Because the Buffalo Sabres managed to finally return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011, it ended what was the longest active postseason drought in the NHL.
Unfortunately, it means that the Detroit Red Wings, who haven't qualified since 2016, now own that distinction.
Adding insult to injury for the current Red Wings is that so many players, some of whom played in Detroit as recently as this and last season, have played key roles in their new respective club's playoff success.
Not only did Vladimir Tarasenko, who managed just 11 goals with the Red Wings last season, more than double his total this year with the Minnesota Wild and help them secure their first playoff series win in 11 years, but another former Red Wing has also helped his new club advance for the first time in nearly twice as long.
Goaltender Alex Lyon, now with the Sabres after playing two seasons in Detroit, made 25 saves to help Buffalo clinch their playoff series over the Boston Bruins. In doing so, the Sabres are on to the second round for the first time since 2007.
Lyon was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Red Wings in 2023 after he'd served as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky during what would be their first of three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final. During his time with the Red Wings, Lyon went 35-27-6 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
Following Detroit's acquisition of John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks last offseason, and with Cam Talbot still under contract for another year, Lyon was deemed expendable.
He joined the Sabres, signing a two-year, $3 million contract with a $1.5 million cap hit.
And so far, the move has paid off in spades for the Sabres.
Lyon overtook former Sabres (and Red Wings) goaltender Dominik Hasek in the club record books for most consecutive victories, and is now the first Sabres goaltender since former Michigan State Spartan Ryan Miller 19 years ago to win a playoff series.
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MONTREAL (AP) — Gage Goncalves scored off his own rebound at 9:02 overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Friday night to force a Game 7 in the first-round series.
Goncalves scored soon after the Lightning killed scoring star Nikita Kucherov’s penalty for tripping Alexandre Carrier.
Game 7 is Sunday in Tampa. The Lightning are trying to avoid a fourth consecutive first-round exit, while the Canadiens are chasing their first series victory in five years.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for Tampa Bay, and Jakub Dobes stopped 32 shots for Montreal. The first three games of the series also went to overtime.
SABRES 4, BRUINS 1
BOSTON (AP) — Alex Tuch and Mattias Samuelsson scored in the first period, Zach Benson added another early in the third and Buffalo beat Boston in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Josh Norris added an empty-netter. Alex Lyon finished with 25 saves.
The 4-2 series victory is the latest milestone for Buffalo, which saw the end of its 14-year playoff drought by capturing its first Atlantic Division title. The 2007 season was also the last time the Sabres advanced to the second round. They lost in the conference finals that year.
David Pastrnak scored the lone goal for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman made 22 stops.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, MAMMOTH 1
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mitch Marner had two goals and an assist, Carter Hart made 21 saves and Vegas beat Utah Mammoth in Game 6 to wrap up the first-round series.
Vegas will face Anaheim in the second round. The Ducks advanced Thursday night with a 5-2 home victory over Edmonton in Game 6.
Vegas has surged since John Tortorella took over as coach from the fired Bruce Cassidy, closing the regular season 7-0-1 after the change.
Marner had two goals and five assists in the series.
Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves for Utah. The Mammoth led in the third period in each of the first five games.
BOSTON (AP) — Alex Tuch and Mattias Samuelsson scored in the first period, Zach Benson added another early in the third and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 on Friday night in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2007.
Josh Norris added an empty-netter. Alex Lyon finished with 25 saves.
The 4-2 series victory is the latest milestone for Buffalo, which saw the end of its 14-year playoff drought by capturing its first Atlantic Division title. The 2007 season was also the last time the Sabres advanced to the second round. They lost in the conference finals that year.
Buffalo will play the winner if the Montreal-Tampa Bay series in the second round. That series will go to seven games after the Lightning’s 1-0 overtime win Friday night in Montreal.
David Pastrnak scored the lone goal for the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman made 22 stops.
Tempers flared with 1:31 to play after Benson tripped Charlie McAvoy. McAvoy responded with a slash at Benson. Both were sent to the penalty box.
It ends a feisty series comeback for the Bruins after earning a playoff berth in their first season under coach Marco Sturm. Boston has lost its last six home playoff games.
MONTREAL — Gage Goncalves scored off his own rebound at 9:02 overtime and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Montreal Canadiens 1-0 on Friday night to force a Game 7 in the first-round series.
Goncalves scored soon after the Lightning killed scoring star Nikita Kucherov’s penalty for tripping Alexandre Carrier.
