After a packed Thursday night around the NHL, Friday brings a lighter slate with only two games on the schedule, both available to stream on ESPN+. Here is what to watch in each matchup, along with betting lines from DraftKings that are subject to change.
The night begins at 9 p.m. ET in Vancouver, where the Canucks host the New York Rangers, who are favored at -225 with an over/under of 6.5. Fans of a certain age will recognize the pairing as a rematch of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, when Mark Messier and New York delivered Manhattan its first championship since 1940.
The meeting closes out a four-game West Coast road trip for the Rangers, who have beaten the Seattle Kraken 4-3 and the Calgary Flames 3-1 on the swing while falling 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers. Vancouver, meanwhile, has only three wins all season and has dropped six in a row. That skid includes a 6-2 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 11, a game in which the Canucks did not seem to push back very hard.
Defenseman Adam Fox leads New York in scoring with 22 points through 20 games, followed by winger Alexis Lafreniere with 20. Vancouver's attack runs through center Elias Pettersson, who also has 20 points in 20 games, and winger Brock Boeser with 17.
The late game, at 10 p.m. ET, sends the Nashville Predators into Las Vegas to face the Golden Knights, who are -192 favorites with a total of 5.5. Vegas sitting second in the Pacific Division is no surprise after the club reached the Cup finals this past spring, and it should contend for the division title all season. Nashville holding second place in the Central Division is far more unexpected, given the Predators missed the playoffs entirely in 2026 and were not counted among the Western Conference's top tier of predicted contenders.
Nashville arrives on a legitimate roll, carrying a six-game winning streak that includes victories over the Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche, three teams considered serious Cup challengers. Vegas has won four in a row of its own, though some of those wins came against softer competition. The Golden Knights took the first meeting between the teams this season 5-2 on Oct. 13, with five different skaters scoring, so slowing that balanced attack will be the Predators' challenge on Friday.
Elsewhere around the league, Greg Wyshynski's latest Wysh List column examines whether Connor McDavid can break 200 points this season, while new editions of the NHL Power Rankings and Awards Watch are also out. All 32 of the league's Hometown Remix jerseys have been revealed and ranked, Matvei Michkov has not officially requested a trade but might be open to a change of scenery, and Jakob Chychrun's thunderous hit on Nick Cousins was reviewed and ruled clean.
Friday's date also carries some hockey history. On Nov. 13, 1986, Brett Hull scored the first goal of his NHL career as his Calgary Flames defeated the Hartford Whalers 4-3. Hull went on to score 740 more across a career that also included stops with the St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes. His total of 741 ranks fifth on the career list, behind only Alex Ovechkin (930), Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801) and Jaromir Jagr (766).
