The 2020-21 NHL season begins Wednesday with five games scheduled, including Stanley Cup defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning, which hosts the Chicago Blackhawks.
[PROJECTED LINEUPS FOR TODAY’S GAMES]
Penguins (0-0-0) at FLYERS (0-0-0)
17:30 ET; NBCSN, SN1
The regular season begins with the first of eight Battle of Pennsylvania games scheduled in the MassMutual East Division. The Philadelphia Flyers have won their last four season openers since 2016-17, including a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 NHL Global Series at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on October 4, 2019. Carter Hart, 22-year-old Philadelphia goalkeeper and Tristan Jarry, a 25-year-old who is the new No. 1 goalkeeper for the Pittsburgh penguins, could face this rivalry for a long time. Evgeni Malkin centers (15 points; five goals, 10 assists) and Sidney Crosby (14 points; six goals, eight assists) are third and fourth in Penguins history respectively for points in the season opener behind Mario Lemieux (20 points; six goals, 14 assists) and Jaromir Jagr ( 16 points; three goals, 13 assists).
Status report
Penguins ahead Kasperi Kapanen and Defender Flyers Shayne Gostisbehere are unavailable due to the COVID-19 protocol.
CANADIANS (0-0-0) the MAPLE LEAFS (0-0-0)
19:00 ET; SN, TVAS, SN, NHL.TV
Joe Thornton The 23rd NHL season will begin and the first for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the 41-year-old could start on the left wing on a line with Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner. Matthews has scored 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in four season openers and is one of four players to start his NHL career scoring one goal in his team’s opening four seasons (Dit Clapper, Dave Andreychuk and Sergei Fedorov). Montreal Canadiens reveals a renewed list of striker additions Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson, defender Joel Edmundson and the goalkeeper Jake Allen, which will support Carey Price.
Status report
The Maple Leafs had an optional morning skate … Canadiens had a full morning skate.
BLACKHAWKS (0-0-0) and LIGHTNING (0-0-0)
8 pm ET; NBCSN
Stanley Tampa Bay Lightning Cup defending champion will be without a striker Nikita Kucherov for the season due to hip surgery. Redirect Steven Stamkos will be in line after recovering from a basic muscle injury that kept him away from all but one game in the Stanley Cup 2020 final. The Blackhawks start the season without a captain. Jonathan Toews (medical problem), which is out endlessly, and the center Kirby Dach (operation on the right wrist), which is out 4-5 months. Redirect Patrick Kane scored 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 13 NHL season openers, tied with striker Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin (18 points; 11 goals, seven assists) for most active NHL players.
Status report
Blackhawks Center Carl Soderberg his visa issues have been eliminated and he is undergoing a mandatory seven-day quarantine in Chicago. … Lightning ahead Tyler Johnson and defender Luke Schenn are expected to return to the group on Friday after the exemptions are removed.
CANUCKS (0-0-0) to ULEIU (0-0-0)
22:00 ET; SN, SN1, TVAS2, NHL.TV
The Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers open up against each other for the second straight season after the Oilers defeated the Canucks 3-2 on October 2, 2019. Vancouver is run by a 22-year-old center Elias Pettersson and 21-year-old defender Quinn Hughes. They have too Thatcher Demko, a 25-year-old goalkeeper with whom he expects to start the season in a timeshare Braden Holtby. Leon draisaitl, voted the winner of the Hart Trophy last season as NHL MVP and Connor McDavid leads the Oilers after the centers finished first and second in the NHL in scoring last season (Draisaitl, 110 points; McDavid, 97 points).
Status report
porter Mikko Koskinen starting for the Oilers … Coach Travis Green has not revealed whether Holtby or Demko will start for the Canucks. … Edmonton signed Devon Shore on a one-year, $ 700,000 contract and gave him up.
BLUES (0-0-0) the AVALANCHE (0-0-0)
22:30 ET; NBCSN
Two of the top teams in the Western Conference last season go straight to their first of eight games scheduled in the Western Honda Division, starting with the opening at Ball Arena. Torey Krug will debut for St. Louis Blues after the defender played seven full seasons for the Boston Bruins. Blues also added before Mike Hoffman, who scored at least 20 goals in six consecutive seasons and named captain Ryan O’Reilly after defender Alex Pietrangelo, who signed with the Golden Knights of Vegas. The Colorado Avalanche is considered a top contender for the Stanley Cup, and center Nathan MacKinnon, a Hart Trophy finalist last season, said he believes they are more than capable of winning it.
Status report
The blues came first Vladimir Tarasenko on LTIR and promoted before Jordan Kyrou and Mackenzie MacEachern from the taxi team to the active list. … said avalanche coach Jared Bednar Erik Johnson did not participate in the camp because the defender gave positive results to COVID-19. He’ll be back on Saturday if all goes well.