Game 7 is Sunday in Tampa. The Lightning are trying to avoid a fourth consecutive first-round exit, while the Canadiens are chasing their first series victory in five years.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for Tampa Bay, and Jakub Dobes stopped 32 shots for Montreal. The first three games of the series also went to overtime.
The game was the second in three days to go to overtime scoreless, with Philadelphia beating Pittsburgh 1-0 on Wednesday night to end that series in six games. Before the season, the last 0-0 playoff game in regulation was in 2021.
Dobes and the Canadiens survived a flurry of shots on a late power play. The Lightning got the man advantage after Ivan Demidov broke in on Vasilevskiy, failed to score and was called for goalie interference.
Late in the second — with the Lightning’s Charle-Edouard D’Astous off for slashing Phillip Danault — Vasilevskiy stopped Demidov twice from close range.
Tampa Bay had a power-play chance early in the third after Kaiden Guhle was called for slashing Jake Guentzel. On the Lightning’s best chance, Nikita Kucherov fired a shot off the post.
Montreal had only one shot on goal on a power play to start the second period with Guentzel off for high-sticking Guhle with 11 seconds left in the first.
Danault kept it scoreless a few minutes later when he swept the puck away before it could cross the goal line. Montreal then killed Alexandre Texier’s high-sticking penalty.
Three former Vancouver Canucks had their dreams of lifting the 2026 Stanley Cup come to a close. On Friday, the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1, which secured a series win for Vancouver's expansion cousin. The victory was Buffalo's first series win since 2006-07, when they went to the Conference Final.
The three players on the Bruins with ties to Canucks are Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm and Lukas Reichel. Zadorov and Lindholm both left Vancouver as free agents during the 2024 off-season, while Reichel was traded at the 2026 trade deadline. Of the three, Lindholm led the way with two goals, while Zadorov finished the series with one assist.
There are also two players on the Sabres' roster with ties to Vancouver. Luke Schenn and Tanner Pearson were among the scratches for Game 6. Neither played a game in the series.
Jan 26, 2026; New York, New York, USA; Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm (28) skates against the New York Rangers during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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Dylan Holloway got his money on Friday. Signing a sizeable contract extension with the St. Louis Blues, the former 14th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2020, is going to earn a hefty paycheck over the next five seasons.
Holloway left Edmonton via offer sheet in August 2024 alongside defenseman Philip Broberg. The Oilers elected not to match the deals, a move that didn't sit well with several Oilers fans.
Just starting to come into his own as an NHLer, Holloway, an Alberta native, later revealed that contract negotiations with Edmonton “rubbed me the wrong way.” He felt there was a lack of respect during the process and felt unwanted, given that his choice would have been to remain with the club that drafted him.
In St. Louis, Holloway has flourished. He posted career-high numbers and said in a recent interview he would love to get an extension done and stay with the Blues. He was confident the two sides could find a way to make things work, and he was right. The Blues gave him five years by $7.75 million per season.
For Oilers fans, the signing brings some hard feelings. One day after being eliminated from the 2025-26 playoffs, several fans are looking for reasons the Oilers seemed so disjointed this year. A player like Holloway on the roster certainly would have helped.
Many view the loss of the promising young winger for only mid-round draft picks as a missed opportunity. The Blues seized their opportunity to get that deal done.
While some see the hefty new contract as a potential risk if his production plateaus or he continues to have injury issues, it's a solid bet if Holloway can remain in the lineup.
The NHL Coach of the Year finalists were announced on Friday.
Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Dan Muse of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lindy Ruff of the Buffalo Sabres are the three men who are up for the Jack Adams Award, presented to the head coach “adjudged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.
There was no shortage of analysts who believed that Ottawa's Travis Green should get some love for the award, and for the record, playoff performance has no bearing on the voting.
Steve Warne and Gregg Kennedy discuss what happened to the Senators in their first round elimination.
The award is voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association at the end of the regular season, so the Senators' disappointing sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes had no bearing on anything.
Green surely got some votes after leading the Senators into the postseason with a 21-6-3 finish to the season, all while dealing with a rough first half, shaky goaltending, off-ice drama and one injury after another down the stretch, especially on his blue line.
The 55-year-old Creston, B.C. native consistently urged the Senators to ignore those outside distractions, which he billed as white noise, and to stick to the process, whether they win or lose. There was nothing particularly innovative about his message. The impressive part was Green being able to get what appeared to be complete buy-in from his players.
