The Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals tonight.
The game is about to start, at 8:00 p.m. ET, and in the U.S. it will be televised on ABC. If you don’t have cable and want to stream the NHL playoffs, you can watch a live stream of the Oilers vs Panthers Game 2–and all of the Stanley Cup finals–via any of the following options.
Fubo (“Pro” channel package), YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) and DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” channel package or above) are live-TV streaming services that include ABC in their channel packages. Note that ABC is available live in select markets, but all three of these streaming services have it in the majority of markets throughout the United States.
You’ll need to provide credit card information when signing up, but you won’t be charged until your free trial comes to end. Fubo’s lasts for seven days, while YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream each give you five. If you cancel your subscription before the end of your free trial, you won’t have to pay anything, meaning you can watch all of the Stanley Cup finals (every game is on ABC) for free if you time out your free trials correctly.
If you’ve used up all your free trials, then ESPN+ becomes the cheapest way to watch a live stream of the game. In fact, every single game of the Stanley Cup finals will stream on ESPN+, which costs just $11 per month or $110 for the year.
Getting all of the finals is probably worth the $11 alone, but there’s also dozens of other live sports, 30-for-30 documentaries and more original content to make sure you get your money’s worth.
If you used up all your free trials for Fubo, YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream, and you want a live-TV streaming service instead of ESPN+, you can try Sling TV. The “Sling Blue” channel package only has ABC in a small, select number of markets (Sling TV ABC markets), but if you happen to live in one of those markets, it will only cost you $20 for your first month.
Again, this option isn’t for everyone, but that’s a great deal.
If you’re outside the United States, you can used a virtual private network (VPN) to hide your IP address/location and connect to a server in the United States. Digitally, it then looks like you’re actually inside the US, which in turn lets you access US-only streaming services such as Fubo, YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream, etc.
We like NordVPN, which is one of the safest, fastest and easiest to use VPN’s on the market. You can also peruse our lists of the best VPN services or the best VPN deals for some other choices.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.