NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 6, 2025
The Kings, Lightning and Panthers clinch playoff berths, the Blues set a franchise record for consecutive wins, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Los Angeles Kings clinched a playoff berth by blanking the Edmonton Oilers 3-0. Darcy Kuemper turned in a 27-save shutout while Kevin Fiala tallied his 30th goal of the season as the Kings sit second in the Pacific Division with 97 points, reaching the postseason for the fourth straight year. The Oilers remain in third place behind the Kings with 93 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, defenseman Mattias Ekholm and goaltender Stuart Skinner missed this game with injuries. McDavid is expected to return later this week.
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson scored his 40th goal as the Buffalo Sabres upset the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on shootout goals by Jack Quinn and Alex Tuch. Brayden Point and Gage Goncalves tallied for Tampa Bay, who clinched a playoff berth in second place in the Atlantic Division with 94 points. It’s the eighth straight season the Lightning have qualified for the playoffs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres have surged recently, winning seven of their last 10 games. Sitting 11 points out of a wild-card berth with seven games remaining, this hot streak comes too late to save their season.
Ottawa Senators netminder Anton Forsberg kicked out 40 shots to shut out the Florida Panthers 3-0. Jake Sanderson had a goal and an assist for the Senators as they hold the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 88 points, four back of the third-place Panthers in the Atlantic Division. Despite the loss, the Panthers clinched a playoff berth for the sixth straight season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Florida has gone 3-6-1 in their last 10 games while Ottawa is 5-4-1. Both teams have six games left. The Senators could overtake the Panthers in the standings if the latter doesn’t snap out of its funk.
St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas (NHL Images).
The St. Louis Blues set a franchise record with their 12th straight win by holding off the Colorado Avalanche 5-4. Robert Thomas scored the game-winner and collected three assists, Cam Fowler had three helpers and Zack Bolduc tallied twice as the Blues hold a four-point lead over the Minnesota Wild for the first Western Conference wild-card spot. Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche, who sit third in the Central Division with 98 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With 115 points, MacKinnon holds a three-point lead over Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov in the scoring race.
Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz turned aside 27 shots in a 5-0 shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nick Robertson and William Nylander each scored two goals for the Leafs, who hold a four-point lead over the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division with 98 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored his 30th goal, becoming the first American-born NHL player to reach that milestone in nine consecutive seasons. The loss puts the Blue Jackets (77 points) six points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final Eastern wild card.
Speaking of the Canadiens, they got third-period goals by Lane Hutson and Nick Suzuki for a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, eliminating the latter from the playoff race. The Canadiens have won four straight games and opened a four-point lead over the New York Rangers for the final Eastern wild card with 83 points. Ryan Poehling and Tyson Foerster replied for the Flyers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Suzuki is two points away from becoming the first Canadien to reach 85 points in a season since Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse in 1995-96. Habs winger Josh Anderson missed this game as his wife is due to give birth soon.
New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves to blank the Rangers 4-0. Timo Meier scored two goals for the Devils, who sit third in the Metro Division with 89 points. With 79 points, the Rangers are four back of the Canadiens in the Eastern wild-card chase.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blueshirts are sputtering with a record of 3-6-1. They and the Canadiens have six games remaining with the latter riding a four-game win streak.
Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak had a hat trick and two assists in a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Morgan Geekie had a goal and four assists for the Bruins, who were officially eliminated from the postseason race. Hurricanes rookie Justin Robidas scored his first NHL goal. His club sits second in the Metropolitan Division with 96 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pastrnak’s been among the few bright spots in a miserable season for the Bruins. He reached the 40-goal plateau for the fifth time, tying him for second with Rick Middleton among the Bruins all-time scoring leaders. Phil Esposito holds the franchise record with seven 40-goal campaigns.
If Robidas’ last name sounds familiar, he’s the son of former NHL defenseman Stephane Robidas.
An overtime goal by Reilly Smith lifted the Vegas Golden Knights past the Calgary Flames 3-2. Smith finished the game with two goals and Shea Theodore collected three assists as the Golden Knights remain atop the Pacific Division with 100 points, three up on the Kings. Joel Hanley and Matt Coronato scored for the Flames (85 points), who collected a point to sit four behind the Wild for the final Western wild-card spot.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had a hat trick and collected an assist in a 5-3 upset of the Dallas Stars, snapping the latter’s seven-game win streak. Evgenii Dadonov had a hat trick for the Stars, who remain four points behind the first-place Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Crosby reached the 30-goal mark for the 13th time in his career.
Utah Hockey Club goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots to beat the Jets 4-1. Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton and Kevin Stenlund each had a goal and an assist for Utah. Mark Scheifele tallied his 38th goal of the season for the league-leading Jets (108 points).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers missed this game with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
A five-goal first period lifted the Vancouver Canucks to a 6-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Thatcher Demko made 30 saves while Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes each had two points. Troy Terry and Trevor Zegras scored for the Ducks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The win keeps the Canucks’ fading playoff hopes alive. With 83 points, they’re six behind the Wild in the Western wild-card race.
