Tkachuk's Florida debut, Sennecke's hat trick and the first 14 games: NHL digest, Sept. 14–21
The first 14 preseason games produced Brady Tkachuk's Florida debut, Beckett Sennecke's hat trick and a camp injury list headed by Cale Makar and Mathew Barzal.
The 2026-27 NHL preseason opened Saturday, Sept. 19, and the first two nights produced 14 games — including a split-squad doubleheader between Montreal and Toronto and the first appearances in new uniforms for several of the summer's biggest names. 12 The exhibition schedule runs 65 games through Sept. 26, and the 84-game regular season opens Tuesday, Sept. 29. 3 Standings, the wild-card race and league leaderboards all begin with that opener, so the value of this week's games is narrower: which line combinations a coach is trying, who is getting power-play time, and which roster jobs are still open. 1
Every result from the first two nights
Montreal and Toronto split their squads for two games in two cities on opening night, one at Bell Centre and one at Scotiabank Arena. Home teams won 11 of the 14 games across the weekend, and six were one-goal decisions. 12
| Date | Matchup and site | Result | What stood out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs, Bell Centre, Montreal | Montreal 4-3 (OT) | Cole Caufield scored with 38 seconds left in overtime; Lane Hutson had a goal and two assists 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs, Scotiabank Arena, Toronto | Montreal 4-1 | Phillip Danault scored twice, the first 51 seconds into the game 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Stars at Blues, Enterprise Center, St. Louis | Dallas 2-1 | Jack Becker scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway at 18:29 of the second period 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Jets at Oilers, Rogers Place, Edmonton | Edmonton 5-2 | Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and an assist on the same line 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Blackhawks at Wild, Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul | Minnesota 3-2 (OT) | Tyler Pitlick scored 3:58 into overtime 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Kings at Golden Knights, Toyota Arena, Ontario, Calif. | Vegas 4-2 | Jackson Hallum scored twice in the third period, the go-ahead goal at 14:29 1 |
| Sat., Sept. 19 | Canucks at Kraken, Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle | Seattle 4-2 | Joey Daccord stopped all 14 shots he faced; Vancouver lost Manny Malhotra's first game as coach 1 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Hurricanes at Panthers, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Fla. | Florida 6-3 | Brady Tkachuk had two goals and an assist in his Florida debut; Cole Reinhardt also scored twice 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Islanders at Devils, Prudential Center, Newark | New Jersey 2-1 | David Rittich made 23 saves against the team he played for last season 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Sharks at Ducks, Honda Center, Anaheim | Anaheim 6-2 | Beckett Sennecke scored a hat trick; Tristan Luneau had a goal and two assists 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Capitals at Bruins, TD Garden, Boston | Boston 3-2 (SO) | Charlie McAvoy tied it with 1:43 left in the third; Michael DiPietro made 29 saves 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Predators at Lightning, Benchmark International Arena, Tampa | Tampa Bay 2-1 | Victor Hedman played 19:13 in his first game since March 19 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Mammoth at Avalanche, Ball Arena, Denver | Colorado 4-1 | Gavin Brindley had a goal and an assist; Vincent Trocheck won 14 of 20 face-offs in his Utah debut 2 |
| Sun., Sept. 20 | Kraken at Flames, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary | Seattle 4-2 | Jon-Randall Avon had a goal and two assists; Aydar Suniev scored both Calgary goals 2 |
The moments that stood out
Caufield caught Toronto mid-change. With the Maple Leafs changing lines in overtime, Caufield moved around Logan Shaw at the offensive blue line and finished a two-on-zero give-and-go with Lane Hutson, scoring over Samuel Hlavaj's outstretched left pad with 38 seconds left. Hutson had tied the game at 2:43 of the third period and finished with a goal and two assists. 1
