The AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost their first two games of the 2026-27 season before quickly putting those losses behind them this weekend.
They earned their first win on Saturday, crushing the Hartford Wolf Pack 7-1, and it was the Bill Zonnon show. Zonnon scored twice in the second period and added an assist in the win.
He made that first goal happen, leading the rush early in the second period before collecting the puck behind the net and stuffing it home.
Atley Calvert, Avery Hayes, Tanner Howe, Mikhail Ilyin, and Owen Pickering also scored in the win.
The fun continued on Sunday with a 6-2 win for WBS over the Providence Bruins. Zonnon notched his third goal of the season less than a minute into the middle frame. He came streaking down the left side and fired an absolute laser past the Bruins goaltender.
Zonnon has three goals and five points in four games.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 11, 2026
Phil Kemp, Tristan Broz, Oliver Okuliar, and Rutger McGroarty (two goals) also scored for WBS in this game.
Speaking of McGroarty, he was fantastic in this game, adding two assists to his two goals. He saw the ice extremely well, and forechecked his butt off. His second goal was a thing of beauty: he took a lead pass on the left side and made a gorgeous forehand-to-backhand move before elevating the puck to the top shelf of the net.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 11, 2026
McGroarty may not be with the NHL club right now, but there will come a time when he is needed this season. When that happens, he'll do everything he can to make sure he never goes back down to the AHL.
WBS is now 2-1-1-0 and will play the Cleveland Monsters in their next two games this Friday and Saturday.
It's no mystery to anyone that the NHL's Department of Player Safety has a long history of inconsistency when it comes to handing out discipline to players.
And, on Saturday, a former Pittsburgh Penguin was involved in a play that many thought was suspension-worthy.
New Jersey Devils forward Evan Rodrigues - who played for the Penguins from 2019-2022 - was approaching the faceoff dot with Vancouver Canucks center Marco Rossi during the Saturday tilt between the teams. Prior to the draw at center ice, Rossi gave Rodrigues a nudge on the shoulder with his right hand, and in response, Rodrigues speared Rossi in the throat.
The video shows Rodrigues making a distinct spearing motion right at Rossi's throat, which is why many thought both the double-minor and the $5,000 fine was not nearly enough. However, on the other side of the spectrum, some thought Rossi went down rather easily.
Evan Rodrigues has received the maximum $5,000 fine allowed under the CBA for this high-sticking play on Marco Rossi. pic.twitter.com/G0Bg0zK6bD
At the end of the day, though, there is a precedent for intentional stick plays with the intent to injure. For example, Penguins' forward Evgeni Malkin received a four-game suspension during the 2021-22 season for a cross-check to the face of Nashville Predators' defenseman Mark Borowiecki, and he was assessed a five-game suspension last season for a slash to the face of Rasmus Dahlin.
Although those cross-checks and slashes may appear more violent - and they were - spears have a history of automatic punishment because of the intentionality behind them. For example, defenseman Tony DeAngelo and forward Brad Marchand have both been suspended for spears in the past, and neither were to the neck or head of an opponent.
Was the double-minor and the fine was enough for Rodrigues, or should it have been more than that? How much did Rossi's reaction affect the ruling? Join The Pittsburgh Penguins Roundtable Community and leave a comment to join the discussion.
What started as an opportunity for the Philadelphia Flyers to change the narrative on their awful season ended in brief but noticeable chants for the club to fire head coach Rick Tocchet, following an uninspired 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes that set a most undesirable franchise record.
Now 0-5-2 with no silver lining or signs of hope, Tocchet's Flyers are now winless through their first seven games of the season, marking the first such instance in franchise history.
This would be a different story, contextually, if the Flyers kept each of those seven losses close, but the two overtime losses are disservices to how badly New Jersey and Carolina outplayed them in those games.
The reality is that, outside of the 2-1 loss to Ottawa on Thursday night, the Flyers have been smacked around the rink on a nightly basis. Effort and "compete" have been constant talking points discussed by the players, Tocchet, and even general manager Danny Briere himself.
That shouldn't happen two weeks into a season, if at all, and it follows a season where the Flyers made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As much blame as the players should get, as the ones playing the game, equal blame should fall on the shoulders of the coaching staff and front office.
For instance, prospect defenseman Oliver Bonk, who played on Saturday night for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, was called up and immediately pressed to action, getting a jarring wake-up call having to play against the Hurricanes on Sunday.
