ESPN staffOct 12, 2026, 07:00 AM ETMultiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsThere’s a Christmas Eve vibe out there Monday for hockey fans. Yes, three games are on the calendar — including a matinee for the Panthers and Sabres with the kids off from school — but Tuesday night is the biggest evening of autumn for puckheads.It’s the 2026 edition of Frozen Frenzy, with all 32 teams in action playing games at staggered start times from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.But that’s Tuesday. There are three games to be contested Monday featuring five playoff teams from last season — with the lone non-playoff team having won the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025.Here’s a look at the key stats and storylines in each contest, along with betting info on broadcast details:Odds are provided by DraftKings and subject to change.Florida Panthers at Buffalo Sabres1 p.m.
ET (ESPN+) | BUF -108, O/U: 6.5After breaking the NHL’s longest playoff drought last season, the Sabres want to make it two playoff runs in a row. The campaign hasn’t gotten off as well as hoped, with a 2-3-0 record and minus-8 goal differential. The visiting Panthers have been beset by injuries to key players — Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand — and at 2-1-2 aren’t far ahead of Buffalo in the standings. This is a critical early matchup between two teams with big postseason dreams.Ottawa Senators at New Jersey Devils7 p.m.
ET (NHL Network) | NJ -135, O/U: 5.5The Senators have been a wagon this season, racing out to a tie for the Atlantic Division lead at 4-1-0. That has been built from the net out, with Linus Ullmark entering this game with a 4-0-0 record, 1.34 goals-against average and .942 save percentage. The Devils took two of three from the Sens last season, but to keep the edge they’ll have to be a little stingier in goal prevention. New Jersey is allowing the eighth-most goals against per game (3.5).
You can do the math in comparing Ullmark’s rate against the Devils’.Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild8 p.m. ET (ESPN+) | MIN -118, O/U: 5.5Had a few (well, quite a few) bounces gone the Wild’s direction in their second-round playoff matchup against the Avalanche this past spring, these two teams would’ve staged an epic Western Conference finals. As it was, the Golden Knights rolled an injury-beset Avs squad in four games to head to the Cup Final.Nevertheless, based on early returns in 2026-27, both of these teams should be in the mix for the conference finals again. The Wild have allowed the second-fewest goals per game this season (1.80), while the Knights have scored the sixth most per contest (3.67).
So on the macro level, there’s your big question heading into this Western showdown: Can Jesper Wallstedt continue to be “the Wall of St. Paul” against Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner & Co.?Reminder: Fans can catch all the action in the NHL streaming hub and on the ESPN App.Jump ahead: Top NHL stories Last night’s scores NHL stats leaders Today in hockey historyTop stories around the NHLHere’s what you need to know:The latest updated NHL Power Rankings.Why NHL expansion to Houston makes too much sense.Who are this season’s top breakout candidates?NHL Rank: Who are the top 100 players for 2026-27? And what do NHL execs think of our list?The top NCAA hockey teams to watch for high-end NHL prospects.The Blackhawks are close to getting Connor Bedard back in the lineup.Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.Scoring is up in 2026-27, perhaps due to the shortened preseason.Senators forward William Eklund is out for an “extended” period with ankle injury.Sunday’s scoreboardSeattle Kraken 5, Washington Capitals 3 New York Rangers 6, Vancouver Canucks 2 Carolina Hurricanes 4, Philadelphia Flyers 1NHL scoring leadersClick here for full list of stats leaders.NHL goaltending leadersClick here for the full list of goaltender stats.Today in hockey historyThere are impressive NHL debuts … and then there’s what Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews did Oct. 12, 2016.The No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft scored on all three of his first shots against the Senators. And if that weren’t enough, he added a fourth goal with three seconds left in the second period.”You don’t really draw it up like that,” he told Sportsnet after the game.Matthews has subsequently scored 428 more goals in his NHL career — including four so far in 2026-27.
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