Three first round NHL series could end on Wednesday April 29 and reshape the entire bracket headed into the second round. Pittsburgh at Philadelphia goes Game 6 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on TNT with the Flyers leading 3-2. Montreal at Tampa Bay tips at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 in a Game 5 with the series tied 2-2. Utah at Vegas runs at 10 p.m. on TNT with the Golden Knights up 3-1 and looking to close. The Eastern Conference and Western Conference brackets both have at least one matchup waiting on Wednesday's results before Round 2 dates can lock.
Carolina, Florida, and Edmonton already advanced. The Hurricanes swept New Jersey 4-0 with Frederik Andersen posting a .938 save percentage and a 1.92 goals against average. The Panthers eliminated Tampa Bay's bracket cousin Toronto in five games and now sit two wins from the Eastern Conference Final defending their 2025 championship. Edmonton beat Los Angeles in six with Connor McDavid putting up 11 points and Leon Draisaitl adding nine. The three closeouts mean roughly half of Round 2 matchups will be set by Friday morning if Wednesday goes chalk.
Pittsburgh at Philadelphia is the elimination game with the most riding on it for player legacies. Sidney Crosby is 38 and chasing his fourth Stanley Cup. Evgeni Malkin turned 40 in March and has not publicly committed to coming back next season. The Flyers under second year head coach John Tortorella have built a defensive system that has held the Penguins to under 2.5 goals in four of the five games. Sergei Bobrovsky is the goaltender Tortorella will need to outduel if Philadelphia advances to face the Capitals. The Penguins are 6-1 in road elimination games since 2017 under three different coaches.
Montreal at Tampa Bay is the closest series of the first round on paper and on the scoresheet. Three of the four games have been decided by one goal. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy has stopped 132 of 145 shots for a .910 save percentage but the Lightning have generated only 18 high danger chances over four games per Natural Stat Trick. Cole Caufield leads Montreal with seven points and Nick Suzuki has six. Lane Hutson has logged 24 minutes a game on the Canadiens blueline as a 23 year old and has handled the matchup against Brayden Point at even strength better than expected. Tampa is in elimination territory historically, having lost three first round series in five games since their 2021 championship.
Utah at Vegas is the closeout opportunity for a Golden Knights team that has reset its identity around Jack Eichel and a younger forward group. Vegas leads 3-1 with Eichel posting nine points and 28 shots on goal. Adin Hill has not had to be brilliant. The Mammoth, Utah's second year franchise after the relocation from Arizona, made the playoffs for the first time and will not enter the offseason as the same team they were in October. Logan Cooley has emerged as a top line center and Dylan Guenther had three goals in the first four games. The series ends Wednesday or returns to Salt Lake City on Friday for Game 6.
Round 2 starts the weekend of May 2 to 4 with broadcast windows split between ESPN, ESPN2, and TNT. The bracket on the Eastern side runs Carolina against the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia winner and Florida against the Montreal-Tampa Bay winner. The Western side has Edmonton against the Utah-Vegas winner and the Dallas-Colorado winner against the Winnipeg-Minnesota winner. Dallas leads Colorado 3-2 with Game 6 in Denver Thursday. Winnipeg leads Minnesota 3-2 with Game 6 in St Paul Thursday.
The story of the playoffs through Round 1 has been goaltending. Andersen, Bobrovsky, Stuart Skinner, and Hill have combined for a .920 save percentage across their teams' wins. The story everyone expected, which was Connor Hellebuyck stealing series for Winnipeg, has played out, with Hellebuyck posting a .934 over five games. The story nobody expected was Connor Bedard's 11 points in five games for Chicago, except Chicago is not actually in the playoffs and Bedard's number was for the World Championship qualifying tournament that ran in parallel.
Stanley Cup futures at Caesars and DraftKings opened Round 1 with Florida at +320 to win it all, Carolina at +480, Edmonton at +550, and Dallas at +600. Those numbers have shifted with results. Florida holds at +320. Carolina dropped to +400 after the sweep. Edmonton moved to +500. Dallas moved to +650 because of the longer series against Colorado. The Stanley Cup Final is scheduled to begin Tuesday June 9 with potential Game 7 on Sunday June 21. ESPN's Game 4 broadcast of Carolina at New Jersey averaged 2.4 million viewers, the network's most watched first round game since the rights deal began in 2021.