Placed on the top defense pairing next to Travis Sanheim, the pair was torched for three of the Hurricanes' four goals, with Bonk also getting whistled for two penalties in the first period.
Forward Matvei Michkov is the only Flyers player with multiple goals this season. (Photo: Eric Hartline, Imagn Images)
With Helge Grans still on the roster, it was just plain unnecessary to throw Bonk to the wolves in the manner the Flyers did, even if they do feel he deserves to play games for them going forward.
David Jiricek had given the power play some spark, aiding the team to man-advantage goals in two straight games, but the Flyers again went 0-for-3 against the Hurricanes. The Flyers make scoring goals in the NHL look like a miraculous feat, and their defending and shot suppression are virtually non-existent.
Outside of Joseph Woll, who was in net for all four Hurricanes goals on Sunday, there is not a single bright spot for the Flyers through their first seven games, and that is not hyperbole.
At some point, the Flyers are going to feel even more pressure to make a significant, meaningful change that goes beyond the faint "Fire Tocchet" chants heard hurtling down from the few remaining fans in the building on Sunday night.
Flyers fans are chanting "Fire Tocchet" as the arena is clearing out.
And Bump has two goals and an assist in his two games for the Phantoms since returning to the AHL, for what that's worth.
Somehow, some way, the Flyers have to do something, because carrying on like this clearly is not working.
If they don't, they'll subject their building block veterans and youngsters to another losing, meaningless season, which will assuredly have downstream effects when it comes to wanting to compete for a Stanley Cup in the future.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jared McCann broke a tie with 5:27 left and the Seattle Kraken overcame NHL career leader Alex Ovechkin’s first goal of the season to beat the Washington Capitals 5-3 on Sunday night.
Jordan Eberle, Frederick Gaudreau, Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Winterton also scored to help the Kraken improve to 4-2-0. Joey Daccord stopped 33 shots.
On the deciding goal, McCann cut to the middle and beat goalie Logan Thompson on a quick shot. Ryan Winterton iced it with 2:40 left.
Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner also scored for Washington as the Capitals dropped to 3-2-0. Thompson made 22 saves.
After back-to-back penalty kills, Seattle got off to a quick start, with Kakko sneaking in a rebound just 6:06 minutes into the game.
The Capitals responded with two goals in a 5:06 span. First, Kyrou buried a cross-ice feed from Cole Hutson for his first with Washington. Then, after a strong forecheck and forced turnover from brothers Aliaksei and Ilya Protas, Ovechkin got the puck alone in front and sniped a quick shot past Daccord for his 930th NHL goal.
RANGERS 6, CANUCKS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Ty Kartye and Will Cuylle scored two goals each and Dylan Garand made 19 saves as New York beat Vancouver in their first game since losing goaltender Igor Shesterkin for the season with a knee injury.
Kartye snapped a 2-2 tie with his second goal of the game at 18:25 of the second period and the Rangers went on to win their fourth straight at home to start the season.
Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault also scored for the Rangers, while J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad each had two assists.
Kartye opened the scoring 27 seconds into the contest. Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk tied it at 17:04 of the first before Cuylle put New York ahead with his first at 2:09 of the second.
Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson scored short-handed at 16:56 of the second to tie the contest again before Kartye’s go-ahead goal.
Lafreniere extended New York’s lead to 4-2 with his team-leading fifth of the season on the power play at 1:04 of the third. Perreault made it 5-2 at 5:57. Cuylle scored again with less than five minutes to play.
HURRICANES 4, FLYERS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho each had a goal and an assist and Carolina beat Philadelphia, handing the Flyers their franchise-record seventh straight loss to open the season.
Flyers rookie defenseman Oliver Bonk had a rough second period in his season debut and was a factor in three Carolina goals.
Svecnhikov scored his fourth goal of the season at 10:16 of the second period to open the scoring. Bonk turned it over to former Flyer Sean Walker at the blue line, and Walker fed Svechnikov, who skated into the slot and snapped a wrister past goalie Joseph Woll.
Aho fed a pass through Bonk, who turned around at the side of his own net, to another former Flyer, Shayne Gostisbehere, who banged home his second goal of the season to make it 2-0. Both of Gostisbehere’s goals this season have come against his former team.
Aho later netted his sixth goal of the season on a pass from William Carrier. Svechnikov stripped Own Tippett in the neutral zone and fed Carrier, who blew past Bonk and slid the pass to Aho, who had an open net to shoot and score the Hurricanes’ third goal.
