NHL 2026 playoffs preview, plus round-by-round predictions:…
The first NHL playoff tournament without a local club since the Devils moved to New Jersey in 1982 opens Saturday afternoon with the Senators and Hurricanes kicking off the two-month dash to the Stanley Cup.
As has turn into the norm under the current format, the first round is filled with tales, and the bracket will inevitably skinny out early.
There is Buffalo’s return to the postseason for the first time since 2011.
Penguins star Sidney Crosby is again in the postseason after a three-year drought. Getty Images
There is an intriguing Wild-Stars collection, with the winner probably dealing with the Avalanche in a bare-knuckles Round 2 showdown.
There is Sidney Crosby again in the postseason after a three-year drought, main the Penguins in a Battle of Pennsylvania, and there’s a younger Habs team operating straight into the grizzled, skilled Lightning.
The Eastern Conference is vast open after the mighty Panthers, reigning two-time Cup champs and three-time convention champs, suffered an injury-plagued common season and missed the tournament.
This may very well be the yr Rod Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes make it over the convention finals hump. The Canadiens, Lightning and Sabres all have real Cup aspirations as properly.
The Central Division trio in the West — Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado — ensures the current points with the format will continue. Whoever makes it via that gauntlet and into the convention finals, though, may have the victor of the Pacific Division’s pillow fight to deal with.
Even though it was Connor McDavid who used just that phrase, his Oilers loom as an impediment, if only they will get their goaltending sorted.
It is nearly as good a postseason as we’ve had lately, and New York will experience it from afar, on tv.
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