The Anaheim Ducks are about to embark on a journey into waters uncharted for the better part of a decade for their franchise: the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For their first series in eight years, they didn’t do themselves any favors, backing into third place in the Pacific Division, after holding a five-point lead with ten games to go.

They will now be in the crosshairs of a juggernaut club with Stanley Cup aspirations that represented the Western Conference in each of the last two Stanley Cup Finals. They’ll have to defeat Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers four times in the next seven games if they’re to continue playing hockey this spring. 

Can Ducks Beat Oilers? Yes, If They Keep Things Simple

Five Storylines for the Anaheim Ducks First Round Series vs the Edmonton Oilers

For the Ducks to escape this series with four wins, head coach Joel Quenneville will have to be on the winning side of (at least) three specific matchups:

Jackson LaCombe and Jacob Trouba vs Connor McDavid

Quenneville typically doesn’t elect to hard-match a forward line against an opposing top line. When called for, he has instead deployed his top pair (LaCombe-Trouba) against an opposing top line or player. 

Shutting down Connor McDavid is a fool’s errand, as one can only hope to contain the greatest offensive player to ever lace up a pair of skates. It will be a five-man effort, over the entire 200-foot sheet, to deny him pucks as much as possible and minimize his ability to gain speed. 

By the time McDavid has the puck in LaCombe and/or Trouba’s vicinity, it would benefit their focus to be on, to the best of their abilities, keeping him away from the middle of the ice with clever angles and maintaining steady gaps, not committing too much or allowing too much ice between.

Smart and quick sticks to influence, take lanes away, and disrupt shot or pass attempts will be key when LaCombe or Trouba is engaged with McDavid. In plain terms, they have to be perfect. 

“You don’t want to play run-and-gun hockey with this team,” Trouba said. “They got a lot of high talented offensive players. Defending is going to be a key part for us in the series.”

Against the San Jose Sharks on home ice, Quenneville deployed center Ryan Poehling against Macklin Celebrini, notching a rare pointless night for the phenomenal Sharks sophomore. That’s a card Quenneville can play should he see fit, when the series returns to Honda Center for game three. 

Then, of course, even if the Ducks successfully contain McDavid, Leon Draisaitl will be waiting in the wings to pick up any slack left behind by #97. One shudders to speculate on what McDavid can accomplish given how motivated and determined he will be heading into these playoffs, following back-to-back Stanley Cup finals losses and losing in the 2026 Olympic gold medal game. 

“The regular season has become a little bit monotonous for this group,” McDavid said. “I think you see that through the day-to-day. But this is what we get excited for.”

Lukas Dostal vs An Offensive Onslaught

If there’s an “x-factor” in this series for the Ducks, it will be goaltender Lukas Dostal. Though numbers would suggest his season was unspectacular and his play faltered toward the end of the regular season, the Ducks simply would not be where they are, in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, had it not been for Dostal’s heroics earlier in the season.

With a new coach, a new defensive system was implemented. That new system, compounded with a lack of overall defensive talent and habits on the Ducks’ roster, gave way to one of the worst environments in the NHL for a goaltender. 

On a nightly basis, the Ducks were allowing a variety of high-danger chances to their opponents, whether those chances were born from poor pinches in the offensive zone, poor backchecking effort, poor backchecking technique, d-zone coverage lapses, lost net-front battles, etc. 

Dostal made more saves and more difficult saves than should have been required, kept the Ducks in more games than they deserved, allowing them to “outscore their problems,” and get needed wins to achieve their goal of making the playoffs. 

“It’s a different experience,” Dostal said. “I’ve had a chance to play in big games before, but this is a little different because you get to play the same team on multiple occasions. You’re going to try to expose them. They’re going to try to expose you. It’s going to be a fun experience.”

He’s traditionally performed his best when the lights are brightest, whether that be the Olympics, World Championships, or World Juniors. This will be a completely different challenge for Dostal, playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs against two of the most potent offensive centers in this generation (McDavid and Draisaitl), a Norris-caliber offensive defenseman (Evan Bouchard), and one of the deepest teams the Oilers’ front office has surrounded them with in their cup-contending era. 

Ducks Power Play vs Oilers Penalty Kill

The instinct would be to fixate on the Oilers’ power play and how to contain, neutralize, or limit it. However, Edmonton’s power play is such a well-oiled (pun intended) machine that seems to be firing on all cylinders every spring. In their last three playoff runs, the Oilers have converted on 31.6% of the power play opportunities, and in the 2025-26 regular season, they were the NHL’s best, converting at 30.6%.

Edmonton’s power play is going to score, and probably score a lot. Their penalty kill, however, is an area the Ducks will need to exploit in order to put goals back on the board. In the 2025-26 regular season, Edmonton’s penalty kill was successful 77.8% of the time, good enough for 20th in the NHL. Their underlying numbers reflect similarly, as their 9.57 expected goals allowed per 60 minutes ranked 24th in the NHL.

Over their last three postseason appearances, the Oilers PK has killed 79.5% of penalties taken. That number is roughly league-average annually. However, how they got to that total could give pause, as in the 2022-23 playoffs, they killed 34 of 45 (75.5%), in the 2024-25 playoffs, they killed 66 of 70 (94.3%), and last year, they killed just 47 of 70 (67.1%). To call their PK “inconsistent” would be an understatement. 

Despite having plentiful talent and a potent 5v5 offense, Anaheim’s power play didn’t convert at an encouraging rate this season, despite a quality process at times and generating roughly league-average underlying numbers. 

The Ducks 18.6% conversion rate on the power play was good enough to rank 23rd in the NHL and was their best since the 2021-22 season (21.9%). They generated 8.68 expected goals per 60, ranking 18th of the 32 teams in the NHL.

Anaheim has the talent and has shown flashes of deploying a lethal power play, but have inexplicably been unable to put the pieces together. They’ll have to figure it out quickly, as a few extra power play goals could be the difference in a playoff series like this one. 

This series will be the last to begin and will see the first puck drop at 7 PM PST in Edmonton, Alberta. 

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Anaheim Ducks Clinch Playoffs for First Time in Eight Years

Kyle Dubas' number-one trade he regrets was while he was general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The current Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and GM joined Spittin' Chiclets last week to chat about the Penguins as they get ready for their playoff run, as well as some interesting tidbits about his time in Toronto.

