NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 8, 2026
The Avalanche clinch first place in the Western Conference, the Hurricanes clinch top spot in the Metropolitan Division, the Stars and Wild will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Colorado Avalanche clinched first place in the Central Division and the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Valeri Nichushkin scored twice for the 51-16-10 Avalanche (112 points). Robert Thomas replied for the 33-32-12 Blues.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche center Nazem Kadri left this game midway through the game with an upper-body injury.
An overtime goal by Jaccob Slavin (his first of the season) lifted the Carolina Hurricanes over the Boston Bruins 6-5. Andrei Svechnikov and Taylor Hall each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (50-22-6), who have clinched first place in the Metropolitan Division with 106 points. Morgan Geekie snapped a 17-game goalless drought by tallying a hat trick for the 43-26-10 Bruins, who hold the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 96 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes hold first place in the Eastern Conference. Defenseman Jalen Chatfield left this game during the second period with a lower-body injury.
Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston scored twice, including the winner in overtime, in a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames. Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist for the Stars (46-20-12), who overcame a 3-1 deficit for the win. Adam Klapka collected two assists for the 32-36-9 Flames (73 points), who were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Stars sit second in the Central Division and in the Western Conference with 104 points. They will face the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs. Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury.
Speaking of the Minnesota Wild, they got their fourth straight win by downing the Seattle Kraken 5-2. Joel Eriksson Ek had a goal and two assists while Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson each had a goal and an assist for the 45-21-12 Wild, who are third in the Central Division and the Western Conference with 102 points. Brandon Montour and Adam Larsson scored for the 32-34-11 Kraken, who have lost five straight.
Montreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield scored the winning goal in a shootout in a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers. Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki tied the game with 21 seconds left, and Juraj Slafkovsky had two assists for the 46-22-10 Canadiens, who sit third in the Atlantic Division with 102 points. Carter Verhaeghe tallied his 25th goal of the season for the 37-37-4 Panthers.
Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens are tied in points with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres. However, the Lightning have 48 wins, and the Sabres have 47. Meanwhile, Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov left this game with a broken finger.
Speaking of the Lightning, they dropped a 6-2 decision to the Ottawa Senators. Brady Tkachuk collected four assists, Tim Stutzle had a goal and two assists, and Jake Sanderson scored twice for his first NHL multipoint game as the 41-27-10 Senators hold the final Eastern wild-card spot with 92 points. Nick Paul and Corey Perry scored for the 48-24-6 Lightning.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot returned to practice on Tuesday after suffering a broken right forearm two weeks ago. Head coach Travis Green said Chabot could be back in action sooner than expected.
The Columbus Blue Jackets kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout. Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist and scored the winning goal in the shootout. Adam Fantilli scored the tying goal with 17 seconds left for the Blue Jackets (39-27-12), who are two points behind the Senators for that final wild card. Justin Faulk scored twice while Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist for the 40-29-9 Red Wings, who are one point behind the Blue Jackets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blue Jackets are also two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. This loss by the Red Wings may have all but sealed their fate as they’ve won only three of their last 10 games. The Wings also lost center Michael Rasmussen late in the second period with a season-ending lower-body injury.
Philadelphia Flyers center Trevor Zegras tallied twice and added an assist in a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils, eliminating the latter from postseason contention. Tyson Foerster scored two goals, and Matvei Michkov had two assists for the surging Flyers (40-26-12), who’ve won seven of their last 10 games to hold third place in the Metropolitan Division. Cody Glass scored for the 40-35-3 Devils.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the league fined Michkov $2,000 for embellishment during a March 24 game against the Blue Jackets.
Nashville Predators goaltender Justus Annunen kicked out 43 shots to shut out the Anaheim Ducks 5-0. Erik Haula had a goal and an assist while Ryan O’Reilly and Joakim Kemell each had two assists for the 37-31-10 Predators, who hold the final Western wild card with 84 points. Lukas Dostal stopped 20 of 25 shots for the 41-32-5 Ducks, who slipped to third place in the Pacific Division with 87 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Predators announced they’ve reached a multiyear broadcasting deal with Scripps Sports.
Utah Mammoth captain Clayton Keller’s overtime goal lifted his club to a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Keller and Alexander Kerfoot each had a goal and an assist while Nick Schmaltz tallied twice for the Mammoth (41-30-6), who hold the first Western wild card with 88 points. Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (39-29-10), who sit in first place in the Pacific Division with 88 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: During this game, the Mammoth unveiled “The Zammoth”, a Zamboni outfitted to look like a Mammoth.
The Vegas Golden Knights picked up their fourth straight win under interim coach John Tortorella by nipping the lowly Vancouver Canucks 2-1. Braydon McNabb and Cole Smith scored for the 36-26-16 Golden Knights, who sit second in the Pacific Division with 88 points. Max Sasson scored for the 22-47-8 Canucks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers hold the top spot over the Golden Knights based on wins.
Goerge O, TB set you up by playing their backup goalie last night. Hope your Sens take advantage!
