NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 23, 2026
Milestone games for the Predators’ Roman Josi and the Blue Jackets’ Charlie Coyle, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone set a franchise record, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Steven Stamkos tallied a hat trick, and Roman Josi had an assist in his 1,000th career NHL regular-season game as the Nashville Predators overcame a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-3. Ryan O’Reilly collected three assists as the Predators improved to 24-22-4. Senators rookie Stephen Halliday scored his first career NHL goal as his club dropped to 23-20-7.
Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Senators announced winger David Perron will require surgery to repair a sports hernia and will be sidelined at least five to seven weeks.
Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists as his club held off the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 30 shots while Elias Lindholm had a goal and an assist for the 29-20-2 Bruins. Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (24-13-12), who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 60 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Golden Knights captain Mark Stone collected an assist to extend his points streak to a franchise-record 13 games.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves made 28 saves in a 1-0 shutout of the Dallas Stars. Zach Werenski tallied the only goal as the Blue Jackets have won five of their last six games and improved to 23-20-7. Casey DeSmith turned aside 21 shots for the Stars (28-14-9), who have dropped four of their last five contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle played in his 1,000th career NHL regular-season game. Meanwhile, the Stars remain in a lengthy funk, with just three wins in their last 14 games.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov scored twice (including the winner in overtime) and picked up an assist in a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Mats Zuccarello also has two goals and an assist, and Quinn Hughes collected three assists for the Wild (29-14-9). Lucas Raymond scored two goals for the 31-16-5 Red Wings, who regained first place in the Atlantic Division with 67 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Wild activated center Joel Eriksson Ek off injured reserve. They also announced that defenseman Jonas Brodin will miss the Olympics next month after undergoing surgery for a lower-body injury.
The Chicago Blackhawks upset the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 on a shootout goal by Oliver Moore. Spencer Knight made 28 saves, and Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (21-22-7). Hurricanes rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom scored his first career NHL goal as his club picked up a point to hold first place in the Eastern Conference with 67 points (31-15-5) and a game in hand over the Red Wings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blackhawks forwards Andre Burakovsky and Frank Nazar returned to action. An illness sidelined Burakovsky while Nazar missed 14 games with an upper-body injury.
The Pittsburgh Penguins got three first-period goals in 37 seconds (two by Anthony Mantha) in a 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Arturs Silovs made 30 saves, and Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist for the 25-14-11 Penguins, who have won three straight games. Former Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry gave up six goals on 22 shots for the Oilers (25-19-8).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following the game, Malkin told reporters that he wants to play one more year with the Penguins. The 39-year-old center’s contract expires at the end of this season. Meanwhile, the Penguins activated defenseman Erik Karlsson from injured reserve, but placed blueliner Ryan Graves on IR.
Buffalo Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen kicked out 32 shots as his club doubled up the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 4-2. Zach Benson scored what proved to be the game-winner for the Sabres (28-17-5), who are 4-1-1 in their last six games. Cole Caufield scored to extend his goal streak to four games for the 28-16-7 Canadiens.
A shootout goal by Sam Reinhart gave the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Daniil Tarasov stopped 17 shots, and Sam Bennett scored in regulation for the Panthers (26-20-3). Cole Perfetti replied for the 20-23-7.
Who are the biggest surprises of the year so far?
Detroit
Buffalo
Boston
Pittsburgh
Who are biggest disappointments
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Rangers
Leafs
Obe, I think Ottawa belongs on your second list above. Yet another 2-0 lead blown, and the winning goal given up with about a minute and a half to go in the 3rd.
And now they face a back-to-back at home against Carolina on Saturday, and Vegas on Sunday. That’s when the curtain comes down on another season.
Blow the damned thing up.
Correction … they blew a 3 goal lead …
I guess there are surprises every year, and agree with Obe’s list. Guessing you didn’t rank them in order.
Didn’t think the B’s would be terrible after the adds in off season, thought they would fall just short, and they still very well could. But they’re playing very well right now. I teeter back and forth on whether that is good or bad, middle and long term. But enjoy it while they roll, Go B’s!
Keep waiting for Oil to rebound and get on a heater as they are consistently a slow starting team, but start to play great in the 2nd half. Hasn’t happened yet, will it this time? Last 2 games should have been wins, at home, they played brutal. Somewhat concerning and sorta surprising.
Leafs, had to think losing Marner would hurt, but thought they would be a bit better, but not shocking that they aren’t.
Rags, wasn’t like last year was good, but roster sure suggests they should be better. I thought they would rebound.
Jets are the most surprising, they won the presidents trophy last year. I heard a few weeks ago that it could be the biggest drop in regular season points in NHL history. They lost Ehlers, but still, WTF happened?
Ott, ya, surprising. I had them and MTL in the same category, up and coming. Tending is sinking them. Can’t just pick up a new one at Canadian Tire, so not sure how this turns around unless Ullmark comes back and is ready to rock. Far from a sure thing.
Pens have found the fountain of youth, biggest upside surprise. Does the NHL still test?
***george***
SIGHHHH
rarely do get close to throwing the remote…but last night that was a doozy. And, even though it’s not and we are being “dramatic” it really felt like a back breaker on the season.
I don’t usually blame officials either but last night seemed like a game that was going perfectly fine with no ref interference until the Zub penalty. When even the announcers noted it was a week call that both teams had been guilty of the previous 7 or 8 minutes. In fact I remember thinking that, other than the Zetterlund call, ALL the penalties on both teams were weak. Now…the Zetterlund call was correct and significant in that Nashville scored right at the end of the 4 min BUT Ottawa’s pk people were exhausted and then got nailed with another weak one a minute or two later.
Like. Let them play. The officiating altered that games outcome completely and wasn’t necessary.
I wouldn’t say that Edonton belong in the “biggest disappointment” catigory. They are having a disappointing season, but they are still only 2 points from the division lead. The other three teams listed aren’t even in a playoff position. I would say New Jersey, Ottawa, and Vancover are having more of a dissapointing season than Edmonton.
No brainer to bring back geno. Still ppg and he said he’d take a pay cut. Hes even willing to play wing. One more year geno!
Well George your probably right again I would go Pittsburgh as overachiever and Winnipeg as underachiever. Must admit didn’t think my Bruins would be in playoff position.
Obe, my biggest surprises are in this order Pittsburgh,Buffalo and Boston. Disappointment would be the Rangers. Everything is still wide open. George O your Sens only seem like a disappointment to me but you have had major injuries all year and the Ullmark situation really snuck up on you guys.