He also divulged what trade he regrets most in his career as an NHL GM, and it's the move which sent Mason Marchment to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Denis Malgin on Feb. 19, 2020.

What’s Kyle Dubas’ biggest NHL regret?

Trading Mason Marchment to the Florida Panthers. pic.twitter.com/CCKd8vEh7b

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) April 14, 2026

"To me, the one that I regret most is — I've said this before openly — Mason Marchment," Dubas told Spittin' Chiclets.

"We traded Mason to Florida. He had come up with us the whole way. We signed him to minor-league deal after his overage season in major junior. He was in Orlando in the ECHL for most of the first year. He didn't play for three months, like, just working with the development team, and that was my responsibility then.

"It was 2016-17 with the Leafs, working for Lou (Lamiorello), and he came so far, helped us win a Calder Cup in 2018, was a huge part of that," Dubas continued. "Made his NHL debut the next year, which was awesome. And then he was 25, I think at the time, or 24, and we moved him to Florida. We needed the skill at that point. We had some guys out of the lineup, and it was a younger, skill guy that came in (Malgin).

"Every time I see Mason play, like no matter where he is, I just kick myself because we really needed that style of player throughout. Just the competitiveness, the ability to score, the ability to get under people's skin, the physicality, the ability to get to the net. I always kick myself about that one."

Marchment truly established his NHL career after being traded away from the Maple Leafs.

After his first season in Florida (where he scored 10 points in 33 games), Marchment began to find his game at the NHL level, finishing the 2021-22 season with 18 goals and 47 points in 54 games.

Why The NHL's 'Ball-By-Ball' Draft Lottery Will Be A Must-Watch For Maple Leafs FansWith the Maple Leafs facing a 58.1 percent chance of losing their first-round pick to Boston, the live ball-by-ball' lottery format promises a high-stakes sweat for Toronto fans.

Following two years with the Panthers, Marchment became an unrestricted free agent and signed a four-year, $18 million contract with the Dallas Stars in July 2022. He played three seasons with the Stars and then was traded to the Seattle Kraken last summer.

Marchment struggled to find his game with Seattle and was eventually moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets in mid-December. After being moved, the 30-year-old found his game again, scoring 15 goals and 32 points in 39 games.

Meanwhile, we all know what occurred once the Maple Leafs acquired Malgin.

He played only eight games with Toronto during the 2019-20 season. Once the year concluded, Malgin returned to his home country of Switzerland and played two seasons in the Swiss League, tallying over a point per game in 93 matches.

Maple Leafs Send Easton Cowan, Five Others Down To Marlies For Playoff RunWhile the Maple Leafs' post says Akhtyamov was sent down, it was indeed Hildeby, given he had been with the NHL club for their final game of the regular season. Both Hildeby and Akhtyamov are now with the Marlies.

In 2022-23, Malgin returned to the Maple Leafs to try and give the NHL another go. He scored two goals and two assists in 23 games with Toronto before the club traded him to the Colorado Avalanche for Dryden Hunt in mid-December 2022.

Malgin has since returned to Switzerland and won two Swiss League titles with the Zurich Lions.

Marchment is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

The Colorado Avalanche picked up a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of the first round. A former Montreal Canadiens forward played a role in the Avalanche's victory, as Artturi Lehkonen put together a strong performance. 

At the 15:29 mark of the second period, Lehkonen scored the game-opening goal to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. It was a nice goal from the former Canadiens forward, too, as he picked up Nathan MacKinnon's rebound in front before beating Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg with a wrist shot in front of the net. 

With this game being a low-scoring one, there is no question that Lehkonen's goal ended up being an incredibly important one. It was just the latest strong game from the former Canadiens forward this year, as he had another good season for the Avalanche in 2025-26. In 70 games this season with the Central Division club, he had 21 goals, 287 assists, 48 points, and a plus-32 rating. 

Lehkonen was selected by the Canadiens with the 55th overall pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. In 396 games over six seasons with the Habs from 2016-17 to 2021-22, he had 74 goals, 75 assists, and 149 points. 

Here are your Pens Points for this Monday morning…

Anthony Mantha’s strong regular season has made him a very intriguing free agent target this summer, but other teams are now watching to see whether he can produce in the playoffs. His past postseason struggles and Game 1 performance, which included some physicality but also two offensive zone penalties, mean this playoff run could impact how much interest and money he gets if he hits the market. [PensBurgh]

The Penguins will try to stay more disciplined and composed in Game 2 after letting the Flyers’ physical, scrappy style frustrate them in Game 1’s loss. [Trib Live]

Rookie forward Ben Kindel, who just turned 19, is impressing the Penguins not just with his skill, but with unusual maturity and a willingness to play physically despite his stature. [Trib Live]

News and notes from around the NHL…

The Anaheim Ducks have signed forward prospect Roger McQueen, the 10th overall selection in the 2025 NHL draft, to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning in the 2026-27 season. [TSN]

San Jose Sharks breakout star Macklin Celebrini made it clear he wants to stay with the team long term, saying he plans to commit after a breakout season. [TSN]

After firing Patrik Allvin, Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford said the Canucks’ next general manager will have much more authority over the franchise, including in all hockey and coaching matters, signaling that Rutherford himself may be ready to hand over the reins. [Sportsnet]

The Buffalo Sabres have provided yet another tangible example of how magical playoff hockey can be. In front of their home fans, playing postseason hockey for the first time since Barack Obama was president, the Sabres rallied from a 2-0 third-period deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 4-3, earning the franchise’s first playoff victory in 15 years. [ESPN]

The playoffs kicked off with some good ones over the weekend. The only series yet to begin is Ducks-Oilers, which is the late game among four tonight.

No playoff news for the big Islanders, of course, but Bridgeport begins their final playoff on Tuesday.

