NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 21, 2022
The Panthers hand the fading Oilers another loss, the surging Avalanche extend their points streak to 11 games, Roman Josi reaches a franchise record and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Sergei Bobrovsky turned in a 40-save shutout and Aleksander Barkov scored twice as the Florida Panthers thumped the Edmonton Oilers 6-0. Sam Reinhart collected three assists for the Panthers, who sit in first place in the overall standings with 59 points. The Oilers, who were in first place in the Western Conference standings on Dec. 1, now sit six points out of a wild-card spot with 38 points.
Florida Panther goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers are 0-5-2 in their last seven games and seem at a loss to figure out how to reverse their fortunes. They obviously need better goaltending but head coach Dave Tippett seems to have lost the room. Perhaps a coaching change might provide a spark of improvement while management tries to find an upgrade between the pipes. I’ll have more about that in the rumors sections.
The Colorado Avalanche extended its points streak to 11 games with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Darcy Kuemper kicked out 40 shots while Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each collected two points. The Avs hold first overall in the Western Conference with 57 points while the Kings have dropped three straight and cling to second place in the Pacific Division with 45 points.
Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi collected two assists to set a franchise record with 358 as his club downed the Winnipeg Jets 5-2. Ryan Johansen and Mikael Granlund each had two points for the Predators, who snapped a four-game losing skid to sit four points behind the Avalanche. With 40 points, the Jets sit four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Earlier in the day, the Jets placed winger Nikolaj Ehlers on injured reserve with an MCL sprain. He’s listed as week-to-week.
An overtime goal by Shea Theodore lifted the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Theodore finished the night with a goal and two assists as his club sit in first place in the Pacific Division with 50 points. Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembault made 49 saves.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Montembault will see plenty of action in the coming weeks. The Canadiens announced goalie Jake Allen will be sidelined for up to eight weeks with a lower-body injury.
The Pittsburgh Penguins took a 5-1 lead and held off a third-period surge for a 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators. Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson scored twice and collected an assist while Senators center Josh Norris tallied twice. The Penguins sit in third place in the Metropolitan Division with 53 points, winning eight of their last 10 games. Earlier in the day, they placed Jason Zucker and Louis Domingue on injured reserve.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zucker could be out week-to-week as he’s been sidelined by the same injury that recently kept him out of the lineup for seven games.
A late goal by Charlie McAvoy lifted the Boston Bruins to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals. David Pastrnak scored twice for the Bruins, who hold the final Eastern wild-card berth with 48 points. Winger Brad Marchand left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury following a hit from Garnet Hathaway and forward Anton Blidh in the first period from a big hit by winger Tom Wilson. The Capitals sit five points ahead of the Bruins with 53 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (56 points) collected an assist to open a two-point lead over Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the lead in the NHL scoring race.
Tyler Seguin and Jason Robertson each scored twice and collected an assist to lead the Dallas Stars over the Buffalo Sabres 5-4. John Klingberg picked up four assists for the Stars (40 points) who sit four back of the San Jose Sharks for the final Western Conference wild-card berth. Rasmus Dahlin had a goal and two assists for the Sabres.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres announced goalie Malcolm Subban underwent season-ending lower-body surgery while defenseman Colin Miller is out six weeks following surgery for an undisclosed ailment.
Speaking of the Sharks (44 points), they fell 3-2 to the Seattle Kraken. Carson Soucy scored twice and Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves for the Kraken. Sharks forward Timo Meier scored his 21st goal of the season and sits ninth among the league’s leading scorers with 46 points.
The Philadelphia Flyers have lost 10 straight games for the second time this season as they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Patrik Laine scored for the Jackets as Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves for the win.
Sens are a very good up and coming team that Pens took for granted in Period 1. Sens were fired up and buzzing. Top 2 lines looked very good.
Were it not for Jarry… Sens could have easily been up 5-3 in period 1. Pens pressed in the second; then more mental mistakes came back in the third and luckily (and thankfully) Pens hold on for the V and 2pts.
