NHL Season's Opening Week Delivered a Historic Scoring Surge

One week into the 2026-27 NHL season, the scoreboards have been posting remarkable totals. The Rangers sit atop the league standings, a defenseman opened his season with a hat trick, and a goaltender has already scored a goal. If the opening days of this NHL season are any indication, hockey fans are in for one of the wildest scoring seasons in recent memory, and the NHL season is only getting started. NHL.com's nightly roundup has been tracking the chaos game by game.

The New York Rangers lead the league with six points through Sunday after a 3-1-0 start, and goaltender Igor Shesterkin etched his name into franchise history by becoming the first Rangers goalie ever to score a goal. Over in Edmonton, star defenseman Evan Bouchard opened with the first hat trick by a defenseman in a season opener since Mark Howe did it in 1980, according to coverage of the opening week. Captain Connor McDavid already has nine points, and Bouchard has eight. It is the kind of start that has drawn attention across the league.

Colorado and Pittsburgh are scoring at remarkable rates

No team has looked more dangerous than the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado leads the NHL at 7.00 goals per game after wins of 8-4 over Los Angeles and 6-1 over St. Louis. That kind of output turns every game into compelling hockey, and it has made the Avalanche the early favorite in every conversation about the season's most explosive offense.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are right there with them. Pittsburgh has scored 13 goals in two wins, a 7-0 demolition of Philadelphia followed by a 6-5 overtime thriller against Montreal. The familiar faces are leading the production: Sidney Crosby is one primary assist from tying Jaromir Jagr for 684 career primary assists, fifth in NHL history, and Evgeni Malkin became the second 40-year-old to score in each of his team's first two games of a season after Gordie Howe did it in 1968-69, according to NHL.com. Crosby is also two assists from tying Ray Bourque's record of 1,111 assists with one team. For a duo that has been doing this for two decades, the milestones just keep coming.

The San Jose Sharks are the early surprise. The Sharks won their first two games of a season for the first time in franchise history, and forward Macklin Celebrini already has five assists, tied for the most by a Shark after two games since the team joined the NHL in 1991-92. Meanwhile the Dallas Stars have scored just one goal in two games after averaging 3.33 per game last season. The contrast between the league's hottest and coldest offenses could not be sharper.

Historic firsts continue around the league

The opening week was full of storylines that go beyond the standings. In Anaheim, 21-year-old center Leo Carlsson had a goal and an assist in the Ducks' 4-3 win at Vegas, showing why the Ducks matched the five-year, 90 million dollar offer sheet he received from the Philadelphia Flyers in July. The Ducks return home riding a franchise-record 10 straight home-opener wins. In Utah, the Mammoth opened with a 6-0 shutout of Chicago, with goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopping all 15 shots for the first home shutout in franchise history, and forward Dylan Guenther scored in his team's third straight home opener, becoming one of four players in NHL history to do so.

There were also notable personnel storylines. The Florida Panthers placed captain Aleksander Barkov on long-term injured reserve after a lower-body injury, a major blow for the defending conference power. Columbus opened its season with a 6-3 win over Buffalo behind Matthew Knies, who had two goals and an assist in his Blue Jackets debut just days after being traded. In New York, the Islanders blanked New Jersey 6-0, with Victor Eklund scoring his first NHL goal on his 20th birthday, setting up a Tuesday night crosstown clash with the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Goaltending has been just as dramatic as the scoring. Five netminders already have two wins each, and the shutout list includes Shesterkin's Rangers teammate Dylan Garand, St. Louis' Joel Hofer, Florida's Jacob Markstrom, Boston's Jeremy Swayman and Pittsburgh's Arturs Silovs. It is early, but the crease picture is already taking shape.

What to watch in week two

Week two runs Tuesday through Monday, and the schedule is loaded. The Islanders visit the Rangers on Tuesday night on ESPN, a rivalry game with history: the Islanders swept the season series last year, outscoring the Rangers 14-3 across four matchups. Pittsburgh travels to Washington on Wednesday in a matchup between the league's highest-scoring team and an Alex Ovechkin-led Capitals squad that just beat Carolina 5-2.

The odds markets have taken notice of this NHL season's scoring pace. Colorado, Pittsburgh and Edmonton games are producing goal totals that would have looked absurd two seasons ago, with Edmonton games producing 11, 16 and 4 total goals through their first three contests. Los Angeles has allowed 13 goals in two games, and Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Calgary and Los Angeles are still searching for their first wins of the NHL season. The odds data, reported by rg.org, shows odds markets adjusting to a league where scoring has rarely slowed.

Records are falling, legends are passing each other in the record books, and new stars are announcing themselves in real time. One week does not make an NHL season, but the 2026-27 campaign is already delivering one of the most entertaining opening stretches hockey has seen in years. Hockey is not the only sport with October drama: the WNBA semifinals tipped off with a stunner, and the Yankees' October is slipping away. According to NHL.com's nightly roundup, the opening week has supplied no shortage of storylines.