The 2025-26 NHL regular season got underway with three games on Tuesday, October 7, 2025. Most notably, the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers raised a banner at Amerant Bank Arena to celebrate the feat. Here’s a roundup of Tuesday’s results and highlights.
Panthers 3 – Blackhawks 2
The absences of Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk did not prevent the defending champions from capturing a win in their home opener. Jesper Boqvist snapped a 2-2 deadlock midway through the third period. Spencer Knight stopped 34 of 37 shots in a losing cause.
Penguins 3 – Rangers 0
The visiting Penguins rode a 25-save Arturs Silovs shutout to victory.Pittsburgh made a first-period Justin Brazeau goal stand up the rest of the night. Subsequently, Brazeau and Blake Lizotte added empty-net goals. Evgenii Malkin collected two assists. Dan Muse, a former Rangers assistant coach, won his NHL head coaching debut. Meanwhile, former Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan saw his New York coaching debut spoiled. Ben Kindel (one shot on goal, 15:11 of ice time) and Harrison Brunicke played their respective first NHL games. Igor Shesterkin turned aside 27 of 28 shots.
Avalanche 4 – Kings 1
Martin Necas scored even strength and power play goals as the visiting Avs downed LA on opening night. Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon collected two helpers apiece.Meanwhile, Scott Wedgewood (24 saves) flirted with a shutout for two-plus period. Kevin Fiala’s power play marker at 15:06 of the third period got LA on the board. Anze Kopitar, slated for retirement after this season, assisted on the lone Kings goal.