Dylan Garand (33) defends the net against center Linus Karlsson (94) during the Rangers' 6-2 win over the Canucks on Oct. 11, 2026.
Robert Sabo for the NY Post
There is something to be said about the way the Rangers have responded in the face of adversity so far this season.
Last season’s Blueshirts crumbled nearly every time a game got hard, revealing a debilitating mental fragility in the wake of any game-tying goals against, erroneous officiating or their own costly turnovers.
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So far in this new campaign, however, the Rangers have done just the opposite.
After hearing the most devastating injury news possible about star goalie Igor Shesterkin, who will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury, these Rangers took a 6-2 win over the struggling Canucks despite giving up an equalizing short-handed goal late in the second period.
“This is a situation I feel like not a lot needs to be said,” captain J.T. Miller said Sunday morning. “Everybody in here knows what needs to be done. Everybody’s got to pull a little more weight around here. I said the other night: [Shesterkin] is one of the pillars of our organization and this hockey team and a leader for us. It’s devastating to lose a guy like him, outside of how elite he is as a goalie. … There’s a lot to be pulled from every guy in here right now to make up for what we’re losing.”
It’s been a couple of years since the Rangers were described as resilient, but there have been flashes of the trait this season.
New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) defends the net as Vancouver Canucks center Linus Karlsson (94) rushes for the rebound during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Robert Sabo for NY Post
After the Rangers gave up two second-period goals to tie the Oct. 6 game against the Islanders, Mika Zibanejad said it himself that last year’s team probably would’ve collapsed in that position.
Not this time. Not this year. Not if the Rangers and their intentions for the season have anything to say about it.
Similarly to that Isles game last week, the effort by the Rangers never faltered after the momentum swung in favor of the Canucks following a short-handed goal from Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson. In fact, the home team was able to respond before the period was even over, just as it did against the Islanders.
New York Rangers left wing Will Cuylle (50) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal during the second period of a game against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post
It would’ve flatlined the Rangers in the past, but Tye Kartye recorded his second goal of the night off a beautiful shot from the left circle to regain a 3-2 lead for his team.
“I think there’s a maturity to this group,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after the win. “I think these guys, they haven’t lost any level of enthusiasm. I think they believe in the team game that we’re trying to build here.”
Rookie goalie Dylan Garand, who took the ice as the Rangers starting goalie for the foreseeable future, rebounded as well. Stopping 19 of the 21 shots he faced, Garand has limited every opposing team he’s faced to two goals or fewer over his six NHL games.
New York Rangers center J.T. Miller (10) reacts on the ice after his team scores a goal during the first period of a game against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. Robert Sabo for NY Post
The Rangers scored three more times in the third period while limiting the visitors to just four shots on goal, continuing a trend of dominance in third periods that’s beginning to develop.
“I feel like all the games we’ve been playing a pretty good 60 minutes, for the most part,” said Will Cuylle, who scored his first two goals of the season. “I feel like it helps, too, that’s the first first-period goal we’ve given up all year.”
Birthday boy Alexis Lafrenière, who turned 25, kicked off his new second-line assignment with a slick pass in the neutral zone to spring Miller for a partial 2-on-1 opportunity with Kartye. Miller extended his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists) as Kartye buried the rebound off his shot to put the Rangers up 27 seconds into the game.
Sullivan said he was hesitant to swap Lafrenière and Pavel Dorofeyev since both lines in the top six have looked good so far, but the Kartye-Miller-Dorofeyev unit wasn’t finding the back of the net.
“It seemed to work on the very first shift,” Sullivan said with a smile. “I think when you look at the growth of Laf’s game, Laf is creating offense in numerous ways now. He’s multidimensional. He creates off the rush. You can see what he does off the rush. But his down-low game and hanging on pucks and creating offense from below the goal line, I think that aspect of his game has really grown.”
The Vancouver Canucks fell 6-2 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Jake DeBrusk scored his third of the season while defenceman Elias Pettersson found the back of the net shorthanded. As for Kevin Lankinen, he allowed six goals on 25 shots and finished the night with a save percentage of .760.
Sunday's matchup was close until the third period. New York scored three times in the final frame, which pushed their one-goal lead at the second intermission into a four-goal advantage. Ultimately, the Canucks looked like they ran out of gas in the third, as they were outshot 10-4 in the final frame by the Rangers.
