Guide to the 2025-26 NHL season and Milan Olympics: How to watch and more

The NHL season begins Tuesday night with a tripleheader that includes the Florida Panthers raising a Stanley Cup banner for a second consecutive year and Mike Sullivan making his New York Rangers coaching debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins team he spent much of the past decade with.

This is the final 82-game season before the schedule expands to 84 apiece for each of the league's 32 teams beginning in 2026-27. It's also expected to be the final October start before training camp and exhibition play shrink and opening night gets moved up to late September.

The league will take a two-week break in February so players can compete at the Olympics in Milan.

The Panthers are looking to become the first NHL team to threepeat since the New York Islanders won four championships in a row from 1980-83. They likely won't have captain and top center Aleksander Barkov all season after surgery to repair torn ligaments in his right knee from a noncontact injury during training camp.

NHL players are back in the Olympics for the first time since 2014 when Canada won its second consecutive gold medal. It's the first full-fledged international tournament featuring the world's best since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The 4 Nations Face-Off with the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland provided a taste of the kind of quality and pace that can be expected.

Connor McDavid, widely considered the game's best player, is still chasing the Stanley Cup in his 11th season in the league. After his future was the talk of the sport, McDavid signed a contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers on the eve of the season at a bargain rate of $12.5 million annually over two years.

Edmonton and Vegas are 8-1 co-favorites at BetMGM Sportsbook to hoist the Cup in June. Carolina and Colorado are 17-2, Dallas is 9-1 and Florida and Tampa Bay are each 14-1. The longest shots on the board are rebuilding Chicago and San Jose at 500-1.

ESPN and TNT air games nationally in the U.S., with Sportsnet as the rightsholder in Canada.

There are 100 exclusive games between ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and Hulu, including all three on opening night and the Stadium Series when Tampa Bay hosts Boston outdoors at the home of the NFL's Buccaneers. ESPN also has the Stanley Cup Final in June.

TNT has 72 games, including Washington's season opener with Alex Ovechkin at 897 goals after breaking Wayne Gretzky's record, and the Winter Classic between the Panthers and Rangers on Jan. 2 at the home of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins.

More than 900 games will take place between October and Feb. 4, including Pittsburgh and Nashville playing twice in Sweden in November. The league will then pause for the Olympic break.

The men's hockey tournament in Milan begins Feb. 11 with Finland vs. Slovakia and Sweden against host Italy. The gold-medal game is set for Feb. 22.

NHL play resumes on Feb. 25. The trade deadline is March 6 and the final day of the regular season is April 16. The playoffs begin April 18 and the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final is June 21. Free agency begins July 1.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Lights illuminate the ice before an NHL hockey game between the Seattle Kraken and the Calgary Flames, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Maddy Grassy)

FILE - Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (8) watches the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes during the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey Semi-final round playoff series in Raleigh, N.C., May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker, File)

Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby participates in a drilduring the first day of the NHL hockey training camp, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 in Cranberry, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) blocks a shot on goal by Nashville Predators forward Daniel Carr (26) during the second period of an NHL preseason hockey game Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — John Marino scored at 4:03 of the third period to break a tie and give the Utah Mammoth a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Marino also assisted on Nick Schmaltz's 17th goal of the season and Karel Vejmelka made 26 stops as the Mammoth won for the fifth time in six games.

Mikko Rantanen scored and Jake Oettinger had 25 saves for Dallas, which has lost nine of its last 11 games.

Schmaltz broke a scoreless deadlock with 7 seconds left in the second period, tipping in a feed from Marino. It was the fourth latest goal in any regulation period in Utah's short franchise history.

The Mammoth nearly made it 2-0 just 38 seconds into the third, but Lawson Crouse had his goal wiped off the board for high-sticking.

Rantanen leveled the score with a power-play goal at the 2:04 of the third.

Marino answered two minutes later, snapping the puck home from long distance to put the Mammoth up 2-1 with his second winning goal of the season.

Utah improved to 16-1-1 this season when leading after two periods.

Stars: host Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Mammoth: host Seattle on Saturday.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars defenseman Kyle Capobianco, right, moves the puck against Utah Mammoth defenseman Sean Durzi during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (55) shoots the puck against Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars center Wyatt Johnston, right, moves the puck against Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson, center left, fights for the puck against Utah Mammoth defenseman John Marino (6) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)