The 2022-2023 NHL season is officially underway and this article explains how you can watch every NHL game this season, even if you don’t have cable. I also link to a guide for watching each team’s games this season. It specifically includes how to watch each team’s next game, even throughout the preseason.
How To Watch Any NHL Team Without Cable
For the 2022-2023 NHL season, I put together a guide specific to each team. The articles below will explain how to watch that team for fans that live both inside and outside that team’s TV market.
Summary of How To Watch NHL Games Live
The following services are what you want to consider this season for watching the NHL.
ESPN+ (Sign Up): ESPN+ replaced NHL.TV last season in the US, and that remains the same for the 2022-2023 NHL season. ESPN+ allows you to watch every NHL game as long as the game isn’t nationally broadcast on TNT, NHL Network, or ESPN, and the team from your local market isn’t playing in the game. The streaming services only cost $9.99 per month for over 1000 televised NHL games this season. The nationally televised games that will be blacked out on ESPN+ this season are; roughly 25 exclusively airing on linear ESPN, 60 games airing on TNT, and about 90 games airing on NHL Network. With the exception of your local market team, on average you should be able to watch about 70 of each team’s 82 games on ESPN+ this season. The options summarized below will explain watching your local market team and national games.
DIRECTV STREAM (5-Day Free Trial): The DIRECTV STREAM “Choice” plan carries every regional sports network except for NBC Sports Philidelphia so you can watch every game for all teams except the Flyers. If you live in any other US market, pairing DIRECTV STREAM with ESPN+ will let you catch every NHL game this season. DIRECTV STREAM caries ABC, ESPN, and TNT for nationally televised NHL Games on their “Choice plan” for $99.99 per month. NHL Network is also available, but you need to upgrade to their “Ultimate” channel plan for $109.99 per month. Cancel any time. If you cancel within your 5 day free trial period, you will not be charged.
FuboTV (1-week free trial): Carries MSG, NESN, Root Sports NW, AT&T Rocky Mt, and NBC Sports Regional networks (RSN) if you live in that RSN’s TV market. That means fuboTV subscribers will have all the games for the Bruins, Sabres, Blackhawks, Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, Sharks, Kraken, Golden Knights, and Capitals. If you live in those areas, pairing FuboTV with ESPN+ will provide you access to every NHL game this season, with the exception of nationally televised games on TNT (TNT isn’t on fuboTV, but ESPN and ABC are). Service costs $74.99 for access to your RSN, ESPN, and ABC. You can add a “Sports Extra Package” for an additional $11 per month and have access to NHL Network. Cancel Any time. Also, be aware, there is an additional mandatory $6 per month regional sports fee in these areas.
- Pittsburgh, PA, and surrounding areas
- Houston, TX, and surrounding areas
- New York City/Buffalo/Rochester, NY and surrounding areas
- New England
- Chicago, IL and surrounding areas
- Washington/Oregon and surrounding states
- Utah/Nevada and surrounding areas
Hulu Live TV (check promotions): Carries NBC regional networks if you live in the TV markets for the Blackhawks, Flyers, Sharks, and Caps. Hulu Live TV will have every game for those teams. If you live in those markets, pairing Hulu Live TV with ESPN+ will provide you access to every NHL game this season. Hulu Live TV carries ABC, ESPN, and TNT for nationally televised NHL Games. Unfortunately, Hulu doesn’t carry NHL Network which will carry up to 90 games this season. Hulu Live Costs $69.99 per month after a free trial. Cancel Any time.
YouTube TV (1-week free trial): Carries NBC regional networks if you live in the TV markets for the Blackhawks, Flyers, Sharks, and Caps. YouTube TV will have every game for those teams. If you live in those markets, pairing YouTube TV with ESPN+ will provide you access to every NHL game this season. YouTube TV carries ABC, ESPN, and TNT for nationally televised NHL Games. YouTube TV costs $64.99 per month after a free trial. YouTube TV doesn’t carry NHL Network which will carry up to 90 games this season Cancel Any time.
Bally Sports+ is a recently launched direct-to-customer streaming service that carries games of NHL teams that have a Bally Sports Regional Network. Bally Sports+ is currently available on iOS and Android mobile smart devices, along with tvOS (Apple TV), Android TV, and Amazon Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs. See our article, Is Bally Sports Worth the Price for more details. You can subscribe to Bally Sports+ at BallySportsPlus.com for $189.99 annually or $19.99 each month and live stream NHL games airing on any Bally Sports regional. However, you only get games of the Bally Sports channel in your TV market. If you are outside the intended TV market, you will not see Bally Sports+ available on BallySportsPlus.com or within the Bally Sports app. This service only provides the regional sports channel and won’t have access to all the channels you get with a service that carries Bally Sports and other cable channels like DIRECTV STREAM.
