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NHL Trade Talk Morning Roundup: Capitals, Oilers, Canadiens, Canucks

In our NHL Trade Talk Morning Roundup (Jan 22), Oilers lose Capitals without McDavid, Canadiens win again, Canucks blow lead to lose

by
Old Prof
January 22, 2025

Welcome to today’s NHL Trade Talk Morning Roundup (January 22). Each morning, we will bring you three key NHL stories. Here, you can stay updated on the latest team wins and losses, trade talk, and player news from around the NHL. In today’s roundup, we share another reason why the Washington Capitals are the best team in the NHL this season.

We also look at two different sides of the coin. The season continues to be sunny for the Montreal Canadiens – they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning at home. For the Vancouver Canucks, it’s another rainy winter day in British Columbia – they couldn’t hold the lead and lost on home ice to the Buffalo Sabres, the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

Capitals Extend Win Streak to Five with 3-2 Victory Over Oilers

The Washington Capitals are the NHL’s best team this season, leading the league with 69 points. Last night, they beat the Edmonton Oilers (without their captain, Connor McDavid) by a score of 3-2. The Oilers played well, but Pierre-Luc Dubois scored a goal and added an assist to help his team skate to the win. The rugged Tom Wilson scored his 20th goal for Washington to tie the game.

Despite McDavid’s absence in the lineup, the prolific Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak for the Oilers. He has 71 points on the season (with 34 goals and 37 assists). Draisaitl has now hit the 70-point mark in 47 games or fewer for the third time in his career. The only Oilers players to reach the mark as many times in a single season are Wayne Gretzky (nine times, McDavid (five times), and Jari Kurri (four times).

Canadiens Win Again: Rally to Beat Lightning 3-2

Jake Evans scored a late goal to help his Montreal Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in a rousing comeback. Goalie Sam Montembeault made 33 saves for his Habs team, including 15 third-period saves. Rookie Canadiens blue liner Lane Hutson extended his assist streak to nine games, which tied an NHL record for the longest assist streak by a rookie defenseman.

How good has Hutson been for the Canadiens? He is tied with four ex-Canadiens players for the second-longest point streak by a Montreal rookie. Going more than a century into the past, forward Joe Malone had a 14-game point streak for the Canadiens during the NHL’s first-ever season in 1917-18.

Lane Hutson Canadiens NHL — Lane Hutson of the Canadiens is trying to set an NHL assist record.

Sabres Comeback Beats the Canucks 3-2 in Vancouver

Jiri Kulich was in on all the Buffalo Sabres’ scoring, with a goal and two assists in his team’s comeback 3-2 win. JJ Peterka broke a 13-game scoreless streak by scoring the game-winner. Finally, Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 32 saves in his team’s win.

From the Canucks point of view, Elias Pettersson ended his six-game goal drought. Thatcher Demko made 23 saves but struggled in the third period. And, once again, the Canucks simply couldn’t close out the game and were unable to hold a second-period lead.