"Obviously, when you start a game down 1-0 30 seconds in, it is not an ideal start," said Manny Malhotra post-game. "The resiliency we showed throughout the course of the period just to get ourselves back into it. In the second, I felt we started to swing the momentum at them. Just didn't sustain it long enough to have a lasting impact."
The biggest storyline from this game was the play of Lankinen. He allowed six goals for the third time this year and was caught out of position several times. Even though this team is in a rebuild where wins and losses are not the most important thing, this team needs to get better goaltending from Lankinen so they do not have to try to outscore their issues on a nightly basis.
This game was not all doom and gloom, as Pettersson, or D-Petey, had a strong performance. He was tied for the team lead with four hits and, as mentioned, scored shorthanded. Pettersson looks to be taking positive steps from a development perspective, which is good news for the rebuild.
As for the other feel-good story, Guillaume Brisebois returned to the NHL for the first time since January 11, 2025. The 29-year-old was able to fill the stat sheet as he recorded two shots, two hits, a blocked shot and a penalty. Although he struggled defensively at times, it is nice to see Brisebois getting chances in the NHL after all the injuries he's dealt with over the years.
Ultimately, there are plenty of learning lessons Manny Malhotra and his staff can take away from this game. Vancouver's defensive coverage was all over the place at times while the team failed to create any form of pushback in the third period. With three more games on this road trip, the Canucks will need to regroup quickly if they want to avoid a lengthy losing streak.
Stats and Facts:
Defenceman Elias Pettersson records his first career shorthand goal
Canucks are the first team this year to allow 30 goals against
Vancouver has been outscored 17-5 through three games of this current six-game road trip
Elias Pettersson and Elias Pettersson led the Canucks in hits with four each
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
00:27- NYR: Tye Kartye (1) from J.T. Miller and Alexis Lafrenière
17:04- VAN: Jake DeBrusk (3) from Jonathan Lekkerimäki
2nd Period:
2:09- NYR: Will Cuylle (1) from Noah Laba
16:56- VAN: Elias Pettersson (2) from Brendan Gallagher and Drew O'Connor (SHG)
18:25- NYR: Tye Kartye (2) from J.T. Miller and Vladislav Gavrikov
3rd Period:
1:04- NYR: Alexis Lafrenière (5) from Gabe Perreault and Mika Zibanejad (PPG)
5:57- NYR: Gabe Perreault (3) from Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad
15;22- NYR: Will Cuylle (2) from Eeli Tolvanen and Braden Schneider
Oct 11, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers defenseman Sean Durzi (5) and Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser (6) battle for control of the puck in the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
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In their first five games of the NHL’s 2026-27 season, the Buffalo Sabres have lost three games – all in regulation time – by a combined score of 14-4. And in their past two games – both defeats at the hands of the Dallas Stars and Utah Mammoth – the Sabres have been outscored 8-1. It doesn’t take an advanced analytics expert to recognize that Buffalo’s offense is not getting the job done in the ‘O’ zone.
And if you go through the list of the Sabres’ point producers, you see very quickly that a slew of veterans need to ratchet up their offensive numbers, and they need to do it in a hurry.
For instance: star center Josh Norris has exactly one point in five games. So does center Ryan McLeod, and so does star winger Zach Benson. These three players combined to produce 131 points in 190 games last season, so they’re clearly capable of generating more offense.
But Norris, Benson and McLeod at least have gotten onto the scoresheet in one game this season. You can’t say the same for Josh Doan, Justin Danforth and Olen Zellweger. Danforth and Zellweger haven’t played the full five games, but Doan in particular has been a significant disappointment. We’re talking about a 21-year-old player who had a breakout year for the Sabres last season, posting 25 goals and 52 points in 82 games. So having no points in five games is a major problem for Doan.
It’s no wonder, then, that Buffalo has the sixth-worst offense in the league thus far this year, averaging only 2.20 goals-for per game. Lindy Ruff can’t hop over the boards and produce goals and assists to help the Sabres’ goaltending – and you’d better believe Buffalo’s goalies need all the help they can get.
The Sabres have to figure out a way to produce points, but they won’t come easy. In fact, Buffalo’s next four games come against strong teams – the Montreal Canadiens (twice), Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. Those teams aren’t registered charities, so the Sabres will be up against it trying to drum up offense.
