NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 14, 2026
The Kings defeat the Islanders, the Blues upset the Oilers, Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews is done for the season as Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas is suspended, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF FRIDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar scored to move within one point of Marcel Dionne’s franchise points record in a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders. Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe also scored, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the 27-23-15 Kings, who moved into the final Western Conference wild-card berth with 69 points. Emil Heineman scored both goals for the 37-24-5 Islanders, who remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 79 points.
Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dionne has 1,307 regular-season points while Kopitar has 1,306. Kopitar leads the franchise with 1,504 regular-season games and 858 assists. With 17 games left in the regular season, Kopitar has plenty of time to set the Kings’ points record.
The St. Louis Blues overcame a 2-0 deficit to upset the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on an overtime goal by Robert Thomas. Cam Fowler had a goal and an assist while Joel Hofer kicked out 36 shots for the 27-29-10 Blues, who are 6-0-1 in their last seven contests. Kasperi Kapanen and Connor McDavid replied for the Oilers (32-26-9), who sit third in the Pacific Division with 73 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed this game for personal reasons. The Oilers placed Colton Dach on long-term injury reserve.
HEADLINES
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will miss the remainder of this season with a Grade 3 tear of his medial collateral ligament in his left knee, the result of a knee-on-knee hit by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas on Thursday.
The NHL’s department of player safety suspended Gudas for five games.
THE ATHLETIC: Matthews’ agent, Judd Moldaver, called Gudas’ suspension “laughable and preposterous.”
“This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players,” Moldaver said. “Players and fans deserve better. The player safety department should be suspended.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Moldaver is correct. Gudas went out of his way to deliberately injure an opponent. He had been suspended four times before this incident, and he received a slap on the wrist for ending Matthews’ season.
The so-called “department of player safety” has been a joke for years. Players like Gudas contribute nothing to the league. He and his ilk are an embarrassment, and have no place in a supposedly professional league.
Sadly, this is just more of the same from a league with a “player safety” department that lets perpetrators off lightly for deliberately injuring opponents.
NHL.COM: The Ottawa Senators will face the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2026 NHL Global Series in Germany. The two-game regular-season series will be played in Dusseldorf on Dec. 18 and Dec. 20.
THE DENVER POST: Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns tied Keith Yandle for the second-most consecutive games with 989. Burns, 41, reached that mark during Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Phil Kessel holds the NHL Ironman record with 1,064 regular-season games.
BUFFALO HOCKEY BEAT: Sabres winger Alex Tuch (day-to-day, lower-body injury) could return for Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson could miss that game with an undisclosed injury.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW: The Canadiens made a minor-league trade that will have implications for their goaltending. On Friday, they acquired goaltender Hunter Shepard and forward Jake Chiasson from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Riley Kidney.
Shepard will be reporting to the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval. That means that recently recalled goalie Jacob Fowler will likely remain with the Habs for the rest of this season.
RATINGS.COM: Speaking of Fowler, he had an interview with Marco D’Amico before the Canadiens recalled him. The 21-year-old netminder spoke about his 10-game tenure with the Habs earlier this season and was hoping to return to the club as soon as he could.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With Samuel Montembeault struggling and no help coming from the trade market, the Canadiens need someone reliable to share the goaltending duties with Jakub Dobes. Fowler played well in his return on Thursday with a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: The San Jose Sharks recalled goaltender Laurent Brossoit from their AHL affiliate. Starter Yaroslav Askarov suffered a lower-body injury before Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins. The injury isn’t considered serious or long-term, but it’s uncertain if he’ll be ready to return for Saturday’s game against the Canadiens or Sunday’s matchup with the Ottawa Senators.
THE MERCURY NEWS: Speaking of the Sharks, they signed forward Ty Dellandrea to a two-year, $3.25 million extension.
After reaching a career high as the USA gold medal team, captain Austin Matthews injury was a somber way to end his season. If there ever was an organization that needs a cleansing it’s the TML. Boston was fortunate to get through it last year,there are a couple of teams like the NYR that should follow suit.
If leafs can’t fix this asap next season. It would not surprise me in the slightest that Matthews advises them he is not going to resign I would even put oilers in same type of predicament with McJesus if all things stay the same
Hunter Shepard is a great example of the difficulties in gauging the efficiency of goalies.
2 time Calder Cup, playoff MVP in the AHL, Baz Bastien award( top goalie AHL, 2 NCAA championships.
Barely got a cup of coffee in the NHL and the Sens dumped him to Montreal (he’ll be backup in Laval) for basically nothing.
Radko Gudas, is this the tipping point?
Is this the one spells the end of DOPS as it exists today.
When players lose faith in the league’s ability or desire to mete out justice the players and teams take it into their hands.
If fans are upset just imagine the players, this is the kind of decision by the DOPS that pretty much ensures a bounty put on this guy.
Gudas suspension is a cruel joke! I think that when a suspension is given for an intentional injury, that on top of the suspension that a lose of the player’s per game wages should be lost as well for as long as the injured player is out. But it should be a 5 to 10% fine and have a maximum duration of say 2- 3 months.
A lot of fans are saying Matthews has played his last game as a Leaf! Interesting…….🤔
Another interesting scenario:
“The Leafs 2026 1st round pick belongs to Boston, but it’s top 5 protected. The most Leafs thing ever is for Boston to miss the playoffs and receive the 15th overall pick, Toronto to receive the 5th pick, thus retaining their pick, but then for Boston to win the draft lottery and move from 15th to 5th, pushing the Leafs from 5th to 6th and resulting in Boston picking 5th and 6th and renewing their franchise at the Leafs’ expense. Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays.”
“Katy bay the door,” batten down the hatches, all hell is breaking loose, today it’s all over but the shouting and excuses. Bruins have to win just to have a chance. at the playoffs it’s good to know the bruins are gonna have an excellent draft choice via the leafs. On another note saw Hagens it’s the only NCAA game I’ve ever seen at my buddys house, an even bigger bruins fan than me, Hagens was outstanding controlled the game scored two goals and an assist he can make the bruins now.
Simple fix you are out as long as the player you injured