Watch Out-Of-Market NHL Games
The solution for watching out-of-market NHL games in the United States during the 2022-2023 NHL season is ESPN+. The service will carry 1000+ out-of-market NHL games this season. You can also watch these games live, or on-demand once the puck drops. ESPN+ is a premium subscription that doesn’t require you to have ESPN. Subscribers to ESPN+ will be able to watch every NHL game live this season with the following exceptions.
- Games where one of the teams playing are from your local TV market. For example. If you live in Detroit, games involving the redwings are blacked out on ESPN+.
- The game isn’t one of 150 games being broadcast on ESPN, NHL Network, or TNT this season (see national schedule later in the article.
And even though you can’t watch those games live, you can still watch them on ESPN+ once they air. Here is how the blackout rules affect watching a replay of the games.
- All exclusive ESPN games will be available for replay immediately following the broadcast.
- TNT and NHL Network games will be available 24 hours after the scheduled end time of each match.
- Other blacked-out games will be available for archival viewing on ESPN+ 24 hours after scheduled end times.
ESPN+ is a must-have for hockey fans this season. In addition to the ability to watch over 1000 out-of-market NHL games, ESPN+ will also carry 75 games exclusively with Hulu, 11 games with ABC, and two games on ESPN.
Watching NHL Games on ESPN+
You watch ESPN+ through the ESPN App. To add ESPN+ to your ESPN app, follow these instructions:
- Subscribe to ESPN+
- Download and Open the ESPN app on your mobile or TV device. Supports Roku Players and TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android, iPhone, Samsung TVs, Xbox, PlayStation, and more.
- Click the Settings Gear in the upper right corner.
- Select “Account Information” then “Log Into ESPN Account.” You should receive an activation code.
- Visit https://espn.com/activate on your phone or laptop and type in the code.
- Log in with your ESPN+ credentials.
- You should then get confirmation that your ESPN+ account is linked and now see and “ESPN+” tab in the ESPN app.
An ESPN+ subscription costs only $9.99 per month. There is no contract so you can cancel any time you like. However, you can select a yearly subscription for a discounted rate of $69.99 annually. In addition to ESPN, Disney also owns Hulu and the Disney+ streaming service. You can get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for just $13.99 by signing up here! For more information on ESPN+, see our ESPN+ review.
Watch Every NHL Game Without Cable
If you want to watch any NHL game you like this season, you need to consider the following three things.
- How do you watch games involving your local team?
- How to watch games that are national broadcasts?
- How to watch out-of-market games?
As I explain in the first part of this article, watching out-of-market NHL games is easy this season. You need a $9.99 per month subscription to ESPN+ for live access to over 1000 out-of-market NHL games this season, and over 80 nationally broadcasts games. Watching nationally broadcast hockey games not on ESPN+ is also pretty straightforward. You just need to combine ESPN+ with a streaming service that has ESPN, NHL Network, and TNT. Let’s look at the options that work best for watching every NHL Game this season.
DIRECTV STREAM and ESPN+
The option that will work for most people is combining ESPN+ with DIRECTV STREAM. DIRECTV STREAM is a live TV streaming service that carries every US-based NHL team’s regional sports network (RSN) except for NBC Sports Philadelphia. You have to live inside the RSN’s market to have the channel available. The service also carries ESPN, ABC, and TNT for nationally televised games. All these channels are available in its “Choice” channel plan for $99.99 per month. NHL Network is also available through DIRECTV STREAM but on the “Ultimate” plan for $109.99 per month. If you add ESPN+ for $9.99 per month, you can stream every game this season (Unless you live in the Flyers Markets, most of those Flyers games will be blacked out ). Below are all the US NHL teams and their regional sports network available through this plan.
| Team | RSN |
|---|---|
| Anaheim Ducks | Bally Sports West |
| Arizona Coyotes | Bally Sports Arizona |
| Boston Bruins | NESN |
| Buffalo Sabres | MSG |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Bally Sports South |
| Chicago Blackhawks | NBC Sports Chicago |
| Colorado Avalanche | Altitude |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Bally Sports Ohio |
| Dallas Stars | Bally Sports Southwest |
| Detroit Red Wings | Bally Sports Detroit |
| Florida Panthers | Bally Sports Florida |
| Los Angeles Kings | Bally Sports West |
| Minnesota Wild | Bally Sports North |
| Nashville Predators | Bally Sports South |
| New Jersey Devils | MSG |
| New York Islanders | MSG |
| New York Rangers | MSG |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh |
| San Jose Sharks | NBC Sports California |
| Seattle Kraken | Root Sports Northwest |
| St. Louis Blues | Bally Sports Midwest |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Bally Sports Sun |
| Vegas Golden Knights | AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain |
| Washington Capitals | NBC Sports Washington |
If you want to save some money, you can opt for their “Entertainment” package for $74.99 per month. The Entertainment plan will provide streaming access to ESPN, ABC, and TNT, but you will miss out on the regional networks. Therefore, games involving your local team may be blacked out. DIRECTV STREAM provides a 5-day free trial for new customers. You can try DIRECTV STREAM by signing up for this online offer. You can also check out our review of DIRECTV STREAM for information on all the channels available through the service.
