• ESPN staffNov 5, 2026, 07:00 AM ET

Hockey fans should be ready for another busy night of action Thursday, with 11 games on the schedule after just four on Wednesday.

There are a number of interconference matchups on tap again, but two particularly intriguing ones are intradivisional with the Hurricanes visiting the Islanders and the Avalanche hosting the Predators.

Read on for a look at what you need to know for each game, including betting info and broadcast details.

Odds are provided by DraftKings and subject to change.

Utah Mammoth at Montreal Canadiens

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | UTA -112, O/U: 6.5

Perhaps an under-the-radar legit Stanley Cup Final matchup possibility? Stathletes projections gives this pairing a 0.75% chance, which is 39th highest.

These two teams are both still in their "rising powerhouse" phase, driven by a number of young players in critical roles including Utah's Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, as well as Montreal's Lane Hutson and Jacob Fowler.

The Mammoth head to la belle province after a 3-2 win over the Leafs, while the Habs are hoping for a better result than Tuesday's, when they relented four goals in 2:08 at the tail end of the third period in an OT loss to the Jets.

Vegas Golden Knights at Detroit Red Wings

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | VGK -142, O/U: 5.5

The Wings have shaken off a rough start and are now in the thick of the playoff race in the East, focusing on on-ice success and avoiding the off-ice drama playing out with Dylan Larkin.

Vegas was one of three teams on Larkin's initial preferred list, although that cohort has since expanded to 10 teams. The Knights enter this game in a battle with the Oilers atop the Pacific, and we suppose any team could use a player of Larkin's caliber in the lineup.

This is the first time these two teams will play this season, after the Golden Knights won both matchups in 2025-26.

Chicago Blackhawks at Tampa Bay Lightning

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | TB -380, O/U: 6.5

Speaking of stars requesting a trade, reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov informed the Lightning that this will be his last season with them, and that he wants to be traded. Coach Jon Cooper said that Kucherov remains "committed" to the team amid the request, and the fans in Tampa support him.

Oh and by the way, in the two games since the request was made, Kucherov has five assists.

It's not clear that the Blackhawks are a front-runner to land Kucherov, and they enter this game without two key contributors (defenseman Bowen Byram and winger Patrick Kane). Can the healthy Hawks pull off the big upset against an inspired Kucherov & Co.?

St. Louis Blues at New Jersey Devils

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | NJ -192, O/U: 5.5

After an epic 4-3 shootout win over the Oilers on Tuesday, the Devils welcome a Blues team to Newark that is still finding its footing.

Four of the Blues' five leading scorers are 25 or younger -- Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud, Mason McTavish and Philp Broberg -- and Joel Hofer has taken command of the crease and posted top-10 marks in both goals-against average (2.39) and save percentage (.918).

On the Jersey side, new goaltending addition Connor Hellebuyck is a perfect 3-0-0 to start his Devils career, stopping 54 of 60 shots he's faced since coming over from Winnipeg in trade. And forward Jack Hughes is off to an impressive start with 19 points in 15 games, on pace for 106 in an 84-game season.

Carolina Hurricanes at New York Islanders

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+/Disney+/Hulu) | CAR -166, O/U: 5.5

The Canes have been rolling over opponents this season, to the tune of a 12-3-2 record and plus-24 goal differential, both tops in the NHL.

Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov has leveled up right before our eyes, starting the campaign 10-1-0 with a 1.64 GAA and .922 SV%. Meanwhile, oft-underrated Sebastian Aho is a top-10 scorer, with 21 points through 17 games.

Of course, the Isles also have a top-10 netminder in their crease in the form of Ilya Sorokin. Can he improve upon his most recent start against the Canes this past Apr. 4, when he allowed four goals on 40 shots?

Philadelphia Flyers at New York Rangers

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | NYR -155, O/U: 6.5

The New York-Philadelphia rivalry runs deep across all sports, and that obviously includes all of the classic Rangers-Flyers tilts throughout the years.

The Blueshirts have the upper hand for now, holding down the No. 3 spot in the Metro while the Flyers are in the Eastern Conference basement. But this will be a showcase game for young talent on both squads, particularly given how leaky the goaltending has been for both teams.

Pay special attention to Philly's Trevor Zegras (14 points in 17 games) and Matvei Michkov (13 in 17), along with New York's Adam Fox (19 in 16) and Alexis Lafreniere (16 in 16).

Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | PIT -112, O/U: 6.5

While the Flyers are in the conference basement, their in-state rivals are only ahead in the standings based on the games played tiebreaker. So no, things are not going super well in the Steel City, entering this game following three straight losses.

With that backdrop, it's not super great that the Bruins area headed to town. Boston is 11-4-1, and appears to be firing on all cylinders in all facets of the game; the B's are eighth in the league in scoring (3.56 goals per game) and fourth in goals allowed per game (2.38) thanks to a stellar start from Jeremy Swayman.

On the plus side for the Penguins, they have a 4-1-1 record at home this season, so perhaps the friendly environment can help get them back on the winning side.

Dallas Stars at Columbus Blue Jackets

7 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | DAL -130, O/U: 5.5

This is the second and final matchup between these two clubs in 2026-27 -- well, unless they meet in the Stanley Cup Final -- after the Stars won 3-1 on Halloween.

The notable part about that prior matchup is that there were not one but two buzzer beaters! Thomas Harley scored with 0.2 seconds left in the first period to give Dallas a 2-0 lead, then Artttu Hyry sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 0.3 seconds left in the third.

It'll be tough to top that matchup for drama, but each team has a player coming off a big performance into this showdown: Jason Robertson scored a natural hat trick in the Stars' 6-5 win over the Capitals while Charlie Coyle had two goals in the Blue Jackets' 7-2 win over the Avs (while wearing their cool new Hometown Remix uniforms).

Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets

8 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | WPG -230, O/U: 6.5

Speaking of timely goals being scored, the Jets authored one of the most epic comebacks in the history of all sports in their recent win over the Canadiens, scoring four times in the span of 2:08 in the third period, then winning in OT. Do they have anything special in store for the Canucks on Thursday?

Vancouver recently broke a 10-game losing streak with a thrilling 6-5 OT win over the Ducks ... only to lose the next three games.

This is the first of three matchups between the teams after Winnipeg swept the 2025-26 season series 3-0.

Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton Oilers

8 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | EDM -198, O/U: 6.5

After the shootout loss in Jersey, the Oilers are back home to take on a Ducks team that they beat 5-2 back on Oct. 7.

That game looked like it was going to be the Beckett Sennecke Show, with the Ducks forward netting two first-period goals to give his team the edge after one frame. Instead, it became yet another episode of the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl-Evan Bouchard Show, as the terrifying trio had a hand (or two... or three) in five straight goals for Edmonton.

Ah, but there could be another character who takes center stage in this one; Anaheim's Cutter Gauthier scored a hat trick in the team's win over Vancouver on Tuesday, and could have more tricks up his sleeve in this one.

Nashville Predators at Colorado Avalanche

9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+/Disney+/Hulu) | COL -238, O/U: 6.5

In the nightcap, the Avs welcome the Preds to Ball Arena looking for vengeance after Nashville won 6-2 on Oct. 25.

Steven Stamkos and Ryan O'Reilly each had two goals in that game, which was more than enough for Justus Annunen, who saved 19 of 21 shots.

On the Colorado side, Nathan MacKinnon is riding a six-game scoring streak, with 11 total points in that span (three goals, eight assists).

Reminder: Fans can catch all the action in the NHL streaming hub and on the ESPN App.

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Here's what you need to know:

Wednesday's scoreboard

Ottawa Senators 2, Buffalo Sabres 1
Florida Panthers 5, Chicago Blackhawks 3
Los Angeles Kings 7, San Jose Sharks 2
Seattle Kraken 2, Calgary Flames 1 (OT)

NHL scoring leaders

Click here for full list of stats leaders.

NHL goaltending leaders

Click here for the full list of goaltender stats.

Today in hockey history

Some NHL players are so good that the league is forced to make a rule change in order to nerf their abilities. One of the most famous recent examples was installing the trapezoid behind the crease, outside of which goalies couldn't play the puck behind the red line, thanks to Martin Brodeur's puckhandling prowess.

But on this date 71 years ago, something happened that made goal scoring less easy.

On Nov. 5, 1955, Canadiens legend Jean Beliveau scored all of his team's tallies in a 4-2 win over the Bruins, and three of the four came within a 44-second span on the same power play.

How? Back in those days, a player had to serve his entire two-minute penalty, regardless of whether the opponent scored a power-play goal. Thanks to Beliveau (and other instances), the rule was changed the next summer to the power play ending once one goal is scored -- although some current NHL players want to see the rule reverted back to unlimited PP goals.

Source: ESPN · ESPN staff

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