NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 19, 2025
Recaps of Thursday’s action and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Connor McDavid scored a shorthanded goal and picked up an assist in a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had a goal and an assist for the 17-12-6 Oilers, who have won six of their last eight games. Pavel Zacha replied for the Bruins (20-15-0), who dropped two of their last three contests.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid has caught up with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for first place in the scoring race, with each player having 58 points. Calvin Pickard replaced Oilers starting goalie Tristan Jarry as the latter left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury. There was no postgame update on his status.
The Minnesota Wild extended their win streak to six games by downing the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2. Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov each had a goal and two assists, and Jesper Wallstedt made 27 saves as the Wild improved to 21-9-5. Zach Werenski scored both goals for the Blue Jackets (14-14-6), who have lost six of their last seven games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Boldy join Kaprizov with his 20th goal of the season, making the Wild the only team thus far this season to have two 20-goal scorers.
Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson stopped 22 shots to shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0. Jakob Chychrun tallied twice, and John Carlsson had a goal and two assists for the Capitals (19-11-4) as they snapped a three-game losing skid. Dennis Hildeby made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs, who slipped to 15-13-5.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube pulled no punches about his team’s performance following this game, laying the blame for the loss at the feet of his players. He pointed out that the Capitals played with more passion and urgency. When asked why his players were so flat in this game, Berube replied, “Ask those guys, not me.”
Speaking of 4-0 wins, Ottawa Senators netminder Linus Ullmark made 24 saves to earn his shutout over the Pittsburgh Penguins, handing the latter their seventh straight loss (0-3-4). Brady Tkachuk netted two goals, and Drake Batherson collected two assists for the 16-13-4 Senators, who have won three of their last four games. Arturs Silovs stopped 22 shots for the Penguins as their record dropped to 14-10-9.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Senators announced that former head coach Jacques Martin will be inducted into their Ring of Honour in a pregame ceremony on Jan. 24, 2026. Martin coached the Senators from 1996 to 2004, following a brief return behind the bench in 2023-24. In 748 games with the Senators, his record was 367-261-96-24.
Los Angeles Kings winger Adrian Kempe scored two goals, and Anton Forsberg kicked out 31 shots for a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. With the win, the Kings (15-10-9) ended a four-game winless streak (0-2-2). Oliver Bjorkstrand replied for the Lightning (18-13-3), who are winless in their last three games (0-1-2).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and defenseman Ryan McDonagh returned to action after missing time with injuries.
An overtime goal by J.T. Miller lifted the New York Rangers over the St. Louis Blues by a score of 2-1. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves, and Gabe Perreault also scored for the Rangers, who improved to 17-15-4. Jonatan Berggren tallied for the Blues (13-15-8).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rangers winger Artemi Panarin missed this game with an illness.
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson scored to extend his goal streak to five games in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Zach Benson and Mattias Samuelsson each had two assists for the Sabres, who won their fourth straight game and improved to 15-14-4. Bobby Brink had two points for the Flyers (17-10-6).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff picked up his 915th win to move into fourth place on the all-time list. Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring returned to action after missing a month with an injury. However, the Sabres lost defenseman Conor Timmins to a broken leg that will sideline him for six to eight weeks, while forward Tyson Kozak departed with an upper-body injury.
The Calgary Flames got two goals from Mikael Backlund to double up the Seattle Kraken 4-2. Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist for the 14-17-4 Flames. Joey Daccord made 42 saves for the Kraken (12-14-6), who have lost four straight games and have one win in their last 11 contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Flames announced defenseman Jake Bean will be sidelined indefinitely as he will undergo surgery for an undisclosed injury.
Montreal Canadiens winger Zachary Bolduc tallied twice in a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Lane Hutson had three assists for the 18-12-4 Canadiens. Frank Nazar scored, and Spencer Knight had 31 saves for the Blackhawks (13-15-6), who have lost four straight.
Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston had two goals as his club held off the San Jose Sharks by a score of 5-3. Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Jake Oettinger stopped 34 shots for the Stars (23-7-5). Chad Graf scored twice for the 17-15-3 Sharks.
Looks like the Hughes trade in Minnesota is flourishing. When Mcdavid decides to take over a game he is virtually unstoppable. Made Mcavoy look like a pylon on his short handed goal in Boston last night.
As we approach the Christmas break, the Eastern Conference has never been as close as it is at this stage since becoming a 16-team grouping, with just 5 points separating 16th-place Columbus from 8th-place Tampa, and 7 pts between Tampa and 1st place Carolina. On any given night, a win or a loss can result in a gain or drop of 3 or 4 positions.
In goals scored, there are just 3 teams with less than 100 – NJ and Philadelphia with 99 each and the NYR with 91. In goals against, there are 6 teams with fewer than 100, and in goals differential there is just 1 team with minus double-digits – Columbus with -18.
In contrast, in the Western Conference 8 points separate 16th-place Vancouver and 8th place San Jose, and 18 points between San Jose and 1st place Colorado, with 8 points separating 16th-place Vancouver and 8th-place San Jose. In goals scored there are 9 teams with less than 100, while in goals against there are 5 teams with fewer than 100, and in goals differential there are 7 teams with minus double-digits – St. Louis -37, Seattle -23, Nashville -22, Vancouver -20, Calgary -14, San Jose -13 and Chicago -11.
In East vs West games played to date, the East holds an overall record of 130-88-23 686gf 666ga. With the Habs sporting the best record at 12-5-0 56gf 54ga.
“Johnny Bergers” made good in his Blues debut scoring a goal in 17+ minutes of ice time. He even played in the OT! Detroit gave him under 15 minutes TOI and healthy scratched him a bunch. Good for him!
words spoken by Berube are the usual ones for one who knows his job is hanging by a thread. Armstrong and him have a history going back to STL but you can’t replace an entire team, so usually the coach is sacrified to turn around a team.
Pete Deboer is still out there, just saying…