The National Hockey League (NHL) has officially announced the start times for several key First Round matchups in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs scheduled for April 28.

There are three Stanley Cup playoff games scheduled for April 28:

• The Boston Bruins vs. the Buffalo Sabres at 7:30 PM ET. TNT, truTV, and HBO Max will broadcast the game in the United States. Sportsnet (SNE, SNