Seven of eight first-round series in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs have gotten underway during the first two days of action, with some significant surprises.
Monday brings a chance for retribution for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators and Dallas Stars, while the Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild look to take commanding 2-0 leads.
Plus, the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers finally join the postseason party!
Read on for previews of each of Monday’s games, scores and highlights from Sunday’s games, and updated playoff stat leaders.
Read more:
Full schedule
Playoff Central
Stanley Cup odds
Top 50 player rankings
Lapsed fan’s guide
Monday’s games
Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 2 | 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
The animosity was on full display between the participants in the Battle of Pennsylvania in Game 1, and we’d expect a similar display in Game 2. There were 81 combined hits in Game 1, well over both teams’ regular-season averages — 23.0 for Philly and 17.6 for Pittsburgh.
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The early trend is not a good one for Pittsburgh, as teams that win Game 1 of a seven-game series have gone on to win 68% of the time. One trend we don’t expect to continue much longer: Sidney Crosby being kept off the scoresheet. Crosby has the most goals (60), assists (79) and points (139) of any player against the Flyers, including 36 points in 24 career playoff games.
The Flyers are led by a group of young players, including Porter Martone, who was credited with the game-winning goal in Game 1. At 19 years, 174 days old, he became the youngest Flyer to score a goal in his playoff debut, previously held by Simon Gagne (20 years, 44 days) set in 2000.
Pittsburgh now must dig out of a hole, and it doesn’t have a superb track record for doing so. The Pens are 15-17 in seven-game series when losing Game 1, and that includes three straight series losses in that scenario.
Ottawa Senators at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 2 | 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
One of the major question marks heading into the postseason for Carolina was the goaltending.
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Frederik Andersen answered the bell in Game 1, with a 22-save shutout. That was his sixth career postseason shutout and third with the Canes, breaking a tie with Kevin Weeks and Petr Mrazek for the second most in Whalers/Hurricanes franchise history. (Cam Ward is first, with four.)
The Hurricanes are no strangers to winning Game 1 at home in a playoff series, and it’s a good omen: They are 10-2 in seven-game series when winning the first contest on home ice. This was the first time the Senators had been shut out in a playoff game since May 21, 2017, in the Eastern Conference finals against the Penguins.
Carolina’s line of Taylor Hall-Jackson Blake-Logan Stankoven scored both of its goals and was on the ice for 19 shot attempts at 5-on-5 vs. just two shot attempts against.
One way for the Senators to get back in the swing of things: reigniting their power play. Ottawa finished the regular season on a streak of six games with at least one power-play goal but went 0-4 in Game 1.
Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars
Game 2 | 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
The Wild’s 6-1 win in Game 1 was just the third time in the past 20 years that a road team won Game 1 of a playoff series by five or more goals (joining the Rangers in the 2014 Eastern Conference finals and the Canadiens in the 2006 conference quarterfinals).
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However, the Wild have just a 2-2 record in seven-game series when winning Game 1 — and one of those losses came to the Stars in 2023.
The superstars showed up for Minny in Game 1: Kirill Kaprizov scored his 16th career playoff goal, tying Zach Parise for the most in franchise history, and Quinn Hughes now has 25 career playoff assists in 31 playoff games, tying Brian Leetch for the third-fewest games to reach that benchmark in playoff history, behind Adam Fox and Al MacInnis (both 29 GP).
The Stars have an 11-22 series record in seven-game series when losing Game 1 at home. However, one of those 11 wins was against the Avalanche in the first round last season.
Dallas will need the power play to keep clicking. Jason Robertson scored with the man advantage in Game 1, and the Stars are now 5-for-13 (38.5%) against the Wild on the PP this season.
Anaheim Ducks at Edmonton Oilers
Game 1 | 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
These two Pacific Division foes were some of the last to clinch their postseason tickets — and it wasn’t until the season’s final evening that they locked in their first-round matchup with one another.
The two teams’ most recent playoff matchup came in 2017, a seven-game series win for the Ducks ahead of Anaheim’s loss to the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference finals. The Oilers are no strangers to the conference finals in recent years, having won the past two of them before falling in the Cup Final in 2024 and 2025.
