Raw Charge
Summary
We’re introducing a weekly recap of the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division this year at Raw Charge. Every Monday morning I’ll be putting together a weekly recap of the action around the Atlantic as the season rolls on. Be sure to check back each week to see the ups and downs on this roller coaster ride this season. Without further adieu, let’s get into it: (6)Tampa Bay Lightning (1-1-0, 2 PTS) Goals For: 4 (T-25th in the NHL); Goals Against: 6 (T-12th fewest in the NHL) Last week: (1-1-0) Thursday, October 1, 2026 TBL: 1 NYR: 5 Lightning power outage leads to 5-1 loss to Rangers in season opener Saturday, October 3, 2026 WSH: 1 TBL: 3 Lightning pick up first win of the season, 3-1, over Capitals Upcoming Schedule: Monday, October 5 – vs PHI, 7 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – vs MIN, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – @ NYI, 7:30 p.m. ET The Lightning opened the season on the road in New York City and the Rangers made quick work of them in a 5-1 drubbing to start the season with a new low as Igor Sheterkin scored an empty-netter in the final minutes. Tampa Bay rebounded nicely a few nights later back at home at Benchmark International Arena and built a 2-0 lead before hanging on against the Capitals due to a great effort from Andrei Vasilevskiy to even their record at one win and one loss. The Lightning wrap up a three-game homestand with two games in Tampa against Philadelphia tonight and then the Wild come to town on Thursday night before heading back to New York for the second time already. The Islanders are first on Saturday to wrap up this upcoming week and the Bolts will be back at Madison Square Garden on the 13th of October in the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy that will feature all 32 teams playing that evening. (1)Boston Bruins (2-1-0, 4 PTS) GF: 8 (T-10th); GA: 7 (T-17th) Last week: (2-1-0) Tuesday, September 29, 2026 NYR: 0 BOS: 3 Late goals lift B’s to Opening Night win over Rangers Friday, October 2, 2026 BOS: 4 (OT) WPG: 3 Saturday, October 3, 2026 BOS: 1 MIN: 4 Bruins start fast, fizzle out against Minnesota Upcoming Schedule: Monday, October 5 – vs OTT, 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – vs UTA, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – vs PHI, 1 p.m. ET The Bruins opened the season with a convincing 3-0 victory at home over the New York Rangers before hitting the road through Winnipeg and Minnesota. JJ Peterka scored three minutes into overtime after Elias Lindholm tied the game late in the third period at 2 to secure a Bruins overtime victory against Winnipeg. The Minnesota Wild took over the following game after the first period and outscored the Bruins 4-0 in the final 40 minutes in the Bruins 4-1 loss on Saturday to finish the week. The first-placed (in the Atlantic) Bruins have three home games this week against Ottawa, Utah and Philadelphia before heading out west the following week. (2) Florida Panthers (1-0-2, 4 PTS) GF: 6 (T-18th); GA: 7 (T-17th) Last week: (1-0-1) Tuesday, September 29, 2026 FLA: 1 CAR: 0 (OT) Jacob on the mark in Panthers 1-0 win over Hurricanes Thursday, October 1, 2026 FLA: 3 SJS: 4 (OT) Panthers rally to earn point in 4-3 overtime loss to Sharks Sunday, October 4, 2026 FLA: 2 ANA: 3 OT Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 6 – @ LAK, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – vs MIN, 7 p.m. ET Florida and Carolina kicked off the new NHL season in an old-fashioned goalie duel in Raleigh as the Hurricanes raised their new Stanley Cup banner. Offense was at a premium in this game as the two teams were a combined 0/13 on the power play but Gustav Forsling snuck a puck past Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi with under 5 seconds remaining in OT and the Panthers came away on top. The Panthers got a heavy dose of bad news as a few nights later in San Jose when Captain Aleksander Barkov went down midway through the second period with an apparent left knee injury. The Panthers fought back after watching him go down, the Panthers were losing 2-0 at the time, but the Sharks scored three minutes into OT for the win. The Panthers subsequently put Barkov on LTIR without any prognosis on severity or timeframe of Barkov’s injury. The show goes on in Barkov’s absence as the Panthers were in Anaheim last night. Brad Marchand tied the game at 2 late in the 3rd Period but Florida fell to the Ducks on a PPG by Anaheim in the final minute of OT. Believe it or not, Anaheim set a new NHL record as they won their 11th straight Home Opener. I bet you wouldn’t have guessed that. The Panthers wrap up their season opening road trip in Los Angeles on Tuesday before returning for their home opener on Saturday against Minnesota. Florida will be flying right back out for back-to-back oddly scheduled road games after their game against Minnesota. I’ll get into those next week. The Panthers start the season with only 3 of their first 13 games at home and only four home games in the month of October. (3) Montreal Canadiens (1-0-1, 3 PTS) GF: 8 (T-10th); GA: 8 (T-22nd) Last week: (1-0-1) Tuesday, September 29, 2026 MTL: 3 TOR: 2 Top Six Minutes: A Habs comeback win to start the season Saturday, October 3, 2026 MTL: 5 PIT: 6 (OT) Top Six Minutes: Habs mount a big comeback for a point Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 6 – vs CAR, 7 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – vs NSH, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – vs DET, 7 p.m. ET The Canadians had a wild week to start the season. Montreal opened the season with a classic rivalry game in Toronto. Toronto scored first before Montreal scored three straight and held on in the end with a 3-2 regulation win to start the year. The Penguins jumped out to a 5-1 lead with just under five minutes left in the second period in Pittsburgh on Saturday but the Canadiens fought valiantly