NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 12, 2026
Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov tallies a natural hat trick; the Flyers deny a report that Matvei Michkov wants a trade; Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier ties a 105-year-old league record; and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: A natural hat trick by winger Nikita Kucherov powered the Tampa Bay Lightning to an 8-3 drubbing of the Buffalo Sabres. Defenseman John Carlson scored twice and collected three assists, and Jake Guentzel had four assists for the 12-4-2 Lightning. The Sabres (8-7-3) made it interesting by cutting Tampa Bay’s 4-0 lead to 4-3 on goals by Josh Doan, Jason Zucker and Tage Thompson, but Kucherov’s three goals put the game out of reach.
Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kucherov has 11 points in six games since his trade request on Oct. 30. Carlson became the fifth American-born defenseman to reach the 800-point milestone.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid collected an assist to extend his season-opening points streak to 20 games in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Evan Bouchard scored in overtime, and Zach Hyman had two goals for the league-leading Oilers (14-3-3, 31 points). Tyson Foerster and Travis Sanheim replied for the 5-10-6 Flyers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Overshadowing this game was a report claiming Flyers winger Matvei Michkov wanted a change of scenery through a trade.
Earlier in the day, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere and head coach Rick Tocchet shot down the report. Briere said he spoke with Michkov and his agent, who told him that it never came from them. Michkov claimed he was happy in Philadelphia and was focused on the game against the Oilers.
The Michkov trade rumor is part of the fallout from the Flyers’ poor start after making the playoffs last season. They entered this season facing high expectations that they’ve been unable to meet, generating calls from their fans for trades or a coaching change.
Meanwhile, Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen returned to the lineup after missing seven games with an injured hand.
The Nashville Predators doubled up the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 4-2. Shane Wright had a goal and two assists, Roman Josi had two assists to exceed 800 career regular-season points (801), and Justus Annunen made 27 saves for the 10-4-5 Predators, who’ve won five straight games. Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund scored for the Ducks (10-8-1).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gauthier has 14 goals in his last seven games. He tied a 105-year-old record by becoming the third player in league history to score 12 goals in his team’s first six games of a calendar month.
Vegas Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev scored two goals as his club picked up its fourth straight win by defeating the Utah Mammoth 5-3. Victor Olofsson had a goal and two assists as the Golden Knights improved to 13-5-2. Lawson Crouse had a goal and an assist for the 10-8-1 Mammoth, who have lost two straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nick Schmaltz left this game with a lower-body injury. It’s the latest hit for the battered Mammoth, who have winger Dylan Guenther (upper body) and defensemen Nate Schmidt and John Marino on injured reserve, and forward Logan Cooley day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Gauthier is out two to four weeks.
Golden Knights defenseman Parker Wotherspoon returned to action after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury.
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on a shootout goal by Ben Kindel, who also scored in regulation. Sergei Murashov stopped 34 shots for the Penguins (7-10-2). Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist and Yaroslav Askarov made 33 saves for the 8-11-2 Sharks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Celebrini became the fifth-youngest player in league history to reach 200 points.
New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad scored twice in a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 29 saves, and Alexis Lafreniere collected two assists for the 11-8-1 Rangers. Adam Klapka scored for the 8-10-1 Flames.
IN OTHER NEWS…
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson spoke with the media yesterday regarding the club’s poor start and what changes might be in store.
Davidson reiterated his support of embattled head coach Jeff Blashill. He said Mark Eaton, who’d been their assistant GM in charge of player development, will join the coaching staff to help their struggling defensemen.
The Blackhawks GM also said he’s actively searching for trades to improve his roster. His top priority is seeking experienced players who are defensively reliable.
Davidson admitted he may have erred by not acquiring another experienced blueliner during the offseason to help his young defensemen, especially with Bowen Byram sidelined for 12 of their last 18 games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Davidson intends to maintain his rebuilding plans around his promising young players, but that won’t mollify Blackhawks fans expecting some sort of improvement by now.
CBS SPORTS: Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber intends to return to action on Saturday against the Boston Bruins. The 24-year-old blueliner has been on injured reserve after suffering a fractured skull during a preseason game in September.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators forward Nick Cousins is out for seven to 10 days after being on the receiving end of a thunderous hit by Washington Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun on Tuesday. The hit briefly knocked Cousins unconscious, and he had to be helped off the ice.
ESPN: Former NHL winger Evander Kane signed with KHL team HC Sibir Novosibirsk for the remainder of the season.
UndefEaton! Loved him as a pen.
A few things I missed.
The Ukrainian Angry Society choosing “NOW” to hold a protest outside of a hockey game? Sorta late to the party…why? I can site numerous times before this most recent election where the player they’re upset with was known to be a vocal supporter of a certain leader. Seems “small potatoes” to quote the great Yelena Belova.
The hit on Cousins LOOKED bad. I don’t believe it was. He sees him, then he looks up and sees him again at the last second. Cousins is known for theatrics. I don’t think he was out, or concussed and he was at the rink yesterday and was reportedly feeling fine. 10 days because–ya we need it to be believable. Did he know he’d get blown up that big? Maybe not, was he trying to draw a late penalty with some helicopter circque-du-soleil? I believe so. I also think the Sens knew what was up too. Hence their reaction. Check was clean. But that goofball ref #39 who had ruined the Bruins game the previous night with phantom interference calls suddenly decides to let em play?
Missed in the news entirely are the attendance woes at Leafs games. Something stinky going on in Toronto.
i have no idea what theyre doing in chicago. davidson is rapidly proving he’s not the man for an NHL gm job. you’d think after 3 years with bedard the team would show some signs of getting closer to the playoffs.
theres gonna be lots pain & suffering for years to come, if they find out bedard cant perform in the playoffs.
i thought the cousins was hit was clean.
a word of advise for kane in russia, dont run out of the restaurant with out paying your bill, they handle things abit differently over there.
Interesting. The NBA, so far in their season, is experiencing far more blowout games than “tight ones”
https://www.tsn.ca/nba/article/blowouts-common-close-games-rare-so-far-in-this-nba-season/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-ca
The NHL, while it has featured a few legitimate blowouts, so far is trending overall in the exact opposite direction, with more tightly contested 1-goal finishes (disregarding empty-netters) more or less a constant fixture right across the league. Last night, for example, the only real blowout among the 6 played was the Tampa-Buffalo tilt, the night before there were 7 games played with the Leafs-Avalanche match the only one that could even remotely be described as a blowout (a 6-3 Colorado win with 1 empty-netter).
14 NBA teams of 30 are sub-.500, 6 of them sub-.300. 10 NHL teams of 32 are sub-.500, with just 2 (Chicago and Vancouver) sub-.300.
Seems like the NHL is closer to parity than their basketball cousins!
Saw an interesting stat this morning. Since October 3rd, (which for the oilers removes their first two barn burners with Vancouver from the stats) the oilers are leading the league in save % at .918
Good times.
Ya tending has been solid 1Oilerfan.
Cup half empty take is they have needed it as they have not been playing well for the most part for a couple weeks now.
Need to get that changed.
Yep, they are struggling to get much going at home especially. mind you they are getting the Ws but their road game is better. Logically, you would think teams would be better equipped in managing the Oilers as the road team as they can line match easier.
At home the oilers avg 3.50 goals giving up 3.25
On the road they score 4.75 and only give up 2.13.
The pk is 82% on the road vs 73%
I am sure this will balance out more as the season continues but interesting to see the contrast between the home and road results.