Nate Duffett Articles - Page 3

Why did the Edmonton Oilers fall a game short in last year’s Stanley Cup Final? The main reason was that Connor McDavid put the team on his back, but no one else followed suit. Leon Draisaitl was quiet for most of the last three rounds, which highlighted the Oilers’ lack of depth. In this year’s […]

Blocked shots don’t go on the gamesheet, but Washington Capitals star Tom Wilson would still like to see the scorers pay more attention when putting his body on the line for his team. After the Capitals’ Game 2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, reporters informed Wilson that the scorers credited him with two blocked shots. […]

The Anaheim Ducks turned some heads with the hiring of Joel Quenneville, and it wasn’t for the right reasons after his role in the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks scandal. Quenneville was the head coach for the Blackhawks during the team’s glory years in the early 2010s, but allegations from Kyle Beach in 2021 showed that those […]

All the talk surrounding Game 1 of the series between the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs has been about Sam Bennett and Anthony Stolarz. It should be about the Maple Leafs’ domination through the first two periods or the Panthers’ flipping the switch and nearly mounting a comeback. However, everyone wants to discuss whether […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs feared the worst when Anthony Stolarz left Game 1 against the Florida Panthers with an injury. There was speculation that the concussion spotter took out Stolarz, but we soon learned the real reason. He went to the bench at the television timeout and began vomiting from a possible head injury, which […]

The Carolina Hurricanes lost Frederik Andersen midway through Game 4, which left Pyotr Kochetkov to hold down the fort for the final two games of their series against the New Jersey Devils. Kochetkov did a fine job, stopping 14 of 15 shots in Game 4 and then 31 of 35 in Game 5 for back-to-back […]

Sam Bennett escaped supplemental discipline for his hit on Anthony Stolarz, but could not keep avoiding the media. After last night’s game, the Florida Panthers declined to make Bennett available for comment, but he finally faced the music on Tuesday morning. It makes sense, as the Panthers likely wanted to avoid him saying anything to […]

The Toronto Maple Leafs received bad news on the injury front when Anthony Stolarz had to exit the arena on a stretcher after a Game 1 hit from Sam Bennett. Stolarz exited the game after feeling discomfort during a television timeout, and Joseph Woll replaced him. He was sent to the hospital for further evaluation, […]

No one wants to see anyone get hurt, especially when it’s a former teammate with whom you shared a championship. Aleksander Barkov was in a difficult situation on Monday night, as he had to toe the line of defending his teammate and expressing sympathy for an injured opponent. Barkov was teammates with Sam Bennett and […]

After a controversial collision with Anthony Stolarz, Sam Bennett was under fire again on Monday night. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of their second-round series, but the Stolarz injury overshadowed the victory. He exited the game shortly after the collision, as television cameras caught him throwing up during a […]

After scoring the Florida Panthers’ first goal of the series, Seth Jones was having a good night. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs responded with two goals, taking a 4-1 lead, and then Matthew Knies humbled him with a crushing body check. Knies has been making a name for himself in these playoffs and has been […]

Everything was going right for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals against the Florida Panthers. They led 4-1 on a three-point night for William Nylander, Sergei Bobrovsky was looking beatable, and the Panthers looked like a different team from their first-round series victory. However, midway through the second period, […]

The Ottawa Senators are fresh off their first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the Senators didn’t waste any time starting their offseason, signing Nikolas Matinpalo to a two-year contract extension on Monday afternoon. The 26-year-old Finnish defenseman played pro in Liiga in his home country for five years before […]

The St. Louis Blues’ first-round playoff loss to the Winnipeg Jets will be one they dwell on for a long time. They made the Jets uncomfortable all series long, notably Connor Hellebuyck, and had them on the ropes. St. Louis took an early 2-0 lead in Game 7 and maintained a two-goal lead heading into […]

Mikko Rantanen was the premier storyline entering the first-round playoff series between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars. It could’ve easily failed to meet expectations, but it delivered, and then some. The first-round series between these two teams couldn’t have had a better ending if it were written in a Hollywood screenplay, as Rantanen recorded […]

The 2024-25 season will become one of the most emotional years of Mikko Rantanen’s career and possibly life. Rantanen spent 10 years with the Colorado Avalanche, but Chris MacFarland pulled the rug out from underneath him earlier this season when they traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes. However, everything changed when the Hurricanes flipped Rantanen […]

Peter DeBoer is one of the top coaches in the league, and despite still chasing an elusive Stanley Cup, he has plenty of postseason success. It takes a good coach to will his team to win a Game 7, but it takes a legendary one to win nine in a row. The Stanley Cup hasn’t […]

Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland may never live down the decision to trade Mikko Rantanen after this Game 7 hat trick against the Dallas Stars. He wasn’t the man who sent Rantanen to the Stars, but choosing to get rid of him instead of riding out the rest of the season will be one […]

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but the Los Angeles Kings dropped their first-round series to the Edmonton Oilers. Well, you have heard it before, as this marks the fourth consecutive year where the Kings go golfing at the hands of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Oilers. It looked like the Kings had […]

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 […]