Washington walked into this one with a pretty simple game plan: lean on their pace, let their top guys drive the offense, and trust that Logan Thompson would hold up his end in net.

The Capitals got all of that and more. Tom Wilson set the tone, finishing the night with two goals and an assist. His first came on the power play off a quick touch from Alex Ovechkin and Ryan Leonard, and the second was off of a forced a turnover. He only needed three shots to get his two goals and leads the team in points with 29 on the season and is pacing for a career high 91 points. He is also no a five-game point streak where he a has posted three goals and five assist. His S% is at an all time high at 26.3% from his career average of 13.3% although he did hit 19.4% last season. Nonetheless expect to see that come down.

Aleiksei Protas scored an empty netter as did Alex Ovechkin notching their seventh and 13^th goals respectively. Ovechkin continues pilling up the goals putting him now at 909 career goals.

Matt Roy and the aforementioned Tom Wilson assisted on the Protas goal while Anthony Beauvillier for the Ovechkin goal.

Logan Thompson handled everything else. He stopped 30 of 31 shots and looked as steady as Washington could hope for after some uneven outings earlier in the month. The Islanders did not generate a ton of high-danger looks, but Thompson controlled rebounds, looked solid throughout the game and never let Ottawa build momentum from the few pushes they had.

On the other side, it was a tough watch for New York.

Bo Horvat scored their lone goal on a late power play assisted by Anders Lee and Ryan Pulock, but outside of that, they barely threatened. Sixteen shots total, that is not going to cut it against a team skating as well as Washington did.

The loss of Kyle Palmieri to an ACL tear was a major blow. Eighteen points in 25 games before the injury. With Palmieri done for the season, and other injuries already chipping away at their lineup, the lack of support scoring becomes even more obvious.

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Anaheim could not have scripted a better start. Two goals in the opening 47 seconds, the building stunned, Chicago flat, and the Ducks looking like they were about to run away with it.

That flipped fast, and by the end of the night it turned into the Connor Bedard show. He dragged the entire roster with him. Two goals, two assists, five shots and a 58 percent night in the faceoff circle. Not to mention that he is back in the scoring race with tied for second with Macklin Celebrini with 37 points a piece.

Anaheim's early spark came from Cutter Gauthier, who continues to look like he has been in the league for years. He opened the scoring seconds in and added an assist, pushing his season total to 15 goals and leads the Ducks in goals scored.

🚨 Cutter 🚨

He gets the party started just 15 seconds into this game! #FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/jHRndfJUuz

— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) November 30, 2025

Troy Terry extended his point streak to seven games with two assists and has quietly worked himself back into a groove after a slower start. With nine points over this seven-game run, he's pacing for a 95-point season if he keeps this up.

It's actually been a while since Anaheim has had this kind of top-end production from multiple players at once. Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Terry are all on pace for over 90 points, which is not something anyone would have predicted three months ago.

Olen Zellweger added his fifth of the season and is riding a four-game point streak of his own with three goals and an assist.

Chris Kreider jumped in as well, finishing off a play set up by Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish.

McTavish has been one of the more frustrating fantasy plays this year, but at least he is showing signs of life with four points in his last three.

That 3–0 lead did not last all too long. Tyler Bertuzzi, Ryan Greene and Colton Dach each found the back of the net, giving the Hawks the secondary scoring they have been missing.

Frank Nazar, Andre Burakovsky, Teuvo Teravainen and Artyom Levshunov all recorded assists in the pushback. Levshunov continues to impress, he is up to 13 points now and currently sits first in points for all defensemen on the Blackhawks.

Spencer Knight gave up those first three goals but settled himself nicely, finishing with 23 saves on 26 shots. Knight did not have to be spectacular, just steady and he delivered exactly that.

Anaheim however did not get that same luxury. Petr Mrazek started but could not finish, leaving in the third with what looked like a lower-body injury. He has a history of groin issues and his reaction did not look great. Nothing confirmed yet, but discomfort was obvious.

Ville Husso stepped in, faced one shot, and unfortunately allowed one goal.

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Carolina and Calgary spent most of the night in a stalemate in regulations at least.

Nikolaj Ehlers ended it in overtime netting the game winner with an assist from Taylor Hall.

HALL TO EHLERS IN OT FOR CAROLINA 🚨 pic.twitter.com/7RtjXOtJGO

— SleeperNHL (@SleeperNHL) December 1, 2025

Brandon Bussi picked up his first NHL shutout with a calm 15-save night, and he barely looked bothered the entire game. Eight games into his career and he has posted a 7-1-0 record. Carolina's structure makes life easier, they do not give up much, they control the shot share, and they are more than comfortable grinding out these tight ones.

Devin Cooley did his part for Calgary with 16 saves, kept everything in front of him, and gave his team every chance to steal it. The problem is the same one that keeps popping up for Calgary. No finish, no push, no real threat and only 16 shots with nothing to show for it.

This is now the Flames third time being shut out this season and it does not look like it is going to get any better with trade rumors of Rasmus Andersson and Nazem Kadri floating around.

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Dallas rolled through this one with the kind of layered, top-to-bottom scoring you love to see if you are invested in that roster.

Wyatt Johnston finished with a hat trick and an assist, two of those goals came on the power play and he is now up to 16 on the season, tying him for the team lead.

HATS OFF TO WYATT JOHNSTON 🎩 pic.twitter.com/Zar6DHh3ox

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 1, 2025

The first Johnston goal came off a setup from Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen, and that assist from Rantanen was basically the start of a three-assist night for him.

Robertson had one of those games where he looked in control the whole way, and doing it in his 400th NHL game felt fitting. He posted a goal and two assists, but more importantly he drove sequences and tilting the ice every shift.

Mavrik Bourque scored in the second period with a nice tip with credit to Ilya Lyubushkin and Oskar Bäck for the setup.

Jamie Benn added one of his own later, giving Dallas support from outside the main scoring group. Sine his return to the lineup Benn has six points in seven games. He would have likely been a waiver add if you snagged him at the right time.

Roope Hintz quietly stacked two assists on the evening.

Lian Bichsel left in the second period after taking a hit from Fabian Zetterlund and going hard into the boards in front of the bench. Looked like it was lower-body related.

Casey DeSmith handled the other end of the ice with zero drama and a 15 save performance, bumping his record to 6-0-2 over his last eight.

Ottawa did not generate much. Jake Sanderson finally broke the shutout late, finishing off a play created by David Perron and Nick Cousins, but that was basically their offensive highlight.

Sanderson is off to a solid start on the season with five goals and 15 assist over 25 games putting him at a 66-point pace on the season.

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In some other news in the NHL. Carter Hart has been called up to Vegas. He may get to see some ice time at some point with the Golden Knights.

Carter Hart has been called up to the #NHL by #VegasBorn

Surprising how high is Yahoo % is already. Lots of #FantasyHockey GMs stashed him last few weeks. pic.twitter.com/0PzMMCwh6U

— Dobber (@DobberHockey) December 1, 2025

Thanks for reading! See you next week! For more fantasy hockey content and analysis, follow me on X @Punters_hockey. If you have any questions about your team or a trade? My DMs are always open, happy to help!