Granted, we’re still talking about a small sample size here. There’s plenty of time for Buffalo to start posting more offense. But if the aforementioned Sabres players fail to get on the scoresheet sometime soon, the repercussions are going to be dramatic.
Buffalo GM Jarmo Kekalainen can’t allow his team to backslide to the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings. So if the Sabres continue to struggle on offense, a notable roster shakeup could be very soon to follow.
Cole Beaudoin skated in his third professional hockey game in three days against the Canucks on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden.
Amid Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury, the Rangers sent Beaudoin to Hartford and recalled Juuso Parssinen on Saturday to maximize their long-term injured reserve pool. Assigning Parssinen to the Rangers roster over Beaudoin added $308,000 to their cap and brought the organization closer to its optimal LTIR capture.
Cole Beaudoin warms up at Capital One Arena on October 09, 2026 in Washington, DC. NHLI via Getty Images
The new paper transactions rule in the collective bargaining agreement requires players sent down to appear in one game before they are eligible for a recall.
Beaudoin only took one shift for Hartford on Saturday night, but evidently it was part of the game plan.
“He played very little,” head coach Mike Sullivan said of Beaudoin before the Rangers beat the Canucks 6-2 at Madison Square Garden. “He’s a young guy. He has tons of energy. He didn’t play very much [Saturday] night, so that was by design. Cole’s a good player. He’s played very well for Hartford to this point. He’s deserving of the opportunity he has with us. We like his potential and where it could go.
“He’s a young guy; he’s going to make mistakes along the way, but we’ll help him through that process. Overall, we really like his game.”
The 20-year-old Beaudoin appeared unfazed by his fluctuation between the AHL and NHL.
Describing the back-and-forth as “crazy,” Beaudoin said he was happy to be back with the varsity group and that he is trying to enjoy the process of it all. He once again centered the Rangers fourth line between Jaroslav Chmelar and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
Cole Beaudoin skates in his first NHL game against the New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden on October 06, 2026 in New York City. Getty Images
In his second NHL game Friday in Washington, the Ottawa native had a “Welcome to the NHL” moment.
Beaudoin committed the turnover along the wall in the defensive zone that led to Boone Jenner’s game-winning goal in a 3-1 Capitals victory.
“It’s obviously tough,” he said of the sequence. “You never want to do that, obviously. Coming in your second NHL game, and then you do that, you feel bad for the group and [I] felt really bad, but going out in the third, just kind of trying to wash it down and still have confidence in myself to make plays.
“Obviously, it’s an unfortunate bounce there, but I have confidence in myself to make plays and know that I’m capable of playing at this level.”
The six goals the Rangers scored Sunday night marked a season high.
Registering his 287th career power-play point — and his 250th as a Ranger — with an assist on Alexis Lafrenière’s second-period score, Mika Zibanejad became the third Rangers skater in franchise history to do so.
The Rangers are scheduled for a day off Monday before returning to game action Tuesday against the Lightning at home.
The Calgary Flames dropped their fifth straight game to open the season, falling 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.
At 0-5-0, the Flames are still searching for their first win, but there were some encouraging signs offensively. Calgary scored a pair of quality goals to battle back into the game before Anaheim pulled away in the second period.
The Ducks brought plenty of offensive firepower into Calgary and made the most of their opportunities. Ryan Lacombe opened the scoring on the power play in the first period before Morgan Frost answered with a highlight-reel goal for the Flames.
Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Matt Coronato set up Frost with a pass that sent the forward in alone on Ville Husso. Frost made a smooth backhand-to-forehand move before tucking the puck into the net to even the score.
However, the Ducks responded with goals from Ryan Poehling and Nikita Nesterenko in the third period. Those two markers proved to be the difference as Anaheim held on for the win.
Dustin Wolf stopped 24 of 28 shots for Calgary, but the young goaltender remains in search of his first victory of the season.
Suniev showed off his shooting ability and offensive awareness on the play, getting the puck away quickly from a tough angle before Husso could react. It was a positive moment for the young forward as he continues to adjust to the NHL level.
2. Matt Coronato Continues to Produce
Coronato was named the game’s second star after recording two assists against Anaheim. He has been one of Calgary’s more consistent offensive threats through the opening five games, finding ways to create chances even when the results have not always followed.
With two assists on Saturday, Coronato now has three points, one goal and two assists, through five games. As the Flames look to turn their season around, his ability to generate offence will remain important.
