NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 6, 2026
Recapping the final games before the Olympic break, Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis is named to Canada’s Men’s Olympic hockey team, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF THURSDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up their fifth straight win by taming the Florida Panthers 6-1. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Pontus Holmberg had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov picked up an assist to extend his points streak to 10 games for the Lightning (37-14-5), who lead the Eastern Conference with 78 points. Mackie Samoskevich scored for the 29-25-3 Panthers, who have lost five of their last six games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Lightning-Panthers feud continued as multiple fights occurred in the third period, highlighted by a spirited tilt between Brandon Hagel of the Lightning and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers. Florida head coach Paul Maurice was ejected as the two teams combined for 114 minutes in penalties, with nine players receiving 10-minute misconducts.
The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-1. Adin Hill made 32 saves, and Mark Stone had a goal and two assists for the 27-16-12 Golden Knights, who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 68 points. Trevor Moore replied for the Kings (23-19-14), who are 1-3-1 in their last five games.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brandon Hagel (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kings captain Anze Kopitar picked up an assist on Moore’s goal, becoming the 39th player in league history to reach 1,300 career regular-season points. He needs eight more points to break Marcel Dionne’s franchise record of 1,307.
Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi made 16 saves to shut out the New York Rangers 2-0. Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes (36-15-6), who are 8-0-2 in their last 10, and hold first place in the Metropolitan Division with 78 points. Jonathan Quick kicked out 41 of 42 shots for the 22-29-6 Rangers, who have lost seven of their last eight contests.
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Avery Hayes scored twice in his NHL debut in a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Rookie Ben Kindel also tallied two goals for the Penguins (29-15-12). Tage Thompson and Jason Zucker scored for the Sabres (32-19-6), who are 1-2-1 in their last four games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins called up Hayes with forwards Blake Lizotte, Rickard Rakell, and Noel Acciari out of this game for various reasons.
Washington Capitals center Pierre-Luc Dubois returned from a 47-game absence (abdominal surgery) with a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators. Logan Thompson made 27 saves after missing four games with an upper-body injury as the Capitals (29-23-7) have won four of their last five contests. Jonathan Marchessault and Michael McCarron replied for the 26-24-7 Predators.
An overtime goal by Tim Stutzle lifted the Ottawa Senators over the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1. Nick Cousins also scored for the Senators, who have won five of their last six games to improve their record to 28-22-7. Jamie Drysdale tied the game late in the third period for the Flyers (25-20-11).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators’ backup goalie James Reimer filled in for starter Linus Ullmark, who was a late scratch due to illness.
Speaking of the Senators, top prospect Carter Yakemchuk remains focused on becoming a full-time member of their defense corps. He said that he was drafted to one day become a defense partner for Jake Sanderson. It’s expected that Yakemchuk could be called up from their AHL affiliate in Belleville following the Olympic break.
The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils 3-1. Bo Horvat scored the winning goal and collected an assist while Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves for the 32-21-5 Islanders. Nico Hischier scored for the Devils (28-27-2), who have dropped five of their last six games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The NHL schedule is now on its’ Olympic break until Wednesday, Feb. 25.
IN OTHER NEWS…
TSN: Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis will replace Tampa Bay Lightning center Braydon Point on Canada’s Men’s Olympic hockey team in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Point suffered a knee injury on Jan. 12 and hasn’t fully recovered in time for the Olympics. Jarvis played for Canada in last February’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Point is the second member of the Lightning forced to miss the Olympics due to an injury. Teammate Anthony Cirelli was also selected as a member of Team Canada, but he was replaced earlier this week with Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett, who also played in the 4 Nations tournament.
THE SCORE: cited a report by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, claiming Artemi Panarin rejected a $56 million contract offer from the Seattle Kraken before agreeing to be traded to the Los Angeles Kings earlier this week, where he signed a two-year, $22 million deal.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: cited Friedman saying that Panarin’s agent was telling teams that his client was going to the Carolina Hurricanes, but that seemed to have been posturing to try and get other interested club to raise their offers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Kraken have been seeking a scoring star for years, but offering up a 34-year-old winger a four-year deal worth $14 million annually is ridiculous. Panarin turns 35 in October, and his production has declined since his career-high of 120 points in 2023-24. That contract would’ve aged poorly for the Kraken.
SPORTSNET: Details are emerging regarding the incident that led to Penn State forward Gavin McKenna facing charges of aggravated and simple assault, harassment, and disorderly conduct.