Green was probably never going to beat out Cooper, who, remarkably, has never won the award, or Ruff, who helped snap the Sabres' NHL record playoff drought by winning the Division.
But Muse, the rookie head coach of the Penguins, actually finished one point behind Green's Senators. Jack has a soft spot for rookies, though. Muse is the 19th first-year head coach to be voted as a Jack Adams Award finalist.
Only two Senators head coaches have ever won the award. Paul MacLean in 2012–13 and Jacques Martin in 1998-99. Green won't join them this year, but still deserves a ton of credit for keeping Ottawa's weird season on the rails.
Steve Warne The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Check out more great Sens features from The Hockey News at the links below:
There was no shortage of great moments for the Detroit Red Wings during their run to the 2008 Stanley Cup, the franchise's 11th in club history and their most recent title to date.
Along the way, the player that Steve Yzerman affectionately referred to as "Mule" during his first NHL Training Camp in 2005 emerged as a bona fide playoff assassin.
Forward Johan Franzen, who had broken out offensively in the second half of the 2007-08 regular season with a whopping 14 goals in March, continued his scoring prowess in Detroit's opening round playoff series win over the Nashville Predators.
Not only did he open the scoring in the series, but would later score the overtime game-winning goal in Game 5, giving Detroit a three-games-to-two series advantage that they'd eventually cap off with a win in Game 6.
Moving on to face the Colorado Avalanche for the first time since 2002, Franzen took the series by force.
Not only did the Detroit Red Wings sweep the Colorado Avalanche, but Johan Franzen himself managed to outscore the entire Avalanche roster over the four games, lighting the lamp nine times.
He recorded two hat tricks, one in Game 2 and another in Game 4, the latter coming in an 8–2 win in Denver to complete the sweep.
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In their first playoff series since 2018, the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and earned their first series win since 2017, when they ironically defeated the Oilers.
The Ducks have an entirely different roster than that team from nine years ago. In 2017, their core consisted of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, Cam Fowler, etc., who were taking their final kicks at the can together. The new core, which consists of Leo Carlsson, Jackson LaCombe, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, etc., is on the completely opposite trajectory.
At the beginning of the season, the 2025-26 Ducks set their seemingly lofty goal to make the playoffs and potentially make some noise once there. Well, they made the playoffs, and they made noise, eliminating the defending back-to-back Western Conference Champions, who employ (potentially) the two best hockey players on the planet, in six games.
Very few picked the Ducks to win the series, so here are three primary keys to the Ducks’ success in their opening round victory:
Author’s note: These are keys from the Ducks’ perspective. The Oilers had injuries to impact players like Leon Draisaitl (missed 14 games heading into the playoffs, lower body), Connor McDavid (appeared to have sustained an injury to his right leg/ankle in Game 2), Jason Dickinson (missed three games heading into the playoffs and missed games 2 and 3 of this series, lower body), and Adam Henrique (exited game 1, lower body), which were potentially their most significant factor in losing this series to Anaheim.
Jackson LaCombe
If the Conn Smythe were to be awarded after the first round, a relatively easy case could be made for Anaheim’s star defenseman Jackson LaCombe. As of Friday morning, he’s tied for second among all players in scoring with nine points (1-8=9) in six games and leads all defensemen. At 5v5, he played 138:24 TOI, and in those minutes, the Ducks accounted for 64.06% of the shots on goal, 60.81% of the shot attempts, and 65.63% of the expected goals.
More impressively, he was hard-matched against Connor McDavid as much as Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville could manage. When LaCombe was on the ice against McDavid (66:09) at 5v5, the Ducks won the shots on goal battle 42-19, the shot attempt battle 78-50, accounted for 67.3% of the expected goals, and outscored the Oilers 6-2.
LaCombe, forever calm and poised, defended rushes all series perfectly, dictated tempo, was efficient on breakouts, active along the blueline, and joined as many rushes as he could to generate offense for Anaheim. He broke out in the 2024-25 season, continued to turn heads during the 2025-26 season, and has now put the hockey world on notice, playing his best when it matters most.
“This guy (pointing to LaCombe) is really good,” Ducks forward Troy Terry said after Game 6 when asked about defeating McDavid. “That team had been to two cup finals, and we have a lot of respect for him and those players. He really is that good, and to watch the task that this guy and (Jacob) Trouba had. These guys were on him most of the time, but collectively, we all had to play him and we were all aware of it.”
