Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Previews, stats, schedule, bracketESPN staffApr 23, 2026, 07:00 AM ETMultiple Authors
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We’ve reached the part of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs when postseason quests are close to being extinguished — while the team doing the extinguishing moves on to the next round in the bracket.
Will the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche move one game away from a sweep? Or can the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings push back to force at least a Game 5?
Meanwhile, after the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins bruised each other in two aggressive games in Western New York, which team will earn a 2-1 series lead as the venue shifts to Eastern Massachusetts?
Read on for intel about Thursday’s three games, a best bet for Thursday from Tyler Fulghum, scores and highlights from Wednesday’s games, and updated playoff stat leaders.
Read more:
Full schedule
Playoff Central
Stanley Cup odds
Top 50 player rankings
Lapsed fan’s guide
Thursday’s schedule
Buffalo Sabres at Boston Bruins
7 p.m. (TNT) | Series tied 1-1
When a best-of-seven series has been 1-1 after two games in Stanley Cup playoff history, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the series 66% of the time.
Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals in Game 2, his second career multi-goal playoff game (the other was in 2018 for the Predators against the Jets).
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The NHL has listed the distance for Morgan Geekie’s second-period goal as being from 89 feet away. The last Stanley Cup playoff goal scored from that distance or greater — with a goalie in net — was Rasmus Andersson of the Flames against the Oilers in 2022 (132 feet).
Going back to the closing games of the regular season, Geekie now has seven goals in his last six games.
David Pastrnak now has 92 career playoff points, which is tied with Bobby Orr for eighth on the Bruins’ franchise leaderboard.
Buffalo went 0-5 on the power play in Game 2, is 0-9 for the series, and it is 0-31 in its past nine games (since the start of April).
Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram is finally on the board; in his 29th career playoff game, he scored his first career playoff goal.
Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators
7:30 p.m. (TBS) | Hurricanes lead 2-0
The Canes’ Game 2 win set an NHL record: Carolina is the first team in Stanley Cup playoff history to get out to a 2-0 lead during their first seven-game series in six straight postseasons.
Carolina has a 10-2 series record when taking a 2-0 lead; Ottawa has a 0-10 record when trailing 0-2.
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Jordan Martinook’s winning goal in overtime was the first such goal in his playoff career.
Going back to the regular season, Logan Stankoven now has points in 10 straight games and four goals in his past five playoff games.
Sebastian Aho’s second-period goal gave him 86 career playoff points, tying him with Valtteri Filppula for fifth most points by a Finnish player in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Tim Stutzle nearly sent Ottawa back home with a win in Game 2, but couldn’t quite finish. He’ll be a player to watch in Game 3, particularly if the game is close again. Stutzle scored a team-leading 34 goals in the regular season, nine of which were in “clutch” situations — in overtime, or in the final 10 minutes of the third period with the score tied or within one goal. Those nine “clutch” goals were good for a tie for fifth, behind Steven Stamkos (13), Cole Caufield (11), Alex DeBrincat (11) and Nathan MacKinnon (11).
Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings
10 p.m. (TNT) | COL leads 2-0
Since relocating to Colorado in 1995, the Avalanche have won 17 of 19 best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead (including five sweeps). The Kings are 3-12 in Stanley Cup playoff history when falling behind 0-2.
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Nicolas Roy scored the overtime winner in Game 2, which was the second such goal of his career — the other was in 2021 for the Golden Knights against the Canadiens.
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog’s goal was No. 29 of his playoff career. With one more, he’ll be the seventh player in Nordiques/Avalanche history to score 30 playoff goals.
Artemi Panarin’s goal in Game 2 was on the power play, making him the fifth Kings player to score a power-play goal in each of their first two games of a single postseason.
Despite two close losses, Kings netminder Anton Forsberg is holding up his end of the bargain. His .941 save percentage is fourth among goalies with greater than 15 minutes of ice time this postseason. The three above him — Frederik Andersen, Scott Wedgewood and Dan Vladar — have each won all of their starts.
Thursday’s best bet
Kings-Avalanche UNDER 5.5 (-105)
These two teams have produced a total of six goals through the first two games of the series, one of which went into overtime. The Kings return home facing a 2-0 series deficit, so they will be desperate for a win against an Avalanche team with superior offensive firepower. They’ll want to play a highly physical brand of hockey, and use the home ice to their advantage.
Surprisingly, Avalanche road games this season finished under the closing total 64.2% of the time, the highest mark in the league. Let’s ride that trend on the road in Game 3. — Tyler Fulghum
Wednesday’s scoreboard
Philadelphia Flyers 5, Pittsburgh Penguins 2
Flyers lead 3-0
The turning point in the game came in the second period when 11 minor penalties were handed out after a series of post-whistle scrums, resulting in a Flyers power play. Trevor Zegras scored on the man-advantage, tying the game 1-1, and the Flyers took that momentum and added two more goals to go up 3-1 after two.
Pittsburgh made it a one-goal game in the third period on an Erik Karlsson goal, but that was as close as it would get. Philly is now up 3-0 in the series and will look to close things out at home in Game 4 on Saturday. Full recap.
Dallas Stars 4, Minnesota Wild 3 (2OT)
Stars lead 2-1
Given that this series is being waged by such evenly matched teams, it was a surprise that Game 3 was the first that needed overtime. The Stars jumped out to an early lead on goals by Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson, but the Wild got one back toward the end of the first period off the stick of Marcus Johansson. Joel Eriksson Ek and Michael McCarron scored for Minny in the second, but Matt Duchene tied it in the third.
After a scoreless first OT, Wyatt Johnston was the Game 3 hero, with a goal at 12:10 of the second extra period. Game 4 is Saturday in Minnesota. Full recap.
Anaheim Ducks 6, Edmonton Oilers 4
Series tied 1-1
For the fans who stayed up late to watch this one, they were rewarded with 10 goals! Leon Draisaitl and Cutter Gauthier got their teams on the board in the first, before a five-goal second ended with the Ducks up 4-3.
Josh Samanski evened it at 4-4 with around six minutes left, but Gauthier notched the first game-winning playoff goal of his career just over a minute later, and Ryan Poehling added an empty-netter for good measure. The series shifts to Anaheim for Game 3 on Friday. Full recap.
Playoff scoring leaders
PlayerGPGAPT-1. Jason Robertson, F, Stars
Click here for full list of stats leaders.
Playoff goaltending leaders
PlayerGPWGAASV%1. Frederik Andersen, Hurricanes
Click here for the full list of goaltender stats.
Stanley Cup playoff bracket
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