NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 16, 2026
The Bruins retire Zdeno Chara’s number, multipoint performances by the Sabres’ Tage Thompson and the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel, Jets center Jonathan Toews reaches a career milestone, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF THURSDAY’S GAME
NHL.COM: The Boston Bruins honored Hall of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara by retiring his No. 33 in a pregame ceremony before winning their fifth straight game by defeating the Seattle Kraken 4-2. Mark Kastelic scored the game-winner while shorthanded, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 26 shots for the 27-19-2 Bruins. Chandler Stephenson and Eeli Tolvanen replied for the Kraken (21-16-9).
The Boston Bruins retire Zdeno Chara’s No. 33 (NHL.com)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Chara spent 14 of his 24 NHL seasons with the Bruins from 2006-07 to 2019-20. He was their captain throughout that period, making him the longest-tenured captain in franchise history. He led them to three Stanley Cup Finals, winning the Cup in 2011. He also won the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2008-09 and was twice named to the Second All-Star Team.
Bruins winger David Pastrnak tallied his 20th goal of the season, tying him with Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Bucyk for the second-most consecutive 20-goal seasons among the Bruins’ all-time scoring leaders (10 seasons). Brad Marchand leads the franchise with 12 seasons.
Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour collected an assist as he returned to action for the first time since being sidelined by an injury on Dec. 16.
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson tallied a hat trick and collected two assists in a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Thompson also passed the 200-goal plateau as the Sabres (26-16-4) have won 15 of their last 17 games. Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Lane Hutson each had two points for the 26-15-7 Canadiens, who are 1-2-1 in their last four games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hutson became the second-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 100 career assists, doing so in 132 games. Sergei Zubov was the fastest with 127 games.
The Sabres recalled forward Konsta Helenius as center Josh Norris is day-to-day with an upper-body injury suffered during Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Vegas Golden Knights rallied to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on an overtime goal by Jack Eichel, who also had three assists. Mitch Marner picked up two assists against his former club as the Golden Knights (23-11-12) picked up their sixth straight win and lead the Pacific Division with 58 points. William Nylander and John Tavares each had a goal and an assist for the 23-16-8 Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nylander left this game after rolling his ankle in the first period. Meanwhile, Maple Leafs Auston Matthews didn’t want to answer more queries about Marner. Following the warm-up skate, he told TSN’s Mark Masters he’d had enough of the “Mitch questions” for the day, preferring to focus on the upcoming game.
Golden Knights’ goaltender Adin Hill returned to action for the first time since being sidelined by a lower-body injury on Oct. 20. He stopped 23 shots for the win.
Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists in a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Jonathan Toews, Josh Morrissey, and Gabriel Vilardi each had a goal and an assist as the Jets (19-22-5) have won four straight games. Danila Yurov and Marcus Johansson scored for the Wild (26-13-9), who have one win in their last six games (1-3-2).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Toews picked up his 900th career NHL regular-season point. Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin missed this game as he’s week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 6-3. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak each collected two assists, and Stuart Skinner stopped 30 shots for the 22-14-10 Penguins. Flyers winger Matvei Michkov scored his 10th goal of the season for the Flyers (22-16-8) as they are winless in their last five games (0-4-1).
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin kicked out 35 shots to shut out the Edmonton Oilers 1-0. Anthony Duclair scored the game’s only goal as the Islanders improved to 26-16-5. Oilers captain Connor McDavid’s 20-game goal streak ended as his club sits at 23-17-8.
Three second-period goals by the San Jose Sharks gave them a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals. Collin Graf had a goal and an assist for the 24-19-3 Sharks, who are 7-2-0 in their last nine games. Dylan Strome and Ryan Leonard replied for the Capitals (24-18-6).
Columbus Blue Jackets forwards Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist to beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-1, extending the latter’s winless skid to nine games (0-7-2). Elvis Merzlikins made 30 saves for the 21-19-7 Blues Jackets as they collected their third straight win. Brock Boeser scored for the Canucks, who sank to 16-26-5.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson returned to action for the first time since suffering a hip injury on Oct. 25.
The Utah Mammoth extended their points streak to six games (5-0-1) with a 3-1 upset of the Dallas Stars. Karel Vejmelka turned aside 26 shots while Nick Schmaltz and John Marino each had a goal and an assist for the Mammoth, who improved to 24-20-4. Mikko Rantanen scored for the Stars (27-12-9), who have two wins in their last 11 games (2-5-4).
Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund scored a shorthanded goal and picked up an assist in a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Devin Cooley made 22 saves for the 20-23-4 Flames. Nick Foligno scored for the 19-21-7 Blackhawks.
IN OTHER NEWS…
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The Panthers were honored at the White House on Thursday for their second straight Stanley Cup championship.
AP NEWS: St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas will be sidelined for two weeks with a lower-body injury.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche forward Ross Colton is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Yesterday I mentioned how hard it is for teams – and specifically Ottawa – near the bottom of the tightly-packed Eastern Conference to get within playoff range, and while the Western Conference may not be as tight a race, the difficulty facing some of the current bottom-dwellers out West – especially those who were expected to be doing well this season – is no less severe.
Winnipeg is a classic example. Winners of 4 straight, they remain mired in 15th place with 7 teams to climb over to get into 8th place.
On another unrelated topic … Holy Crap Lyle only 60+ comments yesterday and not quite 50 the day before. Whatever are you gonna do? Oh dear!
LOL. Excuse the mocking sarcasm.
Yes, it’s keeping me awake at night…🙄
Try Trazodone! 🙂
Sorokin was on his game last night and Ingram was not too shabby himself. Oilers dominated the play in the 2nd and 3rd. You know it was going to be this way when the puck hits two bars and looks like it will cross the line and seeming decides nope not today boys and falls to the other side.
Seen exactly that in at least 4 Senators’ games so far this season, including a relatively rare 1-0 loss.
Also how did Draisaitl not score on that shot late in the third. He had Sorokin beat so bad that he put the puck behind Sorokin and still hit the far post.
Sorokin was just unreal last night. You also can’t fault Ingram, he game the Oilers every opportunity to win that game.
On money puck they have a deserve to win o’meter where they simulate a game 1000 times using all of the advanced stats to see who would win the majority of games. Last night’s game the Oilers would win 86.6% of the time.
George O – right, sometimes things just dont go the way they should lol.
Kevjam -that 86.6% stat seems agreeable to me.
Is Chara the best UFA signing of al time?
Meaning left current team to new team.
Trying to think of a better one, hasn’t come to me yet. Tavares has been a really good one, but still think Chara is better.
As a Sens fan, please don’t remind me. I still to this day believe Ottawa’s inability to resign Chara for whatever the reason was, cost them a SC.
It wasn’t an “inability” to sign him. Muckler lived up to a variation of his name – muck up – when, faced with a choice between Chara and Redden (he didn’t have the cap for both), he chose Redden.
Has to go down as one of THE dumbest decisions in the annals of hockey.
Sorry boys! Wasn’t trying to troll Sens fans.
I was curious if other folks agree that he was the best UFA signing in history.
Absolutely no doubt about that, Ray. His signing by Boston, announced within minutes of the opening stages of free-agency, put to rest the myth that teams are not supposed to negotiate with UFAs prior to the opening of the process.
The only other UFA signing that comes to mind that matched the impact Chara had on the Bruins would by Marian Hossa by Chicago in 2009 since he was instrumental in their 3 following Cup wins in 2010, 2013 and 2015.