Special Teams
In the 2025-26 regular season, the Ducks held the 23rd-ranked power play (18.6%) in the NHL and the 27th-ranked penalty kill (76.4%). The Oilers were the NHL’s top power play team (30.6%) and had the 20th-ranked penalty kill (77.8%). Logic would have suggested the Oilers had the advantage should the series be decided by special teams.
The Ducks were one of the NHL’s most penalized teams in the regular season, racking up 814 penalty minutes (6th in NHL). They flipped the script in the first round of the playoffs and averaged just 6.5 PIMs/Game, the lowest rate of any team in the first round. They didn’t kill at a spectacular rate in the playoffs (71.4%), but only allowing four power play goals to the Edmonton Oilers is a feat not to be ignored.
The deciding factor on special teams through the series was the Ducks’ power play. The Ducks converted on eight of their 16 opportunities with the man-advantage and deployed two equally potent units capable of scoring in a variety of ways. Ducks assistant coach Jay Woodcroft, former Oilers head coach, found the puzzle pieces he liked together on each unit and crafted several ways for each unit to execute clever in-zone sequences to generate optimal chances.
One of Woodcroft’s units featured John Carlson at the top of the umbrella and accounted for five power play goals, while the other featured Jackson LaCombe and accounted for three (all from Cutter Gauthier).
“The best part about it was that in the whole series, we didn’t take that many penalties,” Quenneville said. “That was one of the things that we had to do in order to have some success. As infrequent as they were on the power play, their top guys are going to have some confidence, and they can generate stuff off of that, and then everybody helps their team. That was a point of emphasis, and the guys did a good job of that.”
Joel Quenneville’s Adjustments (Tactical and Personnel)
This series was a six-game chess match between head coaches Joel Quenneville and Kris Knoblauch, along with their respective staffs. They each took turns adjusting and counteradjusting to personnel and tactical tweaks made by the other.
After losing Game 1 in Edmonton, Quenneville seemed to be deploying the exact same lineup for Game 2, but at the apparent last second, and keeping his cards close to the chest, he swapped his third and first-line left wingers, offering his club new looks and forcing his opponent to counter on the fly. He did the same thing between Games 5 and 6 in an attempt to disrupt any potential game plan Knoblauch had prepared.
Tactically, this series took on many forms despite high goal totals in every game. Edmonton took advantage of Anaheim’s wide eyes early in game one, controlling cycles and connecting plays at high speeds. From the first puck drop, Anaheim’s focus when it came to defending McDavid was to match him up against LaCombe when possible and hound him with backchecking pressure, creating a five-man unit with waves of defenders, and they were careful to keep a high F3 when 97 was on the ice.
Knoblauch tweaked his approach to a more streamlined, north-south game after Game 2, as the Oilers were turning a high number of pucks over in neutral ice when trying to manufacture connecting sequences. Ducks defenders were up to the task, evading heavy F1s and had supporting forwards low to help in precarious situations.
Ultimately, the Ducks and their coaching staff were able to draw the Oilers into playing their brand of hockey, trading chances, forcing neutral zone turnovers, and turning said turnovers into quick-strike offense.
“Jay (Woodcroft) was great. I think our coaching staff is outstanding. Gilly (Ryan McGill) with the penalty kill was outstanding as well,” Quenneville said after Game 6.
Quenneville and Co. will have a brand new set of challenges facing them in the second round, and a new chess match will present itself, whether they’ll face the Utah Mammoth or the Vegas Golden Knights. This series proved one thing: this coaching staff has the ability to manipulate their opponent to optimize the Ducks’ chances at advancing.
The Carolina Hurricanes host the Philadelphia Flyers to begin Round 2 at Lenovo Arena on Saturday, May 2.
My top Flyers vs. Hurricanes predictions and NHL picks expect Carolina to make it five consecutive postseason wins and grab a 1-0 series lead over Philadelphia.
Flyers vs Hurricanes Game 1 prediction
Flyers vs Hurricanes best bet: Hurricanes moneyline (-205)
The Philadelphia Flyers lost the five-on-five battle with a 41.8 Corsi For percentage and 46.2 expected goals percentage in Round 1, and that won’t fly against the Carolina Hurricanes.
It’s as simple as that because the Hurricanes paced the NHL in CF% while ranking second in xGF% during the regular season, and they were on the right side of both metrics in the opening round while never trailing during their four-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators.