A police affidavit stated McKenna was caught on video punching a man in the face twice, resulting in the victim requiring surgery for a fractured jaw that had to be wired shut.
The alleged assault occurred as McKenna and several of his teammates were coming from a pub after Penn State had hosted Michigan State at Beaver Stadium. He allegedly punched the victim after words were exchanged between the two men.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McKenna, 18, is considered among the top prospects in this year’s NHL Draft.
Looks like Hagel evened up the score against Tkachuk last night in the Bolts/ Panthers game.Imagine a rivalry of this magnitude in the Sunshine State.
I guess Matty did not tie his jersey down properly. Give him another fine! đ
Hagel is 2-0 vs Tkachuk while giving up reach, height and weight advantages.
Ol’ spot picker Mat needs to learn to throw.
That 2-1 win by Ottawa over the Flyers was a nail-biter on a couple of fronts. First, it was close, needing OT, but then all 3 wins in the season series against Philadelphia was close, with two 2-1 wins and one 3-2. There was also the spectre of expecting to see Ullmark in nets, only to tune in and see Reimer back in (and Shepard as the back-up) â after coughing up 4 goals on 18 shots in a game where they out-hustled and almost doubled up the shots on the Hurricanes IN Carolina in the second of a back-to-back.
But Reimer was solid, and could not be faulted for the late Flyers goal that tied it at 1-1, and just before Stutzle won it with a hi-lite reel goal, Reimer stopped â I think it was the dangerous Konecny â in close just before the Stutzle goal.
As for Ullmark, turns out it was a âtouch of flu-like symptomsâ and not a mental-health relapse. Heâll have time to recover as they donât play again until Feb 26, at home to Detroit, then in Toronto Feb 28, before heading off on a Western swing with stops in Edmonton, Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver â no back-to-backs.
With 25 games left in the schedule â or 50 possible points to look at it another way â and having increased their % pace over their past 12 to .667, going 7-3-2 (scoring 48 while giving up 35), they will need to nudge that up to .670 the rest of the way to get to 97 points, which is still looking to be the Eastern cut-off. Thatâs Tampa, Carolina, Colorado, Minnesota, Dallas territory.
Tall order, also faced by Washington, Toronto, Philadelphia, Florida and New Jersey. For Columbus, it’s not quite so onerous.
For the Rangers, only Divine Intervention can help.
Columbus is 4 b/o the NYI and Boston, who currently sit 8th and 7th, with 2 games in hand on the Islanders and 1 on the Bruins.
At their current .580 # pace they’d finish with 95, so they need to up that to .610 the rest of the way to get to 97. A bit more reasonably doable.
Great game by Sens George. The way they are playing, I wouldnât count them out yet. They can hang with anyone when they play this way. Last 5 games have limited teams to under 20 shots. Still donât like how they keep giving up late goals, but Stutzleâs OT goal might have been worth it. He is a special player.
If some teams cool off during the break, and if Sens can keep playing their atyle, they might be able to sneak into a wild card. As a fan, we can always have hope.
I wish Crosby wasnât playing in the Olympics. He has not looked like himself for a month. The rest wouldâve been great for the old boy.
Spector I have to disagree with ‘That contract wouldâve aged poorly for the Kraken.’
Seattle has not had a player with the profile of Panarin yet and getting even an aging borderline HOF player is good for a young franchise.
I still believe they should of done whatever possible to sign Marner last summer even when they knew he wanted a legit contender.
Pursuing a 28-year-old two-way star in his prime such as Marner is one thing. On that, I agree with you. Offering up $14 million annually for four years to a 34-year-old winger heading into the downside of his career smacks of desperation, which is not what you want from your management when you’re trying to find a scoring star.
yeah I see both sides but they do lose Eberle+Schwartz and have 36million to play with next summer
Do they have the assets to send Dallas for Robertson’s rights? That is the move imho
I agree with you about Robertson. If they can afford the asking price, and if he’s keen to move on, go get him.
If they saw the wisdom in offering a 4 year $14 mil per deal to a 34 y/o who, over the 371 games played in his past 5 seasons to this point, has an 82-game average of 35 goals, then I’m sure Nashville would be open to a reasonable offer for their 35 y/o who, with 2 seasons to go after this at $8 mil per, has an 82-game average of 37 goals over the same span. And they’d save $40 mil!
@george
But Stamkos would have to agree to be moved… is he asking?
