#nhl

#nhl

Over the last two games, a blowout win over the Detroit Red Wings and an OT loss yesterday to the Philadelphia Flyers, the opposition made sure they were physical with Schaefer early and often. At the conclusion of Thursday's game, Mason Appleton of the Red Wings got into it with Schaefer in the dying moments of the game, resulting in the Islanders' cavalry rushing to his side.

The New York Islanders finally offered a full-length glimpse of what they look like when all layers of their lineup fire at once - and the result was emphatic. New York overwhelmed the Detroit Red Wings 7-2 on Thursday night at UBS Arena, a fourth straight win that looked nothing like the team that opened the season 0-3. The offense came from everywhere.

It is way too early to make any definitive conclusions about the 2025-26 NHL season. But then again, it's the perfect time to celebrate some small-sample superstars. As part of this week's new edition of the ESPN NHL Power Rankings, we've identified a player on each team that has excelled way beyond expectation thus far. How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors sends in a 1-32 poll based on the games through Wednesday, which generates our list.

Laughton has had rotten luck since being acquired by the Leafs from the Philadelphia Flyers at last season's trade deadline. The 31-year-old forward was not able to adjust to coming back to his hometown and just before training camp a couple months ago, he had to explain why his time in Toronto has gone so poorly so far. With hope that he could turn it around and really be a stabilizing force down in the Leafs' bottom six, there was general optimism heading into the season.

The New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators clashed in an afternoon game, with the Islanders coming out on top 5-4. Islanders Goal Summary: P2 6:50 - Emil Heineman (2) from Jonathan Drouin (3) & Scott Mayfield (2) P2 9:57 - Bo Horvat (4) from Ryan Pulock (2) & Andres Lee (1) P2 17:45 - Lee (1) from Maxim Shabanov (1) & Matthew Schaefer (4) P3 6:00 - Kyle Palmieri (2) from Mathew Barzal (3) & Adam Pelech (1) P3 18:57 - Lee (2) from Jean-Gabriel Pageau (2) Senators Goal Summary: P1 17:01 - David Perron (2) from Thomas Chabot (2) & Arthur Kaliyev (1) P2 5:32 - Shane Pinto (7) from Drake Batherson (2) & Chabot (3) P2 16:46 - Tim Stutzle (2) from Nick Jensen (1) & Batherson (3) P2 18:47 - Dylan Cozens (3) from Stutzle (2)

"I didn't grow up deeply immersed in hockey, even though my brothers loved the sport. It wasn't until I met Connor that I truly began to understand the game. The skill, the strategy, the passion that drives it."

The Toronto Maple Leafs are having a somewhat normal start to their season. A couple disappointing performances against the Detroit Red Wings, but then a dominating win over the lowly Nashville Predators. Balance before the season truly gets going. But of course, some drama had to happen just before the fifth game of their campaign. At Thursday's morning skate before the Leafs lace up to take on the visiting New York Rangers, there was no sign of William Nylander. Every single beat reporter, seemingly at the same time, realized that the top Toronto winger was absent from the typical practice ahead of that night's game.

The Devils called up Nico Daws from their AHL affiliate on Wednesday with the expectation he'll work in tandem with veteran Jake Allen, who left their 3-2 win Monday over the Columbus Blue Jackets with cramping. Markstrom played for 20 minutes and stopped eight of the nine shots that he faced.

He's just being Tom.

Kaprizov and McDavid represent opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to player salaries, but Eichel's eight-year deal worth $13.5 million annually is a happy medium that demonstrates a balance between giving a player what they're worth and saving the team a few extra dollars along the way. Kaprizov signed a record-breaking exten s ion worth a whopping

"I think it's great, I love being in a market where there's so much passion," he said. "I can't imagine wanting to be in a different place where you wouldn't want to win. I really appreciate the passion; it's ingrained in everybody's blood here. I see bumper stickers all the time. I see kids with jerseys at school and I absolutely love it. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

The way I look at it, there's no real clear cut, short favorite. This year, it's more wide open at the top, and then you have a whole second tier of teams that are in that 20-to-40 range. There's another 10 teams there. Could the Stanley Cup winner come from there? Absolutely. But the top tier has eight teams that we believe will contend for the title.

the Toronto Maple Leafs back during the summer of 2018, he had only one thing in mind. That was to fulfill his childhood dreams to play for his hometown and lead the Maple Leafs to a Stanley Cup title. Tavares has sure done all he could during the past seven seasons with Toronto, posting three 35+ goals and four 70+ points campaigns while being part of the now-defunct "core four" along with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander to lead the offensive attack.