NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 26, 2026
The Hurricanes take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Final, plus the latest on the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Kings, and Oilers in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Andrei Svechnikov gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final, and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov (NHL Images).
Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere opened the scoring in the first period. Mike Matheson tied it for the Canadiens later in the period, only to have the Hurricanes regain the lead less than a minute later on a goal by Taylor Hall. Lane Hutson tied it in the second period for the Canadiens, who saw a potential 3-2 lead in the third period overturned as a coach’s challenge by the Hurricanes revealed Cole Caufield was offside.
Game 4 is on Wednesday in Montreal at 8 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was the second straight game that Carolina won in overtime by a score of 3-2. And for the second straight game, they outshot Montreal by a high volume, this time peppering Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes with 38 shots while Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen faced only 13.
Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson blamed his turnover at his blueline for what led to Svechnikov’s game-winner. However, his club had two golden opportunities earlier in the overtime period to end it. Team captain Nick Suzuki had a breakaway but shot wide, while Matheson struck the crossbar later in the period.
The Canadiens were near the bottom of the league in shots on goal this season, a trend that has persisted during this postseason. Factor in the Hurricanes’ suffocating defensive play in Games 2 and 3, and it’s little wonder that the Habs have had difficulty scoring.
Experience is also favoring the Hurricanes. This is their third Conference Final in four years, and the hard lessons they learned from their early exits from those series have been on display in this matchup. If they maintain their sustained offensive zone pressure and their strong defensive play, they could take a commanding lead in the series on Wednesday and finish it at home in Game 5 on Friday.
THE DENVER POST: Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights, putting them on the verge of elimination.
Vegas goaltender Carter Hart has outplayed Avalanche netminder Scott Wedgewood. The Golden Knights have played well defensively, and their top players are healthier and producing.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: The status of Avalanche forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin remains uncertain after suffering injuries in Game 3. MacKinnon injured his knee after blocking a shot, hampering his performance for the rest of the game. Nichushkin suffered an upper-body injury that sidelined him for most of the third period.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Shot blocking has been key to the Golden Knights’ shutting down the Avalanche’s vaunted offense. Defensemen Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and Noah Hanifin are among this postseason’s leaders in block shots.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights can wrap up this series on Tuesday night.
SPORTSNET: Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka and senior executive advisor Mats Sundin had a positive meeting with team captain Auston Matthews to discuss their vision for the team.
Matthews has two seasons left on his contract, and there was uncertainty over his future with the Maple Leafs after they missed the playoffs this season. According to Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs captain indicated that he still wants to win in Toronto,
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report indicated there are still more decisions to be made, but this initial meeting was positive, with nothing to suggest any concerns.
TSN: Speaking of the Maple Leafs, forward Max Domi is sidelined indefinitely following complications arising from off-season surgery. The club didn’t disclose the nature of the surgery on Monday, stating only that it was done to address a nagging issue. He will be re-evaluated at the start of training camp in September.
TSN: Los Angeles Kings general manager Ken Holland said his team must move on after the Golden Knights denied his club permission to speak with former head coach Bruce Cassidy. “I’ve been around the game a long time to know that if somebody’s decided that they don’t want to grant permission, they’ve negotiated that right and you move on.”
EDMONTON JOURNAL: The Oilers signed Finnish winger Aku Raty to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850,000.
I realize getting out-shot is often the norm where the Habs are concerned, and that their basic philosophy is, “it isn’t so much the number of shots as it is the quality thereof.”
OK – fair enough. But 38 – 13 over almost 4 periods of hockey, including two pp opportunities, following on the heels of a 12-shot performance, and being out-shot to date in the series by a count of 92-46, should be SOME cause for concern.
Brind’Amour, after seeing his team get burned by counter-attacks and breakaways in game 1, made adjustments that led to a tighter, much more disciplined approach in games 2 and 3, applying a constant aggressive fore-check and neutral-zone coverage, thereby forcing turnovers at the blue line rather than chasing pucks deep as they did in game 1. In short, they stopped chasing the speedier Habs.
So far, St. Louis doesn’t appear to have an answer, but he’d better come up with something quick.
