NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 11, 2026
Check out the recaps of Tuesday’s action in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Connor McDavid scored the go-ahead goal as the Edmonton Oilers nipped the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 4-3, ending the latter’s five-game win streak. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had two points, and Ryan Nugent Hopkins tallied twice for the 32-28-8 Oilers, who sit second in the Pacific Division with 72 points. Ross Colton, Martin Necas, and Valeri Nichushkin replied for the Avalanche (43-11-9), who sit in first place in the overall standings with 95 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was ejected from this game in the second period for goaltender interference after colliding with Oilers netminder Connor Ingram, who was cut and had to leave the game. Tristan Jarry stopped 11 of 12 shots in relief of Ingram.
Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Quinn (NHL Images).
The red-hot Buffalo Sabres picked up their eighth straight victory by downing the San Jose Sharks 6-3. Jack Quinn tallied his first NHL hat trick and picked up an assist while Rasmus Dahlin and Ryan McLeod each collected three assists for the Sabres (40-19-6), who hold first place in the Atlantic Division with 86 points. Alex Wennberg had a goal and an assist for the 30-26-6 Sharks (66 points), who sit one point out of the final Western Conference wild-card berth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres are two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for first place in the Eastern Conference. Sharks center Macklin Celebrini scored for the fourth straight game.
Speaking of the Hurricanes, they recovered from blowing a 4-2 lead to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on a shootout goal by Jackson Blake. Alexander Nikishin had a goal and an assist for the 41-17-6 Hurricanes, who sit first overall in the Eastern Conference with 88 points. Bryan Rust scored twice and added an assist for the Penguins (32-17-15), who sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 79 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (lower-body injury) is with the team on their five-game road trip and participated in Tuesday’s full morning skate without a non-contact jersey. Head coach Dan Muse said Crosby isn’t ahead of schedule in his recovery, but he’s moving in the right direction.
Muse also told reporters that Penguins forward Justin Brazeau is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Samuel Girard and winger Kevin Hayes both have upper-body injuries, with Girard listed as day-to-day.
The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1, leaving the latter winless in their last eight games (0-6-2). Rookie center Oliver Kapanen tallied his 20th goal of the season for the Canadiens (35-18-10), who have points in 10 of their last 11 games as they leapfrogged the Detroit Red Wings into third place in the Atlantic Division with 80 points. William Nylander scored for the 27-27-11 Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson collected his 116th career NHL assist, setting the league record for the most by a defenseman within their first 150 regular-season games. Meanwhile, Canadiens winger Cole Caufield sat out the first half of the third period with an illness. He travelled with the club to Ottawa for Wednesday’s game against the Senators.
Speaking of the Red Wings, they suffered a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers. Carter Verhaeghe tallied twice within the final 1:30 of the third period for the 32-29-3 Panthers. Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist for his first points since being acquired by the Red Wings (36-22-7) at the trade deadline. Detroit holds the first Eastern wild-card spot with 79 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Red Wings forward Andrew Copp left this game in the second period with an injured left leg. He will be evaluated on Wednesday.
An overtime goal by Charlie McAvoy lifted the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Mason Lohrei also scored for the 36-22-6 Bruins, who hold the final Eastern wild-card berth with 78 points. Drew Doughty replied for the Kings (26-23-15), who sit behind the Seattle Kraken for the final Western wild-card spot with 67 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following this game, the Bruins lined up and shook hands with Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who is retiring at the end of this season.
The Kraken, meanwhile, blew a 2-0 lead and fell 4-2 to the Nashville Predators. Juuse Saros kicked out 43 shots, and rookie Ryan Ufko’s first NHL goal was the winner for the 29-27-8 Predators (66 points), who are one point behind the Kraken. Kaapo Kakko and Matty Beniers scored for the 29-25-9 Kraken (67 points), as they cling to that final Western wild card.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: On Monday, the Kraken activated goaltender Matt Murray from injured reserve. He has been sidelined by a lower-body injury since Nov. 15.
The Dallas Stars held off the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1. Jake Oettinger stopped 26 shots while Oskar Back and Jamie Benn scored for the 40-14-10 Stars, extending their points streak to 13 games as they hold second place in the Western Conference with 90 points. Jack Eichel scored for the Golden Knights (29-22-14), who have dropped six of their last seven games as they hold third place in the Pacific Division with 72 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said sidelined winger Mikko Rantanen (lower-body injury) could return to action within the next two to three weeks. Center Roope Hintz (lower-body) remains week-to-week, and it’s hoped that he’ll return in time for the playoffs.
