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No. 1-ranked Michigan State will face Gavin McKenna and No. 3-ranked Penn State Friday.
No. 1-ranked Michigan State will face Gavin McKenna and No. 3-ranked Penn State Friday.
The No. 1-ranked Michigan State Spartans will face top-ranked NHL prospect Gavin McKenna and the No. 3-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in a weekend series at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing.
McKenna, the consensus No. 1 pick for the 2026 NHL Draft, was named NCAA rookie of the month on Thursday by the Hockey Commissioners Association.
The 17-year-old forward is tied among freshmen scorers in the nation with three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in 10 games.
The Nittany Lions are 9-1-0 and have won seven straight heading into Friday’s game at 7 p.m. Saturday’s rematch is at 4 p.m.
“It’s a heavyweight battle,” McKenna told nhl.com. “There’s a lot of hype around them and they’ve done their job to hold that No. 1 spot down. I know our group is excited and it should be fun.”
Also Thursday, Penn State’s JJ Wiebusch was named a national co-forward of the month by the Hockey Commissioners Association.
Wiebusch, an undrafted free agent who scored 14 goals in 40 games last year, leads the NCAA with 11 goals in 10 games.
He shares the award with Red Wings draft pick Max Plante, who has nine goals in 10 games for Minnesota Duluth.
U.S. takes Rivalry Series opener
Cleveland – Taylor Heise scored and set up each of Abbey Murphy’s three goals, and the United States women’s national hockey team opened the pre-Olympic Rivalry Series with a 4-1 win over Canada on Thursday night.
Laila Edwards had an assist in her Cleveland homecoming, with her shot from the right point deflected in by Heise midway through the first period. The 21-year-old Edwards is a forward-turned-defenseman from Cleveland Heights, and the first Black female player to skate for Team USA.
Farmington Hills’ Megan Keller and Plymouth’s Kirsten Simms each had an assist for the U.S.
Projected U.S. starter Aerin Frankel stopped 26 shots, and the Americans have won three straight against their cross-border rival. The run dates to a two-game sweep of Canada at the world championships in the Czech Republic in April, including a 4-3 overtime win in the title game.
Sarah Fillier scored for Canada. Eve Gascon stopped 22 shots in her Canadian national team debut. The University of Minnesota-Duluth junior got the start with coach Troy Ryan going with a younger lineup. Canada left several veterans at home to rest up, including goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.
The teams meet again in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday. The four-game series between the global powers then concludes with two games in Edmonton, Alberta, next month.
While the Americans are the defending world champs, the Canadians are the defending Olympic champions, winning their fifth gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.
After Fillier and Heise traded goals 16 seconds apart, the Americans then blew the game open in the second period when Murphy one-timed in a pair of Heise passes. Murphy then completed her hat trick by tipping in Heise’s pass through the middle for a power-play goal 1:54 into the third period.
Edwards is a senior at Wisconsin and preparing to make her Olympic debut at the Milan-Cortina Games in February.
She was honored by taking the ceremonial opening faceoff against Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin, and in the lineup three weeks after being sidelined by a left knee injury.
She has already won a national championship with the Badgers, a world championship gold medal in April and was named the world championship MVP in 2024, when the U.S. lost to Canada in her tournament debut at Utica, New York.
Edwards was also wowed a night earlier upon seeing the NBA Cavaliers post a picture on X of former star Larry Nance arriving for their home game against Philadelphia wearing Edwards’ No. 10 USA hockey jersey. She found out about it while having dinner with family at her childhood home, and joined by U.S. and Wisconsin teammate Caroline Harvey.
Thursday’s NHL
(At) Pittsburgh 5, Washington 3: Sidney Crosby scored twice and Bryan Rust delivered the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Penguins edged Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.
The 39-year-old Crosby’s two first-period power-play goals boosted his season total to an NHL-best 11. Rust’s fifth of the season helped the Penguins avoid a second straight collapse. Ex-Red Wing Anthony Mantha picked up his seventh of the year for Pittsburgh.
Ryan Strome, Tom Wilson and Rasmus Sandin scored for the Capitals.
(At) New Jersey 4, Montreal 3 (OT): Jesper Bratt scored on a breakaway 1:33 into overtime and New Jersey beat Montreal.
Ondrej Palat and Timo Meir each had a goal, and Cody Glass also scored in his return from an injury for New Jersey, which got its second win in five games after winning eight straight. Jacob Markstrom stopped 16 shots.
Kirby Dach, Jake Evans and Oliver Kapanen scored for Montreal, and Noah Dobson had two assists. Jakub Dobes finished with 24 saves as the Canadiens lost their second straight and had their four-game (3-0-1) point streak snapped.
(At) Boston 3, Ottawa 2 (OT): Pavel Zacha poked in a rebound with 6 seconds left in overtime and Joonas Korpisalo made 20 saves on to lead Boston to a win over Ottawa, its fifth straight overall.