Of course, Carolina also received top-tier goaltending from Frederik Andersen to the tune of a .963 save percentage with 1.67 goals saved above average per 60 minutes.
Philly having to play two extra Round 1 games will take a toll during this losing effort, too.
Flyers vs Hurricanes Game 1 goal scorer pick
Andrei Svechnikov (+190)
Carolina winger Andrei Svechnikov was dangerous throughout Round 1 and finished with a team-high 2.38 individual goals and 19 scoring chances without finding the back of the net.
He scored eight times across 15 games last spring in the playoffs, and the go-to Russian projects to remain on the top line and No. 1 power-play unit.
The Carolina Hurricanes have beaten the Philadelphia Flyers in eight of their past 10 games. Find more NHL betting trends for Flyers vs. Hurricanes.
How to watch Flyers vs Hurricanes Game 1
Location
Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
Date
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Puck drop
8:00 p.m. ET
TV
ABC
Flyers vs Hurricanes latest injuries
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According to NHL 26, the Colorado Avalanche will defeat the Minnesota Wild to advance to the Western Conference Final.
After correctly forecasting a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Kings, the simulation turns its attention to the Minnesota Wild, where Colorado once again follows a script that feels increasingly difficult to dismiss as coincidence.
What unfolded over five games was not just an Avalanche series win, but a gradual tightening of control. Minnesota had answers at times, even a brief surge in Game 3, but Colorado’s depth, pace, and star-driven execution consistently tilted the series back in their direction.
Nathan MacKinnon set the tone early. Valeri Nichushkin punished every seam of space he was given. Ross Colton emerged as a reliable secondary finisher. And Scott Wedgewood provided steady, timely goaltending behind an offense that rarely stopped pushing.
Even when Minnesota responded — most notably through Matt Boldy’s standout performances — Colorado never truly surrendered control of the series’ rhythm.
Game 1: Avalanche 5, Wild 3
Ross Colton scored twice for Colorado, while Valeri Nichushkin, Nazem Kadri, and Martin Necas also found the back of the net. Cale Makar recorded three assists, and Nick Blankenburg added two helpers.
For Minnesota, Matt Boldy scored twice, while Brock Faber finished with two assists.
Valeri Nichushkin was penalized for interference midway through the first period, but Colorado turned the momentum instantly. Martin Necas exploded through the neutral zone on a shorthanded rush, beat every Wild defender, and snapped a wrister over Jesper Wallstedt’s glove for a 1-0 lead.
Colorado doubled the advantage late in the period when Gabe Landeskog won a puck race after a dump-in and fed Nazem Kadri for a booming one-timer from the left circle.
Minnesota answered before intermission as Matt Boldy finished a dazzling breakaway move to cut it to 2-1.
The Wild tied the game at 7:30 of the second when Yakov Trenin buried a loose puck during a chaotic scramble in front of Scott Wedgewood.
Colorado’s depth quickly responded.
Nichushkin set up Ross Colton to restore the lead, then buried one himself after Necas created another rush chance to make it 4-2.
But Minnesota stayed alive when Boldy struck again with 31 seconds left in the second after another defensive breakdown made it 4-3.
The third period stayed tense until Colton iced it with an empty-net goal in the final 30 seconds.
Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves in the win, while Wallstedt stopped 23 shots.
Series: Avalanche lead 1-0
Game 2: Avalanche 7, Wild 3
Brock Nelson led the charge with two goals and an assist as Colorado overwhelmed Minnesota to grab a 2-0 series lead.
Gabe Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist. Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas also scored, while Scott Wedgewood made 19 saves.
For Minnesota, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, and Kirill Kaprizov scored. Jesper Wallstedt made 35 saves under heavy pressure.
Colorado struck early just 1:12 in when Nathan MacKinnon capitalized on a turnover and buried the opening goal.
On a 5-on-3 power play, Brock Nelson made it 2-0 only minutes later.
Kaprizov responded on a 2-on-1 chance to cut it to 2-1, but Colorado quickly regained control.
Landeskog restored the cushion after a Wallstedt misplay, and Necas added a rebound goal to make it 4-1.
Minnesota briefly fought back with goals from Zuccarello and Hartman, but Colorado exploded late with Kadri, Colton, and Nelson all finishing to seal a dominant 7-3 win.
Series: Avalanche lead 2-0
Game 3: Wild 3, Avalanche 2
Minnesota finally answered behind a massive night from Matt Boldy.