Minnesota Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson turned in a 25-save performance to shut out the Utah Mammoth 5-0. Kirill Kaprizov had two points while Bobby Brink scored his first goal since being acquired at the trade deadline for the 38-16-11 Wild, who sit third in the Central Division with 87 points. Karel Vejmelka turned aside 25 shots for the Mammoth (34-26-5), who hold the first Western Conference wild-card berth with 73 points.
Columbus Blue Jackets winger Conor Garland tallied twice for the second straight game to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2. Sean Monahan and Zach Werenski each had two assists for the 33-21-10 Blue Jackets, who extended their points streak to seven games, sitting two behind the Bruins with 76 points. Gage Goncalves and J.J. Moser replied for the slumping Lightning (39-20-4), who sit second in the Atlantic Division with 82 points, but have dropped six of their last seven games.
Anaheim Ducks forwards Alex Killorn and Ryan Poehling each had a goal and an assist to down the Winnipeg Jets 4-1. Defenseman Jackston LaCombe also had a goal and an assist for the Ducks (36-25-3), who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 75 points. Morgan Barron scored for the Jets (26-27-10).
The New York Islanders (37-23-5) overcame a 3-0 deficit to nip the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on an overtime goal by Mathew Barzal, who finished with three points. The Islanders sit third in the Metropolitan Division with 79 points. Jimmy Snuggerud had a goal and two assists for the 25-29-10 Blues.
New York Rangers winger Alexis Lafreniere had a hat trick, and Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots to blank the Calgary Flames 4-0. Mika Zibanejad had two assists to reach 800 career regular-season points for the 26-30-8 Rangers. Dustin Wolf made 25 saves for the 25-32-7 Flames.
Expect the Habs-Ottawa game tonight in Ottawa to be cancelled. Expected to receive significant freezing rain, with forecasts indicating a potential for 10 to 20 mm or more of ice accumulation over a prolonged period lasting up to 24 hours.
Class act by the Bruins honoring Kopitar after last nights game.Looks like TML is taking another route in tanking while going 4-13 in their most recent stretch of games. Must be killing Berube who never took a shift let alone a game off in his entire career.
Sr, it’s happened often enough over the years to make what’s happening predictable.
A team sprinkled with star players that has been among the top echelon for a number of seasons appears to suddenly … and collectively … inexplicably run into a brick wall, toppling … dramatically … in the standings.
And I doubt that anyone will ever be able to come up with definitive answers as to why … or, more importantly, how to effectively counter the trend. Hell, if they did, they’d be the most in-demand GM in the history of pro sports.
All we, as armchair GMs see, is that the “stars” can no longer take charge of enough games to keep the team in contention, and the supporting roster simply doesn’t have the ability to pick up any appreciable slack.
Then, of course, the chorus among the fan base begins … “trade this guy, trade that guy … bring in better players … get top picks …” Sure. Just like that. Hell, I was guilty of it during Ottawa’s fall from the top echelon a number of years back (the Alfredsson-Spezza-Heatley era). It’s a natural reaction for fans.
But we never seem to pause to think “trade them where? If they’re as bad as we think … who the heck is going to give up anything to acquire them?”
The Leafs traded two centres at the deadline, have been without their top defence man most of the year and have a coaching staff that has failed to come up with a consistent, effective style of play.
Berube was a fan favourite as a player but he needs to go.
George,
The answer is simple just unpopular.
Reality is that athletes improve year by year until they don’t, then incrementally lose.
Consider that all NHL players are talented and the difference in ability is marginal between being good and great. That half-step, the touch more accuracy, that fractionally quicker glove hand.
Every team’s stars stop improving and it takes a GM with the critical eye and the guts to pull the trigger and trade away the guys who won for you.
Lafleur was pushed out when he stopped being Lafleur, Serge Savard was put on waivers, Guy Lapointe was traded for future considerations, Larry Robinson wasn’t re-signed and he went to LAK, Steve Shutt was traded for future considerations.
That Dynasty team moved off the stars when they ended the run of Stanley Cups.
Teams have a window of opportunity when their top players are at the sweet spot of their careers before starting to deteriorate.
The special GM sees the signs and trades the player before the slips are seen by others and rarely do we see it before it’s too late.
