The Buffalo Sabres practiced at Key Bank Center on Friday after losing 6-3 in Columbus in the season opener on Thursday, and had defenseman Olen Zellweger on the ice for workouts for the first time since leaving the preseason game against the Blue Jackets late last month following a hit from blueliner Carson Soucy.
The 22-year-old was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks over the summer for a second round pick, and skated alongside Owen Power, replacing righty Louis Crevier in the top four. Head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that Zellweger cleared concussion protocol and should be available to play in the home opener on Saturday against the defenseman he replaced as Power’s tandem partner, Bowen Byram, and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Crevier was shifted down to the bottom pairing, splitting time with Zach Metsa on the right side with lefty Matt Grzelcyk. Veteran Dennis Gilbert was sent back to Rochester, who open the 2026-27 AHL season against the Calder Cup champion Toronto Marlies at Blue Cross Arena.
In ex-Sabres news, Byram through two games with the Hawks is getting #1 defenseman ice time, averaging near 25 minutes, but has no points and is -4. This is less reflective of Byram as an individual, and more reflective of how dreadful Chicago is without Connor Bedard.
Another former Sabre had an auspicious debut for his new club, the Edmonton Oilers. Goaltender Devon Levi, allowed seven goals on 22 shots in a wild 9-7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. On Friday, Alex Tuch will make his Washington Capitals debut against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Chicago Blackhawks are 0-2-0 to start the season. They didn't just lose to the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth. They were blown out in both games by a combined score of 11-2. They didn't show any improvement from the first game to the second either. In fact, they got worse.
Now, the Blackhawks can't lie down and let the season slip away before it even starts. They have a match on the East Coast against the Buffalo Sabres to close out the three-game road trip to start the season. After that, they are headed to Chicago for the home opener.
"I have tons of belief in these guys," head coach Jeff Blashill said following the Utah game. "This is two games, neither more nor less. Does that mean there is urgency? Yes. We have urgency to go play a good hockey game on Saturday. My focus is us getting better as a group. That doesn't change. We are super young; it can't be an excuse. These guys have to step up."
Ahead of that game in Buffalo, Blashill may be looking for something to spark the team. There are a handful of routes he can go, and one of these three would make the most sense and be the most realistic:
1. Insert Kevin Korchinski and/or Ethan Del Mastro
The Chicago Blackhawks have been lousy defensively, especially when they are skating around their own zone. Protecting the house is paramount to winning hockey games, and they have done a poor job of it over two games.
The Blackhawks are never going to bench Bowen Byram or Alex Vlasic, who had the two worst nights of any defenders on the team against Utah. They are their two highest-paid blue-liners, so they will be relied on to figure out their game.
However, Sam Rinzel is a second-year player with plenty of development left. He could be someone who takes a seat in favor of Kevin Korchinski or Ethan Del Mastro. Although Artyom Levshunov has had flashes in the first two games, he is a candidate to watch a game from the press box as well.
Jeff Blashill was asked about the possibility of getting either Korchinski/Del Mastro into a game, and he left every door open.
"I’m not there. Probably," Jeff Blashill said when asked if he'd make a switch like that. "We’ll see. We consider everything, so we’ll look at it and see if we think the two other options are better than the options that played."
If those first two games aren't a reason to insert either Korchinski or Del Mastro, then why are they on the team? They were each solid in the preseason and earned their spots. Between that and the team's performance, why not now?
2. Change pairings in general
Jeff Blashill can also change up the pairs, regardless of who else gets inserted in. Bowen Byram and Alex Vlasic played poorly enough on Thursday to warrant splitting them up to see if that creates a spark. He changes the forward lines with ease, but why not the defensive pairs more?
If they get another game together to see if they can work through it, the logic is sound. However, they should be on short leashes based on their play. What was on display against both the Golden Knights and the Mammoth, but especially the Mammoth, is unacceptable in the NHL for any sustained period of time.
3. Create forward lines and leave them be
In the same vein, the forward lines have been in the blender a lot since training camp started. That hasn't been a recipe for success in the NHL, especially for the Blackhawks so far this season.