Islanders News

• Here’s a roundup of several breakup day interviews and quotes, with video. [Isles]
• …and a special one just dedicated to Matthew Schaefer’s reflections. [Isles]
• The Bridgeport Islanders wrapped up their regular season with a win over Hershey, who is also their first-round (best-of-three) playoff opponent. (Danill Prokhorov made his debut and returned after a tough shot block.) [B-Isles | AHL recap/highlights | GameCenter]

The lottery will be held May 5. What are the odds…

NHL Draft Lottery Odds. #Isles at 2.0% pic.twitter.com/yn13rXsjhD

— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) April 18, 2026

Elsewhere

• MTL 4, TBL 3: Juraj Slafkovsky completed a hat trick with the overtime winner. [TSN]
• COL 2, LAK 1: The Avalanche squeaked by the Kings in Game 1. [NHL]
• BUF 4, BOS 3: The Sabres returned to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years and gave fans a thrilling third-period comeback win. [NHL]
• Utah couldn’t pull off the same in their playoff debut, dropping Game 1 in Vegas. [NHL]
• The Jets need to overhaul their top-heavy roster. [Sportsnet]
• The new Devils GM is living the dream. [@SunnyMehtaX]

By Ryan Dadoun, RotoWire.com

The 2025-26 NHL regular season is in the books, and what a campaign it was. You'd be hard-pressed to find people going into the season who were willing to predict that the Buffalo Sabres would be among the league's top teams, while the Florida Panthers would be one of the worst. That alone represents a dramatic realignment of the league, but it's far from the only eyebrow raiser, so let's take a minute to step back and appreciate the 2025-26 biggest surprises and disappointments.

Connor Hellebuyck, G, Jets

After back-to-back Vezina Trophy-winning campaigns, Hellebuyck was mediocre in 2025-26, as he posted a 23-23-11 record, 2.86 GAA and .895 save percentage across 57 starts. His decline corresponded with Winnipeg crashing from an incredible 56-22-4 record in 2024-25 to missing the playoffs entirely this season. That begs the obvious question, however: How much of Winnipeg's struggles were due to Hellebuyck, and how much of Hellebuyck's struggles were a product of the team in front of him?

After all, a goaltender's raw numbers are heavily influenced by his team, so it can be hard to know which side deserved more of the blame. For what it's worth, Hellebuyck did have a plus-5.5 goals-saved above expected in 2025-26, per Moneypuck. That suggests he was at least better than average, but it was also far below his plus-39.6 from the 2024-25 regular season, so while Hellebuyck wasn't the core of Winnipeg's problem, he did fail to carry the team on his back as much as he had in the prior year.

Adin Hill, G, Golden Knights

It'd be a bit unfair to suggest that Hellebuyck let his team down by simply being less dominant than he usually is, but Hill's decline was certainly a big part of Vegas' weird season. After finishing the 2024-25 regular season with a 32-13-5 record, 2.47 GAA and .906 save percentage in 50 starts, Hill was limited to a 10-9-6 record, 3.04 GAA and .870 save percentage in 27 regular-season starts in 2025-26. A brief glimpse at the fancy stats shows Hill was minus-14.2 in goals saved above expected, which was the sixth-worst in the league. Akira Schmid also left plenty to be desired as the backup, but Schmid had just 48 regular-season appearances under his belt going into 2025-26, so it was never reasonable to expect him to carry Vegas.

That collapse in goaltending is the big reason Vegas underperformed for most of the campaign, leading to Bruce Cassidy being ousted for new head coach John Tortorella. Tortorella's hiring also largely coincided with Carter Hart returning from a lower-body injury and stabilizing the situation in net. The end result is Vegas went from a team in danger of missing the playoffs to claiming the Pacific Division title.

Brayden Point, C, Lightning

Can you name every player who scored at least 40 goals and 80 points in all three regular seasons between 2022-23 and 2024-25? It's not a long list: Leon Draisaitl, William Nylander, David Pastrnak and Brayden Point. None of them repeated that feat in 2025-26, but Nylander and Draisaitl still had great campaigns despite missing time due to injury, and Pastrnak's 100-point finish more than compensates for his decline to 29 goals.

Point took a major step back this campaign. Sure, he also had injury trouble, appearing in just 63 regular-season outings, but he also left something to be desired when healthy, recording 18 goals and 50 points. His decline was primarily due to a drop in his shooting percentage to 14% compared to an average of 21.4% over the previous three regular seasons, and a collapse in his power-play output to 11 points in 2025-26 from a minimum of 30 in each of those regular seasons from 2022-23 through 2024-25. The silver lining is he's still just 30 years old, making him a very tempting buy-low candidate next season.

Victor Hedman/Darren Raddysh, D, Lightning

Between injury, illness and a personal matter, Hedman logged just 33 regular-season games in 2025-26. You'd think losing the cornerstone of your blueline for most of the year would destroy a team, but instead Tampa Bay finished the regular season with 106 points, up from 102 in 2024-25. A big reason the Lightning were able to work through it was Raddysh.

A 30-year-old defenseman who set a career high in the 2024-25 regular season with 37 points (six goals), Raddysh went from playing in just seven of Tampa Bay's first 13 games in 2025-26 (averaging 14:49 of ice time when he was utilized) to being thrust into a role on the top pairing and top power-play unit. He not only adapted to the situation, he thrived, going on to record 22 goals and 70 points in 73 outings by the end of the regular season. You'd be hard-pressed to find many examples of a blueliner in the middle of his career who enjoyed a breakout like that.

Jordan Binnington, G, Blues

Remember how Hill had the sixth-worst goals saved above expected record in the 2025-26 regular season? The absolute bottom of the barrel belongs to Binnington at minus-22.4. He was a disaster with his 3.33 GAA and .873 save percentage in 41 outings with St. Louis in 2025-26, and unquestionably worse than his Blues counterpart, Joel Hofer, who finished the regular season with a 2.61 GAA and a .909 save percentage in 46 appearances. Binnington is a weird goaltender. He was the hero behind St. Louis' startling 2019 Stanley Cup Championship. The netminder also led Canada to victory in the Four Nations Face-Off, and while Canada did fall short in the 2026 Winter Olympics, Binnington still performed rather well in that tournament.

However, you never seem to know what you're getting with him, and while there's an argument to be made that the quality of the players in front of him matters, Binnington's horrific goals allowed above expected, coupled with how much better Hofer did under the same circumstances, makes it hard to say that his NHL struggles this season are solely the fault of St. Louis. If anything, it's entirely plausible that he's the reason the Blues aren't in the playoffs.

Ducks Young Forward Group

If you want to know why Anaheim is in the postseason, the young trio of Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke is certainly a big part of the cause. They're all former top-five picks, so they didn't come out of nowhere, but to see them all take such a big leap forward this season was a pleasant surprise. Each of them recorded at least 20 goals and 60 points in the 2025-26 regular season, and Gauthier was especially dominant, tallying 41 goals in his sophomore campaign to more than double his rookie output of 20 markers.

