Colorado Avalanche 5-2 Pittsburgh Penguins
The Colorado Avalanche (5-2-1) won the Presidents Trophy a year ago, with the expectation of the same in 2026/27, and on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins (3-4-1), they showed exactly how good they can be. Despite falling in a 2-0 hole, the Avalanche started clicking behind their three biggest stars, with one goal and 4 points from Nathan MacKinnon leading the way.
On top of that, Martin Necas and Cale Makar combined for five assists, and with Mackenzie Blackwood stopping 29 of the 31 shots he saw on the night, it was all Colorado after the first 10 minutes of the game. For the Penguins, goals to Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust got them off to a hot start, but on the road they just couldn't slow down Colorado when the game got going, falling to 3-4-1 on the season as a result.
Boston Bruins 4-2 Anaheim Ducks
The other game of the night saw the red-hot Boston Bruins (6-2-0) take on the rising Anaheim Ducks (4-3-0) with the latter surprisingly struggling at home, going 1-3-0 to start the year on home ice. That continued in this one, despite carrying a 2-1 lead into the third period, with the Bruins offense coming alive as goals from David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm and Matthew Poitras sealed the deal.
In net for Boston, backup Micahel DiPietro stopped 25 of the 27 shots he saw, and after a rocky first period, it was Boston that cruised to victory with a dominant third period. The Ducks once again saw some promising performances from their young names, with Cutter Gauthier tallying an assist and Beckett Sennecke finding the back of the net, but at home, they've dropped another very winnable game.