DailyFaceoff Morning Report — 02/11/22
The DailyFaceoff Morning Report will be released on weekdays, recapping the key news and events from the day before.
We will highlight injuries that will affect today’s games, hot streaks, cold streaks, and anything relevant for everyone from the casual hockey fan to the Fantasy Hockey grinder.
Changes in Edmonton
The biggest news of the day came off the ice. Dave Tippett was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and replaced by Jay Woodcroft as the interim head coach. The Oilers play at home Friday night against the New York Islanders.
Kadri continues outstanding season in Avalanche victory
In a battle of Stanley Cup favourites, the Colorado Avalanche held onto a 3-2 lead to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nazem Kadri continued his brilliant season and recorded one assist in the victory, his 61st point of the season (19G / 42A), tying a career-high set in 82 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016-17. This year he managed to match that total in only 41 games.
Martin St. Louis loses in coaching debut
A day after Dominique Ducharme was fired, Martin St. Louis made his debut as the interim head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Joe Snively scored his first career goal early in the game to put a damper on St. Louis’ debut. Snively added a beautiful second goal later in the game, leading the Capitals to a 5-2 victory.
Joe Snively is NOT messing around tonight. 👀 pic.twitter.com/LbQh3rq2nb
— NHL (@NHL) February 11, 2022Cole Caufield scored his second goal of the season in his 31st game. Caufield was widely considered the pre-season favourite for the Calder trophy this year but as with everything in Montreal this season, nothing has gone according to plan.
Murray shines in loss to former team
Matt Murray played his first game against his former team and was outstanding in a 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, stopping 42 of 43 shots. Casey DeSmith recorded a shutout for the Penguins in the win and Bryan Rust added an empty-net goal late in the game to secure the victory. Rust, a pending UFA, is having an incredible season and has scored 31 points (15G / 16A) in his last 19 games.
Shorthanded Bruins lose 6-0
The Carolina Hurricanes dominated a depleted Boston Bruins team that was without Patrice Bergeron (upper-body) and Brad Marchand (suspension) in a 6-0 victory. The Bruins have now allowed four or more goals in five of their last seven games (2-4-1).
After the game, the Governor of North Carolina took to Twitter to join in on the Brad Marchand rivalry.
Another impressive win by our @Canes against the @NHL Bruins tonight. Wouldn’t have mattered if the Lamborghini Marchand @Bmarch63 had played. His cheap shots last night will give him a lot more time to post pretentious, misleading smaller hockey market tripe anyway.
— Roy Cooper (@RoyCooperNC) February 11, 2022Binnington continues to struggle in loss to New Jersey
Jordan Binnington got the start in net for just the second time in the past seven games against a New Jersey team that had lost seven of their last eight (1-7-0). Binnington allowed five goals on 27 shots in a 7-4 loss and has now allowed 18 goals over his last three starts, all losses. Binnington is in the first year of a six-year contract that has an annual cap hit of $6.0 million.
Flames snap Maple Leafs winning streak
The Toronto Maples took an early 1-0 lead over the Calgary Flames before allowing five unanswered goals on their way to losing 5-2. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Maple Leafs.
With the win, Calgary moved into second place in the Pacific Division. They are 7-1-0 over their last eight games and have averaged 4.3 goals over that span.
Other News and Notes
- Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna had an interesting take on Jack Eichel and the Vegas cap situation.
- The Coyotes will play at ASU arena for at least three seasons.