NHL Streams: Live Games and Schedule

The 2026-27 NHL season

Teams play 84 regular-season games each this year, up from 82 last season. Opening night came early, on September 29, 2026; the last regular-season games are on April 10, 2027, with the Stanley Cup playoffs after that. With 32 teams that adds up to 1,344 games, so there is hockey on almost every night of the week from autumn to spring.

The season also has its special dates. Four special events stand out: an outdoor Heritage Classic in Winnipeg (October 25), Global Series trips to Helsinki for Carolina and Seattle (November) and to Düsseldorf for Chicago and Ottawa (December), a Winter Classic in Salt Lake City on New Year's Eve, and a Stadium Series game at the Arlington, Texas home of the NFL Cowboys on February 20. Our post on the outdoor and overseas games has the local times for each.

How the NHL page reads

The page shows the next seven days, one header per day, with games in start order. A busy night starts with Eastern rinks around 7 PM ET, carries on with Central teams an hour later and closes with the Pacific games from about 10 PM ET. Saturdays are the biggest nights, with more than a dozen games on most of them. Weekend afternoons bring some matinees, and the European games start in the US morning.

Puck-drop times are written in Eastern Time and your browser turns them into local time. A 7:00 PM ET start in Toronto shows as 4:00 PM in Vancouver, for example. A game in progress carries a LIVE badge and moves to the top of its day.

What an NHL game page shows

Each game has a page with both teams, the start time and, during the game, a score that updates by itself. The feed list sits underneath. Our pick for the game goes in the Main row; Core rows and the other channel names are backups with their own mirrors. Most feeds go live in the half hour before puck drop, and the page checks for more while it is open.

Players load in a separate tab. Games can run long with overtime and a shootout, so if your stream drops in the third period, go back to the game page and pick the next row instead of waiting for the frozen one.

Tips for hockey nights

• Overtime is three-on-three for five minutes in the regular season, then a shootout. The LIVE badge stays on until the game is decided.
• On a full Saturday, open the pages for the games you want before 7:00 PM ET and keep them in tabs.
• The Helsinki and Düsseldorf games start at midday or earlier in the US, so check the day header rather than assuming an evening start.

More on Buffstreams

From October 20 the NBA plays on many of the same nights; its games are on the NBA page. Football fills the weekends: pro games on the NFL page, Saturday games on the college football page, and the home page has every sport on today's schedule in one place.