NHL Opening Night Matchups Released

The 2025 NHL Opening Night slate has been released. The regular season will start on October 7, featuring three games on the opening of the new season. The three games to be played on Opening Night are the Chicago Blackhawks vs the Florida Panthers, the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the New York Rangers, and the Colorado Avalanche vs the Los Angeles Kings. Let’s talk about all three matchups individually.

Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers

The first game of the NHL season will feature the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions against the young and inexperienced Chicago Blackhawks. Led by Connor Bedard, this game will raise the question of whether Bedard can bounce back from a down sophomore season and make an impact against the league’s best team over the past two seasons. The Blackhawks are hoping that this is the season they see some substantial progression after struggling for multiple seasons in a row.

NHL Opening Night doesn’t have the same appeal for the Panthers. They will go into this game as heavy favorites but will have to watch out for the Blackhawks’ young players. Florida did a marvelous job this offseason, as they essentially have the same roster that won the Cup. This matchup has the classic up-and-coming team against a championship powerhouse written all over it. Not a bad choice for the league’s first game.

Other NHL Opening Night Games

The second game of the night will be the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the New York Rangers. These two teams missed the playoffs last season, which is an odd thing to say when talking about the Penguins and the Rangers. The Penguins are going into what seems to be a rebuilding phase, while seeing the career of Evgeni Malkin coming to a conclusion. Pittsburgh still has Sidney Crosby and Malkin. The Rangers still have their competitive core led by Artemi Panarin. This is a pretty solid NHL Opening Night matchup.

The last game of the night is Colorado Avalanche vs Los Angeles Kings. These two teams have had no trouble making the playoffs the past few seasons, but they’ve had issues making a deep run in the playoffs. Nathan MacKinnon against Anze Kopitar and the Kings will be a good matchup to finish out the night.