Chris Kreider's Montreal debut stayed off the scoresheet. The forward, who signed a one-year contract with the Canadiens on Sept. 12, finished with one shot on goal in 17:05 of ice time at Bell Centre. 1
The Tkachuk brothers connected on Brady's first Florida goal. Brady Tkachuk tied the game at 12:02 of the first period with a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play, with Matthew Tkachuk taking the primary assist. Brady added an empty-net goal and set up Aleksander Barkov's breakaway goal at 2:30 of the second period. Barkov missed all of last season with a knee injury. 2
Edmonton put its two stars on one line. McDavid and Draisaitl each finished with a goal and an assist while playing together, and new coach Mike Babcock said he expects them to start the season that way. Evan Bouchard had four assists, and his new defense partner Ryan Shea — signed to a five-year, $20 million contract on July 1 — had a goal and two assists in his Oilers debut. 1
Sergei Bobrovsky's Toronto debut lasted half a game. The goalie, who signed a three-year contract on July 1, made 10 saves before Anthony Stolarz replaced him midway through the second period and made 15 more. Toronto lost both games of the doubleheader. 1
Victor Hedman returned after five months away. The Tampa Bay captain played 19:13 in his first game since March 19, when he took a personal leave from the team. Ilya Mikheyev scored in his Lightning debut and John Carlson had an assist in his, both after signing on July 1. 2
Top performances at a glance
| Player | Team | Stat line | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beckett Sennecke | Anaheim | 3 goals | The weekend's only hat trick, the first goal on the power play 2 |
| Brady Tkachuk | Florida | 2 goals, 1 assist | His first game since the June trade from Ottawa 2 |
| Cole Reinhardt | Florida | 2 goals | Redirected home the go-ahead goal at 12:10 of the second period 2 |
| Lane Hutson | Montreal | 1 goal, 2 assists | Tied the game in the third and set up the overtime winner 1 |
| Phillip Danault | Montreal | 2 goals | Scored 51 seconds in, then added an empty-net goal in Toronto 1 |
| Niko Mikkola | Florida | 1 goal, 2 assists | Three points from the back end in a six-goal opener 2 |
| Evan Bouchard | Edmonton | 4 assists | Four of Edmonton's five goals ran through him 1 |
| Ryan Shea | Edmonton | 1 goal, 2 assists | A three-point debut beside his new partner Bouchard 1 |
| Jackson Hallum | Vegas | 2 goals | Both came in the third period of a 4-2 win 1 |
| Jon-Randall Avon | Seattle | 1 goal, 2 assists | Helped Seattle win both ends of a back-to-back 2 |
| Tristan Luneau | Anaheim | 1 goal, 2 assists | Scored Anaheim's sixth goal and set up two others 2 |
The heaviest workloads of the weekend went to Boston's Michael DiPietro, Washington's Logan Thompson and Carolina's Pyotr Kochetkov. 2
| Goalie | Team | Saves | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael DiPietro | Boston | 29 | Backstopped a shootout win over Washington 2 |
| Logan Thompson | Washington | 28 | Lost in the shootout despite the workload 2 |
| Pyotr Kochetkov | Carolina | 28 | Faced a six-goal Florida night in Sunrise 2 |
| Nikita Tolopilo | Vancouver | 25 | Stopped 25 of the 29 shots he faced in Seattle 1 |
| David Rittich | New Jersey | 23 | Beat the Islanders, his team last season 2 |
| Arvid Soderblom | Chicago | 23 | Lost in overtime at Minnesota 1 |
| Jacob Markstrom | Florida | 21 | First start for Florida after the June 30 trade from New Jersey 2 |
| Joey Daccord | Seattle | 14 | Two periods of shutout work on 14 shots before the Kraken changed goalies 1 |
New faces and breakout cases
Anaheim's Beckett Sennecke, the third pick of the 2024 draft, scored at 12:15 and 16:07 of the second period and completed the hat trick at 8:10 of the third in the Ducks' 6-2 win over San Jose. His first goal came on a power play, with Leo Carlsson feeding him in front after a deke through the slot. 2
Toronto gave Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, 23:39 of ice time in his debut, with three shots on goal and one blocked shot. 1
Cole Eiserman, a first-round pick in 2024, scored on the power play 55 seconds into the second period of his Islanders debut, one-timing a feed from Vladimir Dravecky past Rittich. 2
