NHL postseason window

The National Hockey League regular season ends Thursday, April 16, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs open Saturday, April 18, with only a few seeds still moving. (nhl.com) (espn.com) By Sunday, the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins had locked up the two Eastern Conference wild cards, the Vegas Golden Knights had clinched in the West, and the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken had been eliminated. (espn.com) (nhl.com) The Eastern Conference race had narrowed to one unresolved berth entering Monday’s games: third place in the Metropolitan Division, with the Philadelphia Flyers at 92 points and the Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders still chasing. Pittsburgh had already clinched second in the Metropolitan, and Carolina had already clinched first. (nhl.com) (espn.com) In the Atlantic Division, the Buffalo Sabres led with 106 points through April 11, while the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning sat at 104. Carolina led the Metropolitan with 108 points, and Colorado was in position to secure the Presidents’ Trophy, the league’s best regular-season record. (nhl.com) (espn.com) The playoff format is fixed even when the seeds are not: the top three teams in each division qualify automatically, and each conference adds two wild cards. That setup means late April games can swing both who gets in and which first-round series opens on Saturday. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) That is why the difference between the first and second wild card matters in the East. ESPN noted Sunday that the top wild card was likely to draw the Atlantic Division champion, while the second wild card was likely to face the Carolina Hurricanes. (espn.com) The same squeeze exists in the West, where the Pacific Division stayed tight and the final wild-card math was still unsettled into the last week. National Hockey League playoff coverage on April 11 said the top three Pacific teams were separated by one point, while multiple Western spots were still unclaimed. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) This year’s chase also carried franchise-level stakes beyond seeding. Pittsburgh clinched its first playoff berth since the 2021-22 season, and Philadelphia entered Monday with a chance to reach the postseason for the first time since 2019-20 and lock in a first-round series against the Penguins. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) For the teams already out, the last games still shape draft-lottery odds. ESPN’s playoff watch said it was tracking both the postseason races and “the teams jockeying for position in the 2026 National Hockey League draft lottery” as the schedule closed. (espn.com) By Thursday night, the bracket will be complete. Two days later, the Stanley Cup tournament starts with almost no runway between the end of the regular season and the first faceoff of Round 1. (espn.com)