Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the preseason as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Saturday, one of three NHL exhibition results around the league on a night the Edmonton Oilers were set to close out their own preseason against the Calgary Flames, according to NHL.com.
Crosby’s goal came at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, with Ville Koivunen and Nicholas Robertson also scoring for Pittsburgh, NHL.com reported. Arturs Silovs made 23 saves to improve to 2-2-0 in the preseason. Ryan McLeod scored the lone goal for the Sabres, who fell to 1-3-0 in exhibition play. The Penguins and Sabres both open their regular seasons within the next two weeks, with training camp rosters still being trimmed toward the 23-player limit.
In Nashville, the Carolina Hurricanes shut out the Predators 6-0 at Bridgestone Arena. Jackson Blake had a goal and two assists, and Nikolaj Ehlers added a goal and an assist for Carolina, which improved to 3-1-0, NHL.com reported. Brandon Bussi stopped 22 shots for the win. Juuse Saros made 20 saves for Nashville, now 1-3-0 in the preseason. It was the Predators’ second meeting of the exhibition schedule with Carolina, after an earlier matchup between the two clubs on the road.
The Los Angeles Kings beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 at Crypto.com Arena behind a big night from Alex Turcotte, who scored twice and added an assist, and Mats Zuccarello, who had a goal and two assists, according to NHL.com. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves as the Kings improved to 2-2-0. Lukas Dostal stopped 15 shots for Anaheim, which is 1-3-0 in the preseason.
The results came on the final night of the NHL’s preseason slate for most clubs, with the regular season opening across the league next week. In Edmonton, the Oilers were set to close out their own four-game exhibition schedule Saturday against Calgary at Rogers Place, with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. Edmonton entered the night unbeaten in three preseason starts, most recently a 2-1 win over Vancouver. The Oilers open the 2026-27 regular season Sept. 29 at home against the Canucks, with the return match in Vancouver two days later.
Training camps across the NHL continued trimming rosters toward opening night, a process that has already touched most of the Canadian clubs. Edmonton cut its camp roster from 54 to 39 players earlier in the week, waiving forward Eduards Tralmaks and defencemen Josh Brown and Riley Stillman, as it works toward its final 23-man roster before the regular season begins.
Photo: generic ice hockey action photograph (Unsplash / Markus Spiske), not from any of the games described above.