True that George, the quality of the chances is one of the most important metrics.
Carolina dominated that category (High danger or grade A) last night too. 18-7. So similar ratio.
Game 2 was 14-7.
Game 1 was 14-14.
Carolina has their system dialed in and have been doing it all year. They don’t try to flip the switch at playoff time like the local Oilers tried to do this season.
The Habs are running out of gas. And their lack of forward depth is showing. After a few good games early on, Dach is getting less than 10 minutes a game, along with whomever is on his line. They will be one of many teams looking for a 2C and a top 6 forward, and a bottom Six forward with size and grit.
Still, mission accomplished: experince gained, players showing what they do, or do not have.
And an exciting and unexpected run for Habs fans.
LJ
Right around the TDL there were rumours of a couple of the types of players you mention being available but you were against trading some of Montreal’s bountiful prospect pool.
I wonder if you feel different today and would consider if Montreal’s fortunes would be different if they had Robert Thomas and Alexei Toropchenko from STL instead of prospects Hage and Reinbacher?
I saw a great clip of Craig Button talking about Thomas for Hage 1 for 1
Say what you will about his tenure as a GM…he’s well respected as a scout
One of THE best ever.
With LJ on this one.
Stay the course, and these playoffs are part of the process.
Takes young teams a while historically.
I think Gorton and Hughes want sustainable success and 7 or 8 kicks at this can.
I get the point that these opportunities don’t always come around often for many teams, but they do for some if they manage assets properly.
I think Montreal is, which doesn’t make my day.
I can’t root for the Habs, too much scar tissue, but it doesn’t mean I don’t respect what this organization is doing. If I was doing it, I would do it the way they are doing it.
I wouldn’t bet on MTL winning this series, Carolina is the better overall team with a big part of that being experience. But MTL can still make this interesting. Dobes stands on his head again, they pot a couple early, and all of a sudden it’s a best of 3.
If they can keep up the optimism, and Marty seems pretty good at keeping them focused on the opportunity in front of them and not get frustrated against a frustrating team to play against.
Daryl:
I was indeed dead against trading players, because I believed it best to find out what we had first, in the crucible of playoffs: Is Kapanen a real 2C? Will Dach finally reach his potential as a 6’4″ center?
These questions have largely been answered. And with Hage’s return to NCAA it likely means he is several years away from being the 2C that the Habs need.
In a recent previous post I outlined my keepers:
Suzuki’s line, Demidov, Anderson and Newhook.
The top 4 D of Dobson, Matheson, Guhle, and Hutson.
Dobes.
Everyone else is expendable. Hage, only for a legit 2C now under 27. And any other prospect which will give us a good RHD, a LW, and a good sized bottom 6 winger with grit and at least some scoring touch.
These are my thoughts. Others may disagree.
I posted before the series that this would be the most likely scenario in the habs/canes series. I think we can say that first game was an outlier for canes. After shooting 13 in the first period, Habs have not recorded more than 7, and first team in history to post back to back 0s in OTs. Montreal have done this all year long, winning with crazy high shooting percentage, and they do have some snipers, but the Canes are putting on a clinic. No shots in over 24mins! That is insane. Habs looked gassed late in the game and on top of the dominant possession, Canes are laying the body heavy on the Habs.
I wouldn’t call the series over by any means, but even with Dobes playing at his extremely high level and the Habs snipers shooting at a crazy high clip, they’ll need more than 12 shots against the Canes to win most games. Should be interesting to see if MSL has some tricks up his sleeve. Everyone knows how the Canes play, and yet no team has been able to solve them.
Re “Shot blocking has been key to the Golden Knights’ shutting down the Avalanche’s vaunted offense. Defensemen Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and Noah Hanifin are among this postseason’s leaders in block shots.”
The Hallmark of a Tortorella-coached team.
Even the Sedins learned shot-blocking under Tortorella.
You can see how useful it is by looking at Nathan MacKinnon today.
So… don’t block shots?
Heh. Not quite sure what the inference was in that exchange where MacKinnon is concerned, BCLeaf Fan & Chrisms.
When I read BCLeaf Fans’ response this morning, I took it as reference to the fact that, through the first 3 games, Vegas players have blocked 8 of his shot attempts.