Everything will settle down when Connor Bedard, their best forward, returns. Until then, they have to find the right mix. It could come down to creating four balanced lines and leaving them be for a while. Injuries, like the one that Andrew Mangiapane is going through, can and will change things, but letting players develop chemistry is important.
So far, Chicago's best line has been their fourth line. Cole Smith, Jordan Greenway, and Ryan Greene make up that line, and they have yet to be separated. They play well together and are clearly getting used to each other. It may be time to allow the top three lines to do so as well.
Chicago has only scored two goals in two games. Greenway scored one of them, while Patrick Kane scored the other. For Greenway, it's a result of feeling good about his role on the team with that line. For Kane, his pure skill took over on one play.
"I don’t think there’s any lack of belief in our group," Blashill said. "We’re 0-2; that’s the fact of it. We haven’t played our best. But it’s neither more nor less than that."
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New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) defends the net during the second period of a game against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, N.Y.
DETROIT — So, Dylan Garand will be the Rangers backup goalie in October after all.
Among the last round of cuts from training camp less than a week ago, the rookie netminder was in Hartford for just two practices before he was summoned back to New York for the Blueshirts’ home opener at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night and his fourth NHL start Friday night in Detroit.
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“Dylan and I have had a lot of conversations along the way,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “I had a number of conversations with him when the decision was made to send him to Hartford. He knows that we believe in him. I don’t know that I have to say anything else. He’s a good, solid goalie. And we believe in him, and we know he’s going to make saves for us.”
It’s crystal clear now that Korpisalo was slated for the No. 2 job since the Rangers acquired him from Boston on July 1.
Devils center Nico Hischier (13) scores a goal past Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) in the second period of a Rangers-Devils pre-season hockey game in Newark, N.J., Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. Bill Kostroun for NY Post
With a 24-year-old homegrown goalie in Garand pushing his way out of the pipeline, however, the Rangers called it a competition heading into training camp. Garand maximized his first NHL opportunity last season in the form of a 2-0-1 record and a .948 save percentage, but management believes he needs to be getting starter’s reps in Hartford to continue developing.
That led to the Rangers putting Garand on waivers just a few days after the Canucks claimed 24-year-old goalie Leevi Meriläinen from the Senators.
“I’m sure he was disappointed,” Sullivan said. “He’s a fierce competitor, and he wants to play in the NHL. That’s part of his personality that we love.”
Concerns over the possibility of Garand getting claimed may have been overblown, but they weren’t unwarranted. On the same waiver wire last weekend, the Jets claimed Clay Stevenson and the Devils picked up Remi Poirier.
It’s true, Garand’s sample size in the NHL isn’t quite big enough to take a flyer on, but young and untapped goalies were hot commodities this preseason. It sure worked out for Brandon Bussi and the 2026 Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
New York Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand (33) defends the net during the second period of a game against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, N.Y. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Waiving Garand ultimately worked out for the Rangers too, but only because he cleared.
Had Garand been claimed, this Korpisalo injury could’ve been a devastating blow to the Rangers. After Garand, the Rangers have a shallow pool of netminders in Spencer Martin (primarily an AHL journeyman) and Callum Tung (split last season between the ECHL and AHL).
Whether you believe Garand should’ve been tabbed as the backup in the first place, Korpisalo came to New York on the heels of a volatile couple of seasons. He has finished with a save percentage above .900 just once in the past six seasons, when he split the 2022-23 campaign between the Blue Jackets and the Kings.
Still, the Rangers naturally went with the bigger body of work than the unproven rookie.
The NHL opportunity for Garand was always going to come at some point this season, especially given Igor Shesterkin’s injury history.
It may be earlier than expected, but it’s here now.
Garand said he never wanted to go back to the AHL, and Friday night was his first chance this season to make his case.
It would be foolish to condemn the Philadelphia Flyers two games into a young 2026-27 season, but in those two games, against divisional opponents looking to take charge, the Flyers looked completely unprepared, outmatched, and disinterested in it all.
Through two games, the Flyers have, according to Natural Stat Trick, allowed the most shot attempts in the NHL at 5-on-5 (125) and rank 18th in the league in expected goals generated (1.92), which is the fewest amongst all teams that have played two games thus far, and still ranks below 11 teams that have played only one game, including their two opponents: Pittsburgh and New Jersey.