Anthony Stolarz/Joseph Woll, G, Maple Leafs

What cost Toronto a playoff berth this season? You might be tempted to point to the loss of Mitch Marner, and while losing a top forward like that is going to leave its mark, Toronto's offense didn't decline too much, falling to an average of 3.07 goals per game in 2025-26, down from 3.26 in the 2024-25 regular season. By contrast, it plummeted in goals allowed per game, surrendering an average of 3.60 this year versus 2.79 in the previous regular season.

Injuries to the defensive core were a factor, but Stolarz and Woll, who were such a huge part of the 2024-25 success, also fell off. Stolarz and Woll missed time due to injury in 2025-26 and were rough when healthy, with Stolarz posting a 3.28 GAA and an .893 save percentage in 26 appearances, and Woll finishing with a 3.34 GAA and an .898 save percentage in 39 outings. Both are set to come back for 2026-27, and the Leafs can only hope for a return to their 2024-25 form.

Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Panthers

Florida's biggest issue in 2025-26 was injuries, but among those players who remained, Bobrovsky was the biggest disappointment with a 3.07 GAA and an .877 save percentage in 52 appearances, down from a 2.44 GAA and a .906 save percentage in 54 regular-season outings in 2024-25. Bobrovsky and the Panthers had gone to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the previous three seasons, so fatigue probably didn't help matters. Still, he'll be 38 years old before the start of 2026-27, so a comeback is far from guaranteed at this stage of his career.

Anthony Mantha, RW, Penguins

The Penguins making the playoffs this season was a pleasant surprise, and while Mantha wasn't the biggest contributor to it, he certainly punched above his weight. Mantha set career highs with 33 goals and 64 points in 81 appearances in 2025-26, completely revitalizing his career after recording four goals and seven points in just 13 appearances with Calgary in 2024-25. Not bad for a guy who signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with Pittsburgh in the summer of 2025.

Steven Stamkos, C, Predators

There had to have been part of Stamkos who wanted to prove Tampa Bay wrong for letting him go. However, in the first campaign of Stamkos' four-year, $32 million contract, the Lightning seemed vindicated, with him scoring 27 goals and 53 points in 82 outings with Nashville, a far cry from his 40-goal, 81-point showing in Tampa Bay in the 2023-24 regular season. It seemed Tampa Bay might have correctly predicted the beginning of Stamkos' decline, but in 2025-26, the center showed he still had something left in the tank. He ended up with 42 goals and 66 points with Nashville in 2025-26 in his age-35 campaign. It wasn't enough to get Nashville into the playoffs, but clearly the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.

The Utah Mammoth’s first taste of playoff hockey delivered everything it promised—speed, chaos, physicality—and then ended in a gut punch.

The Vegas Golden Knights rallied from multiple deficits to defeat Utah 4–2 on Sunday night in Game 1 of their first-round series, flipping what felt like a tightly controlled debut into a third-period collapse for the visitors.

Vegas, now unbeaten in regulation in its recent stretch under head coach John Tortorella (8-0-1), once again leaned on relentless pressure and depth scoring to overwhelm Utah late. Colton Sissons led the charge with a goal and an assist, while Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev also found the back of the net. Carter Hart turned aside 32 shots, and Noah Hanifin chipped in two assists from the blue line.

For Utah, Logan Cooley and Kevin Stenlund provided the offense, and Karel Vejmelka stopped 27 shots in a game that featured momentum swings, heavy contact, and a simmering edge that boiled over several times—including a post-buzzer altercation.

A Playoff Introduction Built On Emotion And Momentum

Utah didn’t just show up—they struck first, and nearly carried that energy into intermission.

Former Golden Knight Nate Schmidt threaded a perfect cross-ice feed to Logan Cooley, who buried a one-timer from the right circle with just 11 seconds left in the opening period. It was the kind of moment that briefly quieted the building and hinted at a dream start for the league’s newest postseason entrant.

The second period, however, belonged to chaos.

Sissons tied the game at 3:44, jamming home a rebound off a Cole Smith feed. Utah responded quickly, reclaiming the lead when a strange sequence near the crease ended with the puck deflecting into the net off a Vegas miscue, officially credited to Kevin Stenlund.

But that edge was fragile.

Vegas Turns The Screw In The Third

The Golden Knights’ response came in waves—and with force.

Mark Stone evened things up on the power play, hammering home a rebound at 5:33 of the third period. From there, the tone of the game shifted entirely. Vegas tilted the ice, leaned on Utah’s defensive zone mistakes, and eventually broke through again when a turnover by MacKenzie Weegar led to a decisive go-ahead goal off a Noah Hanifin shot, finished by Sissons’ presence around the puck.

Ivan Barbashev sealed it with an empty-net goal, putting a punctuation mark on a night where Vegas simply refused to fade.

Utah, meanwhile, was left to absorb the reality of playoff margins—small mistakes, magnified instantly.

The series continues Tuesday night back in Las Vegas, where Utah will try to reset before the moment starts feeling even heavier.

LAS VEGAS -- Like it or not, Carter Hart is deservedly a playoff goaltender in the NHL for the Golden Knights.

The 27-year-old has been the league's best goaltender since the start of the month, and just turned in his first playoff win since Sept. 3, 2020, when he was with the Philadelphia Flyers, in Vegas' 4-2 win over the Utah Mammoth on Sunday.

"We found a way to win a game, and I thought Carter Hart really gave us a chance," Vegas coach John Tortorella said.

Carter Hart in his first NHL playoff game since the 2020 COVID-19 bubble:

32/34
.941 SV%
1.79 GSAx pic.twitter.com/BrcGLNLt0Z

— PuckEmpire (@puckempire) April 20, 2026

After opening his tenure with the Knights by going 5-3-3 with a .871 save percentage and allowing 36 goals in 12 appearances, he returned to the net on April 2 after an injury, went 6-0-0 with a .930 save percentage, and allowed 10 goals in six games.

There was no better goaltender in the NHL during the same stretch.

Sunday, he was the better netminder, as the Golden Knights continued their winning ways under coach John Tortorella, who took over the team March 29, after Bruce Cassidy was fired.

Ironically, in Cassidy's first season with the Knights, he led them to a Stanley Cup after keeping once-starter goalie Logan Thompson in the press box as a healthy scratch during the playoffs and needed to turn to Adin Hill after Laurent Brossoit got injured.

