Stanley Cup Playoffs Live

The National Hockey League’s first round is fully in motion, and all eight best-of-seven series now have results, TV windows and next game dates on the board. (nhl.com) Thursday’s schedule puts Buffalo at Boston at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT and truTV, Carolina at Ottawa at 7:30 p.m. on TBS, and Colorado at Los Angeles at 10 p.m. on TNT and truTV. Buffalo-Boston is tied 1-1 after the Sabres won Game 1, 4-3, and the Bruins answered with a 4-2 win in Game 2. (nhl.com) The bracket already has one lopsided series: Philadelphia leads Pittsburgh 3-0 after a 5-2 win in Game 3, while Carolina and Colorado each carry 2-0 leads into Thursday night. Montreal-Tampa Bay, Dallas-Minnesota, Vegas-Utah and Boston-Buffalo are all even at 1-1. (nhl.com) The Stanley Cup format stays the same every spring: 16 teams, four rounds, and every matchup is a best-of-seven series. The field is split by conference, but the first round is built through division standings and wild cards, which is why Buffalo opens against Boston instead of the lowest remaining seed across the league. (sportingnews.com) This year’s field looks different from the recent playoff map. ESPN notes the two-time defending champion Florida Panthers missed the postseason, guaranteeing a new Stanley Cup winner in 2026. (espn.com) Buffalo is the biggest change in the East. The Sabres won the Atlantic Division with 109 points, returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2011, and ended what NHL.com called the league’s longest active postseason drought. (nhl.com) NHL.com’s series preview shows how sharp Buffalo’s turnaround was. The Sabres were 14-14-4 on Dec. 15, then hired Jarmo Kekalainen as general manager and went 36-9-5 the rest of the way, posting the league’s best points percentage over that stretch. (nhl.com) Boston is not a typical wild card, either. The Bruins finished with 100 points, and NHL.com said they had the league’s fifth-best points percentage after Dec. 27 under first-year coach Marco Sturm. (nhl.com) Sporting News framed the bracket as unusually open, pointing to Buffalo’s return and Utah’s postseason debut as signs that the usual playoff hierarchy has shifted. Utah, now tied 1-1 with Vegas, is playing its first playoff series under the Mammoth name. (sportingnews.com) The television stakes are rising with the games. Sportico reported that TNT Sports entered the playoffs after the National Hockey League posted its best regular-season ratings in 14 years, and Thursday’s Bruins-Sabres game shifts to Boston with national carriage on TNT and truTV. (msn.com; nhl.com) The next few nights will decide whether this round settles into favorites and underdogs or stays as messy as the opening week. For now, half the bracket is still level, and the loudest series is heading into Boston dead even. (nhl.com; sportingnews.com)