Then, reading Chrisms observation earlier this afternoon, I wondered if the first post by BCLeafs Fan was, in fact, referring to MacKinnon taking a shot on the knee n his own attempt at blocking one.
Which is it?
LJ
I would consider Thomas a legitimate 2C. I believe he’s 26 years old.
Toropchenko is a huge man at 6’-6” tall, 235 lbs. He’d be a perfect 3rd liner on Montreal.
With the depth of Montreal’s prospect pool, I think they survive losing Hage and Reinbacher.
As Ray says “
I can’t root for the Habs, too much scar tissue, but it doesn’t mean I don’t respect what this organization is doing. If I was doing it, I would do it the way they are doing it”
Daryl,
I have no clue as to what Hughes and Gorton will do this summer, so speculation is fun. Yes, HF30, I said that!
Thomas speculation has been rampant, at a high cost. Hughes has stated he doesn’t want to overpay, but what is overpay?
I haven’t seen Toropchenko. Doesn’t put up points, maybe 4th line?
This series is starting to look more and more like what the Canes did in the first two rounds. Freddy Anderson doesn’t have to be good when the quality of shots is lousy and there’s hardly any of them. And if they get in Montreal’s head like they did Ottawa, it’ll be lights out in 5 games.
More a look back at Tortorella ‘s time in Vancouver, George, but I am sure Av’s fans would prefer that MacKinnon let others block shots.
A couple day’s ago, johnny z came out swinging about Bolduc’s spear, which it was.
I wonder if he’s going to mention the couple head shots delivered by the canes.
Indeed, the Habs came out looking anemic, but I wonder if that has anything to do with the neutral zone trapping the canes style of play. Sure, the Habs could have played better, but, according to an article, the average Habs ticket during the playoffs is 1400$. Now, I don’t know about you, but paying that much to basically watch the devil’s of the 90’s trapping, thanks, no.
Crap hockey
But winning hockey. And in the end, those following such teams couldn’t care less how it was accomplished.
I agree to a certain point ,George.
Personally, I find it a very boring style. If ‘my’ team were to play that style, and if I knew better, I would honestly say, thanks, no thanks and find something better to do with those 3 hours.
Holding a team to 1 shot over 34 minutes to me is fascinating hockey.
Then again, I am a huge fan of 1-0 baseball games, too, so take that for what it’s worth.
I can’t blame you for that, Chris. How the Devils kept packing the place when Lemaire – and his neutral-zone trap – kept winning in what were essentially snooze-fests is beyond me. But pack ’em in they did. At least at home. I remember during those days that there wer e a LOT of empty seat s in Ottawa whenever NJ was in town.
It eventually took some rule changes (e.g., eliminating the two-line off-side pass and for officials to start actually enforcing written rules covering hooking, holding, and interference), and for opposing coaches to have their D to start passing laterally across the blue line rather than north-south passes directly into the trap. And those having the blessing of an array of speedy Fs had them use what became known as the dump-and-chase technique.
In the end, though, coaches keep their jobs by winning, and they’ll wind up doing what works best for them to do just that.
The Canes seem to forecheck more than the trap teams of old, dating all the way back to Habs of the 70’s. They just called it the left wing lock.
Pressure all over the ice, vs just clogging the neutral zone. Although when the forecheck isn’t there, they do clog it up.
These guys are just so darn good at it and the way the read where the play is going. Good decisions over and over again.
HF30 is right below there are 2 ways to beat it. The Habs like to make plays with the puck, short passes or any other, but that seems to be challenging for them facing this heat. So the chip out and dump in might be the choice to make. Best go get it though.
Good on Carolina overcoming great goaltending and weak officiating to yet another win!
Speaking of weak.
Yet another weak comment.
I think you should clean your spectacles son.
Chris he ain’t wrong. The Habs goaltending has been stellar at the least and yes 9 times out of 10 the penalty called in the second period that allowed the tying power-play goal was an embarrassing call. I can see things getting missed but boy oh boy was that a bad call, with one hand on the stick. LOL.
when your two goals are being scored by defensemen and your goalie is assisting on one of them…I’d say your offence has been contained.
