NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 18, 2026
A record-setting game for winger Mika Zibanejad and a milestone one for head coach Mike Sullivan in a win over the Flyers, the Hurricanes regain first place in the Eastern Conference, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: New York Rangers winger Mika Zibanejad tallied a hat trick, Artemi Panarin scored twice and collected an assist, and Brennan Othmann netted his first NHL goal in a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Zibanejad set the Rangers’ power-play goal record with 117, while head coach Mike Sullivan earned his 500th career NHL win. Travis Konecny, Trevor Zegras, and Travis Sanheim each had a goal and an assist for the Flyers.
New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Rangers (21-22-6) snapped a five-game winless skid (0-4-1), while the Flyers’ skid reached six games (0-5-1). Flyers center Rodrigo Abols left the game in the first period with an injured right leg. Before the game, the Flyers placed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on injured reserve.
Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov had a hat trick to defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-1. Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Frederik Andersen stopped 29 shots for the 30-15-4 Hurricanes, who took over first place in the Eastern Conference with 64 points. Timo Meier replied for the Devils (24-22-2).
Utah Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt scored twice (including the game-winner) and collected two assists in a 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken. Lawson Crouse had a goal and two assists for the Mammoth, who have won three straight and improved to 25-20-4. Matty Beniers had a goal and an assist for the Kraken (21-17-9), who have dropped three straight games and are 1-3-2 in their last six contests.
The Calgary Flames doubled up the New York Islanders 4-2. Adam Klapka had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Wolf made 28 saves for the 21-23-4 Flames. Rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer picked up two assists for the Islanders (26-17-5) while team captain Anders Lee scored his 300th career NHL regular-season goal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson was named the game’s third star and was loudly cheered by Calgary fans in what may have been his final game with the club as trade rumors intensify.
Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone scored to extend his points streak to 11 games in a 7-2 drubbing of the Nashville Predators. Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore, Keegan Kolesar, Alexander Holtz, and Cole Reinhart each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (24-11-12), who lead the Pacific Division with 60 points. Luke Evangelista and Filip Forsberg scored for the 23-21-4 Predators.
The Edmonton Oilers blanked the Vancouver Canucks 6-0, with all six goals coming in the second period. Tristan Jarry turned in a 31-save shutout, while Jack Roslovic and Kasperi Kapanen each tallied twice for the 24-17-8 Oilers. The Canucks are winless in their last 10 games (0-8-2) and slipped to 16-27-5.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers center Leon Draisaitl missed this game as he’s on a leave of absence to return home to Germany due to a family illness.
Montreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield scored twice, including the winner in overtime, as his club overcame a 5-3 deficit for a 6-5 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Caufield finished with three points, Juraj Slafkovsky tallied two goals, and Lane Hutson collected three assists for the 27-15-7 Canadiens. Jake Sanderson had a goal and three assists for the Senators, who slipped to 22-19-6.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens center Jake Evans returned to action after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.
An overtime goal by Max Domi lifted the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Domi and Auston Matthew each had a goal and an assist while Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a goal and two assists for the 24-16-8 Maple Leafs. Vladislav Namestnikov collected two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 33 shots for the Jets (19-22-6) as their four-game win streak ended.
The Boston Bruins picked up their sixth straight win by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2. Mason Lohrei scored two goals while David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm, Pavel Zacha, and Casey Mittelstadt each had two assists as the Bruins improved to 28-19-2. Ryan Greene and Wyatt Kaiser replied for the 19-22-7 Blackhawks, who’ve dropped three straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Bruins activated defenseman Hampus Lindholm off injured reserve after missing six games with an undisclosed injury.
Minnesota Wild winger Mats Zuccarello scored in overtime to give his team a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Kirill Kaprizov had three assists for the 27-13-9 Wild as they picked up their third win in their last nine games (3-3-3). Jack Quinn and Ryan McLeod each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (26-16-5).
Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett had a goal and two assists in a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals. A.J. Greer, Anton Lundell, and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (25-19-3). Jakob Chychrun scored both goals for the 24-19-6 Capitals.
The Columbus Blue Jackets picked up their fourth straight win by nipping the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on a shootout goal by Charlie Coyle. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 29 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have won four straight and improved to 22-19-7. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Penguins (22-14-11).
An overtime goal by Mikael Granlund gave the Anaheim Ducks a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Mason McTavish also scored for the Ducks (24-21-3), who picked up back-to-back wins over the Kings (19-16-13), who got 31 saves from Anton Forsberg.
If true and the pkg of torontos 1st with Lorhei and potrias for Anderson with extension. I would make trade if salary is a fair one. Bruins would have a really tough d core. Plus some assets would get recovered by moving Peeke
Last night the Habs’ mediocre goaltending was significantly less obvious than Ottawa’s mediocre goaltending.
6 goals on 19 shots coupled with a monumental choke, leading 5-3 with less than 4 minutes to go. The debilitating effect on the team – that more or less dominated play throughout to that point – was evident when they gave up the winner just 33 seconds into OT.
A team simply cannot win with any consistency with that sort of goaltending. It goes way beyond mediocre.
This morning Ottawa sits 24th in he league, putting them 9th in the drafting order and within the lottery, just 6 points ahead of 31st-place Winnipeg and closer to that possibility than they are to a WC spot.
Now they have to go into Detroit tonight in the 2nd of their two-straight back-to-backs, where they will undoubtedly get their butts waxed.
Clearly, they’ll have to play Reimer since any “confidence” Merilainen has been clinging to is shot.
George, last night Montembeault may have bent but he did not break. Poor defensive coverage was more to blame than he was. The Sens goalie was atrocious. As Sanderson put it, you need more than 10 saves to win a game.
A headline from one of the Habs fan websites put it best. Happy with the win but not how they got it. Good character win for the Habs with the late comeback and never say die attitude. A win they would not have had a year ago. But they can’t expect to play that way and win many more games. Last night was less about how good the Habs are and more about the mess the Sens have become.
Ya George, what you saw seems to be exactly wat happened.
I didn’t watch the game, but after reading your post checked the #’s.
Scoring chances Ott had 61.64% of the.
High danger chances – 18 to 12 in favor of OTT. 18 is a pretty high #, 12 against id pretty good.
Expected goals for and against for Ott was – 4.79 to 2.6. and they lost 6-5.
Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending.
Howard, whoever wrote that couldn’t have put it better, particularly that last sentence.
Ray – yep, yep, yep!
And as I posted yesterday, even if, when Ullmark returns, he gets back to “form” relatively early, there’s no way they can go the rest of the schedule at an increased % pace of around .700 – which they’d need to do if they have ANY hope of getting back into contention.
Clearly, Staios will need to make moves – whether at the Trade Deadline or in the off-season – the main focus of which will HAVE to be to acquire a goaltender – and a back-up – that they can reasonably rely upon.
And to that end – and for whatever this is worth – from my point of view as a pure observer, there is not ONE player I would categorize as “untouchable” IF the return is deemed good enough.
For example, I think a player of Sanderson’s or Stutzle’s or Tkachuk’s calibre would bring back a # 1 pick plus a top prospect. Something bold like that is paramount since dealing a Greig or a Chabot won’t cut it to that extent.
George the headline “happy with the win but not how they got it” was from Habs Eyes on the Prize”. The last sentence, and the rest of it, was mine. I guess winning ugly is still part of the road to greatness.
You got that right on, Howard.