Saturday’s 13-game slate opens with Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning looking to log their fourth consecutive victory before closing with Nazem Kadri and the Flames aiming to extend a lengthy season-opening winning streak of their own. The contests involving Tampa Bay and Calgary are two of the six games carried by Sportsnet, which includes four on Hockey Night in Canada.
* Cole Perfetti, Vladislav Namestnikov and Neal Pionk pocketed their first career four-point games as the Jets erupted for eight goals and extended their franchise-record season-opening winning streak.
* Nathan MacKinnon notched his club-record 14th career overtime tally to cap a multi-goal comeback win and vault Colorado to its first victory of the season.
JAM-PACKED SATURDAY FEATURES 12+ HOURS OF HOCKEY ON SPORTSNET
A 13-game Saturday will start early and end late, including six games available nationally on Sportsnet in Canada opening and closing with teams looking to keep their unblemished record intact. It starts with the Lightning (3-0-0, 6 points) visiting the Senators (2-2-0, 4 points) at 1 p.m. ET and closes with the Flames (4-0-0, 8 points) facing the Kraken (3-2-0, 6 points) at 10 p.m. ET.
Storylines across Sportsnet’s six game slate include:
* Nikita Kucherov (6-1—7 in 3 GP), who won his second Art Ross Trophy in 2023-24, is off to the best three-game start of his career. He enters this afternoon’s game against Ottawa with more career points against the Senators (13-35—48 in 35 GP) than he has against any other franchise.
* The Oilers visit the Stars in a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Final in which Edmonton advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in six games. That series opened with a double-overtime winner from Connor McDavid and closed with a tight 2-1 Oilers win in Game 6 that saw McDavid open the scoring and assist on the series-clinching goal. In total, McDavid led all players in the series with 3-7—10 in 6 GP.
* The puck drops on Hockey Night in Canada at 7 p.m. ET, with Auston Matthews (1-2—3) and Mitch Marner (0-3—3) both coming off their first three-point outings of the season. Matthews has posted consecutive three-point outings seven times, including four occurrences in 2023-24, while Marner has done so 10 times in his career (3 in 2023-24).
* A pair of rookies with early-season buzz will be in action when Lane Hutson (0-4—4 in 5 GP) and the Canadiens visit the Islanders while Matvei Michkov (2-2—4 in 4 GP) and the Flyers host the Canucks. Hutson logged 30:05 of ice time in Montreal’s last game Oct. 17, which stands as the third-highest total by a Canadiens rookie on record (since officially tracked in 1997-98). Michkov is the first player in Flyers history to record each of his first four career points on the power play. Former Sharks defenseman Jeff Jillson holds the longest such stretch, each of his first 11 career points came with the man advantage in 2001-02.
* Calgary, which can start a season 5-0-0 for the first time in franchise history, will also look to earn a five-game win streak for the first time since Feb. 19 – March 2. The Flames own an 8-3-0 record in 11 all-time games against the Kraken, including a perfect 6-0-0 mark when the teams face off in Seattle.
PERFETTI POWERS JETS TO HIGH-SCORING FOURTH CONSECUTIVE VICTORY
Cole Perfetti (2-2—4), Vladislav Namestnikov (1-3—4) and Neal Pionk (1-3—4) posted single-game career highs for points as Winnipeg nearly matched its franchise record for goals in a contest and improved to 4-0-0 on the campaign. The Jets have outscored opponents by a combined 18-5 margin through their first four games and lead the League with a +13 goal differential.
* Friday marked the third game in franchise history where a trio of Jets/Thrashers players each had four points following Nov. 24, 2018 (Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor & Bryan Little) and Dec. 20, 2003 (Ilya Kovalchuk, Marc Savard & Vyacheslav Kozlov). Namestnikov is Kozlov’s nephew.
* Nikolaj Ehlers (2-1—3) earned all three of his points in the first period, including scoring one of Winnipeg’s four power-play goals. The Jets were one power-play goal shy of tying their single-game franchise record set by the Thrashers on Oct. 23, 2006.
GOALS BY EDEN PRAIRIE PLAYERS FEATURED IN #NHLSTATS: LIVE UPDATES
Friday’s edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates featured more notes from the three-game slate, including Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon (1-1—2) notching the overtime winner after Troy Terry tied the contest with 12.6 seconds remaining in regulation and Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake burying his second goal in three games this season. MacKinnon’s marker capped a multi-goal comeback victory for Colorado which was sparked by Casey Mittelstadt (1-1—2) cutting the Avalanche’s deficit to 2-1.
NHL PODCASTS WEEKLY ROUNDUP
* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Oct. 17): Mailbag: Week 2; buy low, sell high; Georgiev’s struggles
* NHL @TheRink (Oct. 16): EJ Hradek Joins; CBJ home opener, Goalie goal, more
* NHL Fantasy on Ice (Oct. 14): Fantasy pickups: Week 2; injury replacements; wagering spots
* NHL Schlagschuss (Oct 14): Episode 9: Nico Sturm als Vorbild für das deutsche Eishockey
* La Tasse de Café LNH (Oct. 11): Montembeault retient l’attention chez les Canadiens
QUICK CLICKS
* Nathan MacKinnon buries OT winner
* NHL EDGE stats: Under-the-radar offseason movers excelling early
* Kaapo Kakko working to show he can be more than ‘a third-line guy’ for Rangers
* J.T. Miller’s daughters have priceless reaction to Canucks forward’s overtime winner
* Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury dresses as McLovin from ‘Superbad’ for Halloween