Eight games fill the Thursday NHL board, with season openers, rivalry carryover and a few early crease decisions worth tracking. Buffalo and Columbus start the night at 7 p.m. ET, while Edmonton and Vancouver close the slate after Tuesday’s high-scoring surprise in British Columbia.
Quick facts
- Buffalo visits Columbus at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
- Philadelphia heads to New Jersey at 7 p.m. ET on Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu after a 7-0 loss in Pittsburgh.
- Juuse Saros is expected to start Nashville’s opener against Minnesota; Filip Gustavsson remains unavailable for the Wild because of injury.
- San Jose captain Macklin Celebrini, 20, enters the season as the NHL’s youngest captain.
- Edmonton and Vancouver meet again at 10 p.m. ET after the Canucks beat the Oilers on Tuesday.
Thursday’s rink notebook
The Sabres arrive in Columbus having finally broken the league’s longest playoff absence last season, then winning a postseason round. The Blue Jackets have gone six years without playoff hockey, though they have recently been within reach of getting back.
There will be no shortage of blue-line work in that matchup. Columbus has reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski, while Buffalo counters with Norris finalist Rasmus Dahlin. The game begins at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Philadelphia does not get much time to reset after Pittsburgh handed the Flyers a 7-0 defeat Tuesday. The Flyers travel down I-95 to face the Devils in Newark at 7 p.m. ET, with Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu carrying the game.
The clubs have only met twice in the playoffs since 2005 despite sharing a division. Philadelphia took their 2010 series 4-1, New Jersey won 4-1 in 2012, and both series winners went on to lose the Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers open Madison Square Garden against Tampa Bay at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+ after Boston blanked New York 3-0 in the Rangers’ first game. Tampa Bay won 4-1 in its last visit to MSG on Nov. 29, 2025.
Darren Raddysh posted three assists in that Lightning win, but he is no longer in Tampa Bay after a summer trade sent him to Toronto.
Minnesota visits Nashville at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Saros is the projected starter for the Predators after helping Finland beat Sweden 4-1 at the 2026 Olympics.
Gustavsson, Sweden’s netminder in that international game, is sidelined by injury. Jesper Wallstedt, who was also on Sweden’s Olympic roster, is available to Minnesota.
Seattle opens in Calgary at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Both clubs begin with modest outside expectations, but the Pacific Division could leave room for a team to push upward.
Calgary’s watch list includes young forward Matvei Gridin and defenseman Simon Nemec. Nemec came over during the summer looking for a larger opportunity than he found amid New Jersey’s crowded defense corps.
Chicago faces the Utah Mammoth at 9:30 p.m. ET, with Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu carrying the game. Utah’s American core includes Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley, while Chicago has veteran Patrick Kane, who scored in the Blackhawks’ Tuesday opener.
Kane’s NHL debut came on Oct. 4, 2007, when Keller was nine years old and Cooley was three. The Mammoth also offer Chicago an early measuring stick after Utah gave the eventual Stanley Cup finalist Vegas Golden Knights a difficult postseason series last spring.
Florida’s visit to San Jose starts at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+. The Panthers opened with the NHL’s second-oldest roster, averaging 30.48 years, behind only Los Angeles at 31.13.
San Jose sits near the other end of that scale, fourth-youngest at 26.29 years. Celebrini leads that group after a 2025-26 season that included an Olympic breakout and a Sharks single-season scoring record.
Edmonton and Vancouver finish the night at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Vancouver’s Tuesday win over the Oilers landed as an early surprise, and the matchup recalled the wide-open Smythe Division games of earlier decades.
The question for the rematch is whether either side can slow the pace, or whether another goal-heavy game is coming.
League notes
Colorado has extended coach Jared Bednar through the 2030-31 season. Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber underwent surgery for a fractured skull, and there is no timetable for his return.
Toronto and Columbus completed a larger swap centered on Kirill Marchenko and Matthew Knies, with four additional players included in the transaction.
Wednesday’s scores: Pittsburgh 7, Philadelphia 0; Toronto 2, New York Islanders 1; Colorado 8, Los Angeles 4.
Oct. 1 in hockey history
On Oct. 1, 1981, the Colorado Rockies dealt their 1983 first-round pick to the New York Islanders for defenseman Bob Lorimer and forward Dave Cameron. The Rockies moved to New Jersey before that draft, and the selection became the No. 3 overall pick.
The Islanders used it on Verdun Juniors center Pat LaFontaine, who later entered the Hockey Hall of Fame.
