MONTREAL, Canada, September 20, 2026: The NHL opened its shortest preseason in years with exactly the kind of night a compressed schedule was likely to create: established stars looked ready, prospects had little time to waste, and roster battles began producing consequences immediately.
Montreal Canadiens supplied the strongest team result by sweeping both ends of a split-squad doubleheader against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Cole Caufield decided the Montreal game in overtime, while Phillip Danault scored twice in a 4-1 Canadiens victory in Toronto.
Elsewhere, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each recorded two points as Edmonton beat Winnipeg 5-2, Evan Bouchard collected four assists, Minnesota edged Chicago in overtime, Dallas won a tight 2-1 game in St. Louis, Seattle defeated Vancouver 4-2 and Vegas opened its response to last season’s Stanley Cup Final loss with a 4-2 win over Los Angeles.
The opening slate offered the first practical look at the season outlined in The Sports Encounter’s complete NHL 2026-27 curtain-raiser. The league is preparing for an 84-game regular season, and the preseason has been compressed into an eight-day, 65-game window from September 19-26.
Story at a glance
NHL Preseason 2026 Opening-Night Results
The official NHL opening-night roundup confirms all seven results and the major individual performances, while the league’s official preseason schedule sets out the shortened eight-day format.
Canadiens Sweep Toronto as Cole Caufield Finishes the Night in Overtime
Montreal’s split-squad night produced two wins and two very different stories.
Gavin McKenna’s First Maple Leafs Appearance Becomes Part of Montreal’s Second Win
The Toronto half of the split-squad setup contained the night’s most closely watched debut.
McDavid and Draisaitl Look Ready While Bouchard Runs Edmonton’s Attack
The most convincing veteran performance came in Edmonton.
Winnipeg’s Preseason Begins While Bigger Questions Still Follow the Jets
The Jets’ 5-2 defeat carried less significance than the roster questions surrounding the franchise.
NHL Preseason 2026 Opening-Night Results
| Game | Result | Defining Story |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto Maple Leafs at Montreal Canadiens | Montreal 4-3 OT | Cole Caufield scored with 38 seconds left in overtime |
| Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs | Montreal 4-1 | Phillip Danault scored twice; Gavin McKenna made his preseason debut |
| Dallas Stars at St. Louis Blues | Dallas 2-1 | Jack Becker scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period |
| Winnipeg Jets at Edmonton Oilers | Edmonton 5-2 | Evan Bouchard had four assists; McDavid and Draisaitl each had two points |
| Chicago Blackhawks at Minnesota Wild | Minnesota 3-2 OT | Tyler Pitlick scored the overtime winner |
| Vancouver Canucks at Seattle Kraken | Seattle 4-2 | Jake O’Brien recorded a goal and an assist |
| Vegas Golden Knights vs Los Angeles Kings | Vegas 4-2 | Jackson Hallum scored twice in the third period |
The official NHL opening-night roundup confirms all seven results and the major individual performances, while the league’s official preseason schedule sets out the shortened eight-day format.
Canadiens Sweep Toronto as Cole Caufield Finishes the Night in Overtime
Montreal’s split-squad night produced two wins and two very different stories.
At Bell Centre, the Canadiens led 2-0 through Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov before Toronto answered with three straight goals.
Henrik Rybinski began the comeback with a power-play goal. Colton Sissons tied the game in his Maple Leafs debut, and Marc Johnstone pushed Toronto ahead 3-2 late in the second period.
Lane Hutson erased the lead early in the third.
Then Caufield ended it.
With 38 seconds remaining in overtime, Caufield finished a 2-on-0 exchange with Hutson and lifted the winner past Samuel Hlavaj.
Hutson finished with a goal and two assists, making him one of the most influential players on the opening night.
Montreal’s performance provides an early bridge into a season in which the Canadiens and Toronto will immediately matter to the wider league narrative. They meet again on regular-season opening night, one of the marquee matchups highlighted in TSE’s season preview.
Gavin McKenna’s First Maple Leafs Appearance Becomes Part of Montreal’s Second Win
The Toronto half of the split-squad setup contained the night’s most closely watched debut.
Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, played 23:39 and recorded three shots on goal and one blocked shot.
He began alongside John Tavares and William Nylander, giving Toronto an immediate chance to see how its most important young player handled NHL pace and veteran linemates.
The result belonged to Montreal.
Danault scored only 51 seconds into the game and later added an empty-net goal. Maksymilian Szuber and Samuel Poulin also scored in the 4-1 win.
Darren Raddysh produced Toronto’s only goal in his debut.
Sergei Bobrovsky also made his first appearance for the Maple Leafs after signing during the offseason, stopping 10 shots before Anthony Stolarz took over.
