The Montreal Canadiens have many promising young players, both on their NHL roster and in their prospect pool.
Among them is forward Owen Beck. The 22-year-old has the potential to be a solid NHL forward, and he has been showing that early on this season for Montreal.
Beck has been demonstrating plenty of promise as of late for the Canadiens. He has a goal and two assists over his last four games for the Canadiens, which is a nice step in the right direction. This is especially so when noting that he recorded a point in three straight appearances from Oct. 23 to Nov. 3, before Montreal's last game.
Seeing Beck starting to produce some offense for Montreal is definitely encouraging. The young center is already known for his smart defensive play and faceoff ability, but it would great to see him continue to tap into his offensive potential more in the process for Montreal.
Ultimately, whether Beck stays on the Canadiens' NHL roster or is sent back down to the AHL's Laval Rocket once Montreal is fully healthy, he is a big player to watch as this campaign rolls on. It should only be a matter of time before he cements himself as a full-time NHL player, as he is showing clear signs of improvement this campaign.
Despite some more third-period stress, the Flyers found a way to nail down a game they couldn’t afford to give up.
They beat the Canucks, 3-1, Monday night at Rogers Arena.
Michael Bunting, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim scored the Flyers’ goals.
Christian Dvorak collected two assists.
The Flyers (5-10-5) took advantage of a golden opportunity to pick up a win they desperately needed. They had lost six of their previous seven games (1-4-2).
Rick Tocchet’s club improved to 1-1-1 on its five-game road trip. In each of the two losses, the Flyers coughed up a third-period lead. This time, the Flyers had another dicey third period, but they survived it.
Sanheim iced the game with an empty-netter. Vancouver outshot the Flyers 13-2 in the third period.
The Canucks (3-16-1) have the NHL’s fewest points. The Flyers see them again Nov. 27 for a Black Friday matchup at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
• Joseph Woll was strong with 18 saves on 19 shots.
He didn’t see a ton of action until the third period. The Flyers outshot Vancouver 15-6 through the first and second periods.
But the Flyers were on their heels in the third period. They committed three penalties and gave up a power play goal to Jonathan Lekkerimäki with 7:16 minutes left.
In the opening 30 seconds of the period, Tyson Foerster had a goal wiped away after a coach’s challenge by the Canucks showed the play was offside. After that, the Flyers had to really fend off Vancouver.
Woll had a timely save on Brendan Gallagher with 3:15 minutes remaining in the second period to keep the Flyers’ lead at 2-0.
Canucks netminder Leevi Merilainen stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced.
• Konecny extended the Flyers’ lead to 2-0 with a power play goal in the second period. It was the Flyers’ ninth goal on the power play over the last 11 games.
Matvei Michkov made a nice read behind the net to find Konecny. Michkov has recorded at least a point in nine of the Flyers’ last 12 games. In that stretch, he has eight goals and four assists.
During a second-period stoppage, the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast feed caught what appeared to be a heated moment between Michkov and Nick Seeler by the Flyers’ bench.
There was no word on the details of the exchange. But the Flyers were able to move past it and win the game.
There appeared to be a heated moment on the Flyers bench involving Matvei Michkov. pic.twitter.com/fXNF1IdYYY
• Bunting quickly made his presence felt in his return to the lineup.
After going 12 days without playing, Bunting gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead just 2:03 minutes into the action. It was the veteran forward’s first goal with the Flyers. He entered the lineup for rookie Cole Knuble.
On the back end, David Jiricek came into the lineup for Simon Benoit. Jiricek had gone almost three weeks without a game.
• The Flyers are back in action Wednesday when they visit Connor McDavid and the Oilers (9 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
For all the criticism the Edmonton Oilers have received, just in general, they are amoung the best of Canadas NHL teams.
Edmonton is 12-3-3 through 18 games, first in the Pacific Division, and fourth in the NHL, making them the highest-ranked Canadian team with 27 points and a .750 points percentage.
