Opening Night of the 2025-26 ECHL [https://thehockeynews.com/echl]season began with seven games on Friday’s schedule. The league’s 38th campaign started off with a bang featuring overtime thrillers, intense physical action and elite goaltending. Our Friday Five is back for another season, so here are five top performances on the night. ANTHONY BEAUREGARD: TROIS-RIVIERES LIONS The Lions [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/game-day/lions-down-walleye-in-five-games-to-capture-2025-kelly-cup]began defense of their Kelly Cup Championship with a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Reading Royals [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/reading-royals-add-to-coaching-staff]in overtime. Beauregard was the Royals’ worst nightmare. He scored both the tying and game-winning goals to secure his team’s victory. Beauregard, who finished 10th in the ECHL in scoring with 67 points last season, tallied his first with 38 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game 5-5 on a net-front scramble. Then 1:24 into the extra frame, Beauregard took a feed from new teammate Darick Louis-Jean and scored the golden goal. Both teams scored two goals in quick succession in the third period for what ended up being an exciting contest to open the 2025-26 season. JESSE LANSDELL: FLORIDA EVERBLADES Florida [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/everblades-captain-returns-for-2025-26-season]traveled to Orlando to meet the Solar Bears [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/players/former-echl-all-star-signs-with-solar-bears]to open the season. The Solar Bears had a large home crowd on hand, but Jesse Lansdell helped send them home disappointed with two goals in a 4-1 victory for the Everblades. Lansdell scored two goals, both on the power play, after Orlando took a 1-0 lead in the opening period. His first came on a deflection; the second a net-front tap-in. This proved to be the difference, as Florida added two more insurance goals to claim the victory. The two teams will meet again Saturday night, this time in Estero. Puck drop is set for 7 Pm ET. GARRETT PYKE: UTAH GRIZZLIES Photo Courtesy of the Utah Grizzlies [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/2e99dab4-8f33-4207-8b21-4dea1ccccf6c.jpeg] Photo Courtesy of the Utah Grizzlies There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Utah Grizzlies [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/report-utah-grizzlies-to-relocate-following-2025-26-season]this season, which will be their last in Salt Lake City as they prepare to relocate to Trenton, N.J. for 2026-27. That matters little now, however, as they are committed to giving their fans their best for one more season. Garrett Pyke ensured that on Friday with two goals in guiding the Grizzlies to a 3-1 win over the Greenville Swamp Rabbits [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/swamp-rabbits-name-new-head-coach]. It was the debut of John Becanic as Utah’s new head coach. Chad Costello was also making his coaching debut with the Swamp Rabbits. Pyke scored his first to tie the game 1-1 at the 6:29 mark of the opening frame, a shot from the left point off a pass from team captain Mick Messner. After a scoreless second period, Pyke blasted in the game-winner, again from the left point, putting it in stick-side past Greenville goalie Mattias Sholl 7:49 into the third period. Pyke ended the game with a +3 rating, giving the new bench boss his first professional victory as a head coach. Utah is now 6-2-0-1 all-time in head coaching debuts. NATHANIEL DAY: FORT WAYNE KOMETS To describe the rivalry between the Fort Wayne Komets [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/komets-and-grizzlies-swap-defensemen-in-trade]and Indy Fuel [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/community/latest-news/indy-fuel-recognizes-world-mental-health-day]as intense would be an understatement. So it made perfect sense the two teams would get together on Opening Night, and they did not disappoint the sellout crowd of 6,530 at Fishers Event Center. Fort Wayne came out on top in a 4-0 shutout in a game riddled with penalties on both sides, including a fighting major, boarding and a game misconduct. Speaking of perfect, Nathaniel Day was just that for the Komets in goal, stopping all 27 shots he faced to earn the victory. Day signed a three-year entry-level contract last April with the Edmonton Oilers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers]. He was selected by Edmonton in the sixth round (184th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft. Last season, the Grimsby, Ontario native was named Team MVP of the OHL’s [https://thehockeynews.com/ohl/]Flint Firebirds after leading all OHL goaltenders in games and minutes played while facing the fourth-most shots and registering the seventh-most victories. LUKE ADAM: TAHOE KNIGHT MONSTERS Photo Courtesy of the Tahoe Knight Monsters [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/b923b80b-e556-4690-a9fc-f983546a5c19.jpeg] Photo Courtesy of the Tahoe Knight Monsters Lake Tahoe [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/M2xbIEtUkHEKM7Cweyzg]began its second season in the ECHL at home and picked up a win, 6-3 over the Idaho Steelheads [https://thehockeynews.com/echl/latest-news/idaho-steelheads-add-two-more-players-to-2025-26-roster]. The Knight Monsters’ captain scored his first to give his team a 2-0 lead in the first period. After Idaho threatened to make a comeback by narrowing the margin to 3-2, Adam scored what would prove to be the game-winner off a deflection of a Mike O’Leary shot in the middle frame for a 4-2 lead. The Steelheads got as close as 5-3 before Tahoe put the game away with an empty-netter. Adam finished with three points on the night. The two teams will tangle once again Saturday at Tahoe Blue Event Center, with puck drop scheduled for 7 Pm Pt.