Starting their season winless at 0-1-1, the Flyers have already dropped points to two divisional opponents, with the 7-0 loss in their home opener against Pittsburgh especially egregious.
The actual on-ice play aside, the most concerning part of it all is that nobody has an actual answer as to what is going on with the Flyers. Not head coach Rick Tocchet, not the leadership group, not Christian Dvorak, and not Joseph Woll.
"I'm not sure. If it keeps happening, I guess we got bigger issues, and so we need to clean it up. Need to get back to playing the way that we know we can, and we know that works," Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said after the 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils on Thursday night.
"I'm not sure why we're kind of straying away from that when it's worked in the past."
Added Tocchet a short time later: "We got to really buckle down here, and the problem is we don't have much practice time, so we're going to have to do it on the fly here. ... I have no idea. We just talked as coaches, like, we'd have to maybe change some practices. We need more skill work. Unfortunately, we've only had five or six practices, but I don't know. I don't know, over the summer... but we are choppy with the puck."
Astute Flyers fans will recall that the reference to a lack of practice time was a common refrain repeated by Tocchet's predecessor, John Tortorella, throughout his rollercoaster tenure with the Flyers.
From Tortorella's time in Philadelphia, many things remain the same. The Flyers look most competitive when they have superb goaltending behind them, and they rely on a large volume of blocked shots and spontaneously manufactured offense to stay competitive.
Most of all, the power play is still the team's Achilles heel.
"Offensively, I think that some guys are squeezing it, too. And it's only our second game. I don't know why we're squeezing it," Tocchet added. "We got to relax if there's a play to be made."
On social media, it's become a bit of a source of consternation amongst fans how often Tocchet refers to players as "nervous" before or after games, and leading up to the season, Tocchet felt that his group was both anxious and excited to follow up their performance last season.
It's unflattering to the second-year coach, but also unflattering to a group of players - the veterans in particular - that's already been through this song and dance with Tortorella in 2023-24.
What happened to player development?
Porter Martone has been stuck on the end of the Flyers' bench in each of the team's first two games this season. (Photo: James Guillory, Imagn Images)
The one thing the Flyers have been able to hang their hats on in recent seasons is their player development, though that has stalled out in a major way at the beginning of the season.
Top prospect Porter Martone has been effectively benched in each of his first two regular season games of the year, and Alex Bump played just one shift in the third period against New Jersey and finished that game with a team-low 8:18 of ice time... in a game that went to overtime.
Meanwhile, Christian Dvorak, Tyson Foerster, and Trevor Zegras led the forwards in ice time; Dvorak made the turnover that sprung the Devils on Luke Hughes's game-tying goal halfway through the third period, and Zegras finished the game playing left wing next to Sean Couturier and Noel Acciari. He and Sanheim also combined for the turnover that led to Jack Hughes's game-winning goal in overtime.
But Martone, Bump, Matvei Michkov, and Carl Grundstrom finished the night as the bottom-four in ice time for the Flyers. The irony was that Martone was on the ice for the Flyers' first goal, and Grundstrom for the second.
I asked Tocchet his perspective behind those personnel changes, to which he responded, "I needed some lines here to somewhat control Jack. He was caving some of our lines, and so I just tried to get the best nine, I thought, for tonight."
Player development can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, though, and players like Bump, Michkov, and Martone will never be able to handle playing against elite players if they don't learn at some point.
The Flyers drafted Michkov and Martone to be those players themselves one day, but it's not going to happen with the process going the way it is.
Twenty-two-year-old David Jiricek has yet to play a game for the Flyers this season, and Tocchet had said on the record he told the player he has to get Jiricek in the lineup in one of these games.
Is Game 3 against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes an appropriate time to turn to a young defenseman carrying high expectations with your team winless to start the season? Probably not, and that's another lose-lose situation right there, whether Jiricek plays or not.
Again, it is far too early to pull the plug on the 2026-27 Flyers, but how they show up and perform against the Hurricanes on Saturday night will give us a better idea of where they're headed, playing a third division rival in four nights.
One of the few areas where the Buffalo Sabres did not excel last season was on the power play. In spite of a unit that has one of the best offensive blueliners in Rasmus Dahlin, and one of the most consistent scorers in the NHL in Tage Thompson, the Sabres finished last season 21st in the league on the man advantage.
