Stanley Cup Playoff Preview: Sunday, April 26, 2026
Four games. Sweeps, upsets, and overtime drama — the 2026 playoffs deliver their biggest Sunday yet.
The first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs hits full throttle on Sunday with a four-game slate that runs from a 2:00 p.m. afternoon matinée in Boston to a late-night Pacific showdown in Anaheim. Series leads will be stretched, seasons will teeter on the edge, and at least one historic drought may finally, definitively end. Here is everything you need to know.
Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins — Game 4
Buffalo leads series 2-1 | 2:00 p.m. EDT | TD Garden | TNT, TruTV, SN
Fifteen years. That is how long Buffalo waited to get back to the playoffs, and now the Sabres are one win from the second round. They have been the better team through three games, winning Games 1 and 3 on the strength of Tage Thompson's brilliance and the surprisingly excellent goaltending of backup Alex Lyon, who stepped in after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was pulled in Game 2 and has since posted a .969 save percentage — the best of any goaltender remaining in the postseason. Thompson's two-goal third-period explosion in the series opener remains the defining moment of Buffalo's playoff return, a reminder of just how dangerous this team can be when its best player decides a game needs winning.
Boston is not going quietly. Jeremy Swayman has been outstanding in net for the Bruins, and the Game 2 bounce-back — a clean 4-2 win fueled by Viktor Arvidsson's two goals — showed that this experienced club knows how to respond to adversity. The Bruins won three of four regular season meetings against Buffalo and have the roster depth, particularly from Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm, to generate a different outcome on home ice Sunday afternoon.
The central tension remains the goaltending decision for Buffalo. Does Lyon, the hot hand, stay in? All logic says yes. But Luukkonen was the starter all season, and playoff hockey rarely resolves itself neatly along rational lines. Expect a physical, tight-checking game at TD Garden — and a Buffalo side that senses the history within reach.
Prediction: Buffalo
Tampa Bay Lightning at Montreal Canadiens — Game 4
Montreal leads series 2-1 | 7:00 p.m. EDT | Bell Centre | ESPN, CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP
Three games, three overtimes. Every single contest in this Atlantic Division showdown has been decided in extra time, and the Bell Centre on Sunday night figures to be one of the loudest buildings in North America. Montreal leads 2-1, and the story of this series is the young Canadiens core refusing to be intimidated by a Tampa Bay Lightning franchise that has won two Stanley Cups in the last five years.
Juraj Slafkovský has been the series' breakout star, scoring a power-play hat trick in the Game 1 overtime win that announced his arrival as a genuine playoff performer. Jakub Dobeš, the young Czech goaltender who has become the face of Montreal's rebuild, has been magnificent under pressure. Lane Hutson's overtime winner in Game 3 — a slick, composed finish that sent the Bell Centre into delirium — encapsulated everything that makes this version of the Canadiens so compelling. They are fast, they are deep, and they play without fear.
Tampa Bay is not finished. Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel (four goals in three games), and Brayden Point are dangerous enough to flip any series, and Andrei Vasilevskiy — despite allowing more goals than his standards usually permit — remains one of the elite playoff goaltenders in the game. The Lightning have won in more desperate spots than a 2-1 series deficit in Montréal.
But the momentum, the crowd, and the youth belong to the Habs.
Prediction: Montreal
Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings — Game 4
Colorado leads series 3-0 | 4:30 p.m. EDT | Crypto.com Arena | TNT, TruTV, SNP, SNW, SN360
The Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche arrive in Los Angeles needing one more win to complete a first-round sweep, and they have looked every bit as dominant as their 121-point regular season suggested they should. Scott Wedgewood has been quietly superb in net — 1.28 GAA, .947 save percentage through three games — and Cale Makar, the best defenseman in hockey, scored in Game 3 and has been the engine driving Colorado's precision, structured attack. Artturi Lehkonen has two goals including a shorthanded tally in Game 3. Brock Nelson chipped in an empty-netter. The Avalanche do not need to be flashy because they have not needed to be.
Los Angeles has actually competed. Anton Forsberg made 34 saves in Game 2, and Artemi Panarin — acquired at the trade deadline and already making an impact — scored two power play goals in the first two games to keep the Kings within striking distance. But Colorado's depth is simply too considerable, and their defensive structure too tight, for the Kings to consistently generate the high-danger chances needed to beat a hot goaltender in a close game. Games 1 and 2 were decided by a single goal; Game 3 became a 4-2 Colorado victory that felt considerably more comfortable than the score suggests.
Los Angeles needs a heroic effort from Forsberg and an uncharacteristic Colorado collapse to extend this series. Neither seems likely.
Prediction: LA extends Series
Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks — Game 4
Anaheim leads series 2-1 | 9:30 p.m. EDT | Honda Center | ESPN, CBC, SN
This is the game of the night, the upset of the round, and potentially the defining moment of a young Anaheim Ducks team announcing its arrival as a genuine Western Conference force. The Ducks lead the Edmonton Oilers 2-1, and they have earned every inch of that advantage through superior goaltending, superior team structure, and a collective fearlessness that has left the hockey world rubbing its eyes in disbelief.
Connor McDavid has one goal in three games. Let that sink in. The greatest player in hockey, the man who carried Edmonton to the Stanley Cup Final last season, has been held in check by a Ducks defensive system that has given him no clean looks and a Lukas Dostal goaltending performance that has provided the foundation for everything Anaheim has built. Dostal has been sensational — athletic, composed, and consistently excellent in the moments that matter. The Ducks stole home ice with a 6-4 win in Game 2 in Edmonton, then blew the Oilers out 7-4 in Game 3 at the Honda Center, with Cutter Gauthier, Lawson Crouse, and teenage sensation Beckett Sennecke all contributing to a goal parade that had the building delirious.
Leon Draisaitl has five assists in the series and remains a genuine threat, and the Oilers' desperation on Sunday night will produce a different, more urgent version of themselves. McDavid in a must-win game is the most dangerous force in hockey — his career is littered with moments where circumstance sharpened him into something even greater than his already transcendent baseline. Edmonton cannot afford another loss, and that knowledge tends to focus the mind considerably.
But Anaheim has been the better team in every game. Cronin's system is working. Dostal is locked in. And the Honda Center crowd, experiencing playoff hockey again after an eight-year absence, will be ferocious.
Prediction: Edmonton in Double OT.
The Bigger Picture
Sunday's slate arrives amid a first round already full of memorable storylines. The Carolina Hurricanes have swept the Ottawa Senators — Frederik Andersen shutting out Ottawa in Game 1, Logan Stankoven scoring four goals across the series, Philadelphia leads Pittsburgh 3-1 and is one win from its first second-round appearance since 2012. In the West, Dallas and Minnesota are knotted at 2-2 in what has been the most evenly matched, physically punishing series of the entire postseason....their Game 5 on Tuesday figures to be unmissable.
But Sunday belongs to these four games. History, sweeps, aging dynasties meeting their heirs apparent, and the greatest player in the world fighting to extend his season. The puck drops at 2:00. Clear your schedule.