Two weeks and 105 games into the 1,344-game NHL schedule, the early returns have already produced a few sharp turns around the league. The New York Rangers have turned Madison Square Garden back into a difficult stop, Seattle is scoring in bunches, and Edmonton may have found an answer in net. On the other side, Philadelphia has yet to find its footing, while Montreal is searching for the form that carried it to last spring’s Eastern Conference Final.
Rangers flying at home as Garand takes the crease
The Rangers are 6-2-0 overall and a perfect 5-0-0 on Garden ice after Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. That fifth home victory arrived remarkably early compared with last season, when New York began 0-6-1 at home, was blanked five times in that stretch, and did not record its fifth Garden win until Dec. 20, in its 18th game. The club managed only nine regulation home wins all of last season.
New York’s late-game work has been particularly strong. The Rangers have a 10-1 edge in third-period scoring at home, helped by five empty-netters, and that start matters with 10 of their opening 17 games scheduled in Manhattan. The bigger test now comes without Igor Shesterkin, who suffered a season-ending lower-body injury in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Rookie Dylan Garand has stepped into the spotlight well, most recently stopping 25 Tampa Bay shots as the Garden crowd chanted his name. His ability to carry that workload will shape whether this fast home start becomes something more lasting.
Seattle has supplied one of the league’s loudest offensive surprises. The Kraken are 5-2-0, averaging four goals a night after ranking 28th at 2.73 per game last season. They have scored six or more three times in seven games after doing so just twice across last year’s 82-game schedule.
There is reason to temper the rush: two of those outbursts came in 6-1 wins over Calgary, and Seattle also beat Detroit 6-3. But the Kraken also went into Capital One Arena on Oct. 11 and beat Washington 5-3, putting five past Logan Thompson. They own a 28-19 all-situations goal edge and have outscored opponents 23-12 at five-on-five.
The underlying numbers offer a warning light. Seattle has been outshot 214-188, sits at 43.7 percent in five-on-five shot attempts, and is leaning on a 15.3 percent five-on-five shooting rate, third-best in the NHL, plus a .931 save percentage, fifth-best. Still, for a club that struggled to finish chances a year ago, the confidence gained from early offense is real.
Philadelphia has gone the other direction. The Flyers, who reached the playoffs and won a round last season, are the only Eastern Conference team still without a victory at 0-5-3. They have been outscored 30-10, beginning with a 7-0 home-opening loss to Pittsburgh on Oct. 1.
They did rally from two goals down against Seattle on Tuesday and pushed the game to a shootout, but the larger picture remains troubling. Philadelphia has just two first-period goals and four in the third, including two against the Kraken, while getting outshot 277-166 overall and 85-45 in opening periods.
Dan Vladar’s numbers have reflected the team’s rough start: a 4.21 goals-against average and .875 save percentage, a major drop from his 29-14-7 record, 2.42 GAA and .906 save percentage last season. No Flyers skater has more than two goals or three points. Matvei Michkov has two goals and is minus-7; Trevor Zegras has one goal and is minus-6; Tyson Foerster has one and is minus-8. Owen Tippett and rookie Porter Martone each have one goal. On the blue line, Travis Sanheim is minus-9, while Jamie Drysdale is scoreless and minus-5. There is plenty of season remaining before the April 10 finish, but the Flyers need a cleaner first 20 minutes and more from their core players quickly.
Levi steadies Oilers while Jets and Senators keep rolling
Devon Levi’s first Edmonton appearance was a wild one: seven goals allowed on 22 shots in a 9-7 victory over Vancouver on Oct. 1. Since then, he has settled the Oilers down. In three straight wins over Seattle, Anaheim and Los Angeles, Levi has allowed four goals on 91 shots. He made 39 saves in Edmonton’s 4-1 win over the Kings despite Los Angeles owning a 40-17 shot advantage.
Since the Vancouver game, Levi is 3-0 with a 1.34 GAA and .956 save percentage. The 24-year-old arrived from Buffalo on July 1 in a trade that sent a 2028 third-round pick to the Sabres, with Edmonton receiving a 2028 seventh-rounder as well. He brought 36 NHL games of experience, including 17 wins, a 3.29 GAA and .894 save percentage, plus a 23-win season with Rochester in which he posted a 2.83 GAA and .904 mark.
For an Edmonton club that has dealt with inconsistent work from Tristan Jarry, Levi’s emergence could be significant. Reliable goaltending is central to the Oilers’ hopes this season and, potentially, to the long-term outlook around Connor McDavid.
Winnipeg has also managed a strong opening despite Connor Hellebuyck remaining suspended after seeking a trade and failing to report to training camp. The Jets are 4-1-1 following Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Minnesota, when Cole Perfetti scored twice, Kyle Connor netted his seventh, Mark Scheifele finished with a goal and two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 19 saves.
Skinner is 3-0-1 with a 2.47 GAA and .917 save percentage, the kind of early goaltending Winnipeg would have expected from Hellebuyck. The Jets have already taken Central Division wins over Colorado, 3-2, and Minnesota, while also winning on the road in Detroit and Pittsburgh. The Hellebuyck matter still needs resolution, but each win reduces its immediate effect on the room and gives Winnipeg more leverage whether the goalie returns or waits for a deal.
Ottawa is 5-2-0 in the post-Brady Tkachuk stretch, with Tim Stutzle driving the offense, Thomas Chabot chewing up enormous minutes, and Linus Ullmark setting the early goaltending standard. Stutzle has five goals and six assists for 11 points, recording at least one point in six of seven games. Chabot has played 27 minutes or more in four consecutive games and in five of seven; even his lowest workload was 24:13 in a 4-1 victory at Boston.
Ullmark is 5-0-0 with a 1.27 GAA and .948 save percentage. The Senators were badly beaten 7-2 by St. Louis on Tuesday with Samuel Ersson in goal, and they need better results from their other netminder: Ersson has lost both starts while permitting 11 goals on 57 shots.
Ottawa’s record is more notable because Jake Sanderson has missed the past six games with a lower-body injury and Artem Zub has yet to play as he recovers from knee surgery. The Senators have held their ground without two key defensemen, but continued success will require stronger nights in front of Ersson.
Montreal, meanwhile, has not matched the expectations placed on a team coming off an Eastern Conference Final run. The Canadiens have been shorthanded, with Ivan Demidov missing four games because of a lower-body injury and still sidelined, Kaiden Guhle absent for the first four games while returning from offseason surgery, and Mike Matheson now out with a lower-body issue.
The special teams have contributed to the uneven opening. Montreal’s power play is 2-for-20, while its penalty kill has allowed five goals on 26 opposition chances. Tuesday offered a snapshot of the concern: the Canadiens carried a 3-1 lead against Buffalo into the third period, surrendered two goals in 61 seconds, then escaped with a 4-3 shootout win.
That is not a crisis for a club with championship ambitions, but it is an early reminder that the Canadiens have work to do before their game resembles the one many expected to see this season.