In spite of some changes to the unit’s personnel, Buffalo continued to struggle on the power play in the season opening 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, as the Sabres went 0-for-4 on the night, including a full two-minute two-man advantage.
“We had our opportunities. I mean,.... just after the one expired, (Konsta) Heleinus scored, but (we had) a big opportunity with the five-on-three that we missed an opportunity," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said after the game. " I thought some of the puck decisions, five-on-four, we did have a couple good looks. Five- on- three, there were a couple times that I just thought, we deferred to the play that wasn't there. I thought our whole game, we tried to be a little bit too fancy."
Noah Ostlund signs extension with the Sabres
The special teams struggles were also apparent on the penalty kill, where the club finished in the top five of the NHL last season. Columbus scored twice on the man advantage in three opportunities, something that Ruff blamed on some new personnel getting utilized on the short-handed units.
The Sabres will hope to get a win against the Chicago Blackhawks in the home opener on Saturday. The Hawks have opened the season with two lopsided losses against Vegas and Utah without star center Connor Bedard, and have allowed 11 goals, while scoring only twice.
Regardless of the outside noise and uncertainty surrounding the organization, the Detroit Red Wings still have business to take care of.
Detroit will host the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena on Friday evening, officially opening its 101st NHL season. However, the Red Wings will be without two key pieces of their lineup.
Forward Dylan Larkin will miss Detroit's first two games while recovering from an off-ice training injury, while unsigned RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson has returned to his native Sweden amid a contract stalemate.
But the NHL schedule doesn't stop for injuries or contract disputes.
Despite the challenges they're facing, the Red Wings will enter the season with the pride that comes with being the winningest American-based NHL franchise and an Original Six club.
"We're the Detroit Red Wings, and that means something," said head coach Todd McLellan, who has his name on the Stanley Cup as a Red Wings assistant coach in 2008. "We are an Original Six team; we have a lot of stuff going on around us, but we're still the Detroit Red Wings.
And if it doesn't mean anything to me, or to the players in the locker room, or the trainers, or anyone else in the organization, then shame on them. They shouldn't be part of it."
Pride can only go so far, as the Red Wings cannot rest on laurels.
They currently own the NHL's longest postseason drought at 10 years, which is also the longest in franchise history.
Despite having several top-notch talents, questions remain about whether this is finally the group that can get over the hump, especially after three straight March collapses. Larkin's situation remains unresolved, as is Edvinsson's.
Additionally, the Red Wings' executive leadership situation remains unsettled.
However, with a full regular season ahead, Detroit has no choice but to move forward and hope to recapture some of the magic that makes being a part of the Red Wings so special.
"We've got work to do; we know who we are, we know what we have to do, and things we have to overcome," McLellan said. "But we are the Detroit Red Wings, and that means something.
And we're going to approach it that way all year."
Younger generations of Red Wings fans have yet to experience the championship-level success the franchise once enjoyed.
With one eye on the past and the other on the future, it's up to the current crop of Red Wings to pull the club out of its prolonged slump and back into the NHL's upper echelon.
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After just a single game at the NHL level to start the season, Nashville Predators General Manager Chris MacFarland announced that Ryan Ufko has been reassigned to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League on Friday.
"I thought his play tapered a little bit," Predators head coach Andrew Brunette told Brooks Bratten, the Preds' team reporter. "We're hoping for a little better effort last night from him, and he got overwhelmed a little bit in that hockey game. And I think we’ve got some things to figure out on the backend, and we don't really want him sitting out. We want him playing.”
Ufko, a 23-year-old defenseman out of Smithtown, New York, was Nashville's 115th overall pick at the 2021 NHL Draft. He's currently starting his third fully professional season, and although he's made appearances at the NHL level sporadically, he's been a regular in Milwaukee for the past two seasons.
The Admirals are set to start their season tomorrow night as they visit the Rockford IceHogs.
LAS VEGAS - The day has finally come for the Ducks to kick-off their 2026-27 season. It begins with a rematch against one of their opponents from last season's playoff run, the Vegas Golden Knights. Despite losing the series, the Ducks had the most success out of any of the Golden Knight's playoff opponents, taking the series to six games.