Boldy scored twice, Jared Spurgeon added a goal, and Jesper Wallstedt made 24 saves in a tight 3-2 win.
Martin Necas and Jack Drury scored for Colorado, while Scott Wedgewood made 19 stops.
Colorado opened the scoring just 30 seconds in when MacKinnon found Necas at the doorstep.
Spurgeon tied it with a point shot through traffic, and Drury restored Colorado’s lead later in the first.
But Boldy struck late in the frame to tie it 2-2, then delivered the game-winner in the third period to cut the series deficit.
Series: Avalanche lead 2-1
Game 4: Avalanche 4, Wild 1
Colorado responded with authority on the road.
Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri, Logan O’Connor, and Valeri Nichushkin scored, while Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves.
Nick Foligno scored Minnesota’s lone goal, and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 25 shots.
Kadri opened the scoring at 4:22, and O’Connor followed quickly after winning a dump-in battle and finishing through traffic.
Minnesota answered through Marcus and Nick Foligno, but that was it.
Nichushkin restored control in the third with a rebound finish, and Nelson added the final dagger late.
Series: Avalanche lead 3-1
Game 5: Avalanche 3, Wild 2
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at Ball Arena to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Nathan MacKinnon, Ross Colton, and Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Avalanche, while Scott Wedgewood came up with 25 saves.
Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild, and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves in defeat.
MacKinnon opened the scoring at 2:49 of the first period on the power play after Brock Nelson’s rebound attempt sat loose in the crease.
Minnesota attempted to respond with sustained pressure, but Colorado’s structure held firm early, forcing the Wild to the perimeter and limiting clean looks.
At 6:58, Valeri Nichushkin doubled the lead in emphatic fashion.
Ross Colton carried the puck through the neutral zone under heavy contact, absorbed a hit along the boards, and still managed to slide a perfectly timed drop pass into space. Nichushkin was left alone in the slot and hammered a one-timer past Wallstedt to make it 2-0.
Colton then extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second period after winning a battle along the boards and driving directly to the net, finishing through traffic.
Minnesota finally broke through in the third when Kaprizov beat Wedgewood with a sharp wrister to make it 3-1.
Moments later, Joel Eriksson Ek pulled the Wild within one after a turnover in Colorado’s zone led to a quick finish.
But Colorado shut the door down the stretch, defending cleanly and managing the final minutes with control.
The Avalanche closed it out 3-2 and eliminated Minnesota in five games.
Series: Avalanche win 4-1
For now, we'll have to wait and see what happens and when this series will actually begin.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Blues signed forward Dylan Holloway to a five-year contract worth $38.75 million, general manager Doug Armstrong announced Friday.
Holloway, who's set to turn 25 in September before next NHL season begins, will count $7.75 million against the salary cap through 2031. Getting him signed was one of Armstrong's final big tasks before turning the job over to GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen.
His new deal was announced Friday in the aftermath of Edmonton getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. The Blues poached Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg from the Oilers with offer sheets two summers ago.
Holloway joins him in signing long term after Broberg got $48 million over six years in January and is now under contract through 2030. Holloway ranked second on the team with 22 goals and was tied for second in points with 51 this past regular season, when St. Louis missed the playoffs.
During a recent appearance on TNT, NHL legend Henrik Lundqvist ranked the top seven Eastern Conference starting goaltenders left in the playoffs. This was before the Philadelphia Flyers knocked out Arturs Silovs and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
When it came to Montreal Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes, Lundqvist ranked the young netminder at the No. 7.
With this, Dobes was ranked below every other goaltender on Lundqvist's list. Given how well he has played early on this post-season, there is certainly an argument to be had for Dobes to be ranked higher.
Dobes is a big reason why the Canadiens now have a 3-2 series lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning this series. In five appearances so far this post-season, Dobes has a 3-2-0 record, a .903 save percentage, and a 2.49 goals-against average. This included him stopping 38 out of 40 shots in the Canadiens' 3-2 win over the Bolts in Game 5.
Dobes also took a big step forward with his development during the regular season with the Canadiens. In 43 appearances, he had an impressive 29-10-4 record to go along with a .901 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average.
The Stanley Cup playoffs are well underway, with what has been an exciting first round.
There's been a lot of very good hockey so far. And while the first round of the NHL playoffs promises strong matchups and divisional showdowns, it raises the question: Is it too much of an early glut, and do the later rounds suffer under the current playoff format?
