NHL Tonight: Previewing Canadiens-Blackhawks, Lightning-Avalanche
A light Friday NHL slate features two interconference games: Canadiens at Blackhawks at 8 p.m. ET, and a 2022 Cup Final rematch between the Lightning and Avalanche at 9 p.m. ET.
It's a light Friday night in the NHL, but the two games on the schedule are both worth a watch, ESPN reports.
First up, the Montreal Canadiens visit the Chicago Blackhawks at 8 p.m. ET on NHL Network. The matchup pits the 2022 No. 1 overall pick, Montreal's Juraj Slafkovsky, against the 2023 No. 1 pick, Chicago's Connor Bedard. DraftKings lists Montreal as a -142 favorite with the over/under at 6.5 goals. The Canadiens will be without captain Nick Suzuki, who is out two to four weeks with an upper-body injury.
The main event follows at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN+: the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Colorado Avalanche in a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, which Colorado won. The teams will meet again on Feb. 13, and the pairing has a realistic chance of being contested again this coming June.
Both teams are led by a perennial Hart Trophy candidate. Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov won the Hart for the 2025-26 season, while Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon finished as the runner-up behind Connor McDavid. The Avalanche are -125 favorites, with the over/under at 6.5.
None of the four clubs played on Thursday, so all should be fresh for Friday's interconference clashes. Odds are provided by DraftKings and are subject to change.
Source: ESPN — Top Headlines — TrendWire reports stories in its own words; facts should be confirmed against the original source.