NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 12, 2025
A milestone game for Bruins winger David Pastrnak, Nathan MacKinnon extends his points streak as the Avalanche widen their lead in the overall standings, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF TUESDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak scored his 400th and 401st career NHL regular-season goals as his club picked up its seventh straight win by holding off the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3. Pastrnak finished the night with three points while teammate Hampus Lindholm had a goal and an assist for the 11-7-0 Bruins. Steven Lorentz, Bobby McMann, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson replied for the Maple Leafs (8-8-1), who’ve dropped three straight games.
Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was only two weeks ago that the Bruins were sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. They’re now tied with the Atlantic Division-leading Montreal Canadiens.
It was a tough night for the Maple Leafs, as team captain Auston Matthews left the game with a lower-body injury, and goaltender Anthony Stolarz didn’t return after the first period as he suffered an upper-body injury.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon collected three assists to extend his points streak to 10 games in a 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Gabriel Landeskog scored his first regular-season goal since 2022, and Scott Wedgewood stopped 35 shots for the Avalanche (11-1-5), who won their fourth straight game and widened their lead atop the overall standings with 27 points. Leo Carlsson scored to extend his points streak to 11 games for the Ducks (11-4-1), whose seven- game win streak ended. They lead the Pacific Division with 23 points and sit four back of the Avalanche in the overall standings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: MacKinnon leads the NHL scoring race with 32 points, six ahead of the second-place Carlsson. Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin left this game in the third period with a lower-body injury. He will be reevaluated on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, the Avalanche signed forward Gavin Brindley to a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of $875,000.
The San Jose Sharks overcame a 1-0 deficit to nip the Minnesota Wild 2-1. Macklin Celebrini set up the tying goal by Will Smith and the winning goal in overtime by Collin Graf. The Sharks picked up their fourth straight win and improved to 8-6-3. Matt Boldy scored for the 7-7-4 Wild.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Celebrini is tied with Leo Carlsson for second place in the scoring race with 26 points. Sharks winger William Eklund returned to action after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury.
St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 38 saves as his club held off the Calgary Flames 3-2. Dylan Holloway, Matthew Kessel, and Nathan Walker scored for the Blues (6-8-3). Matt Coronato and Rasmus Andersson replied for the Flames, who dropped to a league-worst 4-12-3.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Binnington set the franchise record for most games played by a Blues goaltender (348). He passed Mike Liut, who is now Binnington’s agent. Blues winger Mathieu Joseph missed this game with a lower-body injury.
An overtime goal by Roope Hintz completed a three-goal comeback by the Dallas Stars in a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists and Mikko Rantanen a goal and an assist as the Stars won their third straight game and improved to 10-4-3. Drake Batherson and Nick Jensen tallied for the Senators (8-5-4), who extended their points streak to six games (3-0-3).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot left this contest following the first period with an upper-body injury.
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey had a goal and two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3. Nino Niederreiter and Alex Iafallo each had a goal and an assist as the Jets moved to 10-6-0, snapping a three-game losing streak. Quinn Hughes collected three assists for the Canucks, who dropped to 8-9-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury that he may have suffered during the pre-game warmup. Hughes left the game briefly after getting tangled up with Jets center Mark Scheifele, but he returned to action and said he was okay after the game.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. John Carlson picked up two assists, and Logan Thompson turned aside 30 shots for the Capitals, who improved to 8-7-1. Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Hurricanes (11-5-0).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Hurricanes announced that defenseman Charles Alexis Legault underwent surgery to repair multiple torn tendons in his right hand on Monday. He is expected to be sidelined for three to four months.
Three goals in a span of 4:05 early in the second period lifted the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Quinton Byfield and Joel Edmundson had a goal and an assist for the 8-5-4 Kings. Josh Anderson replied for the Canadiens (10-4-2), whose six-game points streak ended.
The Columbus Blue Jackets ended a four-game losing skid by defeating the Seattle Kraken 2-1. Charlie Coyle scored the winning goal in a shootout, and goaltender Jet Greaves stopped 22 shots for the 8-7-1 Blue Jackets. Ryan Winterton scored for the Kraken (7-4-5).
IN OTHER NEWS…
THE ATHLETIC: The NHL remains concerned over the state of construction for the hockey arena for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. They are sending two officials to conduct an in-person inspection of the arena. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the league is receiving weekly updates, but wants a firsthand look at the progress.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Most of the participants in the 2026 Men’s Olympic Hockey tournament are from the NHL. Sub-standard conditions could put the players’ safety at risk.
RG.ORG: Speaking of the Olympics, Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby is looking forward to another opportunity to represent Canada in the Winter Olympics. He’s embracing the role of team leader while drawing inspiration from the enthusiasm of a new generation of Canadian stars chasing Olympic gold.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Crosby famously won gold for Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and captained the 2014 team to gold in the Sochi Games.
DAILY FACEOFF: Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman is day-to-day and blueliner Ryan McDonagh is expected to miss several games with undisclosed injuries.