The postseason in the NHL is structured as follows:
The division winner with the best record plays the second wild card team
The division winner with the second-best record plays the first wild card team
The second- and third-place finishers from both divisions play each other in the first round
This structure has been in place since 2014, and commissioner Gary Bettman has dug his heels in on it time and time again.
"More than comfortable," Bettman told reporters last month with regards to the format. "It gives us a sensational first round. Probably the best playoff first round in any sport. We get more games and longer series as a result of the format. And you can always pick at certain situations in any given year and say, 'Well, I'd like it to be different that year.' But if you look at the body of work that our playoffs represent over time, what we have now works extraordinarily well."
It's true, to a degree. The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs are by and large more interesting than, say, the NBA's opening round where many series can be picked to go four or five games (2026 has proven to be a bad example of that). But they also give us matchups that could have been conference finals in the early going. The Wild and Stars are divisional foes who could have seen each other two rounds down the line, whereas the same could be said for the Lightning and Canadiens. These are teams with real animosity who would give compelling storylines playing for a chance at the Cup.
Instead, we see them get eliminated, and the Central and Atlantic divisions are punished for having arms races all season while the Pacific didn't have a single team over 100 points and the Metro had one.
For contrast, here's a look at how these playoffs would have looked under the NBA's current 1-8 format.
2026 Stanley Cup playoffs in 1-8 format
Eastern Conference
(1) Carolina Hurricanes vs (8) Philadelphia Flyers
It may not have the juggernaut matchups of Stars-Wild or the Battle of Pennsylvania of Penguins-Flyers, but it does properly reward teams who found themselves in regular season dogfights while still having interesting series (the Nos. 4 and 5 matchups in both conferences are particularly compelling). Furthermore, it still creates interesting permutations of second-round matchups.
Before the 2013 season, the NHL had a three-division structure that had the Northeast, Southeast and Atlantic in the East and the Northwest, Central and Pacific in the West. That playoff format had re-seeding, but also wasn't tenable due to imminent expansion to 32 teams and the necessity to cut travel.
This is not about protecting certain teams or protecting certain writers' egos (has a certain writer had a horrible time picking the first round? Yes. Is his Stanley Cup pick already eliminated in the first round? Also yes). Instead, it's about creating a postseason that survives the first round. As good as these series are, their protracted and physical nature decimates rosters heading into Round 2, and the matchups suffer.
By the conference finals, imbalances are clear. In 2025, both series finished in five games. In 2024, they finished in six. 2023 saw a sweep and a six-game series. 2022 was the same. There hasn't been a seven-game conference final since 2018.
Furthermore, from a ruthless business perspective, which is the only thing that will change anything, losing big players and names in the first round does have an effect on interest as the playoffs go on. A playoff structure shouldn't be reverse engineered around getting the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Finals, but it should consider that Bruins-Canadiens is a more interesting Eastern Conference Finals matchup than it is to see in Round 1, and locking fans from that short of one of those teams winning the Atlantic (which can still result in a first round matchup if the wild card picture falls right) is myopic decision making.
Rivalries can't be forced
At the crux of the issue lies a simple truth: Rivalries in sports can't be forced. They come from history, regionality and familiarity, with at least two of the three usually being involved.
Hockey west of Colorado in the United States has been around for some time, but it's expanding rapidly. With the advent of the Golden Knights in Las Vegas and the Kraken in Seattle, along with a newly tapped fan base in Utah with the Mammoth moving from Arizona, these are teams looking to establish footprints.
The vitriol between the Canadiens, Bruins and Maple Leafs comes from being three Original Six teams creating a Bermuda Triangle of hatred in the Northeast. The Flames and Oilers have nursed a dragon egg of hatred since meeting each other for the first Battle of Alberta in 1980 that was nourished by being two of the league's premier teams atop the Campbell Conference in the latter half of the 1980s. They weren't mashed together like action figures in a commissioner's room. It took time.
That's how it has to happen now. The Stars and Avalanche don't harbor contempt for each other because of their 2025 first round matchup. It dates to the '90s when they were fighting for supremacy in the West. The Stars and Wild have heaps of baggage that dates to the Minnesota North Stars moving to Dallas. This series is a blip cosmically, not the defining aspect of it.
That's what gets lost in this conversation. The first round will always be intense. It will always be passionate. But seeding should also be rewarding for the teams who fought to get there. If a first-round series can be predicted since November like Wild-Stars was, that's a systemic issue. If the reward for teams who killed each other in the Atlantic Division for 82 games is to see each other for another minimum of four to do it again, that's a systemic issue.