Now, Tortorella has given Hill's net to Hart. And not because Vegas' $6 million goaltender is hurt, but because Hart has outplayed him - and deserves the starting role.

Tortorella was the coach of the Flyers when Hart was stopping pucks in Philly, so there is familiarity. Perhaps that's provided added confidence for both of them.

One, the incoming coach who took over a very talented team that needed a swift kick in the hockey pads with eight games in the regular season.

And two, the young netminder who's been through a lot off the ice, and simply needed to know there is someone who believes in him genuinely.

Aside from Vegas' offense coming around, there's no doubt the goaltending has been the biggest difference.

In Hill's lone start under Tortorella, he took the L in a 4-3 shootout loss at Seattle.

Tortorella has acknowledged he has two quality goaltenders in the locker room, but it's Hart's growth and maturity that have given him the pipes at this point.

"I had him there for a couple of years in Philly, and I watched him grow from the first time I stepped into Philly, and then he had to step out of the league, but I watched how he was growing," Tortorella said. "The greatest compliment I can give to Carter is preparation. That goaltending position, the coaches stay out of it. He has a position coach in (Sean) Burkey, so we stay out of it.

"But I do watch how he prepares. He's one of the guys who leaves no stone unturned. He gets focused. And I think he's mature. I think he's matured mentally. Sometimes we always look at these young kids and you talk about their physical growth, it's more mental. And I think he's really matured that way, and has certainly ... after his injury, found his way to get some good minutes under his belt as we enter the series."

After turning in good minutes in Game 1, it's quite clear who deserves the net at this point.

Like it or not.

🎥 Round 1, Game 1 POSTGAME SOUND: Smith, Barbashev, Dowd, Sissons & TortorellaCole Smith, Ivan Barbashev, Nic Dowd, Colton Sissons and Head Coach John Tortorella speak to the media following Sunday’s game against the Utah Mammoth at T-...

PHOTO CAPTION

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) makes a save as Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) falls in the crease during the second period of game one of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a different animal. Players can go an entire 82-game regular season without throwing a single hit; in the postseason, that’s downright unthinkable. Playoff hockey is known for tight checking, high emotion, and intense physicality. The Vegas Golden Knights are no strangers to that atmosphere, and it showed in their 4-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth.

Despite having a roster with little playoff experience, the Mammoth got to their game quickly and outshot the Golden Knights 11-9 in the first period. However, the Golden Knights boasted the lion’s share of scoring chances, generating 11 while holding Utah to 5.

The Mammoth broke the ice with just 11 seconds remaining in the first. Nate Schmidt found Logan Cooley all alone at the left dot, and Cooley one-timed it home.

Pittsburgh’s own Logan Cooley with a ROCKET of a one-timer from the right circle. Old friend Nate Schmidt with the beautiful pass.

1-0, Mammoth

pic.twitter.com/FcKtB3EiG2

— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) April 20, 2026

In the second period, the Mammoth continued their solid play. They outshot the Golden Knights 11-10 and generated four high-danger scoring chances while holding Vegas to three.

The Golden Knights found the equalizer at 3:44 in the second. Brayden McNabb’s shot didn’t reach the net, but Cole Smith ended up with the puck. He fed a backhand pass to Colton Sissons, who crashed the net and banged it in.

Nice little backhand feed from Cole Smith, and Colton Sissons crashes the net and stuffs it home.

1-1

pic.twitter.com/YKx0ueop2K

— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) April 20, 2026

The Mammoth regained the lead just 1:23 later. Carter Hart slid to the top of the crease to try to break up Kevin Stenlund’s pass for JJ Peterka in front. Instead, the puck took a hop into Kaedan Korczak, who mistakenly put it into his own net.

I’m not sure how to put into words what just happened there, but let’s give it a go:

Carter Hart gets aggressive and tries to break up a pass from Kevin Stenlund to JJ Peterka. Somehow, Kaedan Korczak put it into the net.

2-1, Mammoth

pic.twitter.com/0jKX21PHbI

— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) April 20, 2026

During the regular season, the Mammoth boasted a record of 29-2-2 when leading after two periods. But despite their regular-season record of 39-26-17, the Golden Knights were among the top teams in the league in time spent trailing, and tonight, that paid off. They played with composure and didn’t let the nature of Utah’s go-ahead goal rattle them.

“We didn't really pay attention to it,”said Ivan Barbashev postgame. “It's a tough bounce for our team and, of course, for our group. Our guys did a really good job of getting one back, on the power play, and especially the third goal by our fourth line. They've been outstanding today.”

Ivan Barbashev drew a penalty less than four minutes into the third period, and the Golden Knights scored on the ensuing power play.

Tomáš Hertl got a piece of Mitch Marner’s blast from the point, but Karel Vejmelka made the save. The puck kicked out to Mark Stone, who slammed the puck into the empty net.

Marner with the shot and Mark Stone scores the rebound.

2-2

pic.twitter.com/AM4kJNNHZu

— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) April 20, 2026

The Golden Knights took their first lead of the night just 1:47 later. Nic Dowd picked off MacKenzie Weegar’s pass and played it to Colton Sissons, who cut around Nick Schmaltz and passed back to Noah Hanifin at the point. Dowd presented his stick as he cut down the middle of the ice, and Hanifin hit him with a shot-pass for the go-ahead goal.

Wardo! Nic Dowd presented his stick for the tip, and Noah Hanifin made it happen.

3-2, Golden Knights

pic.twitter.com/FgFnavHrqZ

— Hannah Kirkell (@h_kirk6) April 20, 2026

The Mammoth pushed back and outshot Vegas 10-6 in the remaining 12:40 of regulation. However, despite getting very little practice in the regular season, the Golden Knights knew how to play with a lead and limited them to just one high-danger chance.

The Mammoth tried to pull Karel Vejmelka for the extra attacker, but timed it poorly, and Ivan Barbashev hit the empty net with 1:39 remaining in regulation to give his team the 4-2 lead.

“I think our team is best when we play physical, and I think we showed that today,” said Ivan Barbashev following the 4-2 win. “It’s hard to play like that for 82 games. But when playoffs come, I think it matters, and I think it matters for our group.”

Three Takeaways of the Knight

1. Mark Stone’s franchise-leading 39th postseason goal changed everything for the Golden Knights. At the start of the third period, it looked like the Golden Knights were just trying to hold on for dear life. After Stone’s goal, however, it was all Vegas. They came in waves, and rode that momentum-high all the way to Nic Dowd’s game-winning goal.

