* Stars already headed to Montreal and Boston for the 4 Nations Face-Off, as well those with hopes of representing their country when the deadline for final rosters arrives Dec. 2, produced notable performances on the NHL’s second 15-game slate in five days.
* Jordan Binnington climbed a pair of franchise lists while Taylor Hall scored one of two hat tricks Wednesday as the Blues and Blackhawks each earned wins about a month ahead of their Winter Classic clash at Wrigley Field.
* There are no contests today as we wish our friends in the United States a Happy Thanksgiving, but the action returns during a 14-game Friday highlighted by the 2024 NHL Thanksgiving Showdown two-pack on TNT.
LESS THAN 35 GAMES BEFORE 4 NATIONS FACE-OFF ROSTERS GET SUBMITTED
Several 4 Nations Face-Off hopefuls and stars already named to rosters put up noteworthy performances in wins Wednesday as the deadline for the .
* Filip Gustavsson made his case to represent Sweden in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20, 2025 with a 39-save shutout for the Wild and helped the club improve to 6-0-2 in their past eight road games. Gustavsson, with a .918 save percentage and 2.51 goals-against average since joining Minnesota in 2022-23, has the highest save percentage and lowest goals-against average among all goaltenders to appear in at least 10 games in 2024-25.
* Lucas Raymond (1-1—2), a hopeful for Sweden, scored the overtime winner to push the Red Wings past the Flames. Raymond (22 years, 244 days) became the fourth Detroit player in the past 30 years to score back-to-back game-winning goals at age 22 or younger, joining Andreas Athanasiou (March 26-27, 2017), Dylan Larkin (Oct. 31 – Nov. 3, 2015) and Anders Eriksson (Dec. 22-23, 1997).
* Adrian Kempe collected 1-1—2 as he continues his push towards finding his name on Sweden’s roster and helped the Kings (12-8-3, 27 points) move into third place in the Pacific Division. Kempe’s 11 goals this season rank second among Swedish skaters behind William Nylander (14), while his 27-38—65 (67 GP) are the most points among all Kings players through 2024.
* Aleksander Barkov (1-1—2), who has already been named to Finland, factored on two of his team’s five goals as the Panthers (13-9-1, 27 points) defeated the Maple Leafs (13-7-2, 28 points) and moved within one point of Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division. Barkov recorded his 195th career multi-point game and tied Saku Koivu for the third most by a Finnish player in NHL history, behind only Jari Kurri (385 GP) and Teemu Selanne (382 GP).
* Adin Hill (33 saves) made multiple point-blank stops, including a highlight-reel glove save in the dying seconds of regulation, but tournament-bound Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen helped the Avalanche secure a shootout win against the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights. Alex Pietrangelo posted an assist and Shea Theodore skated at least 20 minutes for a sixth straight game – the latter is among the League leaders in takeaways this season and picked the pocket of MacKinnon, who the Vegas defensemen and Hill could join forces with in February.
* Brady Tkachuk (0-2—2) looks to join the United States after his brother Matthew was named to the team’s initial roster in June and collected two assists to eclipse 200 in his career (173-201—374 in 462 GP). The Senators captain, who has factored on a team-leading three game-winning goals this season (tied), required more games than both his brother (397 GP) and father, Keith Tkachuk (439 GP), to reach the assist milestone.
* Sidney Crosby (0-2—2), already named to Canada’s roster, factored on two of his club’s five goals to halt the Canucks’ road winning streak at eight games and help the Penguins improve their home point streak versus Vancouver to six (4-0-2). Crosby improved to 30-51—81 since Jan. 1 to secure his 13th calendar year with at least 80 regular-season points, which passed Mark Messier and Alex Ovechkin for the third most in NHL history. The only players with more are Wayne Gretzky (16) and Marcel Dionne (15). Crosby’s soon-to-be Canada teammate Brad Marchand scored twice Wednesday to propel the Bruins to victory – the two will clash on NHL on TNT for the Thanksgiving Showdown Friday.
BLUES, BLACKHAWKS SKATE TO VICTORY A MONTH AHEAD OF WINTER CLASSIC CLASH
Jordan Binnington stopped all 31 shots he faced to climb a pair of franchise lists while Taylor Hall (3-0—3) scored his first hat trick in more than a decade as the Blues (11-12-1, 23 points) and Blackhawks (8-12-2, 18 points) each skated to victory. The clubs are set to meet in the Discover NHL Winter Classic at historic Wrigley Field in Chicago on Dec. 31.
* Binnington, another hopeful for Canada at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off in February, notched his 152nd career victory to surpass Mike Liut as the winningest goaltender in Blues history. His 16th career shutout also tied Glenn Hall for fourth most in franchise history.
* Binnington is poised to become the ninth goaltender in NHL history – and fourth active – to play in an NHL outdoor game as a franchise’s all-time wins leader. The others: Andrei Vasilevskiy (2022 Stadium Series w/ TBL), Marc-Andre Fleury (2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe w/ VGK & 2014 Stadium Series w/ PIT) and Jonathan Quick (2020 Stadium Series & 2015 Stadium Series w/ LAK).
* ICYMI: The Blues honored the memory of local 16-year-old high school hockey player **Colin Brown**, who tragically passed away Wednesday. Brown’s family also received phone calls from St. Louis alumni Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull.
* Hall scored twice in the opening 5:43 – the fastest two goals to start a game by a Blackhawks skater since Alex DeBrincat (5:07 on Feb. 18, 2019) – en route to netting his first hat trick since Dec. 5, 2013. With every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $3,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $300,000.
* Roman Josi and Ryan O’Reilly gave the Predators two separate leads, but Morgan Frost tied the contest for the Flyers with 12 seconds remaining in regulation – the second-latest game-tying goal this season (Alexander Wennberg: 59:51 on Nov. 21 w/ SJS) – and set the stage for captain Sean Couturier (1-1—2) to score the overtime winner. Philadelphia, 6-2-2 in its past 10 contests, won after scoring a game-tying goal within the final 15 seconds of regulation for the fourth time in franchise history (also March 8, 2006 vs. CAR; March 31, 2013 vs. WSH; & Feb. 21, 2012 at WPG).
QUICK CLICKS
* Wednesday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates
* Steve Mayer discusses 4 Nations Face-Off on Morning Bru with Jaffe & Razor podcast
* Cole Reschny scores late, lifts CHL past USA in Game 2 of Prospects Challenge
* NHL.com staffers give thanks to hockey world in special roundtable
* Former Panthers now on Maple Leafs get Stanley Cup rings in special ceremony
NHL returns during 14-game Friday highlighted by Thanksgiving Showdown
There are no contests today as Thanksgiving is celebrated in the United States but the action returns during a 14-game Friday highlighted by the 2024 NHL Thanksgiving Showdown doubleheader on TNT. The telecast opens with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins pitted against Brad Marchand and the Bruins before closing with Miro Heiskanen and the Stars squaring off versus Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche.
* Marc-Andre Fleury is celebrating his 40th birthday today ahead of the Wild hosting Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks in one of many matinees tomorrow. Fleury can become the seventh netminder in the past 10 years (since 2014-15) to log an appearance at age 40 or older (also Craig Anderson, Ryan Miller, Mike Smith, Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo & emergency back-up goaltender **David Ayres**).