The game therefore carried more evaluation value for Toronto than the final score alone suggests.
McKenna represents the next stage of the youth movement already examined in TSE’s ranking of the NHL’s highest-paid players, where younger franchise stars such as Macklin Celebrini, Leo Carlsson and Connor Bedard have rapidly moved into the league’s financial elite.
McDavid and Draisaitl Look Ready While Bouchard Runs Edmonton’s Attack
The most convincing veteran performance came in Edmonton.
Winnipeg scored first through Parker Ford, but Ryan Shea tied the game before McDavid put the Oilers ahead.
Draisaitl extended the lead in the second period and Alex Formenton made it 4-1 shortly afterward.
McDavid and Draisaitl each finished with a goal and an assist.
Bouchard was even more productive from the back end, assisting on four Edmonton goals.
Shea recorded a goal and two assists in his Oilers debut, giving Edmonton immediate evidence that the new defensive partnership could move the puck effectively behind its top forwards.
The official Oilers recap confirmed that Bouchard led the game with four assists while McDavid and Draisaitl each produced two points.
Edmonton’s reliance on that superstar pair is hardly new. TSE recently examined their global significance in our report on Draisaitl’s future NHL return to Cologne, where McDavid’s presence was also central to the league’s expanding international plans.
Both looked sharp enough on opening night to suggest the regular-season chemistry is already close.
Winnipeg’s Preseason Begins While Bigger Questions Still Follow the Jets
The Jets’ 5-2 defeat carried less significance than the roster questions surrounding the franchise.
Ford opened the scoring and Jacob Julien added Winnipeg’s second goal in the third period, but Edmonton’s top-end skill separated the teams once the Oilers settled.
Goaltender Thomas Milic faced 28 shots and stopped 23.
Winnipeg’s preparations are unfolding during an offseason already shaped by uncertainty around Connor Hellebuyck. TSE’s analysis of Hellebuyck’s trade request examined why the position of one elite goaltender can alter the entire direction of a franchise.
The opening exhibition will not answer that larger question.
It did provide the first competitive look at the players who may be asked to carry more responsibility around it.
Minnesota Beat Chicago in Overtime as Blackhawks Begin Without Connor Bedard
Minnesota and Chicago delivered the only other overtime finish of the night.
Rieger Lorenz opened the scoring for the Wild before Dominic Toninato equalized for Chicago.
Dillon Boucher put the Blackhawks ahead in the second period.
Nico Sturm tied the game with fewer than six minutes remaining in regulation, and Tyler Pitlick ended it at 3:58 of overtime when his shot ultimately went in off Chicago defenseman Dylan Anhorn.
Lorenz finished with a goal and an assist. Daemon Hunt recorded two assists for Minnesota.
The Blackhawks are entering the new season under an unusual leadership setup because their newly appointed captain cannot yet play.
Chicago formally handed the captaincy to Connor Bedard this month, a move TSE examined in our analysis of why the Blackhawks have made the 21-year-old the face of their next era.
Bedard is expected to miss the beginning of the regular season after shoulder surgery.
That makes preseason games such as this one more useful for evaluating which players can absorb responsibility while Chicago waits for its captain.
Dallas Find a Two-Goal Formula and Protect It Against St. Louis
Not every preseason game needs offensive fireworks to reveal something useful.
Dallas scored 16 seconds into the game through Arttu Hyry and then waited until late in the second period for Jack Becker to restore the lead after Aleksanteri Kaskimaki had equalized for St. Louis.
The Stars protected the 2-1 advantage through the third.
Remi Poirier made 11 saves through two periods before Brandon Halverson stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief.
The goaltending split was exactly the kind of preseason evaluation teams need during a compressed schedule. Every appearance has greater weight when there are fewer exhibition games available to test depth players.
Seattle’s Young Players Make Their Case Against Vancouver
The shortened schedule is particularly important for players fighting for roster spots.
Seattle’s 4-2 win over Vancouver provided one of the clearest examples.
Jani Nyman opened the scoring. Ty Nelson made it 2-0 late in the first period. Logan Morrison added a power-play goal early in the third.
Vancouver responded through Braeden Cootes and Arshdeep Bains, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
Jake O’Brien then restored Seattle’s two-goal cushion after Jacob Melanson forced a turnover on the forecheck.
O’Brien finished with a goal and an assist, while Melanson had two assists.
Joey Daccord stopped all 14 shots he faced before Nikke Kokko took over for the third period.
The Kraken’s own official game report emphasized how much less time younger players have to make an impression now that Seattle plays only four preseason games.
That compressed evaluation period may become one of the defining themes of the entire week.