CHICAGO HOCKEY NOW: Blackhawks forwards Frank Nazar and Jason Dickinson are unlikely to play against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Everyone realizes that current standings are certainly not what things will look like come first week in April.
BUT , we’re about 1/5th of the season in; Thanksgiving is two weeks tomorrow and the current standings have:
1. The two teams from SC ‘25 on the outside looking in from a distance.
2. Sharks, Ducks, Black Hawks, Pens , Flyers, all IN the playoffs
3. Teams like Knights and Leafs OUT
4. Ducks sitting 2nd in the entire league; Penguins 8th in the League
5. The SC Champs 13th in the East, 25th in the League
6. Leafs just one spot out of Eastern Conference basement; and sitting 27th in the league
Did anybody , ANYWHERE, on October 7th (season start, and only 36 days ago) envision ANYTHING like this?
I certainly didn’t.
Things will change for sure; but this is eye opening. Some GMs will already be ordering Tums and Pepto-Bismol by the truckload.
The NHL is crazy this year.I agree with 8787. Use Boston as an example.They started off the year 3-0, then they went 1-7 and as of late they were 7-0 there last 7 games. Going from last place to tied for first in 2 weeks. Coaches and GM s will be headed to the psychiatrist office if this continues.
Ya Sr, the B’s have played way better of late. I still don’t think it’s sustainable as their shooting % is really high compared to years past and it’s not like they have a bunch of snipers after Pasta and Geekie. I just didn’t think they could score at this pace, but hope they prove me wrong.
IMO the Sharks and Hawks will fade, but good for them to have a fast start. Oilers and Leafs deserve to be where they are in the standings, but are capable of playing significantly better. I was at the 9-1 sh*tshow game against the Avs, well for the first 50 minutes of it. If that isn’t the kick in the butt to get them going, not sure what could be. They looked brutal.
Leafs better hope Matthews injury isn’t serious…..
Pens deserve to be where they are in the standings. Playing great hockey. Gotta say surprised by that. If these old fellas can stay healthy, they have have a shot. But usually old guys don’t stay healthy, other than Crosby.
Panthers, makes me happy to see them struggling a bit, but even with the injuries they should be good enough to get in. Vegas will be there in he end.
My 2 cents.
I mean they literally been scoring consistently through 18 games lol they have only scored 1 goal once the rest of the games have been 3-6 goals. Zone defense was the only issue. 5-1 goal loses and we’re in every game but 1 Col and 1 Ott. They came back and beat both the next games.and it’s from up and down the lineup. The offense isn’t going anywhere.
I hope your right Paul. Maybe it’s just a case of guys getting an opportunity in Boston and are producing to their potential. Geekie has kept it up playing with Pasta and that was the case with him. His career high in goals was 9 before he came to Boston. But he was only playing 10 minutes a night in Seattle.
I’ll reserve the right to be skeptical until Christmas, and if they’re still in the top 3 in the Atlantic, I let myself believe it.
But you’re right about the zone defense, it hasn’t been great for stretches. And that is an area I thought would be a strength looking at their lineup. New coach to get used to, maybe that is a reason for some lapses.
With most of your thoughts Sr and Ray
Panthers and Oilers: I see them righting the ship; and getting in. After playoffs starts???
I don’t see Ducks maintaining. Sharks, with their young offense being hot; I don’t count them out.
Bruins: I didn’t see them (pre season start) as bad as others had them; but certainly didn’t see them this good at 1/5th of season in. I think they make playoffs.
Avs/Jets/Stars (order TBD) ; IN for sure. IMVHO
Leafs: I did feel they’d falter a bit to adjust. Did not fathom this poor a start. Should get in; definitely need to right the ship though.
Pens: shock and awe for me. Pleased? You betcha. Sustainable? Mmmm; I’d be lying if I gave a definite yes to that answer. They have significant injuries; so outcomes in next 2 weeks can be anything. A week this Thursday (1 week before Thanksgiving) they will have played 19 games (almost 1/4 of the season) ; BUT only 7 actually played here! Lowest number of games in front of home fans in the entire league.
Coming up: Two games (in Sweden) vs the defeat-able Predz; then home (back2back vs Wild then Kraken; 3 days off ; then home to Sabres.). 10 points (of 10) is attainable. To me if they do get 10 points (with these injuries) then they ARE a playoff team; period, Zero points ; also a chance; whole new ball game. With that; I don’t see playoffs. Most likely somewhere inbetween; 6 (of 10) has them still in playoffs (at that time) and done so with significant injuries.
Not holding my breath. Just pleasantly surprised.
Will revisit my Pens prognostications after the Sabres game.
I am steadfast that Kevin Hayes (literally the slowest skater n the league) needs to sit (or go down) so that youth can play.
Speaking of points streaks, the Blue Jackets own Kirill “The Thrill” Marchenko has a nine game point streak. A superstar in the making but only Jackets fans know because the hockey community ignores Columbus.
PB I Don t ignore your Blue Jackets. Saw old Boston hand Charlie Coyle scored in a shootout for your win last night. For my money Werenski is as good as any D man in the league now.