NHL Playoff Races Heat Up: 7 Games, 4 Must-Watch

0:00On April 6th, with just 11 days left in the NHL regular season, the playoff races and all four divisions are razor tight, where the top three teams, per division plus two wildcards, per conference, punch their ticket to the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabers, and Montreal Canadians all clinched spots over the weekend, marking Buffalo's first postseason dance since 2, 2011, and Tampa's 9th straight run. Sunday delivered seven high stakes games, packed with drama. Philadelphia Flyers' Edge Boston Bruins in overtime, thanks to Porter-Martones' first NHL goal on the power play, balting Philly into third in the. Metro, Ottawa Senators stunned Carolina Hurricanes, 6-3, with Brady Techichuk's two goals, grabbing the East's second wildcard lead, while Minnesota. Wild held off Detroit Redwings, 5-4 behind, Kirill Kaprizov's hat trick, standing shifted big time, St. Sting. Louis Blues crept within three points of the West wildcard, after Robert Thomas' first hat trick, beat Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins.

1:09Solidified second in the Metro, with a 5-2 win over Florida Panthers, and New York Rangers crushed Washington Capitals 8-1, dimming, the Cap's hopes. Fans are buzzing over these clutch performances, keeping hopes alive, or crushing dreams. Monday's slay features four must watch games starting at 7 p.m. Eastern with Tampa Bay of Buffalo, where the lightning hold a slim two-point, Atlantic lead. Seattle Kraken, visit Winnipeg Jets at 7-30. Both chasing West wildcards, then Chicago at San Jose at 10, and a huge Nashville Predators at. Los Angeles Kings clash at 10-30 that hands two points to one wildcard, hopeful. If the playoffs kicked off today, it'd be Edmonton versus Utah, Anaheim over Vegas, Colorado, facing Nashville, and Dallas against Minnesota out West. With Tampa taking Boston, Buffalo versus Montreal, Carolina over Ottawa, and Pittsburgh battling Philly in the East races heating up fast as we head, down the stretch.

2:11I'm Cory with the story, that your NHL News Today update, AI powered and always on.