Almost all of this season's 1,344 NHL regular-season games are played in the league's 32 arenas. Seven are not. Two are outdoors in football stadiums, one is in a Texas football stadium with a retractable roof, and four are in Europe, two in Finland and two in Germany. This guide lists each one with the date, the venue and the start time in Eastern Time and local time, using the NHL's own schedule data. ESPN's listings agree on the dates and start times of the five games up to December 20.
The seven games at a glance
| Date | Event | Venue | Game | ET | Local |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 25 Oct 2026 | Heritage Classic | Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg | Canadiens at Jets | 7:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
| Thu 12 Nov 2026 | Global Series | Veikkaus Arena, Helsinki | Hurricanes at Kraken | 12:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
| Sat 14 Nov 2026 | Global Series | Veikkaus Arena, Helsinki | Kraken at Hurricanes | 1:00 PM | 8:00 PM |
| Fri 18 Dec 2026 | Global Series | PSD Bank Dome, Düsseldorf | Blackhawks at Senators | 1:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
| Sun 20 Dec 2026 | Global Series | PSD Bank Dome, Düsseldorf | Senators at Blackhawks | 8:00 AM | 2:00 PM |
| Thu 31 Dec 2026 | Winter Classic | Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City | Avalanche at Mammoth | 6:00 PM | 4:00 PM |
| Sat 20 Feb 2027 | Stadium Series | AT&T Stadium, Arlington | Golden Knights at Stars | 8:00 PM | 7:00 PM |
For the Düsseldorf games the home team follows the NHL's schedule, which has Ottawa at home on December 18 and Chicago at home on December 20.
Heritage Classic: Montreal in Winnipeg
The Heritage Classic is the NHL's outdoor game in Canada, and this season it goes to Winnipeg. The Jets host the Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium, the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL, on Sunday, October 25. Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET, which is 6:00 PM in Winnipeg. US viewers get it on TNT and truTV; in Canada it is on Sportsnet, and on TVA Sports in French.
An outdoor rink in late October on the Canadian prairie is a gamble on the weather, and that is half the fun. In outdoor games the teams also switch ends halfway through the third period, so that neither side has the wind or the sun behind it for the whole period.
Global Series in Helsinki: Carolina and Seattle
The Hurricanes and the Kraken play twice in Helsinki in November, at Veikkaus Arena. Seattle is the home team for the first game on Thursday, November 12, and Carolina for the second on Saturday, November 14. Both are evening games in Finland, at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM local time, which puts them at noon and 1:00 PM ET, or 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM on the West Coast.
That makes the Thursday game a working-day start in North America. In the US both games are on the teams' regional broadcasters rather than a national network, so they may not be where you usually find hockey.
By mid-November the US and Europe are both on winter time, so the gap between Helsinki and New York is the usual seven hours.
Global Series in Düsseldorf: Chicago and Ottawa
A month later the Blackhawks and Senators play two games at the PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf, the home arena of the city's DEL team. The first is on Friday, December 18, at 7:00 PM local time and 1:00 PM ET. The second, on Sunday, December 20, is an afternoon game in Germany at 2:00 PM, which means an 8:00 AM ET start, or 5:00 AM on the Pacific coast.
At 8:00 AM ET, the Sunday game is the earliest start of the NHL regular season; no other game begins before noon ET. In Europe, though, it is the most convenient one: early afternoon in Germany and 1:00 PM in the UK.
Winter Classic on New Year's Eve
The Winter Classic usually belongs to New Year's Day. This season it is a day earlier, on Thursday, December 31, when the Utah Mammoth host the Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the University of Utah's football stadium in Salt Lake City. The game starts at 6:00 PM ET and 4:00 PM local time, so in Salt Lake City it starts in daylight and finishes after dark. TNT and truTV have it in the US, and Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.
It is also a division game: Utah and Colorado both play in the Central Division.
The Stadium Series in Arlington
The last of the seven is the Stadium Series on Saturday, February 20, 2027, with the Dallas Stars hosting the Vegas Golden Knights in the Cowboys' stadium in Arlington, Texas. Puck drop is 8:00 PM ET (7:00 PM in Texas), with ABC showing it in the US. AT&T Stadium has a retractable roof, which makes it a different setting from the two outdoor games.
Already played: Hockeyville in Trois-Rivières
One more game away from an NHL arena has already happened. On September 21 the Canadiens beat the Senators 3-2 in a preseason game at the Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, as part of the Kraft Hockeyville event, where a community wins the right to host an NHL game. It was not a standings game.
Following these games
All seven are regular-season games, worth the usual two points for a win. On Buffstreams each one appears on the NHL page under its date, with the time in Eastern Time and then in your own time zone, so the European games show as daytime games in North America and evening games in Europe without any arithmetic. Click one and its page gathers whatever feeds are up, adding more while you keep it open.
The rest of the NHL week is on the same page, and the NBA, which starts its season on October 20, is on the NBA page.
