NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 15, 2026
The Hurricanes sweep the Global Series with the Kraken, Mark Scheifele becomes the Jets’ all-time scoring leader, Oilers captain Connor McDavid extends his points streak, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 to sweep their two-game Global Series in Helsinki, Finland. Andrei Svechnikov and Mark Jankowski each tallied twice, Nikolaj Ehlers collected three assists, and Jackson Blake scored to extend his points streak to 11 games as the Hurricanes (16-3-2) won their fourth straight game to sit atop the NHL standings with 34 points. Matty Beniers replied for the 9-8-2 Kraken, who’ve lost three straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes placed defenseman Mike Reilly on waivers as they intend to activate team captain Jordan Staal off injured reserve.
Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele (NHL Images)
Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer as his club overcame another 4-0 deficit, this time defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on a shootout goal by Kyle Connor. Scheifele had a goal and three assists to lead his teammates in their comeback as he now has 933 regular-season points. Nico Daws stopped 12 of 13 shots after taking over for Stuart Skinner, who allowed three goals on eight shots. Connor Bedard had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets picked up their sixth straight win and improved to 10-8-3, vaulting into the first Western Conference wild-card spot with 23 points. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks fell to 5-13-2 as they’ve dropped seven of their last eight contests.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid collected an assist to extend his season-opening points streak to 21 games as his club nipped the Toronto Maple Leafs 1-0. McDavid had the primary assist on Evan Bouchard’s goal, and Devon Levi made 19 saves for his first NHL shutout as the Oilers (15-3-3) picked up their fourth straight win. Anthony Stolarz turned aside 22 shots for the Maple Leafs (8-12-2) as they dropped their sixth straight game and sit last in the Atlantic Division.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid is the first player to reach 50 points this season. Bouchard leads all defensemen with 34 points and is fourth overall among this season’s leading scorer.
The Minnesota Wild thumped the Boston Bruins 6-2. Ryan Hartman and Danila Yurov each scored twice while Blake Coleman had a goal and two assists for the 15-3-4 Wild, who extended their points streak to 11 games to sit first in the Western Conference and second overall with 34 points. David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (13-6-1), who’ve dropped two straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild defenseman Brock Faber played over 24 minutes, collecting an assist and finishing with a plus/minus of plus-4 in his first game since being sidelined with a fractured skull in preseason play. Speaking of the Wild, they’re expected to send goaltender Filip Gustavsson to their AHL affiliate in Iowa for conditioning as he returns from offseason hip surgery.
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn scored to collect his 1,000th regular-season point in a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Wyatt Johnston also scored, and Jake Oettinger turned in a 22-save shutout for the 11-6-2 Stars. Alex Lyon stopped 28 shots for the Sabres (8-8-4).
New Jersey Devils goaltender Connor Hellebuyck kicked out 43 shots to down the Washington Capitals 7-4, extending his season-opening win streak to 7-0-0. Lenni Hameenaho, Jesper Boqvist and Connor Brown each had a goal and two assists, and Luke Hughes had three assists for the 15-6-0 Devils, who swept the back-to-back series with Washington. Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson each had three points for the Capitals (10-8-0).
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1, snapping the latter’s 12-game points streak. Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist, Brock Nelson scored the game-winner, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves for the Avalanche (12-6-3). Nick Suzuki replied for the Canadiens (12-4-4) as they suffered their first regulation loss since Oct. 14.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Avalanche got the win without Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. Both players suffered lower-body injuries in their last game, with MacKinnon out for a month and Makar expected to miss two weeks.
The Canadiens were without winger Chris Kreider, who will be out six to eight weeks with a lower-body injury suffered during Thursday’s game against the Bruins. Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson missed this game with a nagging lower-body injury.
New York Islanders winger Simon Holmstrom tallied his first NHL hat trick in a 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Matthew Schaefer collected three assists and Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 shots as the Islanders improved to 9-6-2. Cutter Gauthier scored his 17th goal of the season to extend his goal streak to eight games for the Ducks (10-9-1).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Islanders forward Mathew Barzal picked up an assist in his season debut after reaggravating a knee injury during offseason training. Isles defenseman Logan Stanley left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury.
Florida Panthers winger Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist while brother Matthew extended his assist streak to seven games in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Sam Reinhart also had a goal and an assist for the Panthers (12-7-2) as they picked up their third straight win. Dylan Holloway scored for the 9-9-2 Blues.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Blues honored Keith Tkachuk for his recent induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Keith spent nine of his 18 NHL seasons with the Blues.
The San Jose Sharks got a shootout goal by Mason Marchment to beat the Utah Mammoth 6-5. Dmitry Orlov had a goal and three assists for the Sharks (9-11-2). Zac Jones scored twice and Kailer Yamamoto had three assists for the injury-depleted Mammoth (10-8-3), who’ve gone 3-4-3 in their last 10 games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Mammoth have six players sidelined, including roster regulars Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, John Marino, and Nate Schmidt. Sharks center Alex Wennberg missed this game with an upper-body injury.
Philadelphia Flyers forward Denver Barkey scored twice in his first NHL multipoint game as his club held off the Columbus Blue Jackets by a score of 4-3. Matvei Michkov also scored, and Joseph Woll made 28 saves for the 6-10-6 Flyers. Dmitri Voronkov, Matthew Knies, and Adam Fantilli scored for the Blue Jackets (7-11-0) as their losing skid reached four games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness missed his second straight game with an illness.