and scored two goals in 24 seconds to tie the game at 5 in the last minute of the third period. Tommy Novak would then score for Pittsburgh with his second goal of the game in overtime but the Canadiens skated away with a Bettman Point in a game they were down by four goals which is still quite a feat. Montreal is back in Quebec to begin a four game stretch at home this week with three games against Carolina, Nashville and Detroit. They will play six out of their next seven games at home with only one road game until October 23rd. (4) Ottawa Senators (1-0-0, 2 PTS) GF: 3 (T-27th); GA: 2 (T-1st) Last week: (1-0-0) Saturday, October 3, 2026 OTT: 3 TOR: 2 SENS WIN CHABOT’S FIRST GAME AS CAPTAIN Upcoming Schedule: Monday, October 5 – @ BOS, 7:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, October 6 – @ DET, 7 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – vs PHI, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – vs NSH, 7 p.m. ET Ottawa had a weird opening week as the NHL began the season on Tuesday night but Ottawa didn’t play their first game until Saturday in Toronto. The Senators rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the second period and Stephen Halliday scored the game-winner ten minutes into the third period as Linus Ullmark held the fort for a Senators win to begin their season. The Senators will jump across the border into the U.S. for a back-to-back in Boston tonight and Detroit tomorrow before returning back to their home and native land with two games against Philadelphia and Nashville to wrap up a four game gauntlet this week. (5) Buffalo Sabres (1-1-0, 2 PTS) GF: 7 (T-13th); GA: 9 (26th) Last week: (1-1-0) Thursday, October 1, 2026 BUF: 3 CBJ: 6 Sabres Cannonballed by Columbus, Fall 6-3 Saturday, October 3, 2026 CHI: 3 BUF: 4 Sabres rally for late win against shorthanded Blackhawks Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 6 – vs MIN, 7 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – vs DAL, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – vs UTA, 7 p.m. ET Buffalo will try to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke as they try to improve from their surprising season last year. They began the season in Columbus and opened the scoring before Columbus ran away with a 4-3 lead at the end of the second to finish off the Sabres by a 6-3 final score. Buffalo hosted the Blackhawks two days later and rallied with two third period goals in a 4-3 comeback win at home. The victory over Chicago was the beginning of a five game homestand that will feature three foes from the West this week – Minnesota, Dallas and Utah. Seven out of Buffalo’s next eight games in October will be on the road after they wrap up this current five game homestand. (7) Toronto Maple Leafs (1-2-0, 2 PTS) GF: 6 (T-18th); GA: 7 (T-17th) Last week: (1-2-0) Tuesday, September 29, 2026 MTL: 3 TOR: 2 Habs spoil Leafs opener Wednesday, September 30, 2026 NYI: 1 TOR: 2 Leafs edge Islanders for first win Saturday, October 3, 2026 OTT: 3 TOR: 2 Sundays FTB: 400 (3-2 loss to Senators) Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 6 – vs NSH, 7 p.m. ET Thursday, October 8 – @ VGK, 10 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – @ COL, 9 p.m. ET Toronto began the Gavin McKenna Era at home with three games last week. McKenna went scoreless in those three games with 3 SOG and a -3 rating in 14:32 ATOI. Montreal scored three straight against Toronto after the Maple Leafs opened the scoring as the Leafs fell 3-2 in their home opener. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz stole the show 24 hours later against the Islanders as he stopped 26 shots and Easton Cowan’s 2nd Period goal to put Toronto up 2-0 which ended up the deciding goal in Toronto’s 2-1 victory. Toronto hosted Ottawa on Saturday to wrap up their week and watched a 2-1 lead in the second period evaporate as Ottawa broke a 2-2 tie in the third period and held on for a 3-2 Sens victory in Toronto. All three games were one-goal games with Toronto on the losing end in two out of the three. The Leafs wrap up their homestand on Tuesday against Nashville before heading out west with a game in Las Vegas on Thursday and in Denver on Saturday. When will McKenna score his first goal? The longer it takes the more pressure the Maple Leafs fans and media will put on him to score. (8) Detroit Red Wings (0-2-0, 0 PTS) GF: 2 (31st); GA: 5 (T-5th) Last week: (0-2-0) Friday, October 2, 2026 NYR: 2 DET: 0 Red Wings shut out by Rangers in opener Sunday, October 4, 2026 WPG: 3 DET: 2 Jets edge Red Wings 3-2 Upcoming Schedule: Tuesday, October 6 – vs OTT, 7 p.m. ET Friday, October 9 – vs SEA, 7 p.m. ET Saturday, October 10 – @ MTL, 7 p.m. ET The Red Wings went winless this week in the standings and with their fans. The fans in Detroit booed Dylan Larkin mercilessly when he was introduced in their home opener and multiple chants of “sell the team” broke out in Little Caesar’s Arena in their two home losses this week. Things are not going well in Detroit. The Red Wings haven’t made the Playoffs since 2015-16 and haven’t advanced past the first round since 2013. Their Captain coming into this season requested a trade and was stripped of his Captaincy. The Wings are also still looking to fill their General Manager vacancy after Steve Yzerman’s resignation in July and their young and talented RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson appeared to have done everything he could to play this season but is still without a contract and has now also asked for a trade out of Detroit. I don’t blame the fans for running out of patience. Their season drags along this week with two more home games against Ottawa and Seattle and finishing a back-to-back in Montreal on Saturday. Dylan Larkin may return by then or may be traded by then. I guess time will tell. Thanks for stopping by this week and be sure to check back next week to recap Week 2 of The Atlantic Current!