6:35 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The Teddy Bear Toss is one of hockey’s most joyous holiday traditions, as fans hurl thousands of stuffed animals onto the ice where they’re collected for charity. The trigger for this moment is when the home team scores its first goal of the game, which it appeared the Sheffield Steelers
NHL
6:49 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Edmonton Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira was suspended for two games without pay by the NHL on Wednesday for cross-checking St. Louis Blues defenseman Vince Dunn. Khaira was assessed a major penalty for cross-checking and given a game misconduct Tuesday night in the third period of the Oilers’
7:00 AM ET Emily KaplanESPN ‘Tis the season of giving! For this week’s power rankings — voted on, as always, by ESPN’s panel of experts — we decided to assign a holiday gift to every team as they enter their Christmas break. Previous ranking: 1 What do you give the team that literally has it
12:52 PM ET ESPN News Services The Buffalo Sabres have placed suspended forward Patrik Berglund on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. The team declined further comment in announcing the move Wednesday. Berglund was suspended by the Sabres on Saturday for failing to report to the team for its road game at
10:02 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The Philadelphia Flyers‘ 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night marked a new era for the franchise. It was the first game under interim coach Scott Gordon, who replaced the fired Dave Hakstol on Monday. Perhaps more importantly, it marked the successful NHL debut for a rookie
5:55 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks added another difficult question to their long list of problems when Corey Crawford suffered another concussion. Suddenly, their goaltending situation is completely up in the air. There was no update on Crawford’s status a day after he was placed on injured reserve. The two-time All-Star
7:00 AM ET Emily KaplanESPN Colton Saucerman has a created-for-hockey name and a gnarly red beard that, quite frankly, would hold its own just fine alongside that of Brent Burns. It was only a matter of time before the 26-year-old defenseman became a viral sensation. But the Colorado native played four years for Northeastern University,
2:30 AM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN ESPN presents the Best Player in the World of the Week, celebrating the player that has the best stats, impact or storyline to earn the honor. To nominate someone, please email us here by midnight on Monday each week. Photos and context are encouraged! Ovechkin continued his post-Stanley Cup goal-scoring
1:26 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — The last-place Chicago Blackhawks will be without one of their top defensemen for a while after they decided to loan Henri Jokiharju to Finland for the upcoming world junior championship. The 19-year-old Jokiharju has no goals and 11 assists in 32 games in his first NHL season. Blackhawks
1. Nathan MacKinnon, C, Col C1 1 2. Auston Matthews, C, Tor C2 2 3. Connor McDavid, C, Edm C3 3 4. Brad Marchand, LW, Bos LW1 4 5. Nikita Kucherov, RW, TB RW1 5 6. Mark Scheifele, C, Wpg C4 6 7. Mikko Rantanen, RW, Col RW2 8 8. Alex Ovechkin, RW, Was RW3