Thursday’s 11-game NHL slate has a little of everything: a Detroit scorer sitting two shots away from 300, Connor McDavid tearing through the league’s early scoring race, a third-string goaltender suddenly carrying the Rangers, and Connor Bedard settling back into Chicago’s lineup after shoulder surgery.
Alex DeBrincat brings the biggest individual milestone watch to Little Caesars Arena, where the Detroit Red Wings host the still-winless Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. ET. DeBrincat enters with 298 career goals in 702 games, along with 305 assists and 603 points. Two more goals would make him the fourth-fastest active American-born player to reach 300, trailing only Auston Matthews, Kyle Connor and Jake Guentzel.
The 28-year-old has given Detroit an early spark despite the club’s 1-3-2 record. He owns four goals and four assists in six games and put up two goals and an assist in Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to New Jersey. His chase comes a day after he signed a seven-year, $91 million extension that begins next season and carries a $13 million annual cap hit. Philadelphia arrives at 0-5-3 looking for its first victory.
Out west, the Edmonton Oilers have not lost in regulation through six games, and McDavid is the main reason. The captain has piled up 17 points, including 13 assists, during Edmonton’s 5-0-1 start. When Utah visits Rogers Place at 9 p.m. ET, McDavid will have a chance to become the quickest player to 20 points in a season since Mario Lemieux reached the mark in seven games in 1988-89.
Edmonton can also match the 1983-84 Oilers for the second-longest season-opening point streak in franchise history with a seventh straight game collecting at least one point. That 1983-84 club began 7-0-0; the franchise record belongs to the 1984-85 team, which opened with 15 consecutive games without a loss at 12-0 with three ties. Evan Bouchard has been right behind McDavid on the NHL scoring sheet, posting six goals and eight assists in six outings. Utah comes in at 5-2-0, holding a one-point Central Division lead after winning three of its last four, including two in a row.
Blue-line production and crease pressure
Minnesota defenseman Quinn Hughes takes an eight-game opening assist streak into the Wild’s home game against the St. Louis Blues. Hughes has two goals and eight assists in seven appearances for the 4-2-1 Wild. An assist Thursday would put him alongside John-Michael Liles and Filip Kuba as the only NHL defensemen to open a season with assists in at least eight straight games. Liles reached nine in 2010-11, while Kuba had eight in 2008-09.
Kirill Kaprizov has kept pace up front for Minnesota with eight goals and three assists in seven games. He can become the first Wild player to be the NHL’s first 10-goal scorer in a season. St. Louis enters Grand Casino Arena at 3-2-1.
At Prudential Center, Dylan Garand is expected to get another start for the New York Rangers against the Devils. With Igor Shesterkin out for the season following the lower-body injury he suffered Oct. 9, Garand has become a critical piece of New York’s 6-2-0 opening. The 24-year-old is 3-1-0 with a 1.15 goals-against average and .951 save percentage in four games, three of them starts. He stopped 25 shots in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Tampa Bay.
Garand began the season as the Rangers’ third goalie, cleared waivers Sept. 28 and reported to AHL Hartford before being recalled Oct. 1. The call came after Joonas Korpisalo suffered a lower-body injury expected to keep him out four weeks. New York selected Garand in the fourth round, 103rd overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Devils are 3-3-0.
Chicago gets a second look at Bedard after the 21-year-old returned Tuesday with an assist in a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh. Bedard had missed the Blackhawks’ first six games after undergoing surgery on the shoulder he injured in an offseason training session July 2. He led Chicago last season with 30 goals, 45 assists and 75 points in 69 games. The Blackhawks, 2-5-0, host Winnipeg at the United Center, where Jets linemates Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele both carry three-game point streaks. Scheifele has a goal and five assists over that stretch, while Connor has four goals and an assist.
Thursday schedule
- Buffalo Sabres at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET — TSN4, MSG-B
- New York Islanders at Ottawa Senators, 7 p.m. ET — RDS, TSN5, MSGSN
- Seattle Kraken at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m. ET — Prime Video, The Spot, KONG
- Vancouver Canucks at Florida Panthers, 7 p.m. ET — SCRIPPS, SNP, TVAS
- New York Rangers at New Jersey Devils, 7 p.m. ET — MSGSN2, MSG
- Philadelphia Flyers at Detroit Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. ET — Disney+, HULU, ESPN+, SN+
- Winnipeg Jets at Chicago Blackhawks, 8 p.m. ET — CHSN, TSN3
- San Jose Sharks at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m. ET — SCRIPPS, NBCSCA
- St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild, 8 p.m. ET — Wild+, BN+, STLNHL, MINNHL
- Utah Mammoth at Edmonton Oilers, 9 p.m. ET — SNW, Utah16, Mammoth+
- Calgary Flames at Vegas Golden Knights, 10 p.m. ET — SCRIPPS, SN1, TVAS
