Right wing Pavel Dorofeyev notched a hat trick in the second period, but the Golden Knights lost 6-5 to the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena.

Center Jack Eichel had a goal and three assists after signing an eight-year, $108 million extension earlier Wednesday. It was his second straight opener with four points.

Right...Read more

WASHINGTON — The 2025-26 Boston Bruins will not be the most aesthetically pleasing hockey team we’ve ever seen. But if their brand can produce the kind of results we saw in the season opener in at Capital One Arena, they will no doubt be forgiven.

The B’s frustrated the Washington Capitals in the neutral zone, got good goaltending, won ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C — The Edmonton Oilers, famously, had the New York Islanders. The Florida Panthers had the Tampa Bay Lightning. Steel sharpens steel. Sometimes, it takes a dynasty to make a dynasty. It takes a multiple champion to create a multiple champion.

Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers couldn’t become what they became until they found a way past ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — It was never a question of if the Golden Knights would sign center Jack Eichel to the largest contract in franchise history. It was only a matter of when.

The two sides finished the deal Wednesday, with Eichel signing an eight-year extension with the Knights with an average annual value of $13.5 million. The deal will give him the...Read more

PITTSBURGH — I'm still trying to get over the fact that new Penguins coach Dan Muse looks more like Pirates broadcaster Joe Block than Joe Block does.

I'm still not sure Muse isn't Joe Block. I half-expect him to launch into baseball soliloquies every time he is interviewed.

But that isn't the story today. The story is this: Muse took his ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — It’s easy to pick on NHL executives when it comes to player safety.

The issues, after all, are complex. The fans, without a doubt, are partisan. The stakes, everyone knows, are high.

Also, and this is likely the most important factor, league executives are a bunch of cowards.

None of this should come as a surprise after the ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — Beware the champion that is wounded, and doubted. You have given that team another layer of hunger, an element of underdog motivation — ill-fitting as that seems.

The Florida Panthers opened their 32nd NHL season Tuesday afternoon-into-night (an odd 5 p.m. puck drop) as a two-time defending Stanley Cup champ.

“We want ...Read more

NEW YORK — The Dan Muse era began Tuesday with a 3-0 win for the Penguins.

In Muse’s first game as an NHL head coach, the Penguins won their season opener against Mike Sullivan and the rival New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

It was probably happenstance that Muse’s first game as a head coach came against his previous team. He ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — Aaron Ekblad brought the Stanley Cup to the ice pregame Tuesday. Moments later, the Florida Panthers watched as their second championship banner rose into the rafters at Amerant Bank Arena.

“We want three!” the sold-out home crowd chanted.

Their quest to do just that is starting on the right note.

Jesper Boqvist scored ...Read more

SUNRISE, Fla. — The final piece of the Florida Panthers’ emotional 24-hour reflection of their latest championship run is complete.

The team raised its second Stanley Cup championship banner on Tuesday ahead of its season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena.

It was a relatively subdued pregame ceremony. ...Read more

MIAMI — Go ahead and doubt the Florida Panthers if you wish.

They know that the tough road ahead of them has gotten even tougher.

They don’t have Aleksander Barkov, their captain and arguably the NHL’s best two-way center, for at minimum the regular season and most likely beyond as he recovers from surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Luc Robitaille knew his hockey playing career was over when it took him longer to get his battered body ready for a game than it did to play it.

"It became harder and harder physically," said Robitaille, whose next stop was the hall of fame. "I think I knew at that point."

And once his mind was made up, there was no turning ...Read more

DENVER — The ghost in the stall meant one thing: Nathan MacKinnon isn’t done haunting the NHL yet.

As the Colorado Avalanche locker room opened for media a few Fridays ago during training camp, the big names crisscrossed, de-taped and unwound. Captain Gabe Landeskog held court at one end. Newbie Brent Burns grinned toothlessly at the other...Read more

DENVER — Everything in place and a place for everything.

What began with team bonding at the captain’s house, the annual golf outing and spirited workouts at Family Sports Center, can end only in one place for the Avalanche's season to be a success.

With Gabe Landeskog raising the Stanley Cup on the ice.

This expectation was a burden for ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — It wasn't quite as newsworthy as Alex Ovechkin setting the NHL's all-time scoring record, but last season Sidney Crosby also had an unprecedented accomplishment that spoke to both his brilliance as a hockey player and his remarkable longevity.

The Penguins' superstar center and captain became the first player in NHL history to ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Kyle Dubas was hired to be the Penguins' president of hockey operations and general manager in 2023 and has guided the Penguins through two mostly forgettable seasons. Their futility, however, hasn't been his fault, as the team was mostly a crumbling dynasty still trying to hang on to their glory years and hoping for one last ...Read more

BRANDON, Fla. — The length of Jon Cooper’s contract with the Lightning has been a mystery in recent years, as the team has chosen not to disclose the terms of their head coach’s deal.

At the end of last season, general manager Julien BriseBois would only say that Cooper’s contract term included the upcoming 2025-26 season. But Cooper ...Read more

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Marc-Andre Fleury is officially retired.

Just ignore that final trip down memory lane.

After the goaltender’s final appearance for the Wild and then one last hurrah with Team Canada at the World Championships in May, Fleury started to figure out what his role would be in the Wild front office.

Then Pittsburgh general ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — If you are surprised that the Carolina Hurricanes may offer a contract to a player who is currently suspended by the NHL for his role in a sex scandal, you just haven’t been paying close enough attention.

And not to Michael McLeod and the crimes of which he was accused and found not guilty — which have kept him out of the ...Read more