HF 30 , I’ll dispute your comment about Guy Lafleur.He was pushed out when coach Lemaire implemented a defensive game plan in 84-85. Perhaps he had lost a step but he was the team’s leading scorer the previous year. I grew up in Montreal and was a loyal Habs fan until they put Guy on the 3rd line and refused to trade him which led to him retiring. The day he retired was the day I vowed never to cheer for the Habs again.
Totally agree. Nice summation – especially as it relates to those GMs who made the “difficult” decisions to deal … or move on from … long-time fan-favourites.
Not totally surprising in Leaf Land. We saw the late season swoon in Boston last year, and it accelerated after the TDL with some key pieces moved and the team coming to the realization that they were out of the playoffs after a long run of success. Major bummer I would think.
B’s had injuries too before the TDL, including their top 2 D-men. So similar that way. But in Boston it started when both Bergeron and Krecji retired after the B’s pushed all their chips in for the playoffs. Losing your top 2 C’s is a huge challenge. Still haven’t really replaced them, but Zacha and Lindholm are playing decent for them.
The Leafs still have 2 of their top 3 core players, so didn’t think they would fall this far as those 2 are still in their prime.
I’m hoping they win a few and don’t get into the top 5 picks. If this continues they could, and maybe even likely will. Hopefully pride kicks in. Do it for the Bruins!
HF30, your post reminds me of the Belichick quote, or at least attributed to him; “you would rather trade a player a year too early, than a year too late”
My post was in response to that of Habfan30 .. just to be clear.
… the Leafs aren’t making the Playoffs .. do they have anything to gain by not winning hockey games ?
If that question wasn’t rhetorical, yes Joe, their 1st this season is top 5 protected, so if the Leafs keep dropping in the standing they keep the pick vs Boston.
Doesn’t mean it won’t be a good pick next year, but this years draft is supposedly very good in the top 10.
Only saw highlights but looked to be a solid outing again from the Oilers.
Miles to go from here and I dont expect them to win every game but dare I say they might be rounding into form and taking shape?
I thought to the oilers credit, they were beating the Avalanche to the puck; especially late in the 1st and the 2nd period. Giving up that goal to roslovic was bad. I thought the Avalanche take such stupid penalties and to me @ times seem late to recognize or react to situations in the game that are critical. I continue to believe that will be their undoing if they don’t address that? Despite their dominating attack which not many teams can withstand, they often shoot themselves in the foot by carelessness; mismanaging the puck and not being alert. I have been saying this for years but alas they don’t look to me for advice, lol . As an Avalanche fan, this is extremely discouraging to watch and takes much of the excitement out of the potential success this team could achieve
Credit to the Habs D for a solid performance last night after much criticism, not undeserved, of their play out west. Only 2 shots allowed in the 3rd while protecting a one goal lead. I realize the Leafs are hardly a good team now and seem to be playing without much life. But they still have some offensive weapons.
Great game the other night. The only way the bs make it to the playoffs is by the seat of their pants and anything can happen in the playoffs. But winning 2-1 or 3-2 is exhausting.
And you know for their next game Korpisalo will be in net. Why on earth can’t they bring up Dipietro for even a period. Brunet should up playing with the big club right now I think he’s the best d in the ahl.
Detroit, after a very brief respite, continues their March melt-down. 🫤
Oh, and another very good D in the AHL is Eric Gustafson, leading the Griffs D with 22 pts in 24 games. Thinking he will be in Europe next season.
Not just the Wings. Hasn’t gained much attention but Tampa is 2-6 since the break allowing at least 4 goals in every loss. Their only 2 wins were against the Leafs. Their spot is hardly secure.
Tomorrow night may be the start of Tampa’s resurgence as Detroit is in town. 😣
The wings will be w/o Larkin and Copp, their best offensive and defensive centers. 😓
Is there a player in the NHL this year that has taken a more physical beating game night than Charlie McAvoy this season … and all these hits above the shoulder have gone without a penalty given … note to Bruins players he’s probably your 2nd or 3rd most important player on team .. try responding once in a while
Agree Joe, he takes beating. One reason is he is physical and very engaged all over the ice.
I would argue he is our most important, and best player. Luv how he plays, even though it takes a toll on his body.
The guy is the definition of a gamer, and he needs to wear the C next year.
And ya, the B’s need to take a penalty if required to have his back.
The pens just need to pull their goalie halfway into overtime at this point. I mean… jeez.