"It's gonna be a fast five minutes (to start)," Leo Carlsson said. "It's always loud in Vegas. Just play a simple game in the beginning, and then it's going to open up. They're an older and heavy team, we've known that since last year."
"It's always an exciting game, the first night," Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think that when we finished (training) camp there, we had a little maybe tough ending. But I thought we had a real good week and a couple good days here going into the game. These guys want to play for keeps. I really liked the pace of our practices. We want to play with some speed, we want to play with some energy, we like the enthusiasm in our team. A lot of new faces, a lot of new players. At the same time, we've got some guys that we're excited to see how they're going to do this year, and I think they should be getting better. That's what we're looking forward to as well."
The Ducks' lineup will feature a pair of NHL debutants. Judd Caulfield, who had an impressive training camp, will skate alongside Jeff Malott and Tim Washe on the fourth line. Caulfield has appeared in over 200 AHL games and was utilized heavily by former San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane last season. Defenseman Noah Warren will be paired with Tyson Hinds on the third defensive pair. Injuries to Drew Helleson and Ian Moore have opened up opportunities for players like Warren and Travis Mitchell (who will be making his Ducks debut) to crack the lineup.
"I'm just extremely excited and blessed to have this opportunity," Caulfield said. "It's something I've been dreaming about my whole life and the time's finally come. Just super pumped to get out there and super excited for the game."
"Really excited," Warren said. "It's a dream come true to play the first NHL game, so really excited. Try not to think about it too much tonight, but we'll see what happens."
"He's a big body, gets in the way. I think that gives us some size back there. I just think that he's evolving from this year to last year. We've got a couple of right D who aren't playing, so it's a chance for him to get into the game and we feel that he should be fine out there."
- Joel Quenneville on Noah Warren
"He's had a real good camp. He gives us some size, physicality. He looks like he's improved his quickness and his pace to his game. Just an up-and-down winger that plays hard. Took advantage of an opportunity based on his performance. I think last couple years down there (in the AHL), he's just gotten better and better."
- Joel Quenneville on Judd Caulfield
Tristan Luneau, who signed a six-year contract extension with the Ducks on Thursday, will get the first crack at filling the spot next to Jackson LaCombe on the top defensive pair. Despite having played just 14 NHL games since being drafted in 2022, the Ducks are trying to get ahead of the curve by tying down one of their pending RFAs before his breakout has even occurred.
"We think a lot of him. There's a lot of upside to his game. Could push for more ice time in more offensive situations. Defensively, he's a work in progress, like our whole D corps is, kind of as a collective, as a group. We saw him last year at the end of the year. Played a real nice game for us against Nashville. It's a great opportunity, good for him. Now, we've just got to complement one another and make sure our young D, we've got to get better on the job."
After a preseason where it seemed that he would get an opportunity in the top-6, 2026 15th overall pick Nikita Klepov will have to wait to make his NHL debut. Quenneville said that Klepov has a "great feel" for the game offensively and that watching a few games from the press box will help him intake some of the situations that he will be in when he eventually gets into the lineup.
"I would say there's some balance to that thought process, exactly like that."
- Joel Quenneville on whether Nikita Klepov could be on a game management plan similar to Leo Carlsson's rookie season
Tustin native Trevor Connelly netted his first NHL goal for the Golden Knights on Tuesday in his NHL debut. He, among others, will be responsible for replacing the production of Pavel Dorofeyev, who was traded to the New York Rangers during the offseason. Dorofeyev's timely goalscoring was instrumental in helping the Golden Knights beat the Ducks in the playoffs.
Projected Ducks Lines
A.J. Greer - Leo Carlsson - Cutter Gauthier Beckett Sennecke - Mikael Granlund - Alex Killorn Nikita Nesterenko - Ryan Poehling - Frank Vatrano Jeff Malott - Tim Washe - Judd Caulfield
Jackson LaCombe - Tristan Luneau Pavel Mintyukov - Travis Mitchell Tyson Hinds - Noah Warren
Lukáš Dostál (confirmed)
Projected Golden Knights Lines
Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone Brett Howden - William Karlsson - Mitch Marner Trevor Connelly - Tomáš Hertl - Victor Olofsson Braeden Bowman - Nic Dowd - Marc Gatcomb
Young San Jose Sharks star and captain Macklin Celebrini was recently asked to rank his top-5 players under 23 years old in an Instagram reel, and the result was interesting, especially for Montreal Canadiens fans. While most people would argue that Celebrini himself should be at the top of that list, he took himself out of the equation right away, which was the right thing to do.