Seriously bad errors by D-Men. Matheson was on fire with 2 Gs 1A; but had a couple of miscues. Tanger and Dumo had 3 or 4 each. Marino struggled quite a bit; Ruhweedel again in the double digits of miscues. Only Pettersson had a “relatively” “safe” game with maybe 1 or two small miscues. That type of defence will be costly in playoffs. With Matheson firing on all cylinders on offence last night he was “promoted” a few times to 2nd pairing. The “promotion “ was earned but that meant technically a “demotion” of Pettersson to be penalized by having to play with Ruhweedel . Not really fair to Pettersson as he was the only Pens D-Man last night that took the word “defence” seriously for the whole game.
Ruhweedel MUST go in the press box for at least a couple of weeks. He is just not seeing the ice well at all. Bring in Friedman or Riikola. Trade for a reasonable UFA 3RD.
Pengy, the “comeback” was looking good there for a while. Too bad Murray came down ill (not with Covid) since he had played well in his previous 2 starts, while Gustavsson – called up from Belleville – has been struggling at both levels. Maybe they should have gone with Forsberg. Ahh well
2 more goals for Norris – he’s on an 82-game pace of 46 – and although I doubt he’ll finish at that level, he has to be one of Dorion’s best deals.
Hi George
Yep… ‘‘twas looking like Sens might just come back
Very speedy and effective team on the rise… bright future
Pens vs Sens, as a Pens fan it was nice to see a team push back and make the game a little feisty. Sens are doing what the Flyers can’t or won’t do.
Fully agree Randino
Pengy…I agree Rudwhedel must be only in reserve for emergencies. I would love to get Robert Hagg from the Buffalo Sabre (former Flyer) he plays in your face tough hockey and would fit in with Matheson…who gives a bleep if he is left handed….that means nothing.
It’s groundhog day again the “The Malkin Effect”
The minute he comes back in to the line up the team structure, discipline and attentions to details goes to shit. Obviously not all his fault but??
– Kings 6 goals against
– San Jose eeked out a win after getting out played badly Dominque saved the day
– The first period vs Vegas gave up 3 goals almost lost
– Against Ottawa bad 1st period horrible third period gave 3 or 4 goals.
This team just goes to s**t when he returns it is a cumulative effect…so tired o it.
Sullivan called them out last night after the game for these same reasons. We need to stop paying pond hockey and pay attention to detail..
Look i don’t care who we have to move Kapanen, Petersson, Rust, Zucker we need at least two defenseman. Watching last night was well horrifying…we wont beat anyone in the playoffs playing like we are playing…period
Robert Hagg
Nick Leddy or Calvin De Hann
Zucker and Leddy both match up salaries $5.5 and both are 30 maybe we add a third or 4th round pick.
As Pengy says fingers crossed…..LOL
Hi BNG
See further down the posts re Ruhweedel and more importantly value of Matheson
Certainly not a coincidence with structure and Gino return but not his fault at all for 3 other lines and only partially his fault on his line
The chemistry has to be re-established
Look how well ERod was playing…. He has not stopped trying; more that established chemistry has been disrupted. He has hit a dry spell
I would like to see Sully try for lines 2 and 3….
Gino Carter Kappy
ERod Heinen and ??
If Kane is cleared (as at now TBD)….
Sid Guentz Rusty
Gino Carter Kane
ERod Heninen Kappy
Blueger McG Zoho
Tanger/Dumo
Marino/Pettersson
*/Matheson
Jarry/**
*Try Friedman for 7 or 8 games; if he doesn’t work; try Riikola for 7 or 8 games; if neither work…. Then get someone atTDL (you’ve suggested Haag; DeHaan; I ‘D like Milker but he just had an operation and will be out 6-8 weeks … so hard to determine
*Severson if Devils would retain 50%…. They won’t BTW
*Schenn at his $850 K….. PERFECT….. his upgrade (over Ruhweedel) for $100 K in Cap…. that’s Cap well spent. ‘Nucks likely to hold on to him until they fully conclude that they are out (of playoffs)
**Holtby (once/if Stars are out) for $750 K more than DeSmith….. 916 save % vs 888…. Worth it
Hoping though that Domingue (after his IR stint) comes in an performs like the other day 👍👍👍👍
The Habs are having a collective Joe Btfsplk of a season. There is only so much bad luck one could prepare for.