The Montreal Canadiens are the closest Canadian team, at 11-3-3 with 25 points, followed by the Ottawa Senators at 11-6-1 with 23.
After that, things get pretty ugly.
Toronto is 8-9-2, Calgary is 8-9-1, Winnipeg is 7-8-3, and Vancouver is at the bottom of the entire NHL with just three wins in 19 games.
Edmonton is averaging 4.17 goals per game and leading the seven Canadian teams in scoring.
Connor McDavid has 47 points through 18 games, while Leon Draisaitl has 16 goals. Those two have been primarily responsible for Edmonton's offence, although Mike Babcock has been getting some encouraging performances from players further down the lineup.
The Oilers have managed all of this while dealing with injuries to their goaltenders, a bottom six that has occasionally struggled to contribute, and a few defensive performances that deserved their fair share of criticism.
The Maple Leafs came into Rogers Place and completely outworked Edmonton, giving Babcock plenty to criticize afterward. Toronto has since struggled to put together much of anything, sitting seventh in the Atlantic Division with 18 points.
A win against Edmonton obviously hasn't solved Toronto's problems.
Montreal, meanwhile, has been one of the most exciting teams in the league.
The Canadiens are 8-0-2 over their last 10 games, and their .735 points percentage puts them just behind Edmonton among Canadian clubs, while playing some pretty good hockey at even strength with a 52.8 per cent of shot attempts at five-on-five.
Edmonton is at 47.3 per cent, which ranks 26th in the league.
The Oilers have been winning plenty of games, although their results haven't always reflected how much time they've spent defending.
Ottawa is also off to a reasonable start, sitting fourth in the Atlantic with 23 points and an 11-6-1 record.
The Senators have won five of their last 10 games and are currently occupying a playoff position, giving Canada three teams with an early claim to being among the league's better clubs.
As for the remaining four, there's quite a bit of work to be done.
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The New Jersey Devils called up Riley Tufte from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Utica Comets, on Nov. 9 ahead of the game against the Winnipeg Jets. The move comes following the Anthony Mantha injury, which occurred when he took a stick to the throat during the Nov. 7 game against the New York Islanders.
After playing on Sunday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, the Devils have a replacement. Tufte’s call-up is long overdue, as the veteran AHLer has waited years for this call and finally has a chance to prove he belongs in the NHL.
Tufte Deserves The Call Up
Tufte has traveled around in his hockey career, with the Devils being his fourth team since he debuted in the 2019-20 season with the Texas Stars. While Tufte has played 28 games at the NHL level, he’s never established himself as a full-time forward. It's left him on the roller coaster between the AHL and NHL, where he'll get the call-up for a few games and then get sent down shortly thereafter.
However, he’s been a standout at the AHL level. Last season, he scored 32 goals for the Providence Bruins, playing a pivotal role in their successful season where they finished the season with the league’s best record. Tufte also scored 21 goals with the Bruins' AHL team in 2024-25 and had 23 with the Colorado Eagles in 2023-24, proving he's a consistent scorer at the AHL level.
Moreover, the 28-year-old forward has leaned into the leadership role in recent years. In the AHL, he was one of the older skaters on the team and a guiding presence for top prospects. The Comets benefited early on this season as he mentored some of the young players in the Devils' pipeline and helped the team get off to an 8-2 start.
While Tufte hasn’t had the same impact this season on the offensive end as he has in the past, he’s worthy of the call-up. Likewise, he checks off a lot of the boxes to replace Mantha, with many overlapping skill sets.
Tufte Plays A Similar Role As Mantha
Mantha was a pivotal part of the forward unit as he gave the Devils a physical element and a scoring presence on the wing. At 240 pounds, he’s the power forward who can get to the net and make the most of scoring chances.
It’s how Mantha scored 33 goals last season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s allowed him to have a strong start to this season, with five goals and five assists in 17 games. Interestingly, when Mantha scored 33 goals in the NHL, Tufte had 32 in the AHL.