These rivalries aren't bolstered by teams being mashed together. If the Red Wings and Avalanche played each other in the first round every year in the 1990s, that rivalry wouldn't be revered as it is today. It would just be a freak occurrence. Oilers-Kings isn't treated as some kind of cherished matchup. It's a curiosity at best.
The expansion factor
Something to consider when thinking about possible realignment options is that the NHL isn't content at 32 teams. Bettman has already discussed further expansion multiple times.
While the NHL having the most teams among the major North American leagues sounds crazy at first blush, the thought is it has more untapped markets due to how many teams it shares with Canada and the expansion into the West and South. That creates a wildly unstable environment when talking about realignment.
The path of least resistance for the NHL, frankly, is a straight 1-8 seeding. Killing conferences and doing 1-16 would be unique but would open up a Pandora's Box of logistical matchup problems with travel, while contracting the playoffs is out of the question (no league is interested in going backward and losing that revenue). The NBA play-in has also created more problems than solutions, and the NHL playoffs really don't need more games than they already have.
Sometimes, simple is better. Leagues as a whole seem to have forgotten that in their never-ending quest to invent a wheel that rolls better. The NHL is in the best position to remind them, particularly as the league enters another era of change.
NHL shots-on-goal markets have become one of the most volatile betting markets on the NHL odds board, and not for the reasons you’d expect.
As the National Hockey League tightens how SOG are recorded, bettors are left navigating a stat that can change mid-game or after the final horn.
With save percentages dropping and scoring decisions growing more subjective, the gap between what happens on the ice and what’s recorded is creating real risk in SOG betting markets.
Why NHL shots-on-goal betting has become more volatile
How shots on goal in the National Hockey League are officially recorded has become a touchy subject in the betting and fantasy communities. Over the last couple of seasons, it feels like the league has tightened up SOG scoring, with more in-game corrections than ever.
You could be celebrating an Over 2.5 SOG ticket, then look 10 minutes later in the NHL app and see your player back down to 1 SOG. It’s happened to every single person who has dabbled in those markets.
It’s not just bettors noticing — goalies are, too. Routine saves aren’t always being recorded, and that’s showing up in declining save percentages across the league:
“They just take shots away that are shots on goal. There are probably three a game. If you multiply that by 50 games, that’s like having five more shutouts that they’re taking away.”
Some argue that shooting is down league-wide. I’d push back — it looks more like shots are being taken off the board, which tracks, as most bettors are on Overs and some books only offer Over lines. Scorekeepers can remove a shot if they believe it would have missed the net, which adds a layer of subjectivity.
If you’re looking for more proof, go look at how the SOG were scored at the Winter Olympics. Save percentages were through the roof, and SOG totals were starting at 4.5 for the most part.
Mark Stone controversy highlights SOG scoring issues
That subjectivity boiled over on Wednesday in Game 5 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Utah Mammoth. Mark Stone clearly put a shot on net on a breakaway, but it was somehow scored as a block by Logan Cooley. Bettors weren’t fooled, especially with Stone finishing with just one SOG in a double-overtime game, and the reaction spilled onto social media the next day.
I’m not one to complain about outcomes, but when a league already has discretion in scoring, and then a call like this slips through, it’s tough not to side with bettors. To their credit, the NHL added two more shots to Stone’s stat line Thursday afternoon after the backlash.
This Mark Stone Breakaway SOG was officially scored a Logan Cooley block
Getting the stat corrected is one thing — getting your bet corrected is another. Some sportsbooks grade bets as final after a set window. That said, DraftKings and bet365 both adjusted tickets here, which is the right move. I'm not sure if all books followed suit, but I'd be surprised if they did.
STAT CORRECTION UPDATE:
The NHL has issued a stat correction for Mark Stone (VGK), updating his Shots on Goal from 1 ➡️ 3 in last night's (4/29) game vs Utah.
Impacted wagers have been resettled to reflect the change. We’ve got your back! 🤝
When you decide to bet on markets like SOG, saves, and blocked shots, you are entering a potential outcome that might not be 100% accurate, and might in fact be working against you on the Over. Proceed with caution, and if you do need to get your ticket corrected, get in the queue at your sportsbook, talk to a person, and be civilized. They tend to do the correct thing more than you’d expect.
The bigger concern is the consistency of NHL scorekeeping — that’s what really needs watching.