Sam Montembault has been quite the revelation in Montreal, not for being a talented goaltender but for his compete level.
He doesn’t give up on the puck and appears to be beginning to be rubbing off on the team.
One has to be happy with small things this year and the kid’s smile and laughter not to mention patented finger wag when he was called Dkembe.
Habs have plenty of players that other teams covet, I would put my trust in Gorton and see what develops …
Sharks need for secondary scoring is really straining their ability to do more. Hertl and Meier line continues to do all the scoring. Defense still needs to do a better job of staying on the opponents who park themselves in front of the net, especially Burns, from what I have observed. Who might be available and affordable for the second line, now that Dahlen has gone cold?
Evander Kane? 🙂
Regarding Marchand, what goes around, comes around … gee, that’s too bad … bwahahahahaha
Pens need some toughness in the lineup especially when they play unskilled goon teams like Ottawa … they have to be prepared when an inept loser like DJ Smith puts Austin Watson, Tkachuk, Josh Brown & Bishop on the ice down by two with 9 seconds left … Rutherford gave up a #1 and Sundqvist to get Reaves only to give him away in less than a year … whether you like fighting or not it’s in the game and not going away … Pens are built for the regular season once again and will find out the hard way that it was a mistake to not add some size and toughness come April …
three great checks last night, Boyle, Scum Wilson & McAvoy and only Ottawa retaliates …
I could look it up but i’m lazy, do the Bruins have McAvoy locked up? I like his game very much ..
Actually fighting goes down every year and absolutely will be going away. I give it ten years tops.
Wilson big hit on Blidh was clean.
Hathaway on Marchand not so much. But no suspendable, penalty called correct call.
However the lack of push back by the Bruins is concerning.
They need a player to make the opponent think twice before delivering these type of hits.
Seems about right Caper. Would be nice to see a guy like Reeves make Hathaway answer for that.
Deslauriers is a UFA after this season , I am betting there are several teams who will express interest.
For any who challenge Matheson’s contract….. here is his numbers so far this year at 5 on 5 per Evolving Hockey:
GF% -58%
xGF% — 60%
ShotAttempts for 59%
Gper60…3.13
XGper60…3.31
First 2 stats have him 2nd on the team for Defencemen; the other 3 he is 1st on the team (for defencemen)
…. and this is with him being exposed to (read “punished with” ) predominantly being forced to playwith Ruhweedel
This is why Ruhweedel’s stats are grossly and artificially inflated. He (Ruhweedel) got a + 1 on one of Matheson’s goals last night on a line/player change…. Ruhweedel had just (2 strides) stepped on to the ice ; 90’ away; when Matheson scored…. and CR gets credited for all those offensive numbers
Matheson has often played (alone) both LD and RD because Ruhweedel is covering no one
Pengy…agreed and Schenn would be an uograde and your line combos are pretty much spot on i would have Boyle or Simon on that 4th line of yours once the playoffs start.
we need two D was it me or did Marino look slow to you vs Ottawa?
Manson Miller too costly
1. Robert Hagg
2. Schenn is another option
3. Nick Leddy for Zucker or Petrsson
i agree Matheson has found a role and has fit nicely there..
Hi BNG
Pens need to steer very wide of Leddy
Not having s good year at all
Even a Zucker for Leddy is s losing deal
Pettersson has been very solid this year…. Pens would definitely lose any in season trade that moves him
Hagg is a fair add but is s Lefty that ONLY plays LD
3RD, and after tonight (and if Domingue out longer than 1 week, a back-up, are the two needs for Pens
Schenn won’t be expensive; under contract for next year (only 850 K); far superior than Ruhweedel; and much bigger and much stronger than CR
Hope Pens can keep it going by beating Jets on Sun