The Ottawa Senators extended their points streak to five games with a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Linus Ullmark stopped 16 shots for his 200th NHL regular-season win and Michael Amadio had a goal and an assist for the Senators (13-6-2). Tommy Novak scored for the 7-11-2 Penguins, who’ve dropped six of their past eight games.
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Daniil Tarasov made 31 saves to shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0. Lucas Raymond and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored for the 8-10-3 Red Wings, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Andrei Vasilevskiy turned aside 20 shots for the 13-5-2 Lightning, who hold first place in the Atlantic Division with 28 points.
The Calgary Flames held off the Los Angeles Kings for a 3-2 victory. Dustin Wolf stopped 29 shots, and Yegor Sharangovich had a goal and an assist for the 9-10-1 Flames. Alex Laferriere had two assists for the Kings (5-11-2), who’ve dropped four straight games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kings winger Artemi Panarin missed this game for family reasons.
That Leafs situation is getting ugly fast. In dropping 6 straight, all at home, they’ve been outscored 23 to 9, including two SO. Their leading goal scorer in that stretch was Roslovic with 3. No one else had more than 1, including Matthews and Nylander (the others were MacEwen, Raddysh, Cowan & McKenna).
Over their next 6, the first 3 are against other struggling teams – @ Chicago and home to L.A. and Columbus – and these have become early-season “must wins” because the 3 after that are at the NYI, Boston and Pittsburgh.
Seeing Matthew to the Wild speculation. Dunno ho that would happen!
Maybe a 3 way, whereas
Detroit gets Matthews, ass they have the cap space.
Minny gets Larkin
Leafs get all Minny would give for Larkin and a prime prospect or a 1st from the Wings
But that is the ultimate pipe dream………or is it?
Johnny Z: Where are you seeing this “Matthews to the Wild” speculation? Nothing about that is being reported anywhere. You’re right about one thing, though, it is a pipe dream.
If that has surfaced anywhere it’s most likely on one or two of those ubiquitous Leafs-oriented blogs that permeate YouTube, probably as a result of more credible pundits like Matt Larkin wondering out loud on Daily Faceoff how much more losing Matthews will tolerate as he approaches age 30. Some have even apparently voiced the thought that Guerin, still hoping to convince Hughes to re-up, might see the acquisition of his close friend and Olympic teammate Matthews as ding the trick.
The only problem with that scenario is that Guerin spent a massive amount of his draft capital and top prospects to get Hughes in the first place so, unless Matthews, at some point, pulls a Brady and forces his way to Minnesota, Guerin simply lacks the trade assets … unless he guts his team in other key areas. And what would be the point in that?
I’ve seen it on Twitter but it is probably just one of those posts that are outrageous on purpose to get views and comments. Unless Matthews comes out and says he wants out, he’s not going anywhere.
Totally agree, Ed.
The Bruins weaknesses show up when they take on the better NHL teams and Sturm needs to adjust their gameplay because at the moment it is hard to watch them play against the top teams in the league.
I think it would help if Swayman was on his game to make a timely save. He seems to be out of position a lot. Same in the Canadians game. I would go with Depietro Tuesday may be a little extra time will get him back. Plus itś back to back.
On the power play they need to shoot more they pass a little too much. I remember the Phil Esposito quote when in doubt throw it at the net and let the goalie worry about it.
Paul H, Cheese and EJ, I think you can pretty much say what Paul H says of any top team, and I don’t believe the Bruins are doing appreciably worse than any of the others when going up against teams currently at .500 or better.
As of this morning their record against such teams – a full 21 of the 32 – is 7 5 1 15pts .577 39gf 33ga +6. In their 6 games so far against sub.500 teams, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do – racking up a 6 0 0 12 pts 1.000 32gf 15ga +17.
The currently sit 9th in the league with an overall .675 % pace, b/o Ottawa, Montreal, Tampa, Vegas, New Jersey, Edmonton, Minnesota and Carolina, but ahead of the likes of Nashville, Colorado, Florida, NYR and Dallas. Not sure what you expect from them, unless you think they are somehow heads and shoulders better than any of those teams and so should be dominating.
Paul H, absolutely that is why they really are a fringe playoff team. They should be proactive in moving players if possible and not wait until the trade deadline and be stuck taking less!Decisions need to be made on Zacha and Middlestadt to name a few. If they are in their plans past this year,sign them. If not move them before everyone else starts trading!
A startling fact is that a full 18 of the 32 teams currently have a minus goal differential, led by 8 in double-digits: Vancouver (-38), Chicago (-37), Philadelphia (-21), San Jose (-20), Calgary (-18), Buffalo (=15), L.A. (-14) and Columbus (-13).
The others are Pittsburgh (-9), Toronto, Detroit and Seattle -7 each), Winnipeg (-6), St. Louis & Utah (-4 each), and Anaheim & Washington (-3 each).
On the + side, those closest to falling back among the minus crowd are Dallas (+5), NYR, Ottawa, Nashville & Ottawa (+7 each) and Florida (+8).
The 8 teams in + double-digits are led – and by a wide margin – by Carolina at +40, followed by Minnesota (+26), Edmonton (+24), Colorado (+21), Boston (+20), New Jersey (+19), Tampa (+15) and Vegas (+14).