Adapt or be eliminated.
Personally I’m looking forward to hearing about Montreal less. Their fans are insufferable.
I’d like to see the Canes win, and Marner get MVP.
👍👍
Ahhhhhh
Dark G
and Johnny Z
I wonder at times if whether you two are one and the same.
Since I’m going to assume you are, I’d like to give you a little life lesson. I won’t go as far as lecturing you on critical thinking. But, what I will do, to make it simpler for you, is let you know, fans of all teams, world wide. Hockey, the real football, baseball, basketball, are insufferable.
Oh, and including your’selves’
We are not the same individual
Lessons are important.
Being a sports fan doesn’t involve critical thinking.
It’s entertainment. Thank you for simplifying and using small words I can understand.
come and cheer with Ottawa fans sometimes. For any of their teams. Easily the politest group of fans you’ll meet.
“oh gee. we are out. Best of luck to you and your kin moving forward in the contest.”
That’s not insufferable.
The examples of habs fans and their insolence are just too numerous to list.
Go Canes.
I will say the anthems were pretty good. Then I switched to baseball game so i didn’t have to listent to Craig Simpson or whomever else tele-felating Canadiens players again.
Hab fans on this site are not insufferable. Quite respectful to others actually and debate in a thoughtful way. They make valid points.
My Hab fan friends, who I have known most of my life, on the other hand…
Damn annoying. While they are winning any way.
You keep saying the Habs’ fans are insufferable, Dark G. They (we) are behaving like any other teams’ fans are in the playoffs.
Frankly, your bitterness is on full display.
First 4 goals in last nights game were scored by defensemen! Where are all the top 6 forwards the last 2 games. The old coach says defense wins championships. Whoever comes out of this series their forwards are no match for Vegas.Not sure there is a top 4 D group that compares with Theodore,Mcnabb,Hanifan,and Andersen!
The Habs need to impose their game on Carolina like they did in the first game.
Quick short passing beats the trap if you have speed, so does dump and chase if you have speed.
A few less posts and crossbars help as well, when scores are this close every missed opportunity is magnified.
I’m not bothered by the shot count or zonetime considering the number of good quality chances the Habs have had.
For all the paucity of shots, there was a Suzuki breakaway, a Matheson crossbar, a Dobson goal called back for a razor thin offside ( a whiff is a whiff is a whiff) and coulda shoulda doesn’t change the outcome but this is the Habs game and had they capitalized the talk of te game, the trap would be different.
On to game 4 and better success.
Amen!!!
Praise the lord sisters and suckers.
Maybe even bring WiFi in, to keep the game more honest. But, I’d be worried that the canes would crowd his corner
There were times I swear the Sabres were doing that.
However, having said that, it seems like Struble is overwhelmed too.
Dach needs to wake up.
Our Lord deserves praise.
Your sarcasm does not deserve praise.
The philosophy that the more you shoot the greater the chances you score a goal is, in essence, mathematically correct. Even today, Corsi statistics show that, over the course of a season, those teams whose approach creates the highest average volume of shots per game are, for the most part, more successful simply through rebounds, deflections by both teammates and opposition and, of course, goalie gaffes. That philosophy, in fact, was front and centre in the “old days” when “no such thing as a bad shot” was generally followed. Certainly by the Habs during their mid- to late 1950s dominance.
In short – if you don’t shoot you definitely can’t score. And while posts and crossbars will always be there, if you’re limiting yourself to 12-13 shots per game those become more pronounced. You’ll still have them at 40 shot per game, but again, statistically speaking, some will hit at just the right angle to deflect IN.
But maybe that’s just my “old school” tendencies kicking in.
George,
It’s your old school tendencies kicking in kind of, the Soviets of the more recent old school taught us that low shot count isn’t a bad thing.
There’s all kind of reasoning, eg tons of shots from all angles cause more caroms, deflections, kick backs in all directions, sometimes toward the net, sometimes back towards your net off a shot block.
Opportunistic zone breakouts take advantage of the ones going away. It takes one shot to the high far corner that caroms back like a bullet to lead to an odd man rush.
