Florida Panthers at Detroit Red Wings (Friday; 7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, HULU, NHL LIVE)
The Panthers have won their first eight games, they rank first in the NHL goals (34), fourth in goals per game (4.25), second in goals against per game (1.88) and have the League's second-best goal differential (plus-19) behind the Carolina Hurricanes (plus-20). They are playing better in front of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who got his 300th NHL win Oct. 21, and have allowed two goals or fewer in five of their seven games. DefensemanAaron Ekblad returning healthy after sustaining a season-ending broken left leg March 28 certainly helps the forward group. Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are one of the best forward duos in the League, but Sam Bennett and Anthony Duclair have stepped up nicely as well.
The Red Wings have been one of the early surprises this season. They are 4-2-2 after not getting their fourth victory until their 16th game last season. They've gotten solid goaltending from Thomas Greiss and newcomer Alex Nedeljkovic. Forward Lucas Raymond leads NHL rookies with four goals and eight points, and defenseman Moritz Seider is second with seven points, all assists. Tyler Bertuzzi has scored six goals and the Red Wings look like a much more competitive club from last season.
Philadelphia Flyers at Calgary Flames (Saturday; 10 p.m. ET; SN360, SN1, CITY, TVAS, NBCSP+, ESPN+, NHL LIVE)
The Flyers (4-1-1) started their road trip with back-to-back wins against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday and Thursday. They are fifth in goals per game (4.17), sixth on the power play (27.8 percent) and all of their offseason additions -- including forwards Cam Atkinson and Derick Brassard, defensemen Keith Yandle and Ryan Ellis and goalie Martin Jones -- have been great.
Calgary (5-1-1) won all five games on its road trip, during which the Flames outscored their opponets 21-7, capped by a 4-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. They've been much more physical and harder to play against. Jacob Markstrom looks like a top-five goalie in the League. He has two shutouts in his past three games. Forwards Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane each has scored seven goals, which is tied for second in the NHL, two behind Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. This sets up to be a great game on Saturday night.
New York Rangers at Seattle Kraken (Sunday; 9 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, ROOT-NW, MSG, NHL LIVE)
The Rangers (5-2-1) shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0 on Friday before beginning a four-game road trip which begins in Seattle. New York looked impressive sweeping its recent four-game road trip, allowing five goals in the four games. Goalie Igor Shesterkin has been great, and forwards Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin continue to lead the way. Also, Adam Fox has shown why he won the Norris Trophy voted as best defenseman in the NHL last season.
The Kraken (3-4-1) have won two straight games for the first time this season. Philipp Grubauer looks more comfortable in goal, having allowed a total of two goals in consecutive wins against the Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota Wild. Jared McCann has scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in eight games and is fitting in nicely as the No. 1 center, and forward Brandon Tanev leads Seattle with six goals. The leadership group, starting with captain Mark Giordano, is why I think Seattle can remain competitive this season.
