Alan Greenberg, FHN Sr. Writer
With the Florida Panthers out of the playoffs for the first time this decade, local hockey junkies are free to enjoy the Stanley Cup playoffs without much of a rooting interest.
This can be a good thing: Partisan fans may be having some coronary palpitations watching this first round.
The opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs has had a little of everything.
Every series had at least one overtime.
In general, the games have been close, there have been outstanding goalie performances in both winning and losing efforts, and the heroes have been both superstars and the unlikely.
It has been hockey at its finest. Five of the eight series are over going into tonight’s games which could all be wrapped up by the time morning hits.
Let’s start with Carolina’s sweep of Ottawa. This was the top seed against the second wild card.
If you disregard the empty-net goal in Game 4, three of the games were decided by a single goal and one game was decided by two.
Linus Ullmark, the losing goaltender, had a GAA of 2.03 and a .932 save percentage. He was topped by Carolina’s Frederik Andersen at 1.10/.955.
Ottawa had only two scorers, Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens who had three and two goals respectively. Logan Stankoven’s four goals, one in each game, paced Carolina. Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk was held pointless.
The Philadelphia-Pittsburgh battle of Pennsylvania looked like it was going to be a runaway, with the Flyers taking the first three.
You can’t count a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin out that quickly.
Arturs Silovs relieved Stuart Skinner in net for Pittsburgh afterthe three losses and almost got the Pens even. Dan Vladar’s 1-0 overtime shutout for Philadelphia in the deciding sixth game was the difference. Vladar finished at 1.61/.937 and Silovs at 1.51/.939.
The overtime goal in the clincher came from an unlikely source.
Defenseman Cam York, who hadn’t scored a goal since January 21, sent a seeing eye shot that found its way beyond Silovs to send the Flyers’ faithful into a frenzy.
Colorado’s sweep of Los Angeles was not unexpected.
The President’s Trophy winner against the No. 8 seed in the West. For Colorado, the best players were the best players.
A special kudo should go to 33-year-old Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood. In his eleven NHL seasons with five teams, he was never No. 1 until this year and had never started a playoff game.
In the four games he allowed but five goals and finished with a 1.20 GAA and .950 save percentage.
When the series ended the biggest hand went to the Kings’ Anze Kopitar whose illustrious career came to an end.
Minnesota advanced to the second round for the first time since 2015 after their hard-fought series with Dallas.
Discounting empty netters, five of the six games were decided by a single goal. The Game 3 double overtimer ended with a Wyatt Johnson deflection of a Miro Heiskanen shot to give Dallas a 2-1 series lead.
The Wild evened it up in Game 4 when a third period goal by Marcus Foligno tied it and Matt Boldy tipped in a Jared Spurgeon shot for the winner in the closing seconds of the first OT.
In the clincher, the winning goal was supplied by Quinn Hughes when his shot pinballed off the skate of Dallas defender Ilya Lyubushkin.
The Wild had tied it up on a goal by ex-Panther, Cup winner Vladimir Tarasenko. It was his 50th career playoff goal. Rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt put on a show, ending with a 2.05 GAA and .924 save percentage.
Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger was not too shabby either, notwithstanding a soft 2.83/.893 record for the series.
The Edmonton Oilers have had no playoff luck in recent years.
After being knocked off in the Final by Florida in successive seasons they succumbed to the Anaheim Ducks who were making their first playoff appearance since 2018.
Goalie Lukas Dostal has been with the Ducks for five seasons.He has never been in a playoff game until this year. He stoned Connor McDavid countless times. McDavid was held to a solitary goal in the series.
Ryan Poehling has been in the NHL for six seasons with four teams.
His personal best was 12 goals with Philadelphia last season. He had four goals in the six-game set but none bigger than Sunday’s overtime winner which wasn’t official until the Situation Room in Toronto determined that the entire puck crossed the goal line.
As of today, Anaheim, Colorado, Minnesota, Carolina and Philadelphia are moving forward. The three games tonight can conceivably end the first round.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: ROUND 1
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (Atl2) v MONTREAL CANADIENS (Atl3)
GAME 6
Canadiens Lead Best-of-7 Series 3-2
- When: Friday, 7
- Where: Bell Centre, Montreal
- Tampa Local TV: The Spot-66
- National TV: ESPN2
- Streaming: ESPN+
- Season Series: Tampa Bay won 2-1
- All-time Regular Season Series: Lightning leads 63-43-11, 6 ties
- All-time Postseason Series — Lightning Lead 3-1: Won 2021 Stanley Cup Final (5 games); Won 2015 Round 2 (6); Lost 2014 Round 1 (4); Won 2004 Round 2 (4)
- Series Schedule (Canadiens Lead 3-2) — Game 1: Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 3 OT; Game 2: Tampa Bay 3, Montreal 2 OT; Game 3: Montreal 3, Lightning 2 OT; Game 4: Lightning 3, Montreal 2; Game 5: Montreal 3, Lightning 2; Game 6: at Montreal, Friday 7; *Game 7: at Tampa Bay, Sunday TBD