Cole Caufield climbed the Canadiens’ all-time overtime goals leaderboard and joined a rare list of Montreal players with at least one goal in four consecutive home openers.
* Sidney Crosby passed Steve Yzerman for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time assists list and for the third most with a single franchise in League history.
* The first full week of the 2025-26 season continues with a four-game slate Wednesday featuring an NHL on TNT doubleheader and two contests on Sportsnet programming.
Canadiens’ Caufield clutch in another home opener at BELL CENTRE
Cole Caufield collected his second goal of the game at 3:25 of overtime as the Canadiens quelled a comeback attempt by the Kraken and improved to 3-1-0 on the season. Caufield’s winner featured a nifty primary assist by Lane Hutson, who skated his first game since signing an eight-year contract extension with Montreal.
* Caufield scored his ninth career overtime goal to pass Johnny Gagnon (8) and tie Aurel Joliat for third place on the franchise’s all-time list, which is topped by Howie Morenz and Max Pacioretty (both w/ 10). Caufield became the seventh player in NHL history with nine before age 25, following Sean Monahan (10), Alex DeBrincat (9), Leon Draisaitl (9), Auston Matthews (9), Connor McDavid (9) and Martin Necas (9).
* Caufield has scored at least one goal in each of the Canadiens’ last four home openers dating to Oct. 12, 2022, including the game winner during the last two (also Oct. 9, 2024).
CROSBY PASSES YZERMAN BEFORE DUCKS DELIVER LATE GO-AHEAD GOAL
Sidney Crosby corralled his 1,064th and 1,065th career assists to pass Steve Yzerman (1,063) for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time list before longtime Metropolitan Division opponent Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal with 1:27 remaining in regulation. Kreider became the second player in franchise history to score four goals through his first three games with Anaheim, following Daniel Winnik (4 in 2012-13).
* Crosby also leapfrogged Yzerman for the third most helpers with one franchise in League history behind Ray Bourque (1,111 w/ BOS) and Wayne Gretzky (1,086 w/ EDM).
MATTHEWS CLIMBS MAPLE LEAFS’ ALL-TIME LIST IN WIN
In the sixth Maple Leafs game since 2011-12 to feature four players each record three points, Auston Matthews (2-0—2) scored each of his goals in the third period as Toronto foiled Nashville’s comeback attempt. The Maple Leafs captain, who now sits 17 goals shy of overtaking Mats Sundin (420) as the franchise’s all-time goals leader, notched his 64th career game-winning goal and overtook another icon in Dave Keon (63) for the second most in team history.
SEASON-OPENING SUCCESS CONTINUES FOR COLLECTION OF CLUBS
The Stars (3-0-0), Hurricanes (3-0-0), Oilers (2-0-1) and Golden Knights (2-0-2) each collected wins during an eight-game Tuesday and remain without a regulation loss to start 2025-26. More notes on these four teams and the other 12 clubs in action can be found in the Oct. 14 edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.
* Wyatt Johnston (1-1—2) accounted for one of the Stars’ five goals again as Dallas recorded a three-game season-opening winning streak for the 10th time in franchise history. Johnston became the fifth player in team history (since 1993-94) with a three-game season-opening goal streak, following Alexander Radulov (4 GP in 2018-19), Mike Modano (4 GP in 1993-94 & 3 GP in 1998-99), Alex Chiasson (3 GP in 2013-14) and Brenden Morrow (3 GP in 2010-11).
* Sebastian Aho (0-1—1) was one of eight Carolina players who extended their season-opening point streak to three games as the Hurricanes remained perfect with their third consecutive win and did so with a League-leading 5.00 goals per game (tied w/ DAL). Carolina opened its season on a three-game win streak for the fifth time in franchise history, following 2021-22 (9-0-0), 2019-20 (5-0-0), 1995-96 (4-0-0) and 2022-23 (3-0-0).
* Stuart Skinner turned aside all 30 shots he faced and recorded his eighth career shutout, which tied Devan Dubnyk and Bill Ranford for the fifth most in Oilers history. Edmonton has posted a season-opening point streak of three or more games for the fifth time since 2000-01 following 2021-22 (5-0-0), 2019-20 (5-0-0), 2008-09 (4-0-0), 2005-06 (3-0-0).
* Jack Eichel (2-0—2) scored two of four Golden Knights goals to overtake the League lead in points (4-5—9 in 4 GP) and help Vegas become the fifth team to post a multi-goal comeback win in 2025-26. The Golden Knights have posted a season-opening point streak of at least four games for the third time in franchise history, following 2023-24 (11-0-1) and 2020-21 (4-0-0).
QUICK CLICKS
* Canadiens remember Ken Dryden with special pregame ceremony
* Anaheim celebrates Navy veteran as 21st Duck during home opener
* NHL announces educational partnership with Syracuse University
* NHL EDGE: Matthew Schaefer making immediate impact
* Matthew Schaefer featured in new episode of Welcome to the NHL
NATIONAL BROADCASTS HIGHLIGHT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION
As we close in on the halfway mark of the second week of the 2025-26 season, Wednesday’s four-game set features all national broadcasts including two on TNT in the U.S. and a pair on Sportsnet programming in Canada.
* The Panthers (3-1-0, 6 points) are off to a quick start to the 2025-26 season despite injuries to key forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. Florida can become just the eighth back-to-back Stanley Cup champion to win at least four of their first five games in the ensuing season and the first to do so since the 1998-99 Red Wings – who were captained by current Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman.
* The Red Wings are celebrating their Centennial year and are coming off back-to-back victories over their Original Six rivals, the Maple Leafs. One of the most prominent figures in Red Wings (and NHL) history is the legendary Gordie Howe. On this date in 1989, Wayne Gretzky officially passed Gordie Howe on the NHL’s all-time points list. Howe had held the mark for nearly 30 years after passing Maurice Richard on Jan. 17, 1960.
* The Blues and Blackhawks both enter Wednesday’s contest on a winning note, with each earning a victory in their most recent outing on Monday. St. Louis has won five straight games against the Blackhawks dating to Dec. 23, 2023, with Jordan Binnington backstopping the Blues to a 3-0-0 mark over that span. Throughout his career, Binnington has an 11-2-1 record when facing Chicago.
* The Sabres host the Senators for the first time in 2025-26 after sweeping Ottawa in last year’s season series (4-0-0) while outscoring them by a 17-5 margin in those games. The Senators will contest the game without captain Brady Tkachuk but have received early offense from forward Shane Pinto (4-1—5 in 3 GP), who was named NHL’s Second Star of the Week after opening the campaign with back-to-back multi-point outings.
* After hosting the Golden Knights on Tuesday, the Flames travel to Utah in search of their first-ever win against the franchise. Utah has a 3-0-0 record against Calgary including a 2-0-0 mark on home ice.
* Forward Mikael Backlund, who has been Calgary’s captain since 2023-24, is skating in his franchise-record 18th season with the Flames. NHL.com’s Swedish-language podcast, Längs Sargen, officially launched on Monday, featuring Backlund as the inaugural guest. The show joins NHL.com’s expanding lineup of native-language podcasts, which includes La tasse de café LNH (French), Forček (Czech), and Schlagschuss (German).
You must be logged in to post a comment.