Morgan Geekie and Sean Kuraly scored in the second period to give Boston a 2-1 lead, but Claude Giroux tied it 2-2 for Ottawa midway through the third. Boston had a chance in the final 30 seconds but ex-Bruin Linus Ullmark turned aside a shot.
Michael Amadio scored a goal, Giroux had a goal and an assist and Ullmark made 22 saves for the Senators, who have lost three of their last four games.
St. Louis 3, (at) Buffalo 0: Joel Hofer made 27 saves in his third NHL shutout and St. Louis got a short-handed goal and two assists from Mathieu Joseph to beat Buffalo.
Justin Faulk added a goal and an assist, and Nick Bjugsted also scored as the Blues won for just the second time in 10 games (2-6-2). St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery held a mandatory morning skate prior to playing the second game of a back-to-back and scratched top-scoring forward Jordan Kyrou to try and spark the struggling Blues.
The Sabres had their seven-game point streak (3-0-4) snapped in getting shut out for the first time since their opening game. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 14 shots in his third game this season.
(At) Carolina 4, Minnesota 3: Nikolaj Ehlers scored 46 seconds into the second period and goalie Frederik Andersen overcame a poor start to stop the final 18 shots he faced as Carolina beat Minnesota.
Jackson Blake, Andrei Svechnikov and Sean Walker also scored for the Hurricanes, who’ve won three of their last four games.
Matt Boldy, playing in his 300th NHL game, scored two goals and Brock Faber had one for the Wild, who had won two in a row. Filip Gustavsson, who recorded a shutout last season in Raleigh, made 23 saves.
Anaheim 7, (at) Dallas 5: Leo Carlsson’s short-handed goal midway through the third period proved to be the winner as Anaheim rallied to beat Dallas.
Chris Kreider scored twice, Cutter Gauthier, Olen Zellweger, Ian Moore added goals and Mason McTavish added an empty-netter for Anaheim, which won its fifth straight and for the seventh time in eight games. Lukas Dostal finished with 21 saves.
Wyatt Johnston had two goals, Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Dallas, which lost for the third time in four games. Miro Heiskanen had four assists and Jake Oettinger made 18 saves.
Philadelphia 3, (at) Nashville 1: Travis Konecny had a goal and an assist to lead the Philadelphia Flyers past the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Thursday night.
Matvei Michkov and Noah Cates also scored for the Flyers, and Dan Vladar made 23 saves.
Ryan O’Reilly scored and Juuse Saros stopped 23 shots for Nashville, which had its three-game point streak snapped.
Florida 5, (at) L.A. Kings 2: Brad Marchand scored two goals and Sam Reinhart got the go-ahead goal on his 30th birthday in the Florida Panthers’ 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Anton Lundell got a short-handed goal in the third period and Sam Bennett also scored for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers, who rebounded from a 7-3 loss in Anaheim to get their first victory on their four-game West Coast road trip.
Anze Kopitar got the first goal of his 20th NHL season and Corey Perry also scored for the Kings, who have lost three of four.
PWHL unveils expansion team nicknames
Get ready for a women’s pro hockey Torrent in Seattle and the Goldeneyes in Vancouver, as the PWHL unveiled logos and nicknames for its two expansion franchises on Thursday.
The designs and names were chosen to reflect each of the two Pacific Northwest markets. It’s a process that began in April at about the same time the professional women’s league announced it was expanding from six to eight teams for its third season.
The expansion teams will be competing on opening day, with Seattle playing at Vancouver on Nov. 21.
The Torrent nickname and S-shaped logo – with the word Torrent written across – draws from Washington’s powerful rivers and cascading waterways that have carved out the region’s landscape.
Meantime, the Goldeneyes nickname was inspired by the bird common to northern climates, including Vancouver and British Columbia. The logo features the city and nickname circling a feathery golden eye, which is tilting up to reflect it pointing northwest.
“The Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes are bold, distinctive and true to who we are as a league,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL executive vice president of business operations. “Each team identity is deeply connected to its home.”
PWHL marketing VP Kanan Bhatt-Shah noted how the Goldeneyes represent the PWHL’s first animal-related nickname. The league previously went with the Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Montreal Victoire, Minnesota Frost, Toronto Sceptres and New York Sirens.
“The common golden eye has these incredible attributes that feel emblematic of a PWHL hockey team: Strength, speed, fiercely protective,” said Bhatt-Shah, who led the design and name process. “It’s got to feel authentic and right and natural.”
As for the Torrent, Bhatt-Shah said, the name reflects the water imagery of Seattle’s other pro sports teams, such as the WNBA Storm, the NFL’s Seahawks, baseball’s Mariners and the NHL’s Kraken.
She then laughed when asked if the PWHL has enough teams with nicknames starting with the letter “S.”
