NHL Previews

Panthers center Sam Bennett, who has yet to play this season, has returned to practice and could be back in the lineup when Florida hosts the Seattle Kraken in Sunrise on Saturday night. Bennett, who scored 44 goals over the past two years, sustained a lower-body injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning in an Oct. 5 preseason game. “It feels great,” Bennett said of his recovery. “When you’ve been out for a while, you really

After winning three times on a five-game road trip, the Vancouver Canucks believe their game is in a good place as they return home. They carry momentum into opening their three-game homestand, which begins Friday against the St. Louis Blues. The Canucks enter the matchup off back-to-back victories at Florida and Nashville. “We ended up having a really great road trip, and we’ve got a great blueprint on how to play to be successful,” Canucks

The Washington Capitals have something positive to build upon when they open a five-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild on Friday. After scoring only six goals, not counting a shootout winner, in their first five games of the season, the Capitals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-4 road victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday. “Through a couple of games here where we haven’t been playing our best, we kind of carried

Having halted an early-season slide, the Carolina Hurricanes now set their sights on extending the misery of the San Jose Sharks. The Hurricanes can keep the visiting Sharks winless by beating them for the second time in 10 days Friday night. Things have hardly been easy for Carolina, which has split its first eight games, and needed to rally from a late 2-1 deficit for Thursday’s 3-2 overtime victory over Seattle that snapped a three-game

Neither the New York Islanders nor the Ottawa Senators are ready to worry over their defensive struggles in the early weeks of the season. A pair of teams looking to shore things up in their own zones and end losing streaks are slated to meet Thursday night, when the Islanders host the Senators in a battle of Eastern Conference rivals in Elmont, N.Y. Both teams were off Wednesday after losing at home on Tuesday, when

Perhaps more than usual, the Carolina Hurricanes sure are happy to be preparing for a home game as the Seattle Kraken visit Raleigh, N.C., on Thursday night. The Hurricanes are coming off a six-game road stretch in which they went 2-4. “We’ve got to find that team game,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “That’s what we’ve done so well over the years and I don’t think we have to reinvent it. “It’s not really that,

A team that has scored 10 goals over its past two games squares off against one struggling to find the net when the New Jersey Devils face the Washington Capitals on Wednesday in Newark, N.J. Both teams will be playing the second of back-to-back nights after the visiting Devils defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Tuesday while the host Capitals dropped a 4-1 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tyler Toffoli had a hat trick

Two teams looking to get back on track go head-to-head when the Buffalo Sabres visit the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night. The Sabres arrive in Ottawa after dropping a 3-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, their fourth loss in six games to start the season. “It’s frustrating, but I think as soon as you let frustration set in, negativity, you’re never going to get out of it,” Buffalo center Tage Thompson said. “I

While the overall results are mixed so far for the New Jersey Devils, Jack Hughes is off to a flying start with 10 points through four games. Coming off a four-point night, Hughes attempts to continue his early-season roll Thursday when New Jersey visits the Montreal Canadiens. The Devils are 2-1-1 and Hughes has four goals and six assists after totaling 43 goals and 99 points in 78 games last season. He a power-play goal