The Oilers won the season series between the clubs, 2-1, with 28 total goals scored between the teams in the three games. Connor McDavid paced the Oilers in scoring this season with 134 points, while Cutter Gauthier was atop the Ducks’ leaderboard with 69.
Sunday’s scoreboard
Colorado Avalanche 2, Los Angeles Kings 1
Avalanche lead series 1-0
The ESPN hockey family did not have much faith in the Kings in this series; every person who made predictions chose the Avs in this series, with a handful thinking it would be a sweep. So Game 1 was a bit closer than many expected, and the Kings had some scoring chances throughout in addition to Artemi Panarin’s power-play goal late in the third. But, despite L.A. keeping all of Colorado’s big guns off the scoresheet, Colorado earns its first W of the 2026 postseason. Game 2 is back in Denver on Tuesday. Full recap.
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Avalanche take down the Kings in Game 1
Avalanche survive Game 1 and win it 2-1 for a series lead.
Montreal Canadiens 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (OT)
Canadiens lead series 1-0
Given how close these two teams finished in the season standings, there was not a lot of love for the Canadiens in the hockey punditry. The Habs not only hung with the Lightning in Game 1, they looked like the better team at many points, and rode a power-play hat trick by Juraj Slafkovsky to victory in Game 1. The Lightning had two power-play goals of their own (off the sticks of Darren Raddysh and Brandon Hagel). Game 2 is Tuesday night. Full recap.
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Juraj Slafkovsky’s hat trick lifts Canadiens to Game 1 win
Juraj Slafkovsky scores a hat trick to propel the Canadiens past the Lightning in Game 1.
Buffalo Sabres 4, Boston Bruins 3
Sabres lead series 1-0
The first playoff game in Buffalo in 15 years was an event, and the KeyBank Center crowd was extra loud for this one. Boston’s Morgan Geekie quieted the crowd somewhat with a first-period goal, and tensions rose when Elias Lindholm put the B’s up 2-0 early in the third. But then, in a span of 4:34, the Sabres scored a trio of goals (two from Tage Thompson, and the go-ahead goal by Mattias Samuelsson). Alex Tuch added an insurance goal into an empty net — which was needed, as David Pastrnak netted a power-play goal with eight seconds left. Game 2 for these two teams is Tuesday. Full recap.
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Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres: Game Highlights
Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres: Game Highlights
Vegas Golden Knights 4, Utah Mammoth 2
Golden Knights lead series 1-0
Just like some other series this postseason, not many analysts predicted a series win for the underdog Mammoth. But, they showed considerable fight in Game 1, taking leads of 1-0 (via Logan Cooley) and 2-1 (via Kevin Stenlund). Eventually, the Knights overpowered their visitors, with third-period goals by Mark Stone, Nic Dowd and Ivan Barbashev to seal the deal. The two teams square off again on Tuesday for Game 2. Full recap.
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Utah Mammoth vs. Vegas Golden Knights: Game Highlights
Utah Mammoth vs. Vegas Golden Knights: Game Highlights
Playoff scoring leaders
PlayerGPGAPT-1. Juraj Slafkovsky, F, Canadiens1303T-1. Matt Boldy, F, Wild1213T-1. Tage Thompson, F, Sabres1213T-1. Kirill Kaprizov, F, Wild1123T-1. David Pastrnak, F, Bruins1123T-1. Morgan Geekie, F, Bruins1123T-1. Mats Zuccarello, F, Wild1033T-1. Jake Guentzel, F, Lightning1033
Click here for full list of stats leaders.
Playoff goaltending leaders
PlayerGPWGAASV%1. Frederik Andersen, Hurricanes110.001.0002. Jesper Wallstedt, Wild111.000.9643. Scott Wedgewood, Avalanche111.000.9604. Carter Hart, Golden Knights112.010.9395. Anton Forsberg, Kings102.040.9336. Linus Ullmark, Senators102.110.9317. Jeremy Swayman, Bruins103.060.9198. Karel Vejmelka, Mammoth103.070.9009. Dan Vladar, Flyers112.000.88210. Jakub Dobes, Canadiens112.940.87011. Stuart Skinner, Penguins103.120.85012. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Sabres113.010.85013. Jake Oettinger, Stars105.120.82114. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning103.910.789
Click here for the full list of goaltender stats.
Stanley Cup playoff bracket
Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket ESPN