They did. 5 times. Vasilevsky had played the night before in their loss to Buffalo, giving up 3 on 29 shots.
When the bruins scored that tying goal in the third I really thought they were going to win it. The three on threes, hate it, the canes were a lot quicker. I still say Hagens can play in this league. Bring him up now. Barring any total collapse I think bruins magic no. Is 98pts. George even with all their injuries it’s looking more and more like Sens will make the playoffs.
It will be tight, John. They have 4 left and their fate is entirely within their own hands now – just win their games and it doesn’t matter what the others do in the log-jam of an East.
They host Florida tomorrow, then have a huge one in NY against the Islanders on Saturday followed by the second of a back-to-back Sunday in Jersey, before finishing up next Wednesday at home against the Leafs!
Having Chabot back in that stretch won’t hurt ,,, but they need the “A” game of Ullmark from here to the end.
Bruins were lucky to get a point last night, other than a spurt in the first they got outplayed. But a big point and they all matter right now. Not that surprising at the end of a 4 game trip.
Puck went in for them last night. Bussi has come back down to earth in a big way, after a hot start.
B’s need another point or 2 in there final 3 and they’ll get in, and they may not even need that. CLB has the Sabres and Habs on the road next 2. If they lose one of those in Reg we’re in. If they don’t get 7 of a possible 8 pts, we’re in.
Same as Detroit and NYI, they pretty much need to win out in Reg and we need to get zero points.
I guess what I’m saying is almost zero need to do anything rash like call up Hagens. I say rash because it isn’t fair to the kid to put him in that spot, and it would be poor asset management to burn a year of his ELC.
IMO the #1 priority when making that decision is Hagens development as a player. Let the NHL vets handle the business of getting in the playoffs. They’re the guys who have put them in a good spot this year.
We have 3 at home to finish the year, we have been very good at the Garden.
With anywhere from 6 to 12 points left in the various schedules, the distinct possibility looms ever larger of multiple ties at the end requiring the convoluted tie-breaking formula I posted on March 28, Which, if it comes t that, is sure to evoke outraged howls from some fan bases. And this won’t only apply to those vying for a WC slot, but also to higher positions within a Division/ Conference and, consequently, who they meet in the first round.
Showing current points and potential points left in their schedule for each team named:
Eastern Conference
A possible 4-way tie at the top involving Carolina (106 – 8), Tampa (102 – 8), Buffalo (102 – 8) and Montreal (102 – 8);
Upwards of 6 teams could end up tied in points for the 2 WC spots, with two among Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, NYI and Columbus making it by grabbing the # 2 and 3 spots in the Metro: Pittsburgh (96 – 8), Boston (96 – 6),Philadelphia (92 – 8), Ottawa (92 – 8), Columbus (90 – 8), NYI (89 – 8), Detroit (89 – 8), Washington (87 – 8).
Western Conference
Every team in the wacky Pacific Division from # 1 Edmonton down to # 5 San Jose could wind up either in the guaranteed 1, 2 or 3 spots, OR in a tie for a WC slot along with Utah, Winnipeg and St. Louis from the Central!
Dallas (104 – 8) and Minnesota (102 – 8) could very well go to a tie-breaker to decide the # 2 and 3 spots;
The battle for the # 4 to 6 positions will be decided by whoever finishes 1, 2 and 3 in the Pacific – a fight between Edmonton (88 – 8), Vegas (88 – 8) and Anaheim (87 – 8), who could have their final positions decided by the tie-breaker!
As for the two WC spots, that will be a dog-fight to the end with Utah (88 – 10), Nashville (84 – 8), Los Angeles (83 – 10), San Jose (81 – 12), Winnipeg (80 – 10) and St. Louis (78 – 10), and again with a potential multiple-team tie requiring the application of that convoluted tie-breaking formula.
Jordan Binnington nominated for the Masterton award. That should drive a few guys on this site completely nuts.
Anaheim have lost 4 straight, are they getting nervous? They have SJ in next game and they are all but out and then Vancouver so they should get in. But loose to SJ and the others are getting close
Zammoth. Awesome.
Habs nominated Mike Matheson for the Masterton and while I like him, I’m disappointed that it wasn’t Joe Veleno.
He was a much maligned player before and after his signing in Montreal, admittedly I was on his case and was willing to move him for a bag of pucks.
His point production is MIA, but he does everything else well, adapted his game completely, skates with speed, carries the puck well, holds on to the puck like a dog with a bone. He shows very high hockey IQ, always in the right place in MSL difficult system. He even wins faceoffs this year (51.3%), blocks shots, hits lol I’m sounding like a promo.
Bottom line he has shocked me with his play and contribution, I’m not sure when I was ever this wrong about a player.
You’re not the only one pleasantly surprised by Velano’s play. We’re talking about a guy who get’s 4th line minutes but he certainly deserves the minutes given to Gallagher when there is a roster decision to be made. I hope there is room for him with the Habs next year.
But on the topic of Matheson and the Masterton though, Matheson has been exceptional for the Habs this season. He’s unlikely to win the award, but he surely deserves it more than Velano.