2. Physicality ramps up in the playoffs, and very few players feed off of it quite like Ivan Barbashev. He was a wrecking ball tonight, recording eight hits and drawing the penalty that led to the game-tying goal.

“I think [Barbashev] is a good, honest player,” said Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella following the 4-2 win. “That’s what I like about him. He’ll run you over, he’ll take a hit, he’ll make a play, he’ll score a goal… I think he’s an incredible pro.”

3. It doesn’t matter how many games this series goes— it’s going to be physically taxing on whoever emerges victorious. The Golden Knights won that war tonight, recording 52 hits against Utah’s 30. There were post-whistle scrums all game, but it all culminated in one big extracurricular after Ivan Barbashev’s empty net goal, and again after the final horn.

And just think— this was only Game 1. Typically, tempers grow as the series progresses. This is going to be a very nasty series.

LAS VEGAS -- The Golden Knights successfully carried their regular-season ending momentum into the postseason by overcoming a two-goal deficit with three third-period goals for a 4-2 win over the Utah Mammoth in Game 1 of their opening round series.

Captain Mark Stone scored the equalizer with a power-play goal 5:33 into the third period, Nic Dowd fired the even-strength game-winner in at the 7:20 mark, and Ivan Barbashev put the game away with an empty-net goal with 1:39 remaining.

EXPRESSIVE!!! MARK!!! STONE!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Y748AAQBVZ

— y - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 20, 2026

Vegas, which closed the regular season 7-0-1 after coach John Tortorella took over for fired Bruce Cassidy, also got a goal from Colton Sissons in the second period.

Goaltender Carter Hart continued his own personal hot streak by stopping 31 shots, including the only two Utah could manage during its lone power-play opportunity.

🎥 Hear from Head Coach John Tortorella, Cole Smith, Ivan Barbashev, Nic Dowd, and Colton Sissons following Sunday’s Round 1 Game 1 win against the Mammoth.

Full video on our YouTube Channel: https://t.co/SjXIWnJcKQpic.twitter.com/ZcMh1q9Sx5

— y - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 20, 2026

KEY MOMENT

The Mammoth could've seized momentum early in the game when Dylan Guenther had time and space in the low slot, but was stymied by Hart, whose pad save kept the game scoreless. While he had a handful of key stops throughout the game, especially down the stretch, it was the early save that likely instilled confidence for Hart and kept Utah from taking control just four minutes into the game.

KEY STAT

52-30 ... The Golden Knights held a major advantage with hits, almost doubling up the Mammoth in what was an extremely physical game. Utah came in with a bully-like mentality, hoping to make the first punch count, but Vegas responded, led by Keegan Kolesar (9) and Ivan Barbashev (8).

WHAT A KNIGHT

In a game where Vegas' big guns of Stone, Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner turned in a combined goal and assist, a supporting cast that included Sissons (1 goal, 1 assist) and Noah Hanifin (2 assists) contributed on the stat sheet. Sissons' play stood out most, with his first multi-point game since Feb. 25, when he had a goal and an assist during a 6-4 win in Los Angeles. Fun fact with Sissons: the Knights were 8-2 when he registered at least one point during the regular season and are now 1-0 in the postseason when he hits the stat sheet.

FIND A WAY, SIS ✂️ pic.twitter.com/ce9QZGffmB

— y - Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) April 20, 2026

UP NEXT

The Golden Knights continue their best-of-seven playoff series with the Mammoth in Game 2 on Tuesday.

PHOTO CAPTION

Vegas Golden Knights center Colton Sissons (10) awaits a face off against the Utah Mammoth during the second period of game one of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena.

There's a reason they say that Lord Stanley's Cup is the hardest trophy to win in all of sports. 

And the Pittsburgh Penguins were given a bit of a harsh reminder about that on Saturday in their first-round series opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. 

In their regular-season head-to-head matchups against Philadelphia, Pittsburgh went 2-0-2 and outscored the Flyers, 17-8. That's not to say that they were in cruise control against them prior to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they did not struggle much in terms of establishing their game and forcing the Flyers into mistakes. 

Well, none of that happened on Saturday. Instead, the Flyers - a much different team from when the Penguins last faced them on Mar. 7 in a 4-3 shootout loss - controlled play throughout Game 1 and took it, 3-2, in a clinical defensive effort that frustrated the boys in black and gold. 

Emotions were high within the game. Many Flyers' players were partaking in their first-ever postseason game, and while that was true for some on the Penguins' side, most of Pittsburgh's roster is comprised of players who have been here before. Nonetheless, it was the Penguins' first playoff game in four years, and tensions were high. 

But, even after a high-emotion game like Saturday's - especially in a must-win setting - the Penguins understand that being able to manage and regulate emotion between games in a best of seven series is key to turning the page.

"We obviously have a really good leadership group that will, kind of, set the tempo and set the mood," said rookie Ben Kindel, who is playing in his first-ever NHL playoff series. "I don't think anybody's panicking here."

'I Think It's Going To Be Something Special': Penguins' Playoff 'First-Timers' Look Forward To Game 1The Pittsburgh Penguins have a ton of Stanley Cup Playoff experience spread across their roster - but six players will get their first taste of NHL playoff hockey starting Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers.

In fact, the Penguins were able to show that "turn the page" mindset during and after their practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa. on Sunday.

"Came to the rink, [and] it was a very good day today," Kindel said. "Looking to get the job done tomorrow and execute tomorrow, and that's about it. Tomorrow's a new day, new game. It's a long series."

And by "tomorrow," Kindel means Monday, when the Penguins and Flyers face off for Game 2 with Philly leading the series, 1-0. One of the things that worked against the Penguins in Game 1 is that they didn't come out of the gate with speed and forechecking pressure - a strength of theirs all season long - which allowed the Flyers to establish their game, especially once they took the lead midway through the second period. 

Takeaways: Penguins Drop Game 1 To Flyers In Sloppy EffortThe Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their Game 1 tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, as they had trouble generating offense and neutralizing the Flyers' counterattack.

Once that happened, they clogged up the neutral zone. Stacked the blue line. Made it difficult for the Penguins to generate much of anything offensively, which frustrated them. Pittsburgh knows the key is getting to Philadelphia early and establishing their game so that the Flyers aren't able to fully commit to that neutral zone trap and could be forced to try to cheat for offense. 