He then ranked Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard first, followed by New York Islanders blueliner Matthew Schaefer, then chose 18-million-dollar AAV man Leo Carlsson from the Anaheim Ducks. Finally, in fourth place, he opted for Lane Hutson and added Ivan Demidov in fifth place.
About Hutson, he stated that he was “such a special player” and followed that up with, “How about Demidov? He’s a really skilled player. These two are really a great duo, and [it’s] fun to watch them play.”
While it’s always good for players’ confidence to see they’ve landed in various rankings released by media members, there’s something special about being recognized as part of the elite by their peers.
It will be interesting to see how the five players chosen by Celebrini fare point-wise this season. Of course, there’s more to the game than points, but generally, the best players find a way to contribute on the scoreboard. Top pick Bedard is currently sidelined because of a shoulder injury and has already been ruled out of the Hawks’ first three games; while he’ll travel with the team, he won’t play. It will be interesting to see how many of the 84 games he can suit up for. So far, his most productive season yielded 75 points.
Meanwhile, reigning Calder Trophy winner Scheafer put up 59 points in 82 games in his rookie season, and if he stays healthy, it’s almost a given that he’ll improve on that total. As for Carlsson, in three NHL seasons, he’s never played a full 82-game calendar, and he’s never put up more than 67 points. Will he be able to compete in all 84 games this season? Can he take a big step and become a point-per-game player? Last year he had 67 points in 70 games.
As for Hutson, he went from 66 points in 82 games as a rookie to 78 points in 82 games as a sophomore. This season, he’ll also benefit from Chris Kreider’s presence. The Habs defenseman has a knack for creating space and shooting lanes for himself, but he doesn’t have the hardest shots; that won’t matter with an ace deflector trying to tip it in front of the netminder. The pair has already started working on puck tipping in practices, and in time, we should see some clear results on the ice.
As for Demidov, he led all rookies in points in his first year with 62 points in 82 games, but if he gets more playing time with Juraj Slafkovsky this season, that number could go up. The two players have fantastic chemistry, and if they can see more of each other at even strength, they could both increase their production.
Speaking of Slafkovsky, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was asked by TVA Sports who he considers the Canadiens’ biggest weapon on the ice, and he chose the big Slovak. Crosby explained:
I think he can produce in a lot of different ways: big body, he does a lot, he’s physical, he reads the ice well, he can score. He has an impact in a lot of different ways.
High praise indeed for the former first-overall pick at the 2022 NHL draft. When TVA Sports relayed the information, the power forward could hardly believe it.
Do you think the three young Habs will live up to the hype and expectations this season?
DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche won on opening night Wednesday, beating the Los Angeles Kings 8-4 in a game that featured just about everything — a high-octane offense, solid goaltending and even a fight.
Game 2 could be quite the fight as well when the Avalanche take on the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena.
The Hockey News has learned that longtime Blues netminder Jordan Binnington will handle crease duties, and if you know a thing or two about Binnington, you know he and the Avalanche have quite the history.
Let's go back to Game 3 of the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
At that point, the rivalry between these two teams couldn't have been much hotter. The year before, Nazem Kadri was suspended eight games after his hit on Justin Faulk in Game 2 of their first-round series. The Avalanche went on to sweep the Blues and would eventually lose to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games.
But 2022 brought a whole new level to things.
In Game 3, Binnington suffered a lower-body injury after Kadri and then-Blues defenseman Calle Rosen collided while going after a loose puck. Kadri crashed directly into Binnington, knocking the goaltender out for the rest of the postseason.
Binnington wasn't exactly thrilled about it.
During a postgame interview with TNT, he threw a water bottle at Kadri, adding another memorable moment to an already heated series.
The aftermath, however, went well beyond hockey.
