NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 14, 2025
The Stars push the Jets to the brink of elimination, the league suspends Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu, and the latest on the Oilers, Leafs, Capitals and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: A hat trick by Mikael Granlund gave the Dallas Stars a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 4 of their best-of-seven second-round series, pushing the Jets to the brink of elimination.
San Jose Sharks forward Mikael Granlund (NHL Images).
Jake Oettinger made 31 saves for the Stars, who hold a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Jets, who got 21 saves from Connor Hellebuyck.
The Stars can wrap up this series in Game 5 in Winnipeg on Thursday, May 15, at 9:30 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That hat trick was Granlund’s first in the postseason. His last regular-season hat trick was in 2017. Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen returned to action after being sidelined by a knee injury since late January. He assisted on Granlund’s second goal, which proved to be the game-winner.
The Jets played their best road game of the postseason, generating 70 shot attempts, but they could only put one goal past Oettinger, who made a big save on Kyle Connor before Granlund’s winning goal. Their special teams were a problem, giving up two power-play goals while failing to generate offense with the man advantage. The Jets have yet to win a road game in this postseason.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The league has suspended Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu indefinitely for “unacceptable and inappropriate” posts on the social media platform “X”, formerly Twitter.
Cifu made the posts in response to a comment from a Leafs fan. He has since deleted his “X” account and apologized. Cifu and will soon have an in-person meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was on the ice taking shots during an optional skate on Tuesday. He’s been sidelined by a suspected concussion since Game 1 of their second-round series with the Panthers. Stolarz is improving, but he won’t be in the lineup for Game 5 on Wednesday.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers winger Evander Kane has been a solid physical presence for his club in this postseason, netting seven points in nine games thus far. The 33-year-old winger missed the 2024-25 regular season recovering from abdominal, hip, and knee surgeries.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kane was a shadow of himself during last year’s postseason as he tried to play through his injuries. Now healthy, he’s been a factor for the Oilers, who are poised to reach the Western Conference Final for the third time in four years.
TSN: Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm could be ready to return to action if his club advances to the next series. The 34-year-old has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury since Apr. 11.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Getting Ekholm back for the Western Conference Final would provide a significant boost to the Oilers’ defense corps, but first, they must eliminate the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery is expected to shake up his roster before Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. The Capitals face elimination, down three games to one to the Hurricanes in their second-round series.
TSN: The Los Angeles Kings will formally announce Ken Holland as their new general manager on Thursday. Holland is the former GM of the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers.
RG.ORG: The San Jose Sharks are close to an agreement on a new contract with Shakir Mukhamadullin. The 23-year-old defenseman is coming off his entry-level contract and appeared in 30 games with the Sharks this season, finishing with nine points.
SPORTSNET: The new compensation rates for NHL offer sheets have been revealed.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Click the link above to see the breakdown of those rates.
Lyle, your observation “The Jets have yet to win a road game in this postseason” says it all.
On that first Granlund end-to-end pp goal, with a head fake here and a shoulder fake there, the Jets stood around like they were mesmerized, but no less so than Hellebuyck who completely misplayed the snap shot from way out at the top of the slot.
Somehow I doubt even Granlund thought that had a chance in Hell of going in as he likely figured SOMEONE was going to hit him soon and was just firing it towards the net.
In fact, their lack of success on the road in these playoffs (in their 5 losses so far against St. Louis and Dallas they’ve been outscored 25 to 8!) isn’t in keeping with their road success during the season, w here they held the 2nd-best points % in the entire league.
Toronto and Washington were tied for first with a sparkling .646 record, followed closely by the Jets at .634.
Then came Minnesota (.622), Vegas (.598), Edmonton and New Jersey (.585), and Dallas (.573).
For the record, the other 2 teams still in the playoffs bring up the rear in that regard: Florida at .512 and Carolina at .439.
Just as a team can ride a hot goalie they suffer with a cold one.
Regular season is past history and you never know who will stand on their head in nets.
Hellebiyck has been badly exposed in these playoffs as a regular dose of players are finding the high spots particularly glove side.
It’s surprising that he hasn’t been able to adjust and a team strength has become an anchor.
IMO Hellebuyck is fatigued. He played in a league high 63 games plus another 4 games in the Four Nations Faceoff. The last time Hellebuyck had a save percentage above .900 in the playoffs was in 2020/21 with a .931. That year he only played 45 regular season games.
Part of the reason he played so many games is due to the fact that the Jets only had 8 back-to-backs (compared to 15 to 16 for some teams), which meant there were far less reasons to go to Crombie.
Comrie going winless in 8 straight games from Nov. 14th to Jan. 18th doesn’t help the coaches confidence to start him either.
Fair points, all.
I wondered if Hellybuyck might be gassed as well, but according to NHL records, there are well over 100 examples of goalies playing way more regular season games. Different eras, different travel schedules and all that, but some are recent. It is not until # 192 that Hellybuyck shows up, 67 in 2017-18. This season, he played 63.
So whatever the issues are with him, it doesn’t seem like workload is one of them. Nor is it likely that he is getting older and can’t manage that many anymore. He is just 31.
Is Brad Marchand the best ever playoff player