NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 3, 2025
Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt collects his fourth shutout in six starts, Steven Stamkos, Jamie Benn, and David Perron reach notable career milestones, the three stars and the rookie of the month for November are revealed, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF TUESDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt made 33 saves for his fourth shutout in his last six games to blank the Edmonton Oilers 1-0. Jonas Brodin scored the only goal as the Wild improved to 15-7-5. Stuart Skinner made 23 saves for the Oilers, who slipped to 11-11-5.
Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wallstedt became the second-fastest goaltender in NHL history to record five career shutouts, doing so in 15 games. Frankie Brimsek holds the record with nine games.
Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos scored to reach his 1,200th career NHL regular-season point in a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots, and Michael Bunting had a goal and an assist for the Predators (9-13-4). Morgan Frost replied for the 9-15-4 Flames.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stamkos is the sixth active player to reach the 1,200-point milestone, joining Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, Detroit Red Wings forward Patrik Kane, and Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar.
Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt scored his first NHL goal. He pointed skyward to honor his late brother Orca Wiesblatt, who died in a car accident in September.
An overtime goal by Vladislav Gavrikov lifted the New York Rangers over the Dallas Stars 3-2. Artemi Panarin had two assists for the Rangers (14-12-2), who have three wins in their last four games. Kyle Capobianco and Mikko Rantanen scored for the 17-5-5 Stars as their four-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dallas captain Jamie Benn played his 1,200th career NHL regular-season game. Meanwhile, Stars winger Tyler Seguin left the game early in the first period after injuring his right leg following a collision with Gavrikov. Earlier in the day, the Stars announced defenseman Lian Bichsel will miss multiple weeks with a lower-body injury suffered in Sunday’s win over the Ottawa Senators.
The Ottawa Senators improved to 13-9-4 with a 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Brady Tkachuk and Fabian Zetterlund each had a goal and an assist. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each had two points for the 13-9-3 Canadiens, who have lost two straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators forward David Perron collected an assist in his 1,200th career regular-season NHL game. Tkachuk’s goal was his first of the season after missing 20 games with an injured thumb.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon tallied twice to lead his club over the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 3-1. The league-leading Avalanche (19-1-6, 44 points) extended its point streak to 17 games. Linus Karlsson scored for the 10-14-3 Canucks, who have two wins in their last 11 games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: MacKinnon leads the league with 22 goals and 46 points. Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood left this game in the second period for precautionary reasons with tightness in his back. Meanwhile, teammate Valeri Nichushkin returned to action after missing eight games with a lower-body injury.
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider had a goal and two assists as his club held off the Boston Bruins 5-4, snapping a four-game losing skid. Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist for the 14-11-2 Red Wings. Hampus Lindholm had three assists, and Alex Steeves tallied two goals for the Bruins (15-13-0).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bruins winger David Pastrnak missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury and is expected to be sidelined for the rest of this week. Meanwhile, winger Viktor Arvidsson returned to action after being out since Nov. 15 with a lower-body injury.
The Toronto Maple Leafs got their third win in their last four games by downing the Florida Panthers 4-1. Troy Stecher and Dakota Joshua each had a goal and an assist, and Joseph Woll turned aside 26 shots for the 12-11-3 Maple Leafs. Sam Reinhart got the only goal for the Panthers (12-12-1), who’ve dropped three straight contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs defenseman Brandon Carlo will be sidelined longer than expected with a lower-body injury. He’s been out since Nov. 13 and recently suffered a setback in his recovery.
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin stopped 27 shots to nip the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1, snapping the latter’s seven-game win streak. Bo Horvat and Anthony Duclair scored for the Islanders (14-10-3) as they ended a three-game losing skid. Dominic James scored for the 16-8-2 Lightning, who hold first place in the Atlantic Division with 34 points.
A shootout goal by Shea Theodore gave the Vegas Golden Knights a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Carter Hart made 27 saves in his season debut with the Golden Knights (12-6-8). Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist for the 11-9-6 Blackhawks, who have one win in their last seven games.
The Washington Capitals picked up their fifth straight win by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. Alex Ovechkin collected two assists for the Capitals (16-9-2). Adrian Kempe scored for the 12-7-7 Kings.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, and Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard are the league’s three stars for November 2025. Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt is the Rookie of the Month for November.