The margins in the playoffs are so tight that as I said before every gaffe is magnified.
The Habs this year are proving the adage of no such thing as a bad shot etc doesn’t necessarily hold water as they have been the “exception” all year long and in the playoffs too.
As an aside I’d put Xhekaj in for Struble, Carolina is taking too many liberties.
Habfan I think George is correct and the other factor you’re not looking at is, in order to get shots on net you need to possess the puck and control play on the OZone. I know you know that but no way should a team getting less than 20 shots on net think it’s a formula for success just like it is terrible for the Canes to allow a team whom they are suffocating and allowing less than 12 shots with OT to stick around.
Basically, both teams need to put on their hard hats and get to work; otherwise, they be joining us watching the games.
Ron Moore,
You aren’t wrong in the traditional sense regarding O-zone time and possession generating more shots but for a team that concentrates on scoring off the rush, shot total doesn’t dictate the game.
Frequently the Habs are busy weathering the storm with stick work and man on man movement that makes one slip, one blocked shot, one carom off the boards leading to a turnover and off the rush scoring chance.
It’s the system, it’s why they have a higher shot %.
My point being the Habs aren’t suddenly being choked and outshot, it was the case in all three games they played and beat Carolina all year.
It was the case when they beat Tampa and Buffalo so it isn’t an aberration or luck.
While goaltending and D were considered achilles heels during the year and scoring the strength, the team put together a winning season while being regularly outshot.
Habs could very well be done
But looks like they found a goalie of the future
They very well may take 1 more with the on-ice refs taking cues from the 21,000 referees in the stands.
johnnyz or dark g
Both of you spew the same garbage, day in and day out.
If you would have taken your anti-red-white and blue glasses off, you perhaps would have seen a lot of missed calls on the Canes.
Regardless, I don’t want to get into it with you guy(s). Life is too short.
Well, hold on now. It’s down to a best of 3 with both team showing they can win in the other guy’s barn. This could definitely go the full 7 – and in that scenario, toss a coin.
Not a best of 3 quite yet … but after tonight 🙂
Not only is the game officiated differently in the playoffs; it is officiated still more differently in the third period of a playoff game. The refs got caught in a cascade of indifference, resulting in a conference where I fantasized one of the four saying “I don’t care what the tape shows, we can’t call a too many men after all the crap we’ve ignored”.
The impossible job is moreso when the early “slash” on Hutson’s poor, fragile stick is a penalty & generally flying elbows are ignored.
Feel sorry for the folks calling the game, beginning to dread what the replay might show.
Yeah, why would anybody want to be a ref? But is the officiating from last night’s game what we want? If we don’t like watching the trap, got to call interference….but we have the rules like they are today primarily because of the failure of “judgement calls”. And then we realize that we’ve set a standard that might result in 8 calls per side in the playoffs, soooo……
I’d like to see the league (never happen) take their “what is and isn’t” a penalty tapes used to train the refs and inform the coaches, and share a version with the fans. With explanations.
Richard: Certainly the likelihood of a call later in a playoff game goes down, we’ve seen that for years.
As refs are human, there will be mistakes from them too.
The laughingly named Player Safety Committee already issues video explanations of why suspensions are handed out. That doesn’t change calls/non-calls, nor will it change partisan fan reaction.
Personally, the non-calls that I object to are the ones where injury is possible. For example the non call on the Habs for too many men was blatant, as was the non call trip on Hutson minutes before. Ok, we move on. The non call elbow to Hutson’s head is another matter, and I would fee the same if it was an elbow to Aho’s head.
In the playoffs, the only calls acceptable to me are ones that are blatant fouls that have injured or potentially injure a player, a sure fire scoring chance taken away by an illegal play or a change of puck possession caused by a fowl play.
All the ticky-tack not game altering calls are ok in the regular season but have no place in the playoffs. Let’s have the players play and decide the games outcome rather than having a call or non call be the reason of a victory or loss.
Richard, I don’t think anyone could have said it better.
Well done!
When the refs pocket their whistles or make majors into minors, the dirtier team has the advantage or as known as “Le Canadien hockey” 😉
Thought that was Florida hockey.