A full four weeks of the 2026-27 NHL season will be complete after Tuesday's games, and the early going has brought plenty of surprises. Few expected the Boston Bruins to sit atop the Atlantic Division, though the Carolina Hurricanes leading the Metropolitan is less of a shock. The two meet in the night's marquee game at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, one of 11 games on the schedule.

The rivalry stretches back to 1979-80, when the Hurricanes were still the Hartford Whalers. Boston holds a 115-80-24 regular-season record against Hartford and Carolina, plus a 26-16 edge in the playoffs. The Bruins won the 2019 conference finals and the 2020 first round, while Carolina took the 2022 first-round series. Each team has a top-10 scorer (Sebastian Aho and David Pastrnak) and a top-10 goaltender by save percentage (Pyotr Kochetkov and Jeremy Swayman). DraftKings lists Carolina as the favorite at -192.

The evening begins at 7 p.m. ET in Philadelphia, where the Flyers host the Blue Jackets. Both clubs are near the bottom of the Metro, and Columbus has played only nine games. Matvei Michkov leads Philadelphia with eight goals and two assists, while Columbus arrives off an overtime win over Vegas decided by Adam Fantilli.

Elsewhere in the 8 p.m. ET window, Los Angeles visits Chicago in a game between two teams kept out of the league basement by Vancouver. It also brings together former linemates Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane. Montreal visits St. Louis without captain Nick Suzuki, who is recovering from an upper-body injury, though goaltender Jacob Fowler backstopped the Canadiens to a 2-1 Heritage Classic win Sunday. The Blues are unbeaten against Canadian opponents, with a 7-2 win over Ottawa and a 2-1 win over Winnipeg. Nashville hosts the Islanders, who have allowed just 2.55 goals per game, fifth fewest in the NHL, behind goaltender Ilya Sorokin.

New Jersey travels to Dallas with newly acquired goaltender Connor Hellebuyck unlikely to play so soon. Dallas has Jake Oettinger, who is 6-2-1 with a 1.43 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. The Devils have won five of six and the Stars have won five straight. Florida and Winnipeg meet Tuesday and then again Friday in Sunrise, an unusual back-to-back pairing for interconference teams.

The stakes are clear in Utah, where the Mammoth host the Wild at 9 p.m. ET and the winner will hold first place in the Central Division. Minnesota's Kirill Kaprizov has 13 goals this month, three shy of the October record held by Mario Lemieux. Utah's Clayton Keller has 15 points in 12 games, a pace of 105 points that would be a career high and a franchise first for triple digits.

At 10 p.m. ET, Vegas hosts Ottawa after dropping three straight, though the Golden Knights remain second in the Pacific thanks to an 8-2-0 start. Stutzle has 16 points in 12 games for the Senators and Jack Eichel has 19 in 13 for Vegas. Vancouver visits Anaheim in a meeting of two leaky defenses: the Canucks have the league's worst goals-against average at 4.62, and the Ducks rank 24th at 3.36. They play again Nov. 3.

The night ends at 10:30 p.m. ET in San Jose, where Buffalo visits the Sharks. The Sabres ended the NHL's longest playoff drought last season after 14 missed postseasons, while the Sharks are chasing the end of a seven-year drought. Macklin Celebrini leads San Jose with five goals and 10 assists, six points clear of second place. Buffalo winger Jack Quinn has 11 points in 11 games. The teams split last season's series, with the home side winning each game.

Other recent headlines include Hellebuyck's trade to the Devils, a one-year, $3 million agreement between Carolina and Alexander Nikishin, and Nikita Kucherov passing Steven Stamkos as the Lightning's all-time points leader. Suzuki is expected to miss two to four weeks. On Monday, the Kings beat the Rangers 6-3, the Flames beat the Maple Leafs 5-2, and the Red Wings topped the Oilers 4-3 in a shootout.