NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 12, 2026
More scoring milestones for Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Predators forward Steven Stamkos, Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl has a career-best performance against his former team, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF SUNDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi had a goal and two assists as his club nipped the Washington Capitals 3-2. Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist as the Predators improved to 21-20-4. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin tallied his 20th goal of the season as his club dropped to 23-17-6.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ovechkin has reached the 20-goal plateau in each of his 21 NHL seasons, sitting second all-time for the most in league history. Gordie Howe holds the record with 22 seasons. Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun missed this game with an illness, while teammate Justin Sourdif left early in the second period with an upper-body injury.
Meanwhile, Stamkos netted his 601st career regular-season NHL goal, tying Jari Kurri for 21st overall among the all-time goal-scoring leaders. He also tallied his 233rd career regular-season power-play goal, moving into 10th all-time in that category.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl (NHL Images).
Former San Jose Sharks forward Tomas Hertl had a career-best five points (two goals, three assists) for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 7-2 victory. Jack Eichel scored twice while Mark Stone and Pavel Dorofeyev each collected three points for the 21-11-12 Golden Knights, who’ve won four straight and hold first place in the Pacific Division with 54 points. Collin Graf and Alexander Wennberg replied for the Sharks (23-19-3) as their three-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sharks center Macklin Celebrini’s 13-game points streak came to a close. Teammate John Klingberg returned to action after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury.
The Winnipeg Jets picked up their second straight win by defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-3. Tanner Pearson snapped a 3-3 tie in the third period while Cole Perfetti and Josh Morrissey each had two assists for the 17-22-5 Jets. Cody Glass had two goals for the Devils (22-21-2) as they lost their fourth straight game.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets defenseman Colin Miller missed this game with a lower-body injury. Devils forward Stefan Noesen will miss significant time as he will undergo surgery this week to address a nagging knee issue. The Devils also announced that forward Zack MacEwen underwent season-ending ACL surgery.
Boston Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 27 saves to shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0. Viktor Arvidsson tallied the only goal as the Bruins (25-19-2) are 5-0-1 in their last six games. Stuart Skinner stopped 17 shots for the 21-14-9 Penguins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Bruins announced the signing of defenseman Jonathan Aspirot to a two-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $887,500.
An overtime goal by Dmitri Voronkov lifted the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 win over the Utah Mammoth. Jet Greaves stopped 25 shots, and Kirill Marchenko had two assists for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a four-game losing skid and improved to 19-19-7. Clayton Keller had two assists for the Mammoth (22-20-4) as their three-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Mammoth announced that forward Alex Kerfoot is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
IN OTHER NEWS…
THE PROVINCE: The Vancouver Canucks placed goaltender Thatcher Demko (lower body) on injured reserve. Earlier this season, the 30-year-old Demko missed 11 games with a groin injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Demko’s injury history no longer makes him a reliable starter for the Canucks, which has been a contributing factor to the club’s decline over the past two seasons. Last summer, they signed him to a three-year contract extension with an AAV of $8.5 million.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers winger Travis Konecny left practice on Sunday after taking a puck off his knee. He’s questionable for Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
What is it that teams Don t like about Debrusk! Wore out his welcome in Boston and now it seems Vancouver. 20 goal players are tough to come by! Is there more of an unsung hero in the NHL than Roman Josi. Been stuck down south in Nashville his entire career.Todays NHL,Boston scores 10 goals one night and struggles to get 1 the next night. Injuries keep mounting!
Debrusk is pretty much invisible most night for the Canucks. Sure he has 12 goals but 11 of them are on the powerplay and he goes long stretches without scoring. For $5.5m/yr you want something more than just pp goals.
The dilemma facing the Senators current funk manifested again on a night they didn’t even play! The results of last night’s games has dropped them to the 8th pick range in this year’s draft with 45 points and well within the lottery – tied with Chicago, Anaheim and Columbus and 3 up on each of Calgary and St. Louis. Of those teams, 3 (Chicago 6-3-1), Columbus (5-4-1) and St. Louis (4-6-0) are playing at a current better pace over their past 10 each than Ottawa’s 3-6-1.
The Senators are joined in their misery by a clutch of teams whose goal is fast becoming a shot at Gavin McKenna … which, of course, is out of Ottawa’s reach since they don’t have a pick … each embracing as their new theme song Paul Simon’s Slip Slidin’ Away. Those teams, with the current worst 10-game records, are: Anaheim 1-8-1; New Jersey (2-7-1), Vancouver 2-6-2, Winnipeg 2-5-3, Ottawa 3-6-1, NY Rangers 3-5-2 , St. Louis 4-6-0.
GeorgeO,why are teams waiting to trade?