 games to go they have to hope Columbus, NYR and Montreal all cooperate by essentially going into the tank in their final games – and Columbus holds a game in hand on each of them – and the only one of the 3 that Detroit plays in their final 7 is Montreal – in Montreal.
In fact, their remaining games are – with the exception of that Habs game and the one against NJ – all against top teams jockeying for home-ice advantage in the playoffs:
at home against Florida tomorrow (who play in Ottawa tonight so that’s a bit of a bonus), @ Montreal – @ Florida – @ Tampa (back-to-backs) – home to Dallas – @ NJ – @ Toronto (back-to-backs)
That’s a tough row to hoe.
We’ll find out which Habs team plays the final 7 games, George, the ones that lost to the Flyers and got slapped by the ‘Canes, or the one that beat the Panthers twice including a “miracle’ finish.
Heh, LJ. I can understand your frustration with losing to a bottom team while turning around and defeating a top team – twice – in a few days.
This afternoon, Ottawa shut-out the Panthers 3-0 (with Forsberg getting his 4th SO of the season) a couple of days after holding Tampa to 1 goal – on the heels of losing 5-2 – at home – to Buffalo.
Anyway, now with 12 possible points left to them in the schedule, Ottawa sit with 88 points – 4 back of 3rd place Florida. Go figure.
Habs got some good news today, as well, with the Rangers also getting shut out by the Devils 4-0, Now, if the Leafs can polish off Columbus tonight and Montreal doesn’t lose another to Philadelphia, and Ottawa – Montreal presence in the playoffs, along with Toronto in the East and, out west, Winnipeg and Edmonton for sure and still an outside chance for Calgary, will at least provide a decent opportunity for a good Canada presence in the playoffs.
The Gr8 is something else, isn’t he?
I remember thinking when he came to the NHL Holy Crap this kid is good. Then, after “THAT” goal against Phoenix, “good” turned into WTF is THIS!
And my thoughts haven’t changed since. What an icon! So entertaining!
Congrats to him for tying the record! Now, go set the bar!
Was it just me or did Gretzky look very uncomfortable during interviews. It was almost if something was scripted for him…”After Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr left the game, yada yada yada…then came Sid and Ovi…then McDavid and McKinnon”…”My dad told me when I broke Gordie’s records…be a gentleman”
I’m not faulting him or calling him out…but to me it just seemed that he was more devastated that his record was being broken than he’s letting on, and that the “standard” politically correct answer was the way to go. I know if it was my record that was being broken, I would be bummed too.
It’s kinda funny how different folks see things very differently. I saw the interview and thought how natural he looked and how happy he was for Ovi. Gretzky is a class act and is “hockey”. He talked about how everything in his life is about the great game that is hockey and the NHL. I found his interview to be awesome. I don’t think he is one bit devastated that his record will be broken……not one bit.
Legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach said it best – “all records are made to be broken.”
GeorgeO,I m impressed with your knowledge of Boston sports legends
Heh, Sr. Back in the day I was a huge fan of the Celtics – that being the pre-SLAM-dunk era.
And although in hockey I was a Habs follower in those days, I loved watching the Bruins with the Kraut line (Schmidt – Dumart – Bauer) and hard-hitting guys like Leo Labine and Fernie Flaman, along with Sugar Jim Henry in nets.
How old can you possibly be?
LOL. Pistol Pete, I will be 87 in a month.
In the late 1940s/early 1950s from about age 9 to 16, an uncle who was a rabid hockey fan would take me to the Forum in Montreal for games here and there, and while that started a long following of the Habs, I did like individual players on other teams, and two of them were Schmidt and Woody Dumart (I mentioned Bobby Bauer because he was part of the original Kraut Line, although in his case he might have been out of the game by the time I started seeing the Bruins.
Later, from the mid-Fifties up when we got our own wheels, I and some friends would frequently drive down Hway 17 to watch games and, of course, TV had arrived on the scene around 1950-51 (here).
Unrelated CAP question:
Does anyone know how Healthy Scratches are paid? Are they paid as if:
a) they are on the ice, same as the other 20?
b) their minor league salary (assuming they are minors-eligible)? (and if so, what if not minors-eligible?)
c) somewhere in between?
If they are on the NHL roster; they get paid for that game at the level they signed (Salary) yhe contract for that year
Signing bonus paid separately
Paid the same by the team when on IR
Paid same by insurance underwriter when on LTIR
thx 8787. I suspected it wasn’t the case (as you confirmed), but thought there was a chance that there was some loophole for teams to jiggle the Cap a bit by banishing someone to the Press Box. Eesh, if they did though, the NHLPA would have a fit.