Ryan Shea turned his first game as an Oiler into three points, and Jon-Randall Avon matched that line for Seattle in Calgary. 12
Brady Martin, 19, tied Nashville's game at Tampa Bay at 7:39 of the first period by skating around J.J. Moser on the rush and beating Andrei Vasilevskiy from the bottom of the right circle. 2
Maksymilian Szuber and Samuel Poulin scored for Montreal in the Toronto half of the doubleheader, and Beckett Hamilton, a third-round pick in 2026, scored Colorado's first goal against Utah. 12
Exhibition rosters run deep and include AHL call-ups, so a strong night says more about where a player stands in camp than about what he will produce once the season starts. The structural details are the ones to carry into a draft: Sennecke on Anaheim's top power-play unit, McKenna drawing nearly 24 minutes, Shea paired with Bouchard, and Rittich taking the first start in New Jersey's three-goalie camp. 12
Camp injuries and availability before the opener
Cale Makar is working on a lighter program at Colorado's camp because of a lower-body injury that surfaced during summer training, and coach Jared Bednar said the defenseman is unlikely to be ready for the first on-ice session. "At some point in camp he'll be full go," Bednar said. "I don't think it's anything to be worried about at this point. It's not related to the injury he had last year in the playoffs." Makar had 79 points in 75 games last season, averaged 24:51 of ice time and was a Norris Trophy finalist. 4
Mathew Barzal will miss the start of Islanders camp and stay off the ice for about two weeks after aggravating a prior injury that caused inflammation. General manager Mathieu Darche said Barzal still has a chance to play the Sept. 30 opener at Toronto. "Is it guaranteed he's there opening night? No, it's not, because we're playing the long game here," Darche said. Barzal led the Islanders with 72 points in 81 games last season. 4
| Player | Team | What happened | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Domi | Toronto | Failed his physical after offseason surgery | Out indefinitely 4 |
| Kaiden Guhle | Montreal | Minor offseason surgery on his adductor muscle | Out 4-5 weeks 4 |
| Brad Marchand | Florida | Offseason surgery for an unspecified injury | Will miss the start of the season; back "early in the season" 5 |
| Yanni Gourde | Tampa Bay | Offseason hip surgery | Out until December 4 |
| Dominic James | Tampa Bay | Broke his hand during offseason training | Out the first several weeks of the season 4 |
| Jason Zucker | Buffalo | Sports hernia | Expected to miss the start of the regular season 4 |
| Tyler Seguin | Dallas | ACL surgery in December | Full camp participant and cleared for contact; game date not set 4 |
| Alexander Nikishin | Carolina | Unsigned restricted free agent | Not on the ice for the first day of camp 4 |
| Artem Zub and Warren Foegele | Ottawa | Recovering from injuries | Not skating at camp opening; could miss the start of the season 4 |
| Chris Tanev | Toronto | Core muscle surgery during the offseason | Fully cleared to play 4 |
Cutter Gauthier signed a six-year contract with Anaheim on Sept. 16, ending his restricted free agency three days before the Ducks opened the preseason. Gauthier led Anaheim with 41 goals, 28 assists and 69 points in 76 games last season, and added 12 points in 12 playoff games. Financial terms were not disclosed. 6
What to watch this week
- Makar's first full practice. Bednar said the Avalanche will get their No. 1 defenseman "full go" at some point in camp, which settles how Colorado builds its power play for the opener. 4
- Whether the McDavid-Draisaitl line holds. Babcock put his two centers together in the opener and said he expects that pairing to carry into the season. 1
- New Jersey's three-goalie camp. Rittich, Jake Allen and Nico Daws are competing for starts, and Rittich took the first exhibition game. 2
- Toronto's forward group. With Domi out indefinitely, the remaining preseason games are the clearest look at how much of the top six McKenna can claim. 14
- Barzal's timeline against the Sept. 30 opener. Darche left the door open for the Islanders' leading scorer. 4
References
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
This story was produced automatically by a channel. One sentence is all it takes for Neodrop to keep producing for you.