The Seattle Kraken defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-1. Jared McCann had two goals and an assist for the Kraken. Rookie Will Smith tallied his 14th goal for the Sharks.
This is getting REAL interesting. In the second of a back-to-back for both, if Ottawa can defeat Columbus today and Florida loses in Detroit, the Senators are suddenly 2 pts back of the Panthers with 10 points left to both in the standings.
Meanwhile, in their back-to-back, a win by the Habs in Nashville, would solidify their hold on the 2nd WC spot.
Pistol Pete, if you’re reading this, I answered your query in yesterday’s thread.
Just as an aside … the Senators were damned lucky Forsberg had one of his great games because, without his amazing stops, this one would have been out of reach halfway through the 2nd period.
Florida dominated at every aspect. Other than the win, the best thing to come out of that game for Ottawa was the “learning experience” – i.e., how to hang in and win on the back of a dominating goalie.
Cheering for your boys today, George!
It’s a biggie, LJ. In fact a home and home 2-game set – with a day in between.
Sort of pains me, in a way, to see Columbus dropping back. I had earlier stated I hoped to see Ottawa, Montreal AND Columbus work their way in, but unfortunately just 3 teams from last year’s playoff teams appear to be out this year – NYR, NYI and Boston, with New Jersey, Ottawa and Montreal seemingly poised to replace them – although none have clinched yet.
Realistically, there was just no 4th team among the other 5 that, aside from some devastating turn of events, was going to falter.
If, for example, Ottawa did take 3rd in the Atlantic and Florida dropped to the 1st WC slot, and everything else remained the same,
Washington would meet Montreal
Toronto would meet Florida
Tampa would meet New Jersey
Ottawa would meet Carolina
Sorry George it is still divisions first
Montreal vs Washington
Toronto Vs Florida
Tampa vs Ottawa
Carolina vs New Jersey
Thanks Swany – that part – in the site I queried – was clear as mud – I should have checked here first
https://www.nhl.com/info/standings-info/playoff-format
For some reason I would prefer Tampa-Ottawa – Carolina is one of those nemesis types – like Buffalo – that, for whatever reason, seems to always have the upper hand on the Senators.
I guess just about every team has their “nemesis.” Ottawa seems to be Toronto’s for example.
Someone forgot to tell the Bruins they were supposed to lose. Slavin and Burns -4. They must have been out in the North End,Friday night.If Pasta,Geekie and now Lindholm Don t score,the Bruins could be shut out by all their other forwards.
A telling factor for many teams in the East has been their “away” performance as compared to their home games as indicated below. Almost without exception – as you’d expect – teams are tougher to beat in their building, with the ONLY exception being the NYR who have done (marginally) better on the road. Which is a bit strange since MSG has always been regarded as one of the toughest rinks for visiting teams.
But for those teams now essentially out of playoff contention, you only have to compare their home % pace to that on the road to see why they are about to miss out (a classic example being Boston – a tough .590 at home – a dismal .329 on the road – which begs the question – WHY? Pittsburgh is much the same as is Columbus – those are GRAPHIC differences).
Home-Bodies
1. Carolina – .782
2. Tampa – .757
3. Washington – .718
4. Florida – .676
5. Ottawa – .667
6. Columbus – .662
7. Toronto – .654
8. Montreal – .618
9. Boston – .590
10. New Jersey – .581
11. Buffalo – .581
12. Pittsburgh – .566
13. Detroit – .551
14. NY Islanders – .540
15. NY Rangers – .513
16. Philadelphia – .500
Road Warriors
1. Washington – ,689
2. Toronto – .635
3. New Jersey – .575
4. Florida – .539
5. NY Rangers – .526
6. Ottawa – .500
7. Tampa – .487
8. Montreal – .474
9. NY Islanders – .473
10. Carolina – .473
11. Detroit – .472
12. Philadelphia – .421
13. Pittsburgh – .397
14. Buffalo – .382
15. Columbus – .368
16. Boston – .329
Interesting stuff, George. Particularly, only 6 teams .500 or better on the road.
That is revealing LJ, and as I post elsewhere, it begs the question WHY?
Coaching/systems employed unable to deal adequately with line changes?
Crowd intimidation? That I find hard to believe, as these guys are pros, and early on in their careers they learn to discard any tendency to have “rabbit ears.”
I mean, I can understand some drop-off due to travel fatigue/time changes, back-to-backs on the road, whatever …. but so many of those drop-offs are huge – even Tampa! From a .757 % pace at home to .487 on the road!
Congratulations, Ovie, on # 895 this afternoon against NYI. Now go get # 900 before the season ends.