Kucherov Dominates As Lightning Roll Past Sabres, Predators Stay Hot: The Hockey News Morning Skate

Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn ImagesTimothy T. Ludwig-Imagn ImagesNov 12, 2026 2:34 PMPublished Nov 12, 2026 2:34 PMIn this edition of The Hockey News Morning Skate, Eric Cruikshank and Michael Traikos break down Nikita Kucherov's natural hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres, the Nashville Predators' impressive six-game winning streak, and more.Welcome to The Hockey News Morning Skate, where we give a quick recap of all the action from the NHL every weekday morning so you stay up to date.Wednesday's slate featured 12 teams across six games with some big developments in the standings to recap.Let's run through the biggest storylines that emerged from last night, and make sure to check out the video version of this story above.Kucherov And Lightning Cruise Past SabresNikita Kucherov scored a natural hat trick and finished with four points and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Buffalo Sabres 8-3. The reigning Hart Trophy winner has four goals and 11 points in the six games he's played since announcing he will not re-sign with the Lightning and would like a change of scenery.Related storiesOn the other side of this lineup, the Sabres have now lost three of their last four games and are sixth in the Atlantic Division with an 8-7-3 record. Buffalo fans will know there's still plenty of room for a turnaround, as the Sabres were last in the conference this time last season before going on one of the all-time great regular season runs.Predators Climb Central Division StandingsJust as everyone predicted, the Nashville Predators are second in the Central Division. After taking down the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday for their sixth win in a row, the Predators improved to 10-4-5 and took a one-point lead over the Colorado Avalanche and now sit five points back of the Minnesota Wild for the top spot.Despite this loss, Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier continued his torrid goal-scoring pace. He broke a 105-year-old record with his 16th of the season on Wednesday, becoming the first NHL player since 1921-22 to score 12 goals in his team's first six games of a calendar month. For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.