All DIRECTV STREAM plans include:
- the ability to watch on 20 devices at the same time
- a cloud-based DVR
- channels like ESPN2, ESPN, AMC, HGTV, Discovery, and more
- supported on Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, and more
With both DIRECTV STREAM and ESPN+, you can Use the DIRECTV STREAM app to watch your local market games and games on ESPN, NHL Network, and TNT. For every other game, you can watch using your ESPN+ subscription through the ESPN app.
Hulu Live TV and ESPN+
Hulu Live TV is a cheaper option than DIRECTV STREAM to watch the NHL. Hulu Live TV caries ESPN, ABC, and TNT in its channel plan for $69.99 per month after a 1-week free trial. You can add ESPN+ for $9.99 per month through your Hulu profile and access ESPN+ through the Hulu app. However, Hulu Live TV only carries the regional sports network for the four teams in the table below. If you live in the market for those teams, paring Hulu Live TV and ESPN+ will provide access to every NHL game, unless they are airing on NHL Network.
| Team | RSN |
|---|---|
| Chicago Blackhawks | NBC Sports Chicago |
| Philadelphia Flyers | NBC Sports Philadelphia |
| San Jose Sharks | NBC Sports California |
| Washington Capitals | NBC Sports Washington |
It’s a cheaper, more convenient option compared to DIRECTV Steam. Still, unfortunately, it’s only a complete solution for NHL fans living in the media markets for the teams in the table above. Hulu Live TV provides the following features:
- the ability to watch on 2 devices at the same time
- a cloud-based DVR
- channels like ESPN2, ESPN, ABC, TNT, and more
- supported on Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, and more
You can check out our review of Hulu Live TV for more information on this streaming service.
fuboTV and ESPN+
FuboTV doesn’t carry TNT, so they won’t have every NHL game this season, but you will only miss the 50 nationally televised games airing on TNT. However, it’s cheaper than DIRECTV STREAM at $74.99, and it includes ESPN. NHL Network is also available through an add-on Package. FuboTV carries the Regional sports Networks for the teams in the table below. If you live in the market for those teams, paring fuboTV and ESPN+ will provide access to every NHL game (except the ones on TNT).
| Team | RSN |
|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | NESN |
| Buffalo Sabres | MSG |
| Chicago Blackhawks | NBC Sports Chicago |
| New Jersey Devils | MSG |
| New York Islanders | MSG |
| New York Rangers | MSG |
| Philadelphia Flyers | NBC Sports Philadelphia |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh |
| San Jose Sharks | NBC Sports California |
| Seattle Kraken | Root Sports Northwest |
| Vegas Golden Knights | AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain |
| Washington Capitals | NBC Sports Washington |
FuboTV provides access to ESPN, and ABC along with 70+ other channels. You can get a fuboTV subscription to try FuboTV. The package includes:
- Live ESPN, ABC and more are available in fuboTV’s channel lineup. NHL Network can also be added.
- The Regional Sports Network for 12 NHL teams
- You can watch on three screens at the same time
- 250 hours of cloud DVR storage
- The FuboTV app is available on major platforms, including Apple TV, AndroidTV, Roku, and Amazon FireTV.
Also, be aware, there is an additional mandatory $6 per month regional sports fee in these areas.
- Pittsburgh, PA, and surrounding areas
- Houston, TX and surrounding areas
- New York City/Buffalo/Rochester, NY and surrounding areas
- New England
- Chicago, IL and surrounding areas
- Washington/Oregon and surrounding states
- Utah/Nevada and surrounding areas
You can sign up for fuboTV or check out our review of FuboTV for more details.
YouTube TV and ESPN+
YouTube TV is similar to Hulu Live TV in regard to watching NHL games. The services caries ESPN, ABC, and TNT in its channel plan for $64.99 per month after a 1-week free trial. YouTube TV only carries the regional sports network for the four teams in the table below. If you live in the market for those teams, paring YouTube TV and ESPN+ will provide access to every NHL game (except the ones airing on NHL network).
| Team | RSN |
|---|---|
| Chicago Blackhawks | NBC Sports Chicago |
| Philadelphia Flyers | NBC Sports Philadelphia |
| San Jose Sharks | NBC Sports California |
| Washington Capitals | NBC Sports Washington |
YouTube TV also lets you watch on 3 devices at the same time, includes an unlimited cloud-based DVR, and is supported on Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, and more. You can check out our review of YouTube TV for more information on this streaming service.