Seattle needs to stop being boring regardless
Yes, the Kraken must improve their offense and maybe their entire system. However, chasing after aging stars with expensive contracts is not the way to do it. Better to pursue someone in the mid-to-late twenties in their prime such as Robertson. If you’re going to spend big money, they’re the players to spend it on.
ds, I was being facetious. I doubt Stamkos would waive to go to Seattle even if they did make an offer.
Just a roundabout way saying I agree they should not be wasting their time pursuing stars who are approaching their late 30s.
A Robertson, on the other hand, would them the star-power they think they need for much longer.
Looks a bit more dicey for McKenna, based on that Sportsnet account. “Words” – in a situation like that – need to be shrugged off as the actions of a loud-mouth. You may LIKE to have him spitting Chicklets, but you have to consider all the potential ramifications of an uncontrolled, high-risk, immature and potentially very costly flash of temper.
I donât think being 18 is much of an excuse, any more than is âI was just following orders.â
I’m not so crazy about jarvis, in addition to stone, point, doughty. I know jarvis is replacing point but I recall theses guys didn’t play so well in 4 nations. Reinhart, too! But IDK, they are great players and I hope they show up this time and prove me wrong. The US is stacked with talent. So, is Canada but they better turn up the will another notch. Overall, great hockey but I am not crazy about the disruption of the NHL season. …..
Tampa Bay pretty impressive and look to me like they are in it to win it. I wouldn’t mind a rematch with the Avalanche. Both sides healthy would make it great for a SC Final. So many things could play out. Avalanche still have to prove they can beat Dallas or Vegas
I hope no one gets major injury playing in the Olympics!!
Jarvis is Carolina’s best overall forward. He is second to Staal as Carolina’s best defensive forward. He can play any style the game becomes. He has speed, great hands, hockey instincts, plays fearless and excels on the PK. Canada is loaded with talent and Jarvis will have a small role, but he will play it with a passion.
I agree. I really like Jarvisâs game. I think heâll be a great bottom 6 addition for Team Canada.
Jarvis is a great player and deserves to be on the squad.
I would have brought Hyman instead as Point was with McDavid and they worked well together. We know Hyman does to. He can score, he’s physical, goes to the net and is a digger.
Again, Jarvis is a really good player, but he didn’t even play every game for Canada and when he did he averaged 11 minutes.
I would have filled the hole on that line with a guy you know can do it very well. Everybody will get some points playing with McDavid, but not everybody is good at it.
Not a huge deal, but what I would have done.
Agree George O – it is not an excuse…but let us remember what it was like to be 18 or so and how tough it was to keep our own emotions and tempers under check whole balancing the transition from boy to man.
I dont mean to try and absolve or endorse his behavoir but the situation is much easier to say, process and do with decades of experience and wisdom in your rearview mirror.
Most of us make some bad choices as young adults.
i saw conflicting reports re: mckenna. the police arrested him for punching the victim, but another report says a local camera shows mckenna leaving the scene before the victim was punched (obviously by someone else). if it’s true about mckenna, and considering his lackluster freshman season, do you think he would pull out of the draft and commit to Penn st for at least his sophomore season?
The University may not want him back
for anyone who might be interested – i think that deep down most Jet fans understand why Scheifele was passed over for the olympic team in spite of point production that has consistently exceeded all but a few of the others on the team. here is my take:
Scheifele – Great player, consistent player. In the last 90 seconds of a game that you are losing who do you put on the ice? McD, McI, Crosby, Mac Cel (?), Makar, Morrissey (?), net front Stone or Marchand. Maybe Marner, Parayko, a wealth to choose from, none wrong. Scheif will not replace Mcdavid, McInnon or Crosby and he is not the best option for net-front either.
If you are up a goal in the last 90 seconds he is not the best option either.
He is a good choice for the middle minutes 5v5 but there are better options in the crunch minutes.
—is it crazy that of the top players i mentioned only Crosby and Parayko don’t have a first or last name that starts with an ‘M’?
Not crazy, it’s why we named our son Mark!
As much as I like Brady Tkachuk, I equally dislike his brother. Acts like an immature frat boy. Skating from bench to sneak up from behind on Kucherov was a typical punk move by him. And Forsling pounding a defenseless player down on the ice? Gutless! Feel like culture changing in league and old codes going by the wayside. Having a guy like Bissinette doing national telecasts doesnât help.
Agree 100 on the Tkachuk brothers Slick. Weird that they are that different when it comes to the on ice stuff, especially when their father played a long time in the NHL.
They’re dad was more like Brady. He mixed it up, but wasn’t the cheap guy. Not usually anyway.
I can’t stand Matthew, just seeing his face annoys me.