In the end, nothing to see here….
Whalercane NHL players get paid by the week not by the game. GM`s try to gain a little cap relief by sending players to the minors for a day or two. They still get paid the same, but the daily cap doesn`t count for those days they spend in the minors (paper transactions)
Was hoping Ovi would break record on an empty net
Will become the record holder for most goals all time NHL
Tied now as 2nd BEST NHL goal scorer ever
Soon to move to 2nd best alone
BEST all time NHL goal scorer is Bossy. Period.
Trying to make points with your metropolitan rival huh 8787!
That’s an opinion shared by …. dozens.
Dozens including the Great One himself, who is something of an authority on the subject
Vastly different era when Bossy was having his greatest years from 1978-79 to 1985-86 … no Russians and few other major European stars, especially goalies who tended to be on the smallish size – not to mention their equipment – compared to the giants in net on many teams today – not to mention THEIR equipment.
George, 87 is likely saying that because Bossy has the highest goals per game. He only played 10 years.
But if that is your rational, then you need to look at the other guys first 10 years.
Gretzky beats bossy 637 – 573.
Or he simply believes a guy with 573 goals is a better goal scorer that a guy with 893.
And you right, the tender gear and size wasn’t close either were the defensive systems and speed.
Thousands for sure
I was just starting school and hockey when Isles won their first of 4 straight so he was an icon and a hero to me
I was an Isles fan then (pre-Mario of course)
From rookie season onward, 9 straight 50+ goal seasons; back disintegrated at 29 or he easily gets to 12 straight, perhaps 13 ,14 ? straight
He was averaging .777 Goals/game before 86/87 when his back died (at 29)
Finished (and still is) 1st overall in goals/game
Tied 3rd all time for shooting percentage (at least 200 games played) at 21%, only behind Simpson (24%) and Simmer (23%)
Gretzky 18%, Ovi is at 13%;
If the back hadn’t died Bossy would have hit 900 goals at 37, maybe 38
He only had 15 empty net goals and often would pass to another player instead of potting an EN goal
There won’t be an Islanders fan over the age of 50 that would say Ovechkin is a better goal scorer than Bossy
I’m confident there are many many other fans around the nation that have watched the NHL since at least the late 70’s that will state Bossy is the BEST goal scorer ever
That’s BEST not MOST goals
This week Ovi will have the most NHL REGULAR SEASON goals ever
Even if somehow Ovi gets 40 next year; he still will not pass Bossy as the BEST goal scorer ever
As an aside re totals
Pro career (reg season and playoffs)
Jagr(NHL, KHL, NHL again, Czech League) : over 1100
Gretzky (WHA, NHL)- 1,072
Howe (NHL, WHA, and back to NHL)- 1,071
Bobby Hull (NHL, WHA) 1,018
Ovechkin (Russia, NHL, KHL, NHL): 1,013
Clearly, we’ll simply never agree on that issue. To me Mike Bossy was a great player – in his day. Mo one can dispute that.
In my opinion …. and that’s all that it is … would he be scoring upwards of 70 goals a season in today’s game? Not – a – chance. He’d still be good compared to most, but had his career spanned the same years as Ovechkin’s he would not even be close to where Ovechkin stands now – just as no one else is, as indicated here showing the total goals by players from 2005-06 to 2023-24 (and no one has drawn any closer this year)
https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask?q=most+goals+in+nhl+from+2005-06+to+2023-24
This is something that drives me crazy. You are saying that had Bossy come into the league at the same time as Ovi, that Bossy wouldn’t be able to touch him. I’m sorry, but that’s not how talent and skill work. Using modern sticks, equipment, training environments, rules (and enforcement of said rules) Bossy would still dominate the league. He remains the best pure goal scorer in NHL history. 573 goals in ten years. Stretch that to 20 years in the modern era and 895 isn’t even a concern.
But it WAS a different era, like or not, with goalies much smaller on average than they are today, and equipment that fitted like a glove. Nor were there many of the best European players yet in the game – most notably Russians and Czechs, and everyone and his Aunt Minnie was scoring 40 goals and up. Look it up,
So, yes, while Mike Bossy was a top talent in that era, the overall game was VERY different and yes, I am saying that, while he would still have been among the top scorers in the league had he entered the same time as Ovechkin, he would not have scored at his pace.
Disagree away … that’s cool … but I am not changing my opinion.