Tufte also adds a physical aspect to the forward unit, even if he’s playing on the top line, as was the case with the Bruins' AHL team. He weighs 233 pounds and plays a heavy checking game.
It allows Tufte to play on the fourth line at the NHL level when given the chance, not just for the Devils but for any NHL team. Likewise, Tufte can play the same role as Mantha, giving the Devils a checking presence who can add a few goals as well.
Does That Mean He’ll Play On The Rodrigues Line?
It makes sense for Tufte to play alongside Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist. It’s where Mantha played and took the Devils' line to another level. Tufte can slide right in, and there won’t be a significant drop.
The Devils have also found chemistry on the Cody Glass line with Amadeus Lombardi and Connor Brown on the wings. Along with their forecheck and defensive play, the trio has also added a scoring touch, with Brown and Glass combining for five goals while Lombardi has added four assists. It makes sense to keep that line together.
That said, it’s a wait-and-see situation. Sheldon Keefe will see how Tufte looks in the forward unit and whether he can play alongside Rodrigues and manage the ice time that comes with it. It makes Tuesday morning’s skate a pivotal one for Tufte and the rest of the Devils as they prepare for a Jets team that’s won three games in a row and wants to make a statement.
The Buffalo Sabres finish up their homestand on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, hoping to go .500 after losses to the Ottawa Senators and Vegas Golden Knights. The Sabres, in both games, got excellent goaltending from Colten Ellis, but managed only one goal and struggled on the power play.
In Sunday’s loss, Buffalo dominated the opening 20 minutes, but could not beat Knights goalie Adin Hill on 14 shots. The Sabres had three opportunities on the man advantage in the second period, and gave up a short-handed breakaway goal to Mitch Marner and an even strength marker from former Sabre Jack Eichel. Beck Malenstyn narrowed the lead to 2-1 early in the third, but Tomas Hertl scored just 1:17 later to re-establish the Vegas lead and stifled any thoughts of a comeback.
"We made some poor decisions," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "(In) the Ottawa game, we made some poor decisions. We had a really perfect first period; (we) just needed to carry that on. I think we thought our power play was going to be easy. I'll give (Vegas) a lot of credit. They did a great job in shot lanes. They blocked a lot of shots around net front.....we had roughly six to 10 opportunities in that same area that just needed to be a little harder."
Dylan Larkin is likely not the answer for the offensively struggling Sabres
The Sabres continue to struggle to find their offensive mojo. The 7-6 win over Anaheim was against one of the worst defensive clubs in the NHL (29th in the NHL) and featured a natural hat trick from Tage Thompson. Their 5-2 win over Columbus was against a club playing in the second of back-to-back gamesm but they only scored one even strength goal against San Jose (who have given up 69 goals this season - 30th in the NHL), and in losses to the Sens and Golden Knights.
GM Jarmo Kekalainen has to be looking for some offensive help in the trade market, but deals do not normally start happening until after us Thanksgiving. Short of Dylan Larkin having a change of heart about playing in Buffalo, the Sabres may have to remain patient, or be willing to pay a steep price to teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh, who according to Elliotte Friedman are beginning to explore making deals earlier than usual.
Heading into tonight's game against the New York Islanders, San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini is chasing a major milestone. At 20 years and 149 days, Celebrini needs just a single point to become the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to register 200 career points.
The only players who were younger than Celebrini to achieve the feat were Sidney Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Jimmy Carson, and Mario Lemieux. Of course, one of those players, Jimmy Carson, was unfortunately never able to live up to his true potential but the other three are undeniably hockey royalty. It's never a bad thing for a young player to put themselves in the company of Crosby, Gretzky, and Lemieux.
Having played in 169 career games, Celebrini also has the opportunity to become the fifth-fastest active player to reach the 200 point threshold. The only players to do so faster are the aforementioned Crosby, the NHL's all-time scoring leader Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Kirill Kaprizov.
In his career, Celebrini has two goals and two assists in four games against the New York Islanders, making it seem likely that he finishes the night with at least one point. He's also entering the game on a three-game point-streak.
After blowing three leads on Sunday night, the Philadelphia Flyers have fallen to 4-10-5 on the season, with virtually no hope in sight at this point. And, for as long as these struggles continue, we all have to wonder what comes next.
Of course, Monday's second leg of this back-to-back sees the Flyers head west to face the Vancouver Canucks, who have one fewer win this season with their paltry 3-15-1 record through 19 games.
It's an important homecoming of sorts for Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet, who spurned the Canucks in 2025 to join the Flyers as their new head coach, only for both franchises to be left floundering less than two years later.
Now, it feels quite realistic that, as the Flyers continue to blow leads and give away game after game, and with Tocchet's preached messages perpetually slipping through the cracks, that the head coach's job is on the line.
For the Flyers, going up against this Canucks team that is objectively the worst in the NHL feels like a real challenge.
Because Dan Vladar played on Sunday night, Joseph Woll will be the starting goalie against the Canucks on Monday night. At the other end, Leevi Merilainen is likely to start for Vancouver.
Flyers lines vs. Canucks
Trevor Zegras - Cole Knuble - Owen Tippett
Porter Martone - Noah Cates - Matvei Michkov
Tyson Foerster - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Denver Barkey - Sean Couturier - Noel Acciari
Travis Sanheim - Jamie Drysdale
Cam York - Oliver Bonk
Nick Seeler - Simon Benoit
Joseph Woll (S), Dan Vladar
Healthy scratches: Michael Bunting, David Jiricek
Canucks lines for Flyers game
Arshdeep Bains - Elias Pettersson - Brock Boeser
Liam Ohgren - Marco Rossi - Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Jake DeBrusk - Paul Cotter - Brendan Gallagher
Drew O'Connor - Max Sasson - Brendan Gallagher
Zeev Buium - Filip Hronek
Elias Pettersson - Luke Schenn
Jamie Oleksiak - Guillaume Brisebois
Leevi Merilainen (S), Kevin Lankinen
Flyers special teams
Power play: 10-for-58, 17.2% (27th)
Penalty kill: 50-for-62, 80.6% (10th)
Canucks special teams
Power play: 12-for-48, 20.7% (20th)
Penalty kill: 40-for-63, 63.5% (31st)
How to watch the Flyers game
Monday night's Flyers game can be found on NBC Sports Philadelphia and Sportsnet West.
Flyers player to watch
Owen Tippett was our player to watch last night, and while he did score a power play goal, he was also on the ice for all four goals by Calgary, including the overtime winner and a short-handed breakaway from Joel Farabee that tied the game.
For Monday night's game, against a Canucks team that boasts the second-worst penalty kill unit in the NHL, we have to spotlight the entire Flyers power play.
Matvei Michkov, after a hot run of form, has cooled off considerably, going scoreless in each of the Flyers' last two games, while also failing to record a shot on goal in either.
Michkov, along with Trevor Zegras, has been the catalyst for this toothless Philadelphia offense.
Zegras took a costly delay of game penalty in Sunday night's 4-3 overtime loss to Calgary, and he has just two assists in his last five games, as well as a -4 rating, 16 penalty minutes, and only 10 shots on goal.
Without him and Michkov going at full-bore, the Flyers have no chance of winning, and it's showed.
Now that losses are beginning to pile up again in rapid succession, it certainly feels as though the Flyers, and Tocchet especially, have a lot riding on this game against the Canucks.
Pitlick has appeared in 12 games this season with Minnesota, where he has zero points, four penalty minutes, 12 blocks, and 32 hits. His most recent appearance for Minnesota was during their Nov. 6 matchup against the San Jose Sharks, where he recorded a block and two hits in 7:32 of ice time.
If Pitlick passes through waivers unclaimed, Minnesota will then be able to assign him to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. The former Canadiens forward has one goal and three points in four games with Iowa this season.
The Canadiens acquired Pitlick during the 2021-22 season as part of the trade that sent Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames.
In 14 games with the Canadiens during the 2021-22 campaign following the move, Pitlick posted one goal, three points, 10 blocks, 15 hits, and a minus-6 rating.
Pitlick's time with the Canadiens ended following that season, as Montreal opted not to re-sign him. Since then, he has had NHL stops with the St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, and Wild.
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Logan Mailloux wasn’t a fan of having to take a seat for nearly the first quarter of the season for the St. Louis Blues.
But a broken right hand at the expense of a preseason fight with Chicago Blackhawks forward Cole Smith put the Blues defenseman on the shelf following surgery on Sept. 28.
Mailloux was originally expected to be re-evaluated in eight weeks but he was activated off injured reserve on Monday and will make his season debut at home Tuesday against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Blues also assigned defensemen Adam Jiricek and Theo Lindstein to Springfield of the American Hockey League and recalled veteran Calle Rosen.
“I feel good,” Mailloux said after practice Monday. “It’s been, what, six weeks? I was lucky enough that it was just my hand, so I was able to skate and stuff for a while. I feel good.”
Mailloux was paired on D with Philip Broberg, who he finished the season last year with and who he developed some terrific chemistry with. It sort of aligns with how the team planned on starting this season off with aside from Justin Barron, who was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Sept. 28.
“It gives us a situation where the six D so far this year have been the guys that have played the best,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Our D-corps has really been good this year. The fact that JB and now we have Mailloux back, and the year the other four have been having, to be able to send talented young players down, like Jiricek and Lindstein, so they can get more ice time, I mean what a win-win for the Blues. Those two are both big parts of our future and it's a matter of when, not if.”
The Blues were playing the Blackhawks on Sept. 26 when Smith and Broberg collided near the Blues’ defensive blue line and the two got crossed up at the knees. Fortunately Broberg wasn’t injured on the play but Mailloux wasn’t about to let it go unnoticed.
“I wasn’t a huge fan of the hit,” Mailloux said. “It’s not ideal seeing one of your teammates go down in a preseason game like that. I just had to show up and kind of do something.”
And Mailloux knew right away something was not right.
“Kind of, yeah. Kind of when I got to the (penalty) box,” he said. “Something felt a little off. I didn’t know the extent of it it. I was kind of hoping that it wasn’t going to be that serious, but it is what it is.”
It derailed the solid training camp Mailloux was having on the heels of last season when he finished with 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 67 games.
“I thought I had a good camp, I was feeling good,” Mailloux said. “There’s no good time to get hurt. It’s definitely not ideal right before the season starts, but it’s better I guess at the start of the year than at the end of the year fighting for as playoff spot. I’m just happy to be done with it.”
It made for an easy decision for the coaches to put the 23-year-old right back alongside Broberg starting Tuesday.
“Just how he continued to grow. He had a really good summer,” Montgomery said. “He was super aggressive. He was taking away time and space defensively, aggressive jumping into the offense, hanging onto pucks, not afraid to make a mistake offensively or defensively -- just playing. He's a big body who's athletic and can shoot the puck. We're excited to have him back in the lineup. He's really going to help us.”
As for Jiricek, the Blues’ first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft (No. 16), he wasn’t going to be on the opening night roster but was thrust into this role after injuries to not only Broberg but also Tyler Tucker (knee), who’s still not practicing. He played in each of the first 17 games and had a goal and two assists and was a plus-2.
The experience of beginning his NHL career and thrust into key roles was so invaluable for Jiricek, who can now go to the Thunderbirds and play even bigger minutes than what he was averaging with the Blues (15:51).
“I think the experience of getting up in the NHL, understanding the speed ... we've seen Jiricek grow already: defensively, offensively with his puck decisions risk-reward, (he's) already made those strides,” Montgomery said. “Again, we have a really talented D-corps and he had some opportunity on the power play, but it's hard. You get up and you're just starting and you start on the power play, the penalty kills are so much better than what he saw in junior ... it's a matter of time before he's a power-play quarterback for our team.
“I want him to focus on continuing to do what he's done here. He's going to play against top players, he's going to get the added ice time that you would expect, somewhere in the mid-20s, so just continue to build on moving the puck and growing his offensive game. And what I mean growing, you already see the great passes, but it's when those high-level plays aren't there, what does he do then to continue to build the team game? Otter and his staff are going to make him better.”
Lindstein, one of three first-round picks in 2023 (No. 29) along with Dalibor Dvorsky and Otto Stenberg, has been a frequent healthy scratch this season and has just played in six games (minus-1) with two assists.
The 21-year-old needs to play hockey games and continue to grow. With Barron’s emergence, he is not coming out of the lineup.
“Theo is just a casualty of JB playing so well and us being so deep on defense,” Montgomery said. “But that being said, he's a really good player when he has the puck and the puck’s around him, defensively or offensively. Now, where he needs to grow his game is when the puck’s not around him, I think he rests instead of … move it, boom, join. It's something I don't have to say to Jiricek. Also, offensively, he is hesitant to be aggressive going down. He skates way too well, his brain’s way too well, his hands way too good to not be more aggressive when the puck’s not around. And defensively, too, closing the corners.
“I think (rest is) common in all young players. The transitional game, if you want to see someone who transitions well, it's not about speed, it's their first three strides and their last three strides before the transition happens.”
The Blues continue to look at both Jiricek and Lindstein as long-term assets and will treat them as such.
"Adam and Theo have done a solid job providing us quality minutes this season," Blues general manager Alex Steen said in a team release. "We want to make sure we continue to do what’s best for their long-term development, and going to Springfield will give them the opportunity to gain valuable experience while taking on more ice time in all key situations."
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Hockey fans in Las Vegas will have more than goals and game nights to look forward to this November.
The Vegas Golden Knights are turning nine days into a celebration of hockey, community events and special fan experiences.
Knights Hockey Week runs Nov. 11-19 and includes five Golden Knights home games at T-Mobile Arena and three Henderson Silver Knights games at Lee’s Family Forum.
The celebration opens Nov. 11 with the Golden Knights’ Military Appreciation Knight against the Utah Mammoth. The team will honor active-duty service members, veterans and their families. Signed specialty jerseys will also be auctioned, with proceeds benefiting organizations that support military families and veterans.
Cancer awareness will take center stage Nov. 13 and 14. Both teams will host Hockey Fights Cancer events, with the Golden Knights offering free health screenings and a mobile mammography unit outside T-Mobile Arena. The Silver Knights will give away branded sunshades to the first 1,500 fans.
Vegas fans will also get their first look at the team’s Hometown Remix uniforms when the Golden Knights face the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 15. Two days later, the team will celebrate the return of Formula 1 with a special collaboration featuring a team-branded race car and themed merchandise.
The week also includes a free public skate at Lee’s Family Forum on Nov. 16 and a Silver Knights Cheers & Beers Night on Nov. 18, featuring $2 beers for fans 21 and older.
Fans attending games can also enjoy additional promotions, merchandise and food options, including $5.50 items on the refreshed VGK Locals Menu.
The team will offer prizes throughout the celebration through its new mobile app.
As the Minnesota Wild gear up to welcome back a slew of important players, they have made roster moves in anticipation.
On Monday, the Wild placed defenseman Cameron Crotty and forward Tyler Pitlick on NHL waivers for the purpose of being assigned to the Iowa Wild of the AHL.
Crotty was claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators just over a week ago. Although the 27-year-old never saw NHL action with the Wild, he served as an extra defenseman in case of any additional injuries.
Crotty did play three NHL games with the Senators before the Wild claimed him. If the Senators place a waiver claim on Crotty and none of the other 30 NHL teams do, they can assign him directly to their AHL affiliate without the use of waivers.
As for Pitlick, he's skated in 12 NHL games this season because of the sheer number of injuries the Wild have dealt with. In those 12 games, the 35-year-old has failed to record any points, averaging 7:39 of ice time.
If Crotty and Pitlick clear waivers, they'll join an Iowa squad with a 6-6-2-1 record and third-place standing in the Central Division.
The moves come ahead of a road matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. Over the weekend, the Wild welcomed back the Foligno brothers and, after activating them from injured reserve, brought their roster to 23 players.
Brock Faber is joining the team on the road trip, and to activate him from the IR and stay under the salary cap, the Wild needed to remove two players from the roster. They clearly value what David Spacek and Matt Kiersted have brought to the blue line and want to keep them in the NHL.
They also value Sturm's versatility and don't want to put him on waivers either.
While this doesn't necessarily guarantee Faber will return on Tuesday, it does indicate he will be in the lineup very soon.
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The New York Islanders just ripped through something of a gauntlet schedule over the course of the last two and a half weeks.
They played six teams in four different cities (three at home, three on the road), while all six opponents occupy playoff spots.
Sequentially, the Islanders went on a road trip against the Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, and Minnesota Wild. When they returned home, the Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils rolled into UBS Arena.
Four of those six teams are currently in the top five of the NHL.
The Stars, who kicked off this tough run in the schedule, is not one of those four teams.
The worst team the Islanders faced was the Predators, who are now 8-4-5 and occupy the top Wild Card Spot in the Western Conference.
The Islanders went 2-3-1 in those six games. They had chances to beat both Carolina and New Jersey, but walked away with just 1 point from those two games.
Now the schedule flips. The Islanders play a grueling 10 games in 19 days, starting Monday in California against the San Jose Sharks.
Of those 10 games, there is no duplicate opponents. It's 10 unique opponents, with only two Metropolitan Division clashes against the Columbus Blue Jackets (11/17) and the Philadelphia Flyers (11/28).
Most importantly, out of these next 10 games, the Islanders play only 1 team currently in a playoff spot.
That's the red-hot Anaheim Ducks, who tote the league's top power play and currently sit third in the Pacific Division. At 5-on-5, the Ducks have not been very good thus far.
If the Islanders are going to string together some wins, now's the time.
The Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, and Ducks are the first three games of this stretch.
A strong 3-0-0 road trip record can go a long way. The Islanders return home to face the Blue Jackets on the 17th before shipping back out for a two-game trip against the Winnipeg Jets and the Detroit Red Wings.
Thanksgiving week is spent at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs. St. Louis Blues, and a Black Friday game against the Jets.
The stretch ends on the road against the Flyers, which also ends the month of November.
By the time the month ends, the Islanders' season will be more than a quarter finished.
26 games out of 84 will be done. That's 30%.
By that point, there could be a good read on just who exactly this Islanders team is.
Injuries may play a role, though Mathew Barzal, Matias Maccelli, and Ryan Pulock may all return in California.
Still, as it stands, the Islanders are four points behind the New York Rangers for third in the Metropolitan Division.
They're also just four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers, who currently occupy the basement of the conference.
The schedule and opportunity is there for the Islanders to surge up the standings.
The next 10 games could go a long way to deciding how the season ends.
The Vancouver Canucks enter tonight's matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on a five-game losing streak. Their last win came by a score of 6-5 against the Anaheim Ducks on October 28, while their last home-ice win was on October 3 against the Calgary Flames. Here are the lineup notes for November 9, 2026.
Vancouver looks to be putting their lines in a blender once again heading into tonight's matchup, though there are some combinations fans will be interested in tuning into. Based on the Canucks' lines during morning skate, Jonathan Lekkerimäki looks to be slotting into Vancouver's top-line alongside Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. Additionally, Drew O'Connor, Max Sasson, and Linus Karlsson will make up the Canucks' fourth-line, with this unit sure to emphasize speed and strong forechecking.
In net tonight is Leevi Meriläinen, who will start in his third consecutive game and 12th of the season. Through 13 games played this year, Meriläinen has a 3.52 GAA and .889 SV%. His last start saw him stop 26 of 29 shots faced against the Edmonton Oilers. Meriläinen has yet to play in a game against the Flyers through his NHL career.