Watching Nationally Televised NHL Games
Below is the National TV schedule for the NHL 2022-2023 season. Most games will be on ESPN+, with about 150 games also on TNT, NHL Network, and ESPN. As for where to watch these games without cable:
- To watch NHL games on ESPN+ you need a $9.99 per month subscription to ESPN+
- To watch NHL Games on ESPN, NHL Network or TNT, Sling TV’s Orange Package provides both channels live for $40 per month. However, Sling doesn’t have any regional networks. If you want to watch Nationally televised games on ESPN, NHL Network, and TNT AND your local market team games, you will need either DIRECTV STREAM.( Unless you live in the Philadelphia market, which I explained in more detail earlier in this article)
- You can also check out our articles, How To Watch ESPN, How To Watch NHL Network, and How To Watch TNT for cable-free ways of watching those channels.
NHL National TV Schedule
Any NHL games this season, not in the table below will stream on ESPN+ unless you live in the TV market of one of the teams playing. Please note that NHL Network only publishes their game schedule one month at a time, so we will update those games as the information becomes available.
| Date and Time (ET) | Home | Away | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, Mar. 28 @ 10:00 PM | Vegas Golden Knights | Edmonton Oilers | ESPN+/Hulu |
| Wednesday, Mar. 29 @ 7:30 PM | Washington Capitals | New York Islanders | TNT |
| Wednesday, Mar. 29 @ 10:00 PM | Colorado Avalanche | Minnesota Wild | TNT |
| Thursday, Mar. 30 @ 7:30 PM | Detroit Red Wings | Carolina Hurricanes | ESPN+/Hulu |
| Thursday, Mar. 30 @ 10:00 PM | Seattle Kraken | Anaheim Ducks | ESPN+/Hulu |
| Saturday, Apr. 1 @ 3:00 PM | Pittsburgh Penguins | Boston Bruins | ABC/ESPN+ |
| Saturday, Apr. 1 @ 8:00 PM | Chicago Blackhawks | New Jersey Devils | ESPN2 |
| Sunday, Apr. 2 @ 1:00 PM | Washington Capitals | New York Rangers | TNT |
| Sunday, Apr. 2 @ 3:30 PM | St. Louis Blues | Boston Bruins | TNT |
| Tuesday, Apr. 4 @ 8:00 PM | Nashville Predators | Vegas Golden Knights | ESPN |
| Tuesday, Apr. 4 @ 10:30 PM | Los Angeles Kings | Edmonton Oilers | ESPN |
| Wednesday, Apr. 5 @ 7:30 PM | New York Rangers | Tampa Bay Lightning | TNT |
| Wednesday, Apr. 5 @ 10:00 PM | Anaheim Ducks | Edmonton Oilers | TNT |
| Thursday, Apr. 6 @ 8:00 PM | Nashville Predators | Carolina Hurricanes | ESPN+/Hulu |
| Thursday, Apr. 6 @ 10:00 PM | Seattle Kraken | Arizona Coyotes | ESPN+/Hulu |
| Saturday, Apr. 8 @ 3:00 PM | Minnesota Wild | St. Louis Blues | ABC/ESPN+ |
| Saturday, Apr. 8 @ 3:30 PM | Dallas Stars | Vegas Golden Knights | ABC/ESPN+ |
| Saturday, Apr. 8 @ 8:00 PM | Detroit Red Wings | Pittsburgh Penguins | ABC/ESPN+ |
| Sunday, Apr. 9 @ 6:00 PM | Philadelphia Flyers | Boston Bruins | TNT |
| Sunday, Apr. 9 @ 8:30 PM | Anaheim Ducks | Colorado Avalanche | TNT |
| Monday, Apr. 10 @ 8:30 PM | Chicago Blackhawks | Minnesota Wild | ESPN |
| Tuesday, Apr. 11 @ 7:00 PM | Tampa Bay Lightning | Toronto Maple Leafs | ESPN |
| Tuesday, Apr. 11 @ 9:30 PM | Colorado Avalanche | Edmonton Oilers | ESPN |
| Wednesday, Apr. 12 @ 7:30 PM | St. Louis Blues | Dallas Stars | TNT |
| Wednesday, Apr. 12 @ 10:00 PM | Calgary Flames | San Jose Sharks | TNT |
| Thursday, Apr. 13 @ 8:00 PM | Dallas Stars | St. Louis Blues | ESPN |
| Thursday, Apr. 13 @ 10:30 PM | Seattle Kraken | Vegas Golden Knights | ESPN |
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