Kadri, who is Muslim and of Lebanese descent, became the target of racist comments and threats following the collision. Police were brought in to investigate some of those threats, but Kadri had his own response — and it came on the ice.
He scored a hat trick in Game 4, leading Colorado to a 6-3 win over St. Louis and a 3-1 series lead.
Now things are a little different.
Kadri is back in an Avalanche uniform after spending several seasons with the Calgary Flames, while Binnington is still with the Blues and will be in the crease Saturday night.
One thing that hasn't stayed the same, though, is Binnington's play.
He's not quite the goaltender he was when he helped lead the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019. Last season, Binnington posted a career-low .873 save percentage, and at one point during the season, that number dipped to around .864.
Colorado got a pretty good look at him on New Year's Eve last season. Binnington faced 43 shots and allowed six goals, including three from Valeri Nichushkin, who now plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It could be another tough night for Binnington on Saturday.
Then again, he's shown he can still come up big when the stage gets bigger. We saw that with Team Canada at the Olympics and Four Nations.
But on the NHL side of things, it's been a rough stretch for Binnington.
The Avalanche will see what they can do with him Saturday when they take on their longtime rival at Ball Arena.
While every player's first career NHL goal is memorable in its own way, some are undoubtedly more memorable than others. Luca Cagnoni's first career goal may be one that San Jose Sharks fans never forget.
The Sharks went up 3-0 over the Florida Panthers in the second period, but the Panthers fought back to tie it at 3-3 and sent the game to overtime. Once again, it seemed that the Sharks were going to struggle to close out a game against a top team, but an unlikely hero changed their fate. 3:14 into overtime, Cagnoni fired a wrist shot from inside the face-off circle that beat Akira Schmid and secured a win for the team in teal.
"He'll remember that one, for sure," Ryan Warsofsky said of the goal. "These guys worked really hard this summer. We're in great shape. Luca is one of them and you can see it. You get an extra gear there in overtime, and his skill comes out."
"Hard to write one better than an overtime winner," Cagnoni said postgame. [It's the type] some people dream of [while] playing Chel."
The 21-year-old defenseman then explained the overtime winner from his perspective. "I thought I could beat the guy up the ice, and I saw Smitty with the puck," Cagnoni said. "Smitty had an unbelievable pass and sometimes you've just got to put the puck along the ice."
While Cagnoni has played a few games in the NHL before, this was his first opening night with the Sharks. From the Teal Carpet all the way to his overtime winner, he had a massive smile on his face.
"It's probably going to be a tough one to sleep tonight, but it's an unbelievable day."
Kole Lind is officially back as a member of the Vancouver Canucks organization. The Abbotsford Canucks announced today that they signed the former 2017 second-round pick to a one-year AHL contract, bringing him back to the organization five years after the left.
Lind was originally selected 33rd-overall by Vancouver in the 2017 NHL Draft, going on to spend three seasons with the team’s AHL-affiliate at the time, the Utica Comets. Through 126 games with the Comets, he scored 24 goals and 46 assists. Lind later made his NHL debut with the Canucks in the 2020–21 season, finishing the year with seven NHL games played.
Later on that year, Lind was selected in the 2021 Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. He ended up playing for the Kraken organization up until the 2024–25 season, during which he signed with the Texas Stars.
Lind wasn’t the only signing announced by Abbotsford today. The team also opted to bring in forward Sean Chisholm, who also joins the organization after previously playing for Texas. Chisholm was initially signed to a contract by Vancouver’s ECHL-affiliate, the Kalamazoo Wings, but agreed to a PTO for Abbotsford’s training camp and has since made the team.
Abbotsford takes part in their 2026-27 season-opener tonight, October 2, when they face the Calgary Wranglers at 6:00 pm PT.
Apr 29, 2021; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Kole Lind (78) shoots the puck against Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
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The Edmonton Oilers have played two games this season, scored 14 goals, allowed 13 and walked away with three of four points.
Can anyone play defence anymore?
Edmonton followed Tuesday's 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks with a 9-7 win over those same Canucks on Thursday, and I'm starting to wonder how badly Mike Babcock yelled at these guys after Game 1. Whatever he said seemed to work for about 40 minutes.
