NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 27, 2026
Recapping the final-day preseason games, plus the latest waiver and injury updates in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators each picked up a win in split-squad action on Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens winger Chris Kreider (NHL Images)
Chris Kreider scored his first preseason goal for the Canadiens, Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and two assists, and Phillip Danault and Noah Dobson each had a goal and an assist to double up the Senators 4-2 in Montreal. William Eklund scored the winning goal, and Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists in the Senators’ 4-3 win in Ottawa.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki faced off with brother Ryan Suzuki for the first time in an NHL game. Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson left the game in Ottawa midway through the second period for precautionary reasons with an undisclosed ailment. Speaking of the Senators, they acquired goaltender Jonas Johansson from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday for future considerations.
The Carolina Hurricanes blanked the Nashville Predators 6-0. Jackson Blake had a goal and two assists, and Brandon Bussi turned in a 22-save shutout. Juuse Saros made 20 saves for the Predators.
Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists in his preseason debut to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Alex Turcotte scored twice and picked up an assist, and Drew Doughty had three assists for the Kings. Nikita Nesterenko and Beckett Sennecke replied for the Ducks.
Vancouver Canucks winger Jake DeBrusk scored and collected two assists to nip the Seattle Kraken 4-3. Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 25 shots for the Canucks. Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist for the Kraken.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kraken forward Mackie Samoskevich missed this game with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
New Jersey Devils winger Luke Evangelista scored two goals in a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders. Simon Holmstrom scored for the Islanders.
Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid and Kasperi Kapanen each had a goal and an assist to douse the Calgary Flames 4-1. Matt Coronata replied for the Flames.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby tallied his first goal of the preseason in a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan McLeod scored for the Sabres, who lost goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the third period with an undisclosed injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Penguins winger Bryan Rust left this game with an undisclosed injury midway through the second period. He was still being evaluated following the game.
The San Jose Sharks beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2. Macklin Celebrini and Mason Marchment had a goal and an assist each, and Yaroslav Askarov made 28 saves for the win. Tomas Hertl and Nic Dowd were the Golden Knights’ scorers.
Washington Capitals forward Andrew Cristall had a goal and an assist as his club downed the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1. Jamie Drysdale replied for the Flyers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: During warmups, the Flyers skated with tucked jerseys to protest teammate Trevor Zegras receiving a minor penalty for wearing his jersey in a similar fashion during their previous game.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves kicked out 31 shots for a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Charlie Coyle and Valeri Nichushkin each scored a goal and collected an assist for the Blue Jackets. Ben Chiarot had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Red Wings claimed defenseman Andreas Englund off waivers from the Calgary Flames.
Utah Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka had a 25-save shutout in a 2-0 upset of the Colorado Avalanche. Jack McBain and Logan Cooley were the goal scorers. Scott Wedgewood turned aside 33 shots for the Avalanche.
The Chicago Blackhawks got a 29-save performance by Spencer Knight to hold off the St. Louis Blues 3-2. Rookie Roman Kantserov tallied what proved to be the winning goal for the Blackhawks, while Jonatan Berggren and Colton Parayko replied for the Blues.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux left this game with an undisclosed injury. Earlier in the day, the Blues announced defenseman Tyler Tucker is expected to miss the start of the season with a knee injury.
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on a shootout goal by prospect forward Benjamin Rautiainen, who also scored the tying goal in the third period.
DAILY FACEOFF: New York Islanders forward Pierre Engvall, Columbus Blue Jackets forward Miles Wood, and Boston Bruins winger Lukas Reichel were among the 18 players placed on waivers on Saturday.
Brett Hull, what a treat for a RW fan during a famine!
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1367883155546556
Johnny Z his podcast, along with Kelly Chase, is absolute gold. It’s like sitting with them having beers at a bar and telling inside stories. And they get everyone to go on the show. Not just hockey people only for instance John Elway was on last week. Chase is back after missing quite a bit of time for his cancer treatment and his story telling is legendary. And Hull for all of his fun loving ways is a very smart insightful person and conducts a great interview. For a look at what life is like for the players away from the games there’s nothing better.
Jaxon Cover- I think the Sens might have struck gold with this kid.
He has great instincts.
It’s going to be interesting to watch his season with the London Knights. This is a kid whose early years in the Cayman Islands consisted of playing roller hockey, starting at about 3 1/2 years old, and only transitioned to ice hockey at age 10 when he first attended an ice-skating camp.
In 2020, at age 12, he and his family emigrated to Canada where he enrolled at St. Andrew’s College in Toronto, and when drafted by Ottawa at # 32 overall this past draft (last pick in Round 1), he had already swiftly progressed to Major Junior in the space of about 6 years.
If he can turn out to be anywhere near as good as Rickard Rakell and Brock Nelson, both 1st Round last picks, Ottawa fans will be quite happy.
I thought a couple of other young Sens looked good last night, George. They did well against the Habs top two lines. That must have tweeted your optimism meter.
Surprised that Matheson pulled a Greig on Greig.
How did he enroll in college at age 12?
Nhblueshirt94, “while St. Andrew’s College is widely recognized for its elite U16 and U18 Upper School prep hockey programs, it features a full middle school curriculum. This structure allowed Cover to enter the school at 12 to play soccer and adjust to the environment before trying out for the under-14 ice hockey team the following year at age 13.”
We had (have?) a similar-type school here in Ottawa way back called Ashbury College.
When we are commenting in this column on names like Jaxon Cover and Sam O Reilly it’s time to start the season.
Says the man who regularly trots out “can’t miss” Bruins as a steady diet.
George,
To be fair Sr isn’t the one calling Bruins prospects “can’t miss” it’s some of the other Bruins faithful that do that,
St Andrew’s College, in Aurora, North of Toronto, is a private school that allows 12 year old students to attend and even play hockey.
GeorgeO, I have never labeled a Bruins player as can t miss. And that goes for Hagens,Minten and anyone else you can think of! Thanks Habfan30 for setting the record straight!
My mistake – sorry about that. I knew someone among the Boston fans in here does that and when I posted in response I reacted by assumption.