NHL On Tap: Kane to play first game with Blackhawks since 2023
Pastrnak to debut as Bruins captain; Tkachuks, Panthers face champion Hurricanes
By NHL.com
There are five games on the NHL schedule Tuesday, including three televised nationally in the United States and two televised in Canada. Here are five things to watch today, along with the complete game schedule.
Showtime returns to the Blackhawks
Patrick Kane will play his first game for the Chicago Blackhawks since 2023 when they open the season against the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS2). The 37-year-old forward signed a two-year, $16 million contract on July 23 to return to Chicago, where he played the first 16 of his 19 NHL seasons, winning the Stanley Cup three times (2010, 2013, 2015), before being traded to the New York Rangers on Feb. 28, 2023. Kane, who played for the Detroit Red Wings the past three seasons, ranks third in Blackhawks history in goals (446) and second in assists (779) and points (1,225). Vegas will begin its 10th NHL season with Ryan Craig making his debut as coach. The Golden Knights are 7-1-1 in home openers.
Tkachuks, Panthers hope to spoil Hurricanes' banner night
The Carolina Hurricanes will raise their 2026 Stanley Cup banner to the Lenovo Center rafters before they host Matthew and Brady Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers in a season-opening showdown between the last two teams to win the Cup (5 p.m. ET; ESPN). It will be the Tkachuk brothers first game as NHL teammates after Florida acquired Brady in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on June 21. Brady joins a Panthers team that won the Cup in 2024 and 2025 before missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they were riddled by injuries last season. The Hurricanes return mostly the same roster from a team that won the Cup last season for the first time since 2006.
McKenna jumps into Montreal-Toronto rivalry
Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, will make his NHL debut when the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN). McKenna, Toronto's first No. 1 pick since captain Auston Matthews in 2016, joins a revamped roster that added goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Cup winner with Florida, and defenseman Darren Raddysh in the offseason before acquiring high-scoring forward Kirill Marchenko in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The Canadiens begin this season with Stanley Cup aspirations after reaching the Eastern Conference Final last season and adding some experience by signing forward Chris Kreider.
Pasta adds the 'C'
David Pastrnak will wear the captain's C for the Boston Bruins for the first time when they host the New York Rangers in the middle game of ESPN's season-opening triple-header (8 p.m. ET; ESPN). Pastrnak, who will begin his 13th NHL season, is the Bruins first captain since Brad Marchand was traded to the Panthers on March 7, 2025. Mike Sullivan, who is beginning his second season as the Rangers coach, will work his 1,000th game behind an NHL bench against the team that gave him his first head coaching job in the League in 2003. Forward Pavel Dorofeyev will debut with New York after being acquired in a trade with Vegas on June 26 and signing a seven-year, $77 million contract on June 30.
Malhotra, Babcock make coaching debuts
Manny Malhotra will coach his first game with the Vancouver Canucks and Mike Babcock will coach his first game with the Edmonton Oilers when they meet at Rogers Place (10 p.m. ET; SN). It will be the first NHL game as a head coach for Malhotra, who was promoted from Abbotsford after coaching Vancouver's American Hockey League affiliate the past two seasons, including a Calder Cup championship in 2025. A 2009 Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings, Babcock is 12th in NHL history with 700 wins and 17th with 1,301 games in 17 seasons with the Anaheim Ducks, Red Wings and Maple Leafs, but has not coached an NHL game since being fired by the Maple Leafs 23 games into the 2019-20 season. The 63-year-old was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023 but resigned before coaching in game.
The schedule
Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes, 5 p.m. ET; ESPN
Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN
New York Rangers at Boston Bruins, 8 p.m. ET; ESPN
Vancouver Canucks at Edmonton Oilers, 10 p.m. ET; SN
Chicago Blackhawks at Vegas Golden Knights, 10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS2
