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Stream Hockey Online After Cutting the Cord: NHL, College & More

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Looking for pro hockey action? See our NHL Viewer’s Guide!

Hockey is a diverse sport with competition starting with toddlers and moving all the way up to the action-packed competition at the Winter Olympics and NFL.

In a hurry? Since the season has already started, you may want to skip the deep dive and just start watching. These are our top picks for local fans:

Fubo
Fubo

Known for its outstanding sports coverage, Fubo’s 150+ live TV channels provide a broad selection that appeals to most people. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM

The king of RSNs, this is the streaming service for MLB, NBA, and NHL fans with its Choice Plan! New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM.

Hulu
Hulu Live

Get 95+ live TV channels along with the Hulu Bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+! Try it today with a free trial.

Why You Need a VPN Today

However, first you need a VPN to unblock US streaming services from . Our favourite is ExpressVPN. It’s definitely not the cheapest option at $6.67/month, but it just works – and across all your devices.

They have servers in 25+ US cities/states and 105 countries, which unblock access to premium streaming platforms available only in the US, as well as free “on demand” TV services worldwide.

You’ll have access to local platforms as if you were in the country, meaning you can watch BBC iPlayer as if you were in the UK, CBC Gem as if you were in Canada, plus hundreds more worldwide.

Sign Up for ExpressVPN

Hotdog users get three months free at ExpressVPN, so it’s a “no-brainer” for us. Decide for yourself with their 30 day money-back guarantee.

ExpressVPN

IMPORTANT: Once you’ve installed your VPN and connected to a US server, you’ll still need to subscribe separately to access premium streaming services.

We are still working on creating more information about watching hockey. But here are our main guides:

If you’ve cut the cord, there are several ways you can stream hockey without cable and they are all discussed below!

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

Channels You Need to Watch NHL Games Online Without Cable

Hockey is broadcast on many channels. You will find most NCAA hockey either on RSNs or ESPN+. This is also largely true of the NHL, which uses ESPN+ as its out

Here are the national channels that air NHL games:

In addition, Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) show lots of local NHL and NCAA hockey. This list shows the RSNs for the media markets of each NHL team:

Team (RSN)DIRECTVFuboHulu
Anaheim Ducks (Bally San Diego/SoCal)
Arizona Coyotes (Bally Arizona)
Boston Bruins (NESN)
Buffalo Sabres (MSG)
Calgary Flames (ESPN+)
Carolina Hurricanes (Bally South)
Chicago Blackhawks (NBC Chicago)
Colorado Avalanche (Altitude Sports)
Columbus Blue Jackets (Bally Ohio)
Dallas Stars (Bally Southwest)
Detroit Red Wings (Bally Detroit)
Edmonton Oilers (ESPN+)
Florida Panthers (Bally Florida)
Los Angeles Kings (Bally West)
Minnesota Wild (Bally North)
Montreal Canadiens (ESPN+)
Nashville Predators (Bally South)
New Jersey Devils (MSG)
New York Islanders (MSG)
New York Rangers (MSG)
Ottawa Senators (ESPN+)
Philadelphia Flyers (NBC Philadelphia)
Pittsburgh Penguins (SportsNet Pittsburgh)
San Jose Sharks (NBC Bay Area)
Seattle Kraken (Root Sports Northwest)
St Louis Blues (Bally Kansas City/Midwest)
Tampa Bay Lightning (Bally Sun)
Toronto Maple Leafs (ESPN+)
Vancouver Canucks (ESPN+)
Vegas Golden Nights (AT&T SN RM)
Washington Capitals (NBC Washington)
Winnipeg Jets (ESPN+)

Note that all out-of-market games of the NHL stream on ESPN+.

Devices to Livestream Hockey

All of the major streaming services support the most popular devices:

  • Amazon Fire TV
  • Android Mobile
  • Android TV-based smart TVs
  • Apple TV
  • Chromecast
  • iOS (iPhone/iPad)
  • Roku
  • Samsung smart TVs
  • Web Browsers

Wrapping Up

FuboTV is our top pick for hockey fans. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

Sign Up for a Free Fubo Trial

Image cropped from Women’s Ice Hockey Japan vs Sweden by Sandro Halank under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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3 Comments

  • I’m in Canada and just finished exploring the Game Center website. Up here NHL Game Center is NOT available unless you subscribe to one of the big greedy telco/cable providers. It doesn’t matter how you plan to watch it (i.e. via Roku/AppleTV or on a gaming console). If you try to sign up for it online you’re taken to a telco’s website automatically. Nice cushy deal – for the telcos anyway.

    • Thanks for the suggestion. I now understand better how the NHL’s service works. I didn’t subscribe because they black out all local games, and anything that’s carried on TV in the subscriber’s country/area. I found a different hockey streaming service that bypasses all of the geo blocks and blackouts. You can get NHL games, as well as games from all the minor leagues in Canada, plus minor and pro leagues in Europe and Russia. BTW VPN isn’t the best way to avoid geo blocks, DNS works a lot better and with less hassle. I subscribe to Unblock US, but there are others – some are free.

    • what was the streaming site you found? Is it HD quality?

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