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Good morning, hockey folks. The three tied series go to Game 3 tonight in Montreal, Salt Lake City and Anaheim. The other five head to Game 4 on Saturday and Sunday.
Let’s take a spin around the league to get you caught up on where everyone stands — including the three teams that could be eliminated 🧹as soon as this weekend.
Full schedule here. Off we go.
The Sabres’ Bowen Byram and Owen Power. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Catch UpBig wins
We had three more tight games last night, but for the first time since Day 1 of the playoffs, there was no overtime. With the favorites all winning, two series moved to 3-0 🧹and one shifted to 2-1.
Let’s start with the big battle of the B-teams in Beantown:
Sabres 3, Bruins 1
(Buffalo leads series 2-1)
After Tanner Jeannot scored early for Boston, it was all Sabres, as Buffalo rang up three unanswered goals — including Alex Tuch’s winner early in the third.
The Sabres’ goalie swap was one big story, with Alex Lyon nearly perfect as Buffalo’s tandem strategy paid off again. Matt Fairburn has more on rookie Noah Östlund’s impressive debut, while Fluto Shinzawa digs into what went wrong for the Bruins.
Hurricanes 2, Senators 1
(Carolina leads series 3-0 🧹)
When you chatted with execs around the league as the regular season wound down, it seemed like no one wanted to play Ottawa, which ended the year as one of the NHL’s hottest teams. Now, the Senators have lost three straight, top defenseman Jake Sanderson is hurt and they’ll be the first team facing elimination on Saturday afternoon.
All of these games have been tight, but the story is how Ottawa has been completely stifled offensively, with just three goals all series. Julian McKenzie writes that its best players need to step up to keep its season alive.
Avalanche 4, Kings 2
(Colorado leads series 3-0 🧹)
The Kings put up a real fight in this one, keeping it close until the third. But Artturi Lehkonen’s shorty with 12 minutes left in the game was the backbreaker.
What most predicted would be a short series certainly feels over already. Peter Baugh explains what’s at stake in the rest of Round 1’s least compelling matchup, including the abrupt end of one future Hall of Famer’s career.
📊 Here are our latest Stanley Cup probabilities and projections, which update every night after the games conclude.
(Mike Carlson / Getty Images)
Up NextAppointment TV
Expect a ton of drama in tonight’s matchups, with every series tied 1-1 and three young, up-and-coming teams getting a chance to steal home-ice advantage away from three longstanding contenders. It’s the NHL’s changing of the guard on display in a big way.
I could see all three of these series going seven games, tbh.
1️⃣ Lightning at Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET
TNT, truTV, HBO Max | CBC, SN, TVAS
2️⃣ Golden Knights at Mammoth, 9:30 p.m. ET
TBS, HBO Max | SN360, TVAS2
The first-ever NHL playoff game in Salt Lake City is sure to make for an incredible atmosphere at Delta Center.
Jesse Granger will be there, and he has the story on the continued rise of Mammoth star Logan Cooley, who has two goals so far in the series.
3️⃣ Oilers at Ducks, 10 p.m. ET
TNT, truTV, HBO Max | CBC, SN, TVAS
(Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
StarsFalling and rising
The Penguins have been one of the NHL’s feel-good stories all year, what with a projected lottery roster unexpectedly making the playoffs, in part thanks to heroics from graybeards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and OGWAC Erik Karlsson.
But the good vibes have evaporated quickly in this series, with the Flyers’ hard-nosed defensive style stymying one of the NHL’s highest-scoring teams en route to a 3-0 series lead. 🧹
Josh Yohe writes on how the old and slow Penguins clearly need to continue their youth movement after a rough showing. And Kevin Kurz says Flyers GM Danny Brière deserves some credit for a few underrated moves as the architect of this plucky Flyers team.
Philadelphia goes for the sweep tomorrow at home, as it looks to move onto the second round for only the second time in the past 14 years (?!). But the Flyers might have to do it without netminder Dan Vladar — a potentially huge loss, given the gap between him and Sam Ersson.
Still, the Flyers are feeling good. Kurz has a deeper look at the situation:
The only series we didn’t mention yet? The Stars-Wild Central Division barnburner, which heads to Game 4 tomorrow after a wild Dallas double-OT win on Wednesday.
💡 MirTrivia Question
We’re going to include one that’s more of a riddle than a true trivia question this week. 🧮 And there’s some math involved, so get out your abacus.
Question 1: Given the NHL’s controversial playoff format, where three teams from each division are guaranteed a berth, what’s the fewest points a team could theoretically need to make the postseason in an 84-game season?
Question 2: Which team in the NHL’s modern era made the playoffs with the fewest points, and how few did it have? Non-shortened seasons only. (Hint: This was during the division-heavy format of the 21-team era. And this franchise had a tough season this year.)
Answers at the bottom.
(Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Josh Lavelle / Getty Images)
Coast to Coast
🗣️ NHL teams are increasingly filming and uploading fly-on-the-wall footage of coaches’ victory speeches, which is great for fans but leaves bench bosses a little uneasy. “The messages get tamer, and you’ve got to watch what you say,” the Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour said. Good read.
🤖 What could the NHL learn from MLB’s new Automated Ball-Strike challenge system?
🤔 Eight early takeaways from the playoffs, with a closer look at why some teams (Flyers) are succeeding and others (Senators) are struggling.
😱 Pressure watcher: Which teams can’t afford to lose this postseason?
👀 Six players are opening eyes with breakout playoff performances, and Porter Martone headlines the group. What a marvel he’s been for Philadelphia.
🎤 Make sure to follow “The Athletic Hockey Show” wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes, clips and livestreams throughout the playoffs.
Leafs defenseman Todd Gill. (Rick Stewart / Allsport / Getty Images)
🤯 MirTrivia Answer
Incredibly, the minimum number of points a team needs to make the NHL playoffs *in an extreme scenario* is only 20.
Obviously, this isn’t likely, but it does illustrate how the league’s format functions under duress in unusual seasons. Such a low point total is technically possible for a playoff team if (a) you assume there’s one division where the top two teams win every game against the bottom six clubs in regulation and (b) the only games the bottom six teams win all season are against each other.
In an 84-game schedule that will be perfectly balanced next year — with everyone playing four games against in-division opponents — there are 60 wins to distribute among those bottom six teams, or 10 apiece. Without any other wins (or any overtime losses), the third-place team in a division (and 27th-best team in the NHL) could make the playoffs with a 10-74-0 record if it has the tiebreaker over the other five clubs.
Something to keep in mind for the Pacific Division pillow fight in 2026-27!
The 1987-88 Maple Leafs, meanwhile, hold the record for fewest points for a modern-era playoff team. They made it with just 52 (21-49-10) in a terrible Norris Division. That is Toronto’s second-worst record in franchise history.
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