How to Watch and Track NHL Scores All Season Long
- 🔑 The NHL’s 2026-27 regular season opened Tuesday, September 29, 2026, with an expanded 84-game schedule — the league’s first 84-game season since 1993-94, added under the current collective bargaining agreement — and runs through Saturday, April 10, 2027, ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
- Official live scores, period-by-period updates and standings are published in real time at NHL.com/scores; ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, TheScore and the free NHL App all mirror the same data, with the NHL App adding team-specific push alerts and a ‘Goal Horn’ notification for goals.
- US national broadcasts split between ESPN and ABC, which carry 53 exclusive games plus roughly 47 more streaming on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu, and TNT Sports, which carries 72 games across TNT, TBS and truTV, streaming on HBO Max; most other games air regionally and vary by market.
- Two regular-season games move overseas this year through the NHL Global Series, in Helsinki, Finland in mid-November and Düsseldorf, Germany in mid-December, and there is no mid-season Olympic break this year since the next Winter Games are not until 2030.
- Opening night’s five games are all final: the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 in overtime the same night Carolina raised its first Stanley Cup championship banner, while Montreal, Boston, Vancouver and Vegas also won their season openers.
- This guide uses no betting odds, point spreads, moneylines or win-probability data anywhere — only official schedule, broadcast and result information drawn from the league’s own scoreboard, its national television partners, and the season schedule the league itself has published.
You can check live NHL scores for free, all season, at the league’s own scoreboard, NHL.com/scores, or through apps like the NHL App, ESPN and CBS Sports. The 2026-27 regular season opened Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and runs an expanded 84-game schedule into the 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Here’s where to find live scores and standings, how to follow one team specifically, and what’s different about the league this season.
Where can I find live NHL scores right now?
NHL.com/scores is the league’s own live scoreboard, updating scores, period-by-period detail and final results in real time for every game on the schedule. ESPN’s and CBS Sports’ NHL scoreboards mirror the same live data with added stats and highlights, and Yahoo Sports and TheScore both run score-tracking apps built around push alerts for specific teams. ESPN’s scoreboard also markets betting-market odds next to its scores; we’re pointing to it here only as a live-score source, not for that feature.
What is the 2026-27 NHL schedule, and how long does the season run?
The regular season opened Tuesday, September 29, 2026, and runs 84 games per team through Saturday, April 10, 2027 — the league’s first 84-game season since 1993-94, added under the current collective bargaining agreement. Opening night carried five games across US and Canadian national broadcasts. All five are final: the Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 in overtime the same night Carolina raised its first Stanley Cup championship banner, and Montreal, Boston, Vancouver and Vegas also won their openers.
| Game | Final | Decided |
|---|---|---|
| Panthers–Hurricanes | 1-0 | OT |
| Canadiens–Maple Leafs | 3-2 | — |
| Bruins–Rangers | 3-0 | — |
| Canucks–Oilers | 6-5 | OT |
| Golden Knights–Blackhawks | 5-2 | — |
Day-to-day results and standings move constantly once the season is underway, so treat the table above as an opening-night snapshot rather than a current picture — check a live scoreboard for anything beyond it.
Which TV channels and streaming apps carry NHL games this season?
US national broadcasts split between two rights holders: ESPN and ABC carry 53 exclusive games, with roughly 47 more streaming on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu, while TNT Sports carries 72 games across TNT, TBS and truTV, streaming on HBO Max. Every other game airs regionally on local sports networks or team-specific streaming packages that vary by market, so your own team’s non-national games depend on where you live. For the 2027 playoffs, ESPN platforms hold the first three rounds and the Stanley Cup Final airs exclusively on TNT.
| Network | Games | Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| ESPN/ABC | 53 | ESPN+, Hulu, Disney+ |
| TNT/TBS/truTV | 72 | HBO Max |
How do I track my favorite team specifically, all season?
The free NHL App is built for exactly this: set a favorite team and it surfaces that team’s live Gamecenter feed, full schedule, and push alerts, including a “Goal Horn” notification the moment your team scores. The app also carries NHL EDGE puck- and player-tracking stats, which go well beyond a traditional box score. ESPN, Yahoo Sports and TheScore all offer similar team-following and notification tools if you’d rather stay inside an app you already use for other sports.
What’s new about the NHL this season?
Two regular-season games move overseas this year as part of the NHL Global Series: Carolina and Seattle meet in Helsinki, Finland in mid-November, and Ottawa and Chicago meet in Düsseldorf, Germany in mid-December. There’s also no mid-season Olympic break this year, since the next Winter Olympics doesn’t arrive until 2030. Beyond those, the expanded 84-game slate — the season’s headline structural change — is the main thing returning fans will notice.
When do the 2026-27 Stanley Cup Playoffs start?
The regular season is scheduled to finish Saturday, April 10, 2027, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs following shortly after; the league had not published exact playoff dates as of this writing. Expect the usual 16-team bracket and four rounds of best-of-seven series once the field is set. Check NHL.com’s own schedule page again as spring approaches for confirmed dates, since this detail is the most likely part of this guide to firm up before the season ends.
Whichever way you end up following the league, the fastest route to an accurate score is still the official scoreboard, backed up by whichever app or channel already fits how you watch sports. If you’re also keeping an eye on this year’s MLB postseason, our MLB playoffs bracket and schedule guide covers every round’s matchups and TV details the same way.
How we verified this
TV rights and the national broadcast split were checked directly against the league’s own announcement of its 2026-27 broadcast schedule, and cross-checked against several independent sports-media and TV-provider guides published in the days around that announcement; all matched. ESPN and ABC hold 53 exclusive games (plus roughly 47 more on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu), and TNT Sports holds 72 games across TNT, TBS and truTV, streaming on HBO Max, with the Stanley Cup Final exclusive to TNT and ESPN platforms holding the first three playoff rounds.
Opening night’s five final scores (September 29, 2026) were checked against the league’s own recap coverage and cross-checked with independent sports-scoreboard sources; all matched, including Florida’s 1-0 overtime win over Carolina on the same night Carolina raised its championship banner.
The 84-game schedule, its Saturday, April 10, 2027 regular-season finish, and the two Global Series games in Helsinki and Düsseldorf were confirmed against the league’s own schedule release and cross-checked with independent sports-media coverage of that release.
The exact 2027 Stanley Cup Playoff start date had not been published by the league as of this writing — only the regular season’s April 10, 2027 finish is confirmed — so this guide says that plainly rather than estimating a date.
No betting odds, point spreads, moneylines, or win-probability data of any kind appear anywhere on this page. Where a cited live-score source (ESPN’s scoreboard) also displays odds as a separate feature on its own page, this guide describes that source only for its live scores and does not repeat, link to, or otherwise draw on that odds feature.