3. Dustin Wolf Still Searching for First Win
Wolf remains winless through his first three starts of the season after allowing four goals on 28 shots against Anaheim.
The Flames goaltender has now surrendered 16 goals across those three appearances, posting a 5.42 goals-against average and a .816 save percentage over that span.
Those numbers reflect a difficult opening stretch for both Wolf and the Flames. Calgary will need to find more consistency defensively while giving its goaltender better support as it looks to get into the win column.
The Buffalo Sabres made a major move this off-season when they trade defenseman Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks in a multi-player deal.
Byram quickly signed a six-year, $75 million contract extension with the Blackhawks after the trade. With this, he will have a massive $12.5 million cap hit starting next season.
Now, after landing his big payday, Byram is having a nightmare start to his tenure with the Blackhawks.
In five games so far this season with Chicago, the former Sabres defenseman has zero points to go along with a minus-8 rating. With this, there is no question that Byram is not leaving a great first impression with his new team.
While Byram has struggled early on with the Blackhawks, he has plenty of time to heat back up. Sometimes it takes players time to adjust to their new teams when traded, and this could very well end up being the case with Byram.
Byram spent three seasons with the Sabres from 2023-24 to 2025-26. In 182 games with the Sabres over that span, he posted 21 goals, 68 assists, 89 points, and a plus-25 rating. This included him scoring 11 goals and recording a career-high 42 points in 82 games last season for Buffalo.
Former Montreal Canadiens goalie Jake Allen has reached a very impressive career milestone.
Allen appeared in his 500th career NHL game in the New Jersey Devils' 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Allen certainly put together a solid performance in his milestone game. This is because the former Canadiens netminder saved 20 out of 21 shots he faced. With this, he finished the contest with a strong .952 save percentage.
An NHL goalie reaching the 500-game mark is always impressive. Allen has had himself a solid career, and he will now be looking to continue to have success as it carries on.
In 500 career NHL games split between the St. Louis Blues, Canadiens, and Devils, Allen has a 227-202-45 record, a .907 save percentage, and a 2.75 goals-against average. He also was a member of the Blues' 2019 Stanley Cup winning team.
Allen spent four seasons with the Canadiens from 2020-21 to 2023-24. In 127 games over that span with Montreal, he posted a 41-68-15 record, an .899 save percentage, and a 3.30 goals-against average.
Kent Hughes began to break the logjam on the left side of the Montreal Canadiens’ blueline on Friday night by sending Jayden Struble to the Nashville Predators. For the last four seasons, Struble had been competing for a roster spot with Arber Xhekaj for the last three seasons and was poised to do it again this season. This time, however, Adam Engstrom had joined the fight, and with Kaiden Guhle ready to jump back into action, something had to give.
Fans have generally welcomed Struble being dealt, even though the 25-year-old sometimes partnered with Lane Hutson; he wasn’t the fan favourite, but Xhekaj and his gritty side were. This past offseason, Xhekaj took some time to sign his new deal, likely because the blueline was so crowded.
This season, Xhekaj has seen more action in four games, though that's a small sample. In all but one game, he played 12 or more minutes. He’s been used on the penalty kill, and after getting hit with a ten-minute misconduct on Thursday night, he wasn’t benched. Martin St-Louis still used him. Granted, as Lane Hutson said after the game, it was a questionable call, one that might not have happened had he not been called Xhekaj, but still. In game five, he only had 7:30 of ice time, but there were seven defensemen in the lineup, meaning less ice-time to go around.
The Hamilton native seems to have a longer leash this season, and he might have been craving that last year; at the smallest mistake, he was stapled to the bench. Still, Xhekaj doesn’t see Struble being traded as a vote of confidence from the organization to him:
I don’t look at it that way really. There are still a lot of guys, still a lot of good prospects, so I still have to earn my spot every day, work on my game. I don’t look at it like that.
- Xhekaj on his reality
Xhekaj isn’t wrong; with Guhle back in action, the Canadiens will dress seven defensemen on Saturday night. When the same question was put to St-Louis, the coach found a nifty way to sidestep the question:
Well, yes, I mean, with Strubs [Jayden Struble] we reached a point where we cannot give him what he deserves a bit more. He’s an NHL defenseman, and I think he’ll get a better opportunity to grow his game. He gave us great hockey; he's a great guy, so we wish him the best.