NBC SPORTS PHILADELPHIA: Flyers forward Tyson Foerster will be sidelined for two to three months with an upper-body injury.
CBS SPORTS: Columbus Blue Jackets winger Mathieu Olivier (upper body) was placed on injured reserve
DAILY FACEOFF: San Jose Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
TSN: The NHL is sending a memo to its 32 teams reminding them about its rule requiring players to wear helmets during warmups. This comes after the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils violated that rule in recent games. Neither club is expected to be punished beyond a warning.
Believe it or not I think the NHL is smart in requiring players to wear helmets in warmups. Attending a game the other day and players and pucks were flying around all over the place. Wasn t it Taylor Hall who got cut real bad and got several stitches in a pregame mishap.
Sr: Yes, that was Hall during his tenure with the Oilers.
I’ll post a different take.
The no fun police strike again. Yes guys might get a couple stiches with a defection or something once in a blue moon, but pucks hit faces below the visor too. I bet the majority of players would prefer to take the risk, they play professional hockey for a living for Pete’s sake.
Fans attending games never get to the see the players faces or see any personality. The standard NHL interview is as mundane as it gets, and I understand why, but NHL players take to a new level.
Let them put on the Dippity Do and show off the hockey flow. Wink at some of the young ladies, chat with the kids there to see their hero’s. Skate around and have a laugh with their buds all while letting the fans see who they are and what they actually look like.
The Hall cut was a freak accident with a skate coming up, that was 2012, almost a 100 years after the league started. I would be $20 if Hall had the choice he wouldn’t wear a helmet and visor in the warmup now.
I get safety but it can go too far, IMO this is an example of that. You can drill a guy from behind with barely a slap on the wrist and you have to wear a lid and visor in warmup?
Tomorrow night, with the NYR visiting, we’ll see if the Senators become just one more victim of the long-held theory that the first home game after a long road trip (7 games – 4-3 record) is another home-team stinker.
Over the years I know it’s become more or less an expectation (in my mind anyway). But when I searched around for articles on the subject and found this one from W. G. Ramirez in The Hockey News dating back to last January, I was a bit taken aback to discover that, although demonstrably true to some extent due to fatigue and other factors, to that point in time (Jan 25, 2025 -324 games), “Overall, teams are 191-109-24 in the very first game in their barn after being on the road.”
https://thehockeynews.com/betting/futures/analysis-are-nhl-teams-vulnerable-in-first-home-game-after-road-trip-or-do-they-carry-value-on-the-betting-board
So, it’s 59% that that first game at home will be a win – 34% a loss and 7% the home team picks up at least a point. We’ll see where the Senators will fit tomorrow. One note of caution for Ottawa fans – so far this season the Rangers, 5-5-0 in their past 10 are, for some reason, far better on the road (11-4-1) than at home (3-8-1), with a +2 goal differential (75 – 73). Ottawa’s records are closer to each other in that respect – 6-3-2 at home and 7-6-2 away with a goal differential of -2 (84-86). They are 5-4-1 over their past 10.
The Habs didn’t get that memo, George. Timid in front of both their net and the Sens, they were consummate hosts. That and with a goalie whose save percentage is the same as the alcohol content in a Molson Excel made for a dismal night.
I flew across the country for the privilege of watching the Habs’ lay down quicker than a pacifist’s front line .
Heh LJ, that’s certainly a vivid analogy re Montembeault (a goalie whose save percentage is the same as the alcohol content in a Molson Excel – which raises the question, should the Habs join the group of teams seeking improvement in goal or could the answer – as suggested in this article – be in Laval?
https://thehockeywriters.com/canadiens-have-options-to-improve-goaltending/
I will say that it’s nice to see Fabian Zetterlund starting to contribute offense more regularly (5g 4a 9pts) to go along with this rugged physical approach.
And i think it won’t be too long before we see RW Arthur Kaliyev re-called from Belleville where, in 20gp, he has 13g 9a 22 pts. I’ve been watching high-lights of their games on YouTube (overall they’ve been so-so) and have really been impressed not only with his offense, but his consistent aggressive drives to the tough areas in the corners and especially the front of the net.
It looks like he’s finally learned what it will take to keep a job at the NHL level.