Opening Night Crashed a Banner, Ended Streaks, and Ran Out of Scoreboard

The Carolina Hurricanes gathered at the blue line, watched their Stanley Cup championship banner rise to the rafters, tapped their sticks, posed for the photo, and then promptly lost.

Gustav Forsling blasted a one-timer past Brandon Bussi with 4.3 seconds left in overtime to give Florida a 1-0 win in Raleigh, spoiling the whole evening. It was the only overtime shot the Panthers managed, which feels about right for a game where 65 minutes of hockey produced exactly zero goals on 13 combined power plays (Florida went 0-for-7, Carolina 0-for-6).

Jacob Markstrom stopped 15 shots in his Panthers debut, quietly answering the season's biggest question about Florida's crease after Sergei Bobrovsky left for Toronto. The Panthers also showed off the offseason's most fun family reunion: both Tkachuk brothers are now in Florida, and captain Aleksander Barkov is back from the injury that torpedoed last season.

The NHL noted this was only the third time in its modern era that the two previous Cup winners met in a season opener (the others: 1962-63 and 2019-20). If the other two openers were this tense, we should do it every year.

William Nylander scored 48 seconds into the game, the Scotiabank Arena crowd went orbital, and then the Montreal Canadiens calmly ruined everything.

Josh Anderson and Alexandre Carrier each had a goal and an assist, Zachary Bolduc added the eventual winner, and Jakub Dobes stopped 26 shots as Montreal snapped Toronto's 10-game home-opening win streak.

This was supposed to be the dawn of a bold new Maple Leafs era. Nine players made their Toronto debuts, most notably No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (21 saves), and Kirill Marchenko, who was acquired from Columbus on Monday and immediately got an assist on Nylander's opener. The franchise overhauled the roster after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Night one of the new era: a loss to the rival that ended last season in the conference final.

McKenna's first game ended with zero points and one hard lesson about Original Six road environments. There will be easier Tuesdays.

Nothing happened for 56 minutes. Then Boston scored three times in the final four.

Fraser Minten netted the game-winner with 3:46 left off a neutral-zone takeaway, JJ Peterka scored 52 seconds later in his Bruins debut, and Mark Kastelic added the empty-netter to finish off a 3-0 win. Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves, 10 in the third, for the shutout.

The win was Boston's 11th consecutive home-opening victory, tying the NHL record. It also spoiled Mike Sullivan's 1,000th game as an NHL head coach. Somewhere there is a commemorative puck for that milestone gathering dust.

This was the game of the night and it is not close.

Paul Cotter scored twice, including the winner 1:59 into overtime, as Vancouver beat Edmonton 6-5 in a game that featured a 5-2 Canucks lead evaporating in the third period. The Oilers roared back behind Evan Bouchard, whose hat trick and five-point night made him the first defenseman in NHL history to record a five-point game in a season opener. Vasily Podkolzin scored twice, the second with 43 seconds left in regulation, to force overtime.

Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves for Vancouver, which won 25 games all of last season and finished dead last. The Canucks are already 4 percent of the way to matching last year's win total. Progress.

For Edmonton: the comeback earns a point, the goaltending (Tristan Jarry, 17 saves on 23 shots) earns a long film session, and Bouchard earns the right to be very annoyed that his historic night ended in a loss.

Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and his goal was the 700th point of his career, as Vegas beat Chicago 5-2 in Ryan Craig's head-coaching debut. Victor Olofsson opened the scoring on the power play, 20-year-old Trevor Connelly scored in his NHL debut, Noah Hanifin answered Chicago's rally 39 seconds after it started, and Mark Stone added the empty-netter.

But the story was Patrick Kane. In his first game with the Blackhawks since February 22, 2023, the 37-year-old won a footrace to a loose puck and buried a vintage breakaway at 4:04 of the third to pull Chicago within 3-2. For about 39 seconds, the building believed. Then Hanifin ended it.

Carter Hart stopped 24 shots for Vegas. The Blackhawks played without captain Connor Bedard, who is out until November after left shoulder surgery, which tells you roughly where this rebuild stands.

Five games down, 79 to go for everyone who played. Tonight the Flyers open at home against the Penguins, the Islanders visit Toronto, and the Kings head to Colorado. The season is officially too long to feel guilty about checking scores on your phone at dinner.