Friday Fire

Happy Friday! We made it.

It's been a busy week, and we had an NBA and NHL-filled Thursday night. We will rapid-fire through some scores, stats, and stories and round out the day with a little football chatter.

Let’s catch up on some sports, and then I give you all permission to leave the office and go find a hot tub.

NHL On Thursday Night

🏒 The Vancouver Canucks become the first team to hit 30 wins this season. No Canucks team has ever gotten to 30 wins faster. It shocks me that we’re already halfway through the NHL season. The Winnipeg Jets and The Colorado Avalanche are just behind the Canucks in wins, as both organizations have 29 wins.

🍁 Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews had a hat trick in a 4-3 comeback win against the Calgary Flames. This was Matthews's fourth hat trick of the season, and he’ll tie the salary cap era record if he gets another one before the end of the season.

👎️ The New York Rangers got their faces smashed in the first game of a 4-game West Coast stretch. The Vegas Golden Knights poured in 5 goals to the Rangers 1, even though the Rangers had serious offensive pressure on the Golden Knights for a large portion of the game. This was Vegas’ 293rd and the franchise’s 500th regular season game in the NHL. That’s a pretty cool mark for the young franchise.

👉️ David Pastrnak kickstarted the Boston Bruins offense last night and then sealed the deal in a Boston 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Pastrnak recorded a hat trick as he scored in the game's opening shift and delivered two more cushion goals in the third period.

👀 In a fitting matchup between Colorado and Boston, Colorado’s Cale Makar collected one assist but fell a point short of tying Hall of Famer Bobby Orr as the fastest defenseman to collect 300 NHL career points. Orr did it in his 279th career game on Dec. 13, 1970. Makar played his 279th game last night and now has 299 career points. If you’re unaware, Orr played most of his career with the Boston Bruins.

➕ Add another hat trick to last night. 37 year old TJ Oshie grabbed his 6th career hat trick as he helped the Washington Capitals beat his former team, the St. Louis Blues 5-2. We love a hat trick, and we love a stretch story. Oshie was traded from the Blues to the Caps in 2015, but you get the point. 😉 

📈 I guess the Edmonton Oilers really did need a coaching change early in the season, as it seems to be paying off. The Oilers have extended their franchise-record winning streak to 12 games after beating the Seattle Kraken 4-2. It was a good night for Leon Draisaitl as he scored 1 goal and had 3 assists.

⚔️ The Buffalo Sabres shut out the Chicago Blackhawks last night, and it was Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s 2nd straight shutout. Luukkonen shut out the San Jose Sharks with 28 saves on Monday and then last night shut out Chicago with 19 saves. Buffalo has won 3 of their last 4.

NBA Headlines

👀 Jalen Brunson balled out for the NY Knicks last night in a close win against a bad Washington Wizards team. Brunson scored 41 points, had 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Brunson’s shiftiness helped him lead most of the Knicks’ 4th quarter scoring and keep the Wizards just out of reach, even though this game was closer than needed.

👉️ Bennedict Mathurin scored 25 points, and the short-handed Indiana Pacers held off the Sacramento Kings 126-121 on Thursday night. Indiana was without newly acquired forward Pascal Siakam, who had yet to join the team following a trade from Toronto, while fellow All-Star Tyrese Haliburton missed his fifth straight game because of a strained left hamstring.

🤣 Did you guys see that Deandre Ayton missed his game for the Portland Trailblazers the other night? Portland had icy conditions the other day, and Ayton couldn’t get from his home to the arena and basically had a snow day from work. Unfortunately, NBA players can’t work from home. It sounds wild that an NBA player didn’t make it to the arena due to ice, but it makes more sense when you realize Ayton is from the Bahamas and spent most of his adult life in Arizona, where he went to college and was drafted. At least the Blazers beat the Nets!

Football Coaching Carousel + What’s Another Year

The coaching carousel continues to move in circles, and it’s a circle that keeps the NFL and College Football intertwined. Let’s run through a few quick pointers to keep you updated.

👉️ You already heard yesterday that the Cowboys are keeping Mike McCarthy around for another year.

👉️ Eagles players show their love and support for Nick Sirriani, saying he’s nothing but “a winner.” We’ll likely know what the Eagles are doing by today or tomorrow.

👉️ Bill Belichick has reportedly interviewed twice with the Atlanta Falcons, and at this point, it seems like a likely place for him to land if he finds that he and the front office can get along.

👉️ Another coach who is hot on the market and has interviewed with the Falcons is Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh has also interviewed with the Chargers, where many people believe it’s a done deal for him to leave Michigan and head to LA, where he can join up with QB Justin Herbert.

👉️ People might think Harbaugh to the LA Chargers is a done deal but Mike Vrabel has also interviewed. Both coaches would be great as Vrabel could get this Chargers defense to be more physical this year, but Harbaugh would likely implement a ground-and-pound offensive style.

👉️ Kliff Kingsbury, former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, who spent last year as an offensive analyst for USC, is reportedly getting ready to interview for the Chicago Bears OC position. This could be a sign that the Bears are ready to draft Caleb Williams and keep some offensive continuity between USC and his soon-to-be NFL team.

👉️ Bill O’Brien, OC of the Patriots this year has been a coach who has floated between the NFL and College for many years is expected to be hired as Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator. O’Brien has made coaching stops at Penn State, Alabama, the Houston Texans, and the Patriots.

What’s One More Year?

😮 I’m not sure if I’m jealous or disappointed that this dude hasn’t move on but either way, Miami Hurricanes tight end Cam McCormick is coming back for his 9th year of college football. McCormick, who is 25, becomes the first player ever to get a 9th year of eligibility from the NCAA. McCormick spent the first seven seasons of his career at Oregon before transferring to Miami ahead of the 2023 season. After redshirting in 2016 and playing in all of Oregon’s games in 2017, McCormick sustained a season-ending left ankle injury in the first game of the 2018 season. The injury needed multiple surgeries and caused him to miss the 2019 and the pandemic-impacted 2020 seasons. McCormick then had a season-ending injury in 2021, just two games in the season. He played all of 2022 at Oregon.

✔️ Check this out. McCormick was in the same recruiting class as Justin Herbert, and Herbert has been in the NFL since 2020. At least McCormick is getting his degrees. He received his undergrad and graduate degrees from Oregon.

What’s On TV Tonight? 

NBA

🏀Denver Nuggets @ Boston Celtics, 7:30 pm ET on ESPN

🏀Brooklyn Nets @ LA Lakers, 10:30 pm ET on ESPN

College Basketball

🏀 Indiana @ #11 Wisconsin, 8:30 pm ET on FS1

Golf

⛳️ AMEX Open Round 2, 4 pm ET on The Golf Channel

We’ll be back with you tomorrow to talk about the NFL playoffs.

Enjoy those happy hours!

Cheers,

-The Daily Breakroom