Nate Duffett Articles - Page 3

The Minnesota Wild didn’t have much confidence entering the Stanley Cup Playoffs, considering how they ended the season. It didn’t help that the Wild had to face the Vegas Golden Knights, who beat them all three times during the regular season and had won 10 of 11 games over the past four seasons. However, optimism […]

Big-name players must step up in big-time moments, and that’s what the Vegas Golden Knights’ stars did in their round one victory over the Minnesota Wild. It might not have happened right away, as there were some struggles for Jack Eichel and Mark Stone early in the series. However, when their team needed them most, […]

The handshake at the end of a hard-fought hockey series is one of the most special traditions in sports. It doesn’t get much more physical than playoff hockey, but the players will always find a way to come together at the end and show each other respect. Brady Tkachuk and Auston Matthews’ connection runs much […]

Don’t let Max Pacioretty’s clutch series-clinching goal distract you from the core four finally showing up in a big game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Ottawa Senators were seemingly dominating play for the first period, until Auston Matthews put the Maple Leafs on the board with a powerplay goal. William Nylander extended the lead […]

Craig Berube stunned everyone when he moved Max Pacioretty up the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup on Thursday morning. Many questioned the reasoning for moving Pacioretty into the top-six, as it seemed more likely he’d be a healthy scratch. However, Berube trusted in his veteran forward, and Pacioretty repaid that trust by scoring the series-clinching goal […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs sure made it interesting, didn’t they? Hockey fans worldwide waited with anticipation as the Maple Leafs slowly started to relinquish their 3-0 stranglehold on the series. After the Ottawa Senators won Games 4 and 5, the consensus was that these perennial chokers in Toronto were about to do it again. However, […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs finally won a clinching game, taking down the Ottawa Senators in Game 6. Toronto’s core entered the game with a 1-13 record in clinching games in the Auston Matthews era, and people were starting to wonder if they were on the cusp of another monumental collapse. However, after a clutch Max […]

Over the last two decades, the Toronto Maple Leafs have found embarrassing ways to lose hockey games. If the referees hadn’t caught a crucial mistake on Thursday night, they might’ve topped any other losses. The NHL doesn’t allow its teams to change the game sheet once the opening puck drops, and shortly before that, William […]

Ottawa Senators fans might’ve doubted Linus Ullmark through the first three games of this series. He was struggling to compete with Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz, and this was becoming an all-too-familiar trend for the goaltender who failed to get the job done during his time with the Boston Bruins. However, to extend the […]

The doubters are starting to circle as the Toronto Maple Leafs fail to clinch their series over the Ottawa Senators for the second consecutive game. The Leafs took a 3-0 series lead after two consecutive overtime wins, but Ottawa rallied back to win Game 4. Toronto kept Game 5 close and looked to be in […]

The Washington Capitals received a mixed bag of updates in their practice on the eve of Game 5. The Capitals look to book their ticket to the second round with a win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night. However, there was a minor scare when Alex Ovechkin missed the practice, which Spencer Carbery informed […]

It’s a decision that won’t go over well with Vancouver Canucks fans, but Rick Tocchet decided on Tuesday to move on from the team. The front office has modelled the Canucks after a Tocchet-coached squad, but they’ll now be one of seven teams in the market for a new head coach this season. There was […]

Who says the NHL is losing its physicality? Sure, there might be some no-hitters in the regular season, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs take on a different identity. It has been one of the most grueling first rounds in recent years, and the Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals could be the worst with series-changing injuries […]

Doubt Connor Hellebuyck at your own risk, but it wouldn’t be bizarre to question his playoff struggles despite what Scott Arniel said at the post-game press conference. Hellebuyck couldn’t out-duel Alexandar Georgiev in last year’s playoffs. Now, he is struggling again after getting taken out in back-to-back games. Jets fans have a right to worry, […]

The Vegas Golden Knights fans love Ivan Barbashev for his performance in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which led to the team’s first title. He did it again on Saturday night with an overtime winning goal. The Golden Knights would have faced a massive deficit if they had lost to the Minnesota Wild. However, Barbashev’s […]

Whether Joel Quenneville will return to the NHL has been a popular question in league circles, and a recent rumor suggests he may join the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks need a new head coach after firing Greg Cronin, and they could have their eyes on the former Stanley Cup Champion. Jimmy Murphy from RG.org reports […]

The Tampa Bay Lightning won Game 3 on the road to stay within striking distance of their first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers. However, all the talk after the game will be about Matthew Tkachuk’s 5-minute major penalty after a late hit on Jake Guentzel. Guentzel was admiring his pass to Anthony Cirelli for […]

Given their abundance of young talent, it’d be hard to turn down a coaching opportunity from the Chicago Blackhawks. University of Denver Head Coach David Carle is one of the most highly regarded coaches outside the NHL, and it’d make sense for the Blackhawks to pursue him. He has plenty of experience coaching young talent […]

The least of Don Sweeney and Cam Neely’s worries is how many starts Joonas Korpisalo received for the Boston Bruins this season. This season, the Bruins took a downward spiral, finishing 15th in the Eastern Conference after becoming sellers at the trade deadline. It was the worst season for the Bruins in nearly three decades, […]

The Battle of Ontario hasn’t completely lived up to the hype as the Toronto Maple Leafs took a 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. However, the tensions could start to rise as the league is reportedly investigating a warm-up incident between Nick Cousins and Anthony Stolarz. Here’s what NHL is looking […]

Who would’ve guessed that the Vegas Golden Knights would be down in their series against the Minnesota Wild after three games? It looked like a dreadful matchup for Minnesota, but they are starting to look like the team that took the hockey world by storm in the season’s first couple of months. The Wild are […]

The Ottawa Senators returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 when they qualified for a first-round matchup against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. It didn’t go as planned over their first two games, as the Maple Leafs took a 2-0 series lead. However, Claude Giroux used the Senators’ momentum from their first […]

It wouldn’t have been surprising if Auston Matthews or William Nylander had scored the overtime winner for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 3 against the Ottawa Senators. Still, another unlikely hero scored the Maple Leafs’ deciding goal. The Maple Leafs relinquished a 2-1 lead in the third period to go to overtime for the […]

The Florida Panthers are in firm control of their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning after winning Game 2. It put them ahead 2-0 in the series after their blowout win in Game 1 over the Lightning, but they now must worry about the status of their captain, Aleksander Barkov. Brandon Hagel was given […]

The Montreal Canadiens hold a special place in the hearts of the city’s residents, as hockey is the only sport in town. The Canadiens were always the hottest ticket in the city, but they’ve also been the only show since the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington. It doesn’t mean Montreal only produces hockey players, as […]

John Tortorella saw the writing on the wall for his tenure with the Philadelphia Flyers. The team had underachieved with him at the helm, which unfortunately, cost his assistants their jobs as well. The Flyers announced today that the club will not retain the services of Assistant Coaches Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams and the […]

There were some nervous moments at Scotiabank Arena when the Ottawa Senators rallied to tie Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It has been a different feeling leading up to the playoffs, and in past years, the Maple Leafs would’ve found a way to lose this game. However, Max Domi capitalized on poor execution […]

The St. Louis Blues controlled Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets until they rallied for a third-period comeback. The Blues owned a 3-2 lead with over ten minutes remaining in the first period when Alex Iafallo scored the tying goal. Overtime was on the horizon until Kyle Connor scored the go-ahead goal with a little […]

The Winnipeg Jets could’ve easily panicked when they found themselves behind early against the St. Louis Blues. The Blues stayed ahead until the nine-minute mark in the third period, when Alex Iafallo evened the game at three. It looked like the game was destined for overtime until Kyle Connor put the Jets ahead for good […]

Kyle Connor hopes to be part of the solution for a Winnipeg Jets team that many label as chokers. It has been a couple of successful regular seasons for the Jets since relocating from Atlanta, but they can’t seem to get over the hump in the playoffs. This year, the Jets got a good start […]

Gabriel Landeskog’s injury journey with the Colorado Avalanche since the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals is hard to believe. The captain was on top of the world when he lifted the trophy above his head at the end of that series, but he hasn’t been able to suit up since that fateful Game 6. Many believed […]

It was a special season for the Calgary Flames, and the Rasmus Andersson injury update from their year-end wrap-up shows how important it was for the players. Andersson was one of the team’s key players this season, and he revealed in the press conference that he left everything on the line. Andersson told the media […]

The Dallas Stars have been missing a key piece on their blueline since Miro Heiskanen suffered an injury. Heiskanen has been out of the lineup since January 28 when he went down against the Vegas Golden Knights. The knee surgery robbed him of the chance to represent Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off and left […]

The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings are in a constant battle in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The wild card playoff format doesn’t offer much variability in playoff matchups, but having to play the same team in the first round in four consecutive years is a whole new level. It doesn’t matter if it’s the […]

The Dallas Stars have enough to worry about, considering they will start their playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche without Miro Heiskanen. However, The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus reported that Jason Robertson will also be out week-to-week during the playoffs. A week-to-week designation puts him out for at least the first four games, but the injury […]

A hockey fan’s dream came true when the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche locked themselves into a Stanley Cup Playoffs matchup. The Stars threatened to pass the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division, but eventually fell off as the season closed. It’s not that the Avalanche and Jets wouldn’t have made a great series, but […]

The Montreal Canadiens said all the right things before the season started, but it’s worth wondering if they believed they’d claim a playoff spot. It’s hard to go from the league’s basement to the playoffs in one season, but Montreal found a way. There is usually a season in the middle of that path where […]

Brady Tkachuk’s health for the Stanley Cup Playoffs was a concern after being out of the Ottawa Senators’ lineup since March 30. An upper-body injury caused the Sens’ captain to miss the last ten games, but they didn’t miss a beat with their fearless leader out of the lineup. Ottawa held on to the first […]

The New York Rangers knew they needed to get over the hump after a couple of disappointing playoff exits. Peter Laviolette had led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final last season, and the core of this team had been there in two of the past three years. However, they were never able to win […]