The Oilers walked into Rogers Arena, scored five unanswered goals, built an 8-2 lead, then Vancouver scored with one second remaining in the second period. They scored three more times in the third, and suddenly an 8-2 hockey game was 8-6 with 13 minutes left.
“Nobody is in here saying ‘Way to go,’” Connor McDavid said. “We understand that the game has to look a little bit different, but I thought the first 40 is what it could look like a lot of the time and what it should look like a lot of the time. Guys working hard, tracking back, responsible with the puck and just kind of rolling over them. We have to replicate that 40 minutes.”
For 40 minutes, Edmonton did a lot of what it spent training camp talking about, such as managing the puck and not giving Vancouver much of anything. At one point midway through the second period, Edmonton had eight goals, and Vancouver had four shots.
That's a pretty good night if everyone goes home after 40.
The problem is that NHL games still have that third period, and Edmonton spent most of it looking like the team they were last season and nothing like the team they claimed they would be.
Babcock said Tuesday's loss was ridiculous. I'm not sure what word he has left for blowing most of an 8-2 lead two nights later.
“Weird to be excited about the ninth one,” McDavid said. “But it was a big goal at the time.”
Leon Draisaitl's power-play goal gave Edmonton some room after Vancouver had turned a six-goal deficit into a two-goal game.
The Oilers were also missing Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson and Matt Savoie, so there are certainly worse ways to come out of the first two games.
“I'm happy for the guys, happy for myself, we got three of a possible four points, but we have tons of examples of where we have to get better,” Babcock said.
There are 13 goals against worth of examples.
“We know we can be way better,” Babcock said. “What I saw tonight was a group that can play right, that knew what they were doing and then I saw a group that didn't do it.”
They've scored enough to win both of them. They've also given up enough to lose both of them, and Vancouver has been allowed back into games Edmonton had every opportunity to control.
So what happens when Florida comes to town?
The Oilers aren't going to score nine goals every night, McDavid isn't going to put up five points every night and an 8-2 lead shouldn't require another goal before everyone can relax.
Babcock wanted structure, and through two games he's gotten about 40 minutes of it at a time. That's enough to leave Vancouver with two points on a random Thursday in October.
It won't be enough every night.
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In preparation for his NHL debut this past Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Gavin McKenna took the option and skipped the morning skate.
It was taken as a bold move for an 18-year-old not to take the optional morning skate ahead of the biggest game of his hockey career so far. However, it got a positive reaction from teammates and head coach Jim Hiller.
Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev said McKenna's "got some swag" for not going out for the optional morning skate. Even Hiller said, "I actually thought it was great," admitting that the morning skate is for players who feel they need to further prepare for the game later.
On Friday after practice, McKenna was asked about his decision to miss the morning skate.
"Yeah, usually I (do) morning skates," he said. "But with a back-to-back, it was my first game, I wanted to be rested. So yeah, it wasn't a swagger thing. It was just trying to keep my body fresh."
McKenna got his first taste of back-to-back games in the NHL in his first two contests of his career. The Maple Leafs lost to the Canadiens on opening night and secured their first win of the season against the New York Islanders on Wednesday. The next game is against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
"Yeah, it felt not too bad," he said of experiencing a back-to-back early in the season. "Legs might have got a bit heavy after the first game, but yeah, in college you play a few back-to-back, so used to it. But yeah, at the NHL, it's a different breed. So recovery has been a big thing for me this summer and going into this year. And I think living with (Tavares) and just seeing these guys, how they treat their bodies every single day, I think it rubs off on me, and it's helped."
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The festivities, which kicked off Thursday, Oct. 1, included special pregame entertainment, improved in-arena presentation elements and several fan activations throughout SAP Center
The Sharks recorded their first win of the season against the Florida Panthers in thrilling 4-3 overtime victory. Luca Cagnoni scored his first NHL goal to give the Sharks the overtime win.
Next, San Jose will host the Los Angeles Kings for its second matchup of the season.
Fans will be able to purchase the new souvenir vessel at the SAP center. KNBRLuca Cagnoni #42 and Will Smith #2 of the San Jose Sharks celebrates after Cagnoni scored the winning goal in overtime against the Florida Panthers at SAP Center. Getty Images