- St-Louis on Struble
He might not have said that Xhekaj has earned a vote of confidence, but the proof is in the pudding: he’s been using the hulking defenseman more than before and whichever way you look at it, he’s still in Montreal while Struble isn’t. When the bench boss was pushed a bit more about Xhekaj, he explained:
I think he’s – Arber gave us some good minutes. He’s helped us on the kill, in managing ice time. I think he can be dangerous in the offensive zone on the right side. He’s got a big one-timer and stuff. So overall, I’ve liked what I’ve seen.
- St-Louis' assessment of Xhekaj's season start
It remains to be seen whether Xhekaj stays in the lineup when the Canadiens revert to a more traditional six-blueliner, 12-forward formation, but so far, so good for the fan favourite.
Dealing with a rash of untimely injuries and a woeful, winless 0-4-2 start, the Philadelphia Flyers have made more roster moves in search of a spark for the slumping roster.
On the heels of a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon, the Flyers have re-called top defense prospect Oliver Bonk from the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
In a corresponding move, the Flyers placed standout winger Travis Konecny on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 8, ruling him out at least a week from that date. Konecny, 29, has three assists this season, and appeared to have suffered an injury late in Thursday night's game against the Ottawa Senators.
On Sunday night, the Flyers will have the tall task of facing the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes without Konecny and top-four defensemen Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen, and the absence of the latter, in particular, creates the opportunity for Bonk to play.
Defenseman Helge Grans, who remained with the NHL club due to his placement on season-opening injured reserve, was given the chance to play against the Bruins on Saturday, but he and veteran defense partner Simon Benoit were distressfully ineffective.
As a result, the Flyers are going to change things up at the position, re-calling a defenseman like Bonk instead of a forward to replace the injured Konecny.
Grans, 24, will have to pass through waivers in order to be re-assigned to the Phantoms should the Flyers elect to send him down.
This will be a bit of a precarious position for Bonk to be in, having just played for the Phantoms on Saturday and getting thrown right into a back-to-back, but that was also his first game since Oct. 3.
Assuming Bonk's legs are fresh - he had two assists, three shots on goal, and a +2 rating in a 5-4 overtime loss to Cleveland on Saturday - he should be able to help keep the Flyers moving in the right direction going up against a ferocious Carolina forecheck.
The 21-year-old played in two NHL games last season, one in the regular season and one in the playoffs, scoring one goal and one assist.
Here is a quick update of the prospects the Sabres who are not currently in the NHL:
Prokhor Poltapov – LW - 33rd overall in 2021
The 23-year-old winger slogged through his first two KHL seasons, playing a depth role with CSKA Moscow, but after scoring just 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in 56 regular season games in 2024, Poltapov tripled his career-high with 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) in 68 games in 2025. Poltapov signed a two-year contract extension to remain with CSKA, and finished last season with very similar totals (16 goals, 24 assists in 68 games.
The Sabres have indicated that Poltapov is in their plans once his KHL deal has elapsed. This season, he is tied for the club lead with seven goals in 14 games.
Topias Leinonen– G – 41st overall - 2022
The big 22-year-old Finn wallowed at various levels of the pro league in his home country, but improved when he shifted to Sweden and thrived with Mora IK (13-10-0 record, 2.31 GAA, .910 save %, and four shutouts) in 2025. Leinonen was brought over to North America last season and alternated between AHL Rochester and ECHL Jacksonville, putting up subpar numbers. With Devon Levi gone, it was expected that Leinonen would share duties with Scott Ratzlaff with the Amerks, but an injury in off-season training has found the big netminder on injured reserve since the start of training camp.
The Sabres have a number of right-handed blueliner prospects, including their last two first-round picks, Radim Mrtka and Daxon Rudolph. Komarov’s offensive game from junior did not translate to his first two pro seasons (6 goals, 23 assists in 124 games), but this season the 22-year-old has started well with three assists in four games for AHL Rochester.
Jake Richard - RW - 170th overall - 2022
The Jacksonville, FL, native made impressions at the prospect tournaments and summer development camps the last few seasons, and as a sophomore at the University of Connecticut, where he averaged over a point per game (15 goals, 28 assists) in 34 games. His numbers dropped as a junior (27 points), and Richard signed a pro deal with the Sabres this summer. The 22-year-old is getting a top-six opportunity with the Amerks with most of the club’s forward prospects playing in the NHL, and in four games, the winger has his first professional goal and an assist in four games.
