• ESPN Opening Night Tripleheader: St Louis Blues at Seattle Kraken, Boston Bruins at Florida Panthers and Utah Hockey Club Hosts Chicago Blackhawks in Franchise Debut
• NHL Frozen Frenzy Returns October 22
• 4 Nations Face-Off Begins Feb. 13 on ESPN and ABC
• 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series March 1 on ESPN
• Stanley Cup Playoffs Begin Mid-April
• NHL Power Play on ESPN+: 1,050+ Out-of-Market Games Available Throughout the Season

ESPN and The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) today announced its 2024-25 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season schedule, with 100 exclusive games across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, ABC and Hulu. Additionally, ESPN and TWDC will present the NHL Opening Night tripleheader, 4 Nations Face-Off, 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series, and will drop the puck on the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning in mid-April before concluding the season with an NHL Conference Final series in May.

ESPN’s NHL studio show, The Point, will premiere October 8 at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN, ahead of ESPN’s season-opening tripleheader and will be presented weekly this fall on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

NHL Opening Night on ESPN and ESPN+
The NHL 2024-25 season begins in North America on Tuesday, October 8, with an opening night tripleheader Face-Off on ESPN and ESPN+.

The puck drops at 4:30 p.m. ET when the St. Louis Blues and Drew Bannister – entering his first full season as head coach – begin the season hosted by the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena with newly-signed 2024 Stanley Cup Champion Brandon Montour along with forward Matty Beniers, who recently inked a seven-year extension with the team.

At 7 p.m., the defending 2024 Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers and Selke Trophy winning center Aleksander Barkov host the Boston Bruins and David Pastrnak in a rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoff Eastern Conference Second Round. Prior to the game, the Florida Panthers will see their first championship banner raised at Amerant Bank Arena during the Stanley Cup banner ceremony.

Following at 10 p.m., the Utah Hockey Club makes its highly-anticipated franchise debut in its new home of Salt Lake City, Utah, with newly-added defensemen Ian Cole and Mikhail Sergachev as they host the Chicago Blackhawks and 2024 Calder Memorial Trophy winner Connor Bedard for a Central Division matchup.

NHL Frozen Frenzy Returns on Oct. 22
Following the successful debut of last season’s inaugural NHL Frozen Frenzy, a special night of hockey featuring all 32 teams in action returns on Oct. 22. Led by ESPN’s exclusive tripleheader – beginning at 6 p.m. ET – featuring the Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche at Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings at Vegas Golden Knights (ESPN/ESPN+).

The additional 13 games will be available on NHL Power Play on ESPN+ – with 15-minute staggered start times – resulting in continuous action throughout the night. With every team in action, ESPN2 will again provide a whip-around show with live look-ins on every game, showcasing the best plays, hits and goals of the night.

4 Nations Face-Off
In lieu of NHL All-Star weekend this season, the league’s regular-season schedule will take a break when the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off drops the puck Feb. 12-20. Four teams of NHL players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden will compete in a round-robin tournament consisting of seven total games played over a nine-day period in Montreal at the Bell Centre and in Boston at the TD Garden. The event will mark the first best-on-best hockey tournament since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.

ESPN and ABC will present coverage for three games in Montreal and the championship game in Boston, beginning Feb. 13.

4 Nations Face-Off Game Schedule on ESPN and ABC:

2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series
The 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series returns March 1 at Ohio Stadium, more affectionately known as “The Horseshoe” and home of the Ohio State University football team in Columbus, Ohio. This season’s outdoor matchup will feature the state of Michigan’s Detroit Red Wings facing off against Ohio’s Columbus Blue Jackets in a hockey-style rendition of the traditional Ohio State-Michigan college football rivalry, beginning at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.

NHL Power Play on ESPN+ (Out-of-Market Games on ESPN+)
In addition to 50 exclusive games on ESPN+/Hulu, more than 1,050 out-of-market games will be accessible through NHL Power Play on ESPN+ – available to all ESPN+ subscribers – throughout the season.