Regardless of the mechanics of it all, however, the key is that they can't let a frustrating Game 1 carry over into Game 2. And, if the Flyers begin to execute their game again successfuly, the Penguins need to lock in and be prepared to counter that while keeping their emotions in check.

"It's been a big part of their game for a long stretch now," head coach Dan Muse said. "I mean, especially since the Olympic break, they've been a top defensive team in the league, so it didn't come as any surprise. I think there's some things that we could have done better in terms of just working through that.

“And we saw it there last night, we saw it with other teams throughout the league. When their numbers are back that much, too, sometimes, you've got to play a little bit more of a patient game. And, by ‘patient game,’ I don’t mean a slower game, it's just you just can’t frustrated or surprised that they have those numbers back. They've been doing this for a while now."

Top-5 Moves That Shaped Penguins' Successful 2025-26 SeasonThere are many moves that NHL GM of the Year frontrunner Kyle Dubas made this season to contribute to the Penguins' success - but there are five that were crucial to their first Stanley Cup Playoff berth in four years.

Hockey is a game of adjustments, and adjustments have been a strength of this team all season long. They've excelled at letting less-than-ideal efforts such as Saturday's simply roll off their back, and they've done well to respond in ensuing games with great efforts. 

They did it with a 7-3 stomping of the Chicago Blackhawks after the holiday break, which followed a measly 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs right before the holidays and began a six-game win streak. They did it after a stretch of four losses in five games in mid-January by responding with a perfect four-game Western road swing and another six-game win streak. They did it after a tough 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Apr. 2 by beating the Florida Panthers back-to-back and clinching the playoffs with a 5-2 win over the New Jersey Devils right after.

This team knows how to respond to adversity. They've done it all season long, making sure to not let themselves get too high or too low on emotion between games. Even if the playoffs are a different animal, that approach has to be the same game-to-game. 

"Obviously, we would have liked a different outcome in last night's game," forward Rickard Rakell said. "But, at the same time, we've got to move on. We've got to learn from that game and make sure that we put a better game on the ice tomorrow."

'This Is What You Play For': Penguins Thrilled To Be Back In Playoff Picture, Confident About IdentityThe Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years - and their longest-tenured veterans are itching for a chance to bring home another championship for the organization.

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For a while, things were looking pretty good for the Bruins in Game 1.

Weather the storm early? Check. Get the first goal? Check. Hold on for dear life but eventually extend the lead? Check.

Then it all fell apart in a span of just under five minutes in the third period, as the B’s saw a 2-0 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit in what would end up being a 4-3 Buffalo win in Game 1.

Tage Thompson scored twice in 3:42 to make it a 2-2 game, then Mattias Samuelsson scored less than a minute after Thompson’s second goal to give Buffalo the lead.

An empty-netter from Alex Tuch would seal it, though the Bruins added a consolation goal with eight seconds left.

Ultimately, it was a stunning, if not surprising, collapse from a Bruins team who has seen this script play out one (or five) times too many this season.

Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, and David Pastrnak scored the goals for the Bruins, while Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves in defeat.

Geekie got the scoring started midway through the first period, collecting a blocked Pastrnak shot and beating Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen clean to make it 1-0 Bruins.

It would be another second-chance shot that led to a goal for the B’s a minute into the third period, as Lindholm cashed in to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Annnnnnnnnnnd then it went south.

The Bruins held that 2-0 lead until 12:02 of the third, when Thompson scored his first to make it 2-1 Bruins.

It was Thompson again just three minutes later to make it a 2-2 game with 4:16 left in the third.

That lasted all of 52 seconds, as Samuelsson beat Swayman with a beautiful wrist shot to make it 3-2 Sabres with 3:24 left in the game.

Tuch’s empty-net goal would come with 1:12 left in the third, salting this one away for Buffalo.

Pastrnak scored a PPG with eight seconds left, but…yeah. Not enough time to do much with that.

Bruins LOSE, 4-3 final.

Game notes

• Given that the Bruins are the underdog in this series, you’d probably find that most Bruins fans wouldn’t have been surprised by a Game 1 loss. Juiced building, Sabres feeding off of the home crowd, etc. However, to lose in this fashion is a real kick in the teeth. It’s one thing to lose a series opener on the road, but it’s another to turn a 2-0 third period lead into a 3-2 deficit in a matter of minutes.
• It’s easy to say in hindsight, but it seems like the coaching staff should have done something to attempt to slow the game down at 2-2. Calling a timeout would have been the clearest option, but given how these games went for the Bruins during the regular season, it wasn’t hard to imagine that 2-2 wasn’t going to last long.
• Most goals you allow are going to be self-inflicted to a degree, but it’s hard to look past the individual mistakes on all three of Buffalo’s non-ENGs. Charlie McAvoy whiffed on a puck, Andrew Peeke lost a board battle, Hampus Lindholm flubbed a puck…they’re the kind of mistakes that will cost you against a good team, and they buried the Bruins tonight.
• Buffalo’s comeback was one for the record books, as it marked the first playoff regulation win for a team trailing 2-0 within the last eight minutes of regulation. An oddly specific stat, but a stat nonetheless.
• While the B’s did have a 2-0 lead and played well for decent stretches, this wasn’t a game that ever really felt like the Bruins controlled. It’s probably not fair to say they were hanging on for dear life for most of the night, but the second period, in particular, felt like a “batten down the hatches and survive” approach. Buffalo outshot the Bruins 13-4 in the second, but failed to beat Swayman.
• Pastrnak finished the night with 1G-2A-3PTS, but he’ll likely be fixating on two missed breakaway (or breakaway-adjacent) opportunities in the second period. One was a bit flubbed due to the pass, but the second was pretty clean, only for Luukkonen to stand tall.
• The B’s second line had themselves a rough night at the office, as Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, and Viktor Arvidsson were each minus-three on the evening. They landed four shots on goal as a unit.

The good news for the Bruins is that painful losses still only count as a single loss, so they’ve got that going for them…which is nice.

Game 2 is Tuesday night, back in Buffalo.

Lineup changes? Line shake-ups? It is what it is?

Discuss.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were back to work in Cranberry on Sunday after dropping Game 1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. 

They only scored two goals in the 3-2 loss and weren't close to their best. They had a lot of trouble breaking through the Flyers' trap and couldn't exit their zone cleanly. 