Vegas Begin the New Season With a Different Kind of Pressure
The Golden Knights’ preseason carries a sharper edge than most.
Their last meaningful game ended with Carolina lifting the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas.
TSE’s Game 6 report documented how Carolina shut out Vegas 3-0 and ended the Final in six games.
That history makes every early look at the new Vegas roster part of a larger question: how quickly can the Western Conference champions turn a painful ending into another run?
The first exhibition result was encouraging.
Vegas built a 2-0 lead through Viliam Kmec and Raphael Lavoie before Los Angeles fought back through Anders Lee and Lane Pederson.
Jackson Hallum then took over.
He scored the go-ahead goal at 14:29 of the third period and added an empty-netter to complete the 4-2 victory.
Kmec added an assist, while Marc Gatcomb produced two helpers.
The result means little in the standings.
The contribution from players trying to earn larger roles means considerably more.
Los Angeles Enter a New Chapter After Anze Kopitar
The Kings’ preseason is part of a wider organizational transition.
Los Angeles has recently formalized its relationship with one of the greatest players in franchise history by retiring Anze Kopitar’s No. 11 and announcing a statue at Crypto.com Arena.
The Sports Encounter examined that transition in our feature on the changing NHL landscape and Los Angeles’ post-Kopitar era.
Against Vegas, the Kings showed enough fight to erase a two-goal deficit before Hallum’s late intervention decided the game.
The challenge now is identifying which younger players can turn competitive exhibition shifts into sustainable NHL roles.
Opening Night Shows Why the Shortened NHL Preseason Matters
The NHL’s 2026 preseason is different structurally.
The league has expanded the regular season from 82 to 84 games, and the preseason has been compressed into only eight days.
For established superstars, that means getting sharp without taking unnecessary risk.
For young players, the equation is harsher.
There are fewer games to recover from a quiet night.
There are fewer shifts to show a coach something new.
There are fewer opportunities for goaltenders to win jobs, defensemen to prove chemistry or prospects to demonstrate they can process NHL speed.
That is why Saturday’s box scores should not be read like regular-season standings.
McKenna’s three shots mattered because Toronto wanted to see him in NHL pace.
Hallum’s two goals mattered because Vegas needs depth behind its established core.
Seattle’s young forwards mattered because four preseason games disappear quickly.
Shea’s three points mattered because Edmonton is testing a new defensive partner beside Bouchard.
The season preview already showed how much the league is changing around these teams. TSE’s 2026-27 NHL curtain-raiser tracks the 84-game schedule, new contracts, international expansion and the Stanley Cup race that begins September 29.
What Comes Next in the NHL Preseason?
Sunday brings another seven-game schedule, including the Islanders at New Jersey, San Jose at Anaheim, Nashville at Tampa Bay, Washington at Boston, Carolina at Florida, Utah at Colorado and Seattle at Calgary.
The full preseason runs only through September 26 before the regular season begins three days later.
That leaves teams barely a week to convert training-camp theory into roster decisions.
The opening night has already produced the first clues.
Montreal looked deeper than Toronto across two games.
Edmonton’s stars looked ready.
Vegas and Seattle received contributions from players pushing upward.
Minnesota found a late response.
Dallas showed it can protect a narrow lead.
For continuing game reports, player performances, roster moves and Stanley Cup analysis, follow The Sports Encounter’s NHL Hub.
Continue the NHL Story
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the 2026 NHL preseason start?
The 2026-27 NHL preseason began on Saturday, September 19, 2026.
How many games were played on the first day of the NHL preseason?
Seven games were played, including two simultaneous split-squad games between Montreal and Toronto.
What were the Toronto Maple Leafs vs Montreal Canadiens preseason scores?
Montreal won both games. The Canadiens won 4-3 in overtime at Bell Centre and 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena.
Did Gavin McKenna play for Toronto?
Yes. The No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft made his preseason debut and recorded three shots on goal in 23:39.
How did Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl perform?
McDavid and Draisaitl each recorded a goal and an assist in Edmonton’s 5-2 victory over Winnipeg.
How many assists did Evan Bouchard have?
Bouchard recorded four assists for Edmonton.
Who scored the overtime winner for Minnesota?
Tyler Pitlick scored at 3:58 of overtime as Minnesota beat Chicago 3-2.
Who starred for Vegas against Los Angeles?
Jackson Hallum scored twice in the third period, including the go-ahead goal, as Vegas won 4-2.
Who led Seattle against Vancouver?
Jake O’Brien had a goal and an assist in Seattle’s 4-2 win.
When does the 2026-27 NHL regular season start?
The NHL regular season begins on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