NHL Power Play games include the choice of two separate live streams with either home team or away team commentary, as well as Canadian national presentations of Hockey Night in Canada, providing a local experience for fans no matter where they are in the U.S. Replays of every NHL regular season and playoff game on ABC, ESPN, NHL Network and TNT are also made available to stream on NHL Power Play on ESPN+. To sign up, visit ESPNPlus.com.

Exclusive Game Highlights:

• Oct. 10 – Dallas Stars take on the Predators as Steven Stamkos makes his debut for Nashville, followed by the St. Louis Blues at San Jose Sharks with 2024 No. 1 draft pick Macklin Celebrini and newly-acquired goaltender Yaroslav Askarov in an ESPN+ doubleheader
• Oct. 17 – New York Rangers and Artemi Panarin face off against the Detroit Red Wings and Lucas Raymond in an Original Six matchup (ESPN+/Hulu)
• Oct. 28 – Former Lightning captain Steven Stamkos returns to Tampa to face his former team for the first time as a Nashville Predator (ESPN+/Hulu)
• Oct. 29 – ESPN doubleheader featuring the New York Rangers at Washington Capitals and Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks as the 2024 top draft pick Macklin Celebrini is scheduled to make his national television debut
• Nov. 8 – Future hall of famers Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin face off as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Washington Capitals (ESPN+/Hulu)
• Jan. 2, 7, 9 – The Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews take on the Metropolitan Division with matchups against the New York Islanders (1/2), Philadelphia Flyers (1/7) and Carolina Hurricanes (1/9) over the course of a week (ESPN+/Hulu)
• Jan. 4-5 – The New York Rangers open the ABC Hockey Saturday schedule on the road against the Washington Capitals (1/4) and Chicago Blackhawks (1/5) with last season’s Calder Memorial Trophy winner Connor Bedard in a rare ABC Sunday presentation (ABC, ESPN+)
• Jan. 24 – The Vegas Golden Knights and Jack Eichel face the Dallas Stars and Jason Robertson in a first round rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs that went to a deciding Game 7 (ESPN)
• Feb. 1 – ABC Hockey Saturday doubleheader featuring Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks visiting the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the New York Rangers at Boston Bruins at 3:30 p.m. (ABC, ESPN+)
• Feb. 27 – Last season’s Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers and 2024 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Connor McDavid return to Amerant Bank Arena to face the Florida Panthers in a Stanley Cup Final rematch for the first time since its decisive Game 7 Cup Final loss (ESPN+/Hulu)
• March 1 – The Boston Bruins and Brad Marchand visit the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby in an ABC Hockey Saturday matchup at 3 p.m. ET, leading into the Stadium Series on ESPN at 6 p.m. ET
• March 22 and 29 – ABC Hockey Saturday shifts into primetime with the Detroit Red Wings at Vegas Golden Knights at 8 p.m. ET, followed by an Original Six matchup one week later between the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings at 8 p.m. ET (ABC, ESPN+)
• April 12 – A Metropolitan Division finale to close out the regular season ABC Hockey Saturday schedule, featuring the New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes (ABC, ESPN+)

‘Ovechkin Watch’
Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals enters the season with 853 career goals – 42 goals away from breaking NHL all-time leading goal scorer Wayne Gretzky’s mark of 894 – and will make four exclusive game appearances in the final push of the regular season.

• Feb. 22 – Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins (ABC, ESPN+)
• April 10 – Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals (ESPN+/Hulu)
• April 15 – Washington Capitals at New York Islanders (ESPN)
• April 17 – Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins (ESPN)

Full TWDC 2024-25 NHL Game Schedule:

*Please note, game schedule may be subject to change. For the most up-to-date schedule and details, please visit espn.com/nhl/schedule.

– 30 –

CONTACTS:

ESPN
Danny Chi | (email protected) | 213-405-4400
Andrea DiCristoforo | (email protected) | 213-405-4612

ESPN+ | (email protected)