Another positive sight at the Canucks' morning skate this morning was that of both Tom Willander and Filip Chytil. Willander has missed the past three games due to injury and looks to be out again tonight against the Flyers. Chytil last played on October 29 against the San Jose Sharks and has remained out due to re-aggravating an upper-body injury.
Projected Lineup:
Lekkerimäki - Pettersson - Boeser
DeBrusk - Cotter - Bains
Öhgren - Rossi - Gallagher
O'Connor - Sasson - Karlsson
Buium - Hronek
Oleksiak - Brisebois
Pettersson - Schenn
Meriläinen
Lankinen
Game Information:
Start time: 7:30 pm PCT
Venue: Rogers Arena
Television: Sportsnet
Radio: KiSS West Coast
Oct 22, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson (40) celebrates his goal with forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki (88) against the Detroit Red Wings in the first period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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On Sunday, the Winnipeg Jets won a memorable game over the Tampa Bay Lightning where star center Mark Scheifele scored the game winning goal with just seconds left on the clock.
It helped the Jets nab their third straight win after dropping nine in a row earlier this season. It was their first skid of that duration since last season when the Jets had lost 11 in a row from mid-December to early January. However, what followed could be playing out once again this season.
Winnipeg would go on to win four in a row and kick off a rampant hot streak that saw them finish with a 20-9-7 record over their next 36 games. During that span, the Jets record was tied for sixth-best in the NHL, tied with three other teams, and saw their backend operate as the team's strength with the fifth-best goals against per game average in the league at 2.75 over the 36 games.
Winnipeg could be very well starting a similar run as the offense has helped secure their last four wins with the Jets outscoring their opponents 15 to nine and could see their backend have a major rebound when Josh Morrissey returns in the coming games.
The Jets hope to keep their recent form as they just finished one of their toughest stretches of the season but it won't be getting easier as their next few opponents are largely made up of playoff teams like the New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights, Utah Mammoth and Boston Bruins all in the next two weeks.
Winnipeg will have the upper hand of five of their next seven games will be on home ice and would love to see them continue to stack wins and start building towards playoff contention once again. The Jets sit just four points out of a playoff spot, behind the Utah Mammoth and Nashville Predators in the wild card spots and five points out of a divisional spot held by the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
While fans may have been down on Winnipeg following their start to the season, it can't be lost that they are nowhere near out of the fight for the playoffs. In fact, they've been in this exact same situation just months ago and Jets fans saw firsthand that this team can deal with adversity and bounce back. This time, it isn't happening before it's too late into the season.
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Mike and Dan get big picture after two Islanders losses to better teams last week and a looming trip to California this week.Mike and Dan get big picture after two Islanders losses to better teams last week and a looming trip to California this week.
Stop us if you’ve heard this before but the Islanders lost to the Hurricanes. They also blew a 4-2 lead and lost to New Jersey two nights later. Although the games weren’t similar, one aspect was: the Islanders simply don’t have the talent to beat the NHL’s better clubs. They can hang with them for a bit, and the Islanders love to talk the talk about how great they are. But ultimately, this roster is simply full of too many players bringing too little – which, ironically, is the best they can do. Has the team been bad for so long that they forgot that they can be better? Why bring in marginal players like Ben Hutton and Robby Fabbri with other similar players already here? What is the point of any of this when the playoff cutoff line gets further away and the reality of what this team is sinks in? What is the difference between false hope and the kind of manufactured hope the Islanders keep trying to sell us?
In the second half, we discuss the upcoming trip through San Jose, LA and Anaheim. On paper, the Islanders can win these and get back into the playoff picture. But it’s difficult to see them doing that, so things could be worse by next week. We also talk about the Hometown Remix jerseys, which were rolled out last week, and the Fisherman logo that still drives people crazy. This might be shocking but lots of younger people like it.
Finally, some late breaking news prompts our first ever impromptu Devil Piece Theater. In which their new big star goalie won’t play against his old team because of… data. Sure, guys.
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