Sidney Crosby was especially quiet, which is rare for him against the Flyers. He has tormented them throughout his career, but the Flyers did a great job defending against him and his line. 

Speaking of his line with Egor Chinakhov and Bryan Rust, it appears to be staying together heading into Game 2 on Monday. In fact, it looks like Muse is keeping all of his lines and pairings together for Monday's game.

Here were the lines at practice:

Forwards

Chinakhov-Crosby-Rust

Novak-Rakell-Malkin

Soderblom-Kindel-Mantha

Dewar-Lizotte-Acciari

Defensive pairs

Wotherspoon-Karlsson

Girard-Letang

Shea-Clifton

- If the Penguins find themselves down in this game or if they lose it, then I think you'd see head coach Dan Muse change some of the lines. I'd still like to see Chinakhov back with Evgeni Malkin at some point since those two had such great chemistry during the regular season. 

- Muse danced around a starting goaltender question after Sunday's practice wrapped up, saying he'd announce who his starter is on Monday. I'd be stunned if it wasn't Stuart Skinner after how great he played on Saturday. He was the only reason why the Penguins had an outside chance of tying the game late in the third period, and he made several big saves on odd-man rushes and breakaways.

If he can keep giving the Penguins goaltending like that, they'll have a really good shot of winning this series. 

- The Girard-Letang pair had a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs before falling flat in Game 1. The pair accounted for only 2.5% of the expected goals during the game, which is woeful. 

Letang struggled to break the puck out of the defensive zone and generate offense, largely because of the Flyers' structured defense. After practice, he spoke about the way the Flyers made it difficult and how the Penguins can get past their trap.

"I think it's just to play with speed," Letang said. "Like I said, the transition game is really good, so if you play in front of them instead of behind them, you give them a chance to counter with speed, and they have really skilled forwards that can make you pay."

The Flyers' speed was on display throughout the game, and they generated several high-quality chances, despite scoring only three goals. It's on the Penguins to limit those chances against and to get more high-danger chances of their own. 

Puck drop for Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh and ESPN.

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At long last, the puck dropped on the much-anticipated first-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning. While the Bolts captain Victor Hedman skated on Sunday morning, his first time back on the ice, the Lightning had to make do without him for the game, just like the Canadiens were without Noah Dobson, even though he made the trip with the team.

Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere in the building was absolutely electric when the puck dropped, and the intensity level was dialed all the way up. As expected, Jakub Dobes was in the net for the Habs, starting just his fourth playoff game, while Andrei Vasilevskiy, a fixture in the Bolts’ net for years now, was playing the 121st playoff game of his career.

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A Confident Rookie

Despite his inexperience, Dobes showed absolutely no sign of nerves. He came out strong, and while the Canadiens were outshot 9-4 in the first frame, they still had a 1-0 lead on the board thanks to some big saves.

The Czech netminder was aggressive at the right time, coming out of his net to cut the angles as a Tampa Bay player had a golden opportunity all alone in the slot. Furthermore, he proved he had nerves of steel when he came out of the net to handle the puck, near the empty net, under pressure; he kept his cool and made the right play.

JAKUB DOBES WITH A HUGE SAVE EARLY 🛑

📺: Canadiens 🆚 Lightning LIVE on Sportsnet
📲: Stream on Sportsnet+ pic.twitter.com/WwRreo8C9h

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 19, 2026

The Highs And Lows Of Anderson

Josh Anderson always brings a lot of energy to the table in the playoffs. He clearly loves the importance of the moment and the electricity in the air. It’s no surprise, really, that he got the first goal of the game.

For a few minutes in the second frame, it looked like he had a second goal when he tipped a high puck in front of Vasilevskiy, but it was waived off because he touched it too high. Immediately after that, he got a two-minute charging penalty. He came at Charle-Edouard D’Astous like a train while the Bolts’ player was readying himself for contact with Jake Evans on the other side. As a result, D’Astous was hit by two Habs at once and fell to the ice, clearly shaken up. If he hadn’t been bumped by Evans at the same time, there might not have been a call, but there was.

Unfortunately for Anderson, that penalty would result in a big momentum swing. The hosts scored their first goal on the man advantage, then a second 29 seconds later, as the Canadiens looked panicked in their own end, the puck went through Kaiden Guhle’s leg on its way to the front of the net, where Brandon Hagel collected it before flipping it over Dobes’ arm. In those 29 seconds, the game had been turned upside down, and Montreal went from thinking it led 2-0 to trailing 2-1.

At that stage, Martin St-Louis spoke with the referees. Perhaps it was about a call he felt was missed, but it also looked like a way to take a time-out without actually calling for one, giving his team time to settle their nerves. If that was the case, it was an excellent move by the bench boss who was coaching his sixth playoff game.

Slafkovsky’s Strength

If anyone still doubted just how strong Juraj Slafkovsky is, that game should have settled any doubt. In heavy traffic with hits flying left, right, and center, the power forward made his way through the Tampa defense relentlessly. With half the game gone, he was the only member of the first line to have tested Vasilevskiy; he even had two shots.

After the Bolts had taken a 2-1 lead, it was the big Slovak who brought everyone back to square one with a one-timer on the power play with less than a minute to go in the second frame. Then, on another power play, early in the third, it was he again who scored for the Habs with a perfect shot from the bumper.

It used to be that if you contained Cole Caufield, the Canadiens’ power play was neutralized, but not anymore with Demidov on the other side, who can unleash a one-timer or distribute the puck in an elite manner, and Slafkovsky in the bumper ready to fire at will. On his second goal, Vasilevskiy was in close to the post, covering the near side that Caufield likes so much, so when he passed it, the goalie was vulnerable in his push to follow the puck. That’s when the power forward beat him.

With a 3-3 tie in the dying seconds of the third frame, the Canadiens got another power play, but they couldn’t score in regulation. Slafkovsky scored the game-winner, on the power play, in overtime, 4-3, against the Canadiens. Full marks to St. Louis, who didn’t call for a timeout earlier in the game when his young team panicked, but used it in overtime to extend his first unit’s shifts.

NOTRE ROI SLOVAQUE 🇸🇰

OUR SLOVAK KING#GoHabsGopic.twitter.com/Loq2CNQ3aJ

— x - Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 20, 2026

The Habs now lead the series 1-0 and have stolen the home-ice advantage. Game 2 is set for Tuesday night, in Tampa Bay at 7:00 PM. 

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