“One could say you can never have enough S’s,” Bhatt-Shah said. “There’s such a sense of pride in this kind of iconic letter form. And it feels so emblematic of Seattle.”
The league previously revealed the teams’ color schemes. Seattle’s primary colors will be slate green and cream, and Vancouver’s Pacific blue and cream.
Though merchandise featuring the logos and nicknames will be available for sale, they will not be incorporated on each team’s jersey for games this season. Both teams will instead have their city names printed across the front.
The decision to not include the logos on the jerseys is in part due to the branding not being available in time when PWHL jerseys were placed for order. The process of choosing a nickname and logo is lengthy in part because of patent rights and the PWHL’s desire to have full use of the name and image.
Another reason, Bhatt-Shah said, was reflecting how the league began, with the original six teams not having a nickname or logo for their inaugural season.
Hilary Knight, preparing to represent the United States in her fifth Winter Games in February, was the first member of the Torrent after being signed in free agency in June.
Vancouver is led by Canadian national team players Sarah Nurse and Claire Thompson, and includes forward Jenn Gardiner, who is from suburban Vancouver.
“This identity is a perfect reflection of who we are and where we come from,” Gardiner said. “When I think of the Goldeneyes, I think of the landscape of British Columbia, the mountains, the ocean, and the grit that comes with growing up here.”
November schedules
Friday games
â–¶ Rangers at Red Wings, 7
â–¶ Wisconsin at Michigan, 7
â–¶ Penn State at Michigan State, 7
â–¶ Denver at Western Michigan, 7
â–¶ Northern Michigan at Michigan Tech, 7
Saturday games
â–¶ Wisconsin at Michigan, 8
â–¶ Penn State at Michigan State, 4
â–¶ Denver at Western Michigan, 6
â–¶ Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan, 6
Sunday games
â–¶ Blackhawks at Red Wings, 1
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Chicago, 4
Wednesday, Nov. 12
â–¶ Toronto at Grand Rapids, 11 a.m.
Thursday, Nov. 13
â–¶ Duck at Red Wings, 7
Friday, Nov. 14
â–¶ Toronto at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Michigan at Penn State, 7
â–¶ Michigan State at Notre Dame, 7
â–¶ Miami University of Ohio at Western Michigan, 7
â–¶ Bemidji State at Michigan Tech, 7
â–¶ Chicago Steel at NTDP U18, 7
Saturday, Nov. 15
â–¶ Sabres at Red Wings, 7
â–¶ Michigan at Penn State, 6
â–¶ Michigan State at Notre Dame, 6
â–¶ Miami University of Ohio at Western Michigan, 6
â–¶ Bemidji State at Michigan Tech, 6
â–¶ Chicago Steel at NTDP U18, 7
Sunday, Nov. 16
â–¶ Red Wings at Rangers, 7
Tuesday, Nov. 18
â–¶ Kraken at Red Wings, 7
Wednesday, Nov. 19
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Rockford, 8
Thursday, Nov. 20
â–¶ Islanders at Red Wings, 7
Friday, Nov. 21
â–¶ Charlotte at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Ohio State at Michigan, 7
â–¶ Wisconsin at Michigan State, 8:30
â–¶ Western Michigan at Nebraska at Omaha, 8
â–¶ Michigan Tech at Minnesota State, 8
â–¶ Northern Michigan at Bemidji State, 8
â–¶ NTDP U18 at North Dakota, 8
â–¶ Madison at NTDP U17, 7
Saturday, Nov. 22
â–¶ Blue Jackets at Red Wings, 1
â–¶ Charlotte at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Ohio State at Michigan, 7
â–¶ Wisconsin at Michigan State, TBA
â–¶ Western Michigan at Nebraska at Omaha, 8
â–¶ Michigan Tech at Minnesota State, 7
â–¶ Northern Michigan at Bemidji State, 7
â–¶ Madison at NTDP U17, 7
Monday, Nov. 24
â–¶ Red Wings at Devils, 7
Tuesday, Nov. 25
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Texas, 8
Wednesday, Nov. 26
â–¶ Predators at Red Wings, 7
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Texas, 8
â–¶ Colgate at Michigan State, TBA
â–¶ Muskegon at NTDP U17, 5
Friday, Nov. 28
â–¶ Lightning at Red Wings, noon
â–¶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Michigan at Harvard, 7
â–¶ Colgate at Michigan State, TBA
â–¶ St. Thomas at Michigan Tech, 7
â–¶ Minnesota State at Northern Michigan, 7
â–¶ NTDP U17 at Sioux Falls, 4
Saturday, Nov. 29
â–¶ Red Wings at Boston, 7
â–¶ Michigan at Harvard, 7
â–¶ St. Thomas at Michigan Tech, 6
â–¶ Minnesota State at Northern Michigan, 6
â–¶ NTDP U17 at Sioux Falls, 7
Sunday, Nov. 30
â–¶ Iowa at Grand Rapids, 4
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