Peter Laviolette Makes Kings Coaching Debut Against Avalanche

Peter Laviolette gets his first look behind the Los Angeles Kings bench on Wednesday night, and Drew Doughty takes the ice for the first time wearing the captain’s C. Their opener in Denver is one of three games on the NHL slate, with the Flyers and Penguins renewing a playoff-tested Pennsylvania rivalry and the Islanders bringing Matthew Schaefer to Toronto for a meeting with fellow No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna.

New faces and a new captain in Denver

The Kings open against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena at 10 p.m. ET. Laviolette begins his tenure with his seventh NHL club, bringing 846 regular-season victories and 1,594 games coached into the job. He previously spent two seasons with the New York Rangers from 2023 through 2025.

Doughty replaces longtime Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who retired after a 20-season career in Los Angeles. The veteran defenseman will lead a club trying to respond after being swept by Colorado in the opening round of last season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado finished with the Presidents’ Trophy after posting 121 points in 2025-26. The Avalanche swept the Kings before their own postseason ended with a four-game conference-final loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Avalanche also locked up coach Jared Bednar on Wednesday, agreeing to a four-year extension that keeps him under contract through the 2030-31 season.

Nathan MacKinnon starts his 14th NHL campaign, all with Colorado, after leading the League with 53 goals and winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy last season. No player has captured the goal-scoring award in back-to-back years since Toronto’s Auston Matthews did it in 2021 and 2022.

MacKinnon, 31, was third in Hart Trophy voting behind Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. His larger target remains another championship for Colorado, which has not won the Stanley Cup since 2022.

Top picks meet in Toronto

Schaefer and McKenna share the same draft pedigree, but they arrive at Scotiabank Arena from different stages of their NHL careers. The New York Islanders defenseman, selected first overall in 2025, opens his season against the Maple Leafs’ 2026 top pick in the Canadian premiere of Prime’s Wednesday night package.

Schaefer claimed the Calder Trophy last season after recording 59 points, the most ever by an 18-year-old NHL defenseman. His 23 goals matched the single-season mark for a rookie blueliner.

McKenna already has one NHL game on his ledger. The 18-year-old forward made his Toronto debut in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, finishing minus-2 with one shot in 15:19 of ice time.

Pennsylvania opener carries playoff memory

Pittsburgh visits Philadelphia at Xfinity Mobile Arena in the first half of the TNT doubleheader. The clubs last met in Philadelphia in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference First Round series on April 29, when the Flyers ended the matchup in overtime.

Dan Vladar stopped all 42 Pittsburgh shots in that game, and Cam York scored 17:32 into extra time for the 1-0 clincher. Both teams had surprised observers by reaching the playoffs, with Pittsburgh finishing second and Philadelphia third in the Metropolitan Division.

The Penguins again lean on the enduring core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. This is their 21st season together, the longest shared run by a three-player group in North American professional sports history.

Crosby enters his 22nd NHL season and his 20th as Pittsburgh captain, moving beyond Steve Yzerman’s 19-season Red Wings captaincy for the League record. He begins the year seventh on the NHL’s all-time scoring list with 1,761 points, made up of 654 goals and 1,107 assists.

• 11 points would move Crosby past Marcel Dionne, who has 1,771.
• He needs 37 to overtake Ron Francis at 1,798.
• He is 89 points shy of Gordie Howe’s 1,850 and fourth place on the all-time list.

Wednesday schedule