NHL Action Returns Tuesday with Opening Night Tripleheader on ESPN

Andrea DiCristoforo

October 6, 2025

Two-Time Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers Raise Championship Banner in Season Opener Against Chicago Blackhawks at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Point Returns Tuesday at 4 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN+
Exclusive Game Action Continues October 9 with an ESPN+/Hulu Doubleheader featuring the New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks
29 NHL Power Play Out-of-Market Games Streaming on ESPN+ This Week

The puck drops on the NHL 2025-26 season on Tuesday, Oct. 7, with an opening night tripleheader Face-Off, exclusively on ESPN and the ESPN App.

The season opens with the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers and Brad Marchand hosting the Chicago Blackhawks and Connor Bedard at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN. Prior to the game, the Panthers will see their franchise’s second-consecutive championship banner raised at Amerant Bank Arena during the Stanley Cup banner ceremony.

At 8 p.m., Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins face the New York Rangers — now led by their former coach, Mike Sullivan — as the Rangers celebrate their franchise’s centennial anniversary.

Closing out the night at 10:30 p.m., the Colorado Avalanche and Norris Trophy winning defenseman Cale Makar will take on the Los Angeles Kings and Adrian Kempe at the Cyrpto.com Arena.

ESPN’s NHL studio show, The Point, returns Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN and ESPN+, ahead of the season-opening tripleheader. Steve Levy hosts this week’s show joined by analysts Mark Messier and Stanley Cup Champion T.J. Oshie in his regular season ESPN debut. The weekly studio show will again surround ESPN’s live coverage of NHL games, including in-depth analysis of key matchups, league trends, dynamic feature stories and hockey lifestyle coverage.

All episodes of The Point will be simulcast live on ESPN+ and will be available for on-demand replay.

On Thursday, Oct. 9, in the first ESPN+/Hulu exclusive games of the season, Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils face the Carolina Hurricanes and Sebastian Aho in a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoff first round at 7:30 p.m. Later at 10 p.m., the Vegas Golden Knights and newest team addition Mitch Marner take on the San Jose Sharks and Macklin Celebrini at the SAP Center.

Exclusive NHL games on ESPN and ESPN+/Hulu this week:

Date	Time (ET)	Platform(s)	Game/Studio Show	ESPN Commentators
Tuesday, October 7	4 p.m.	ESPN, ESPN+	*The Point*	Host: Steve Levy Analysts: Mark Messier, T.J. Oshie
	5 p.m.	ESPN	Chicago Blackhawks at Florida Panthers	Play-by-Play: Bob Wischusen Analyst: Kevin Weekes Insider/Reporter: Emily Kaplan Rules Analyst: Dave Jackson In Studio: Steve Levy, Mark Messier, T.J. Oshie, Arda Öcal
	8 p.m.	ESPN	Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers	Play-by-Play: Sean McDonough Analyst: Ray Ferraro Reporter: Leah Hextall Rules Analyst: Dave Jackson In Studio: Steve Levy, Mark Messier, T.J. Oshie, Arda Öcal
	10:30 p.m.	ESPN	Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings	Play-by-Play: John Buccigross Analyst: Cassie Campbell-Pascall Rules Analyst: Dave Jackson In Studio: Steve Levy, Mark Messier, T.J. Oshie, Arda Öcal
Thursday, October 9	7:30 p.m.	ESPN+/Hulu, Disney+	New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes	Play-by-Play: John Buccigross Analyst: AJ Mleczko In Studio: Steve Levy, John Tortorella, Emily Kaplan, Arda Öcal
Thursday, October 9	10 p.m.	ESPN+/Hulu, Disney+	Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks	Play-by-Play: John Kelly Analyst: Cassie Campbell-Pascall Rules Analyst: Dave Jackson In Studio: Steve Levy, John Tortorella, Emily Kaplan, Arda Öcal

*Please note commentator assignments may be subject to change.

NHL Power Play on ESPN+ (Out-of-Market Games on ESPN+)
In addition to 47 exclusive games on ESPN+/Hulu, more than 1,050 out-of-market games will be available through NHL Power Play on the ESPN App – available to all ESPN DTC subscribers – throughout the season.

NHL Power Play games include the choice of two separate live streams with either home team or away team commentary, as well as Canadian national presentations of Hockey Night in Canada, providing a local experience for fans no matter where they are in the U.S. Replays of every NHL regular season and playoff game on ABC, ESPN, NHL Network and TNT are also made available to stream on NHL Power Play on ESPN+. To sign up or authenticate your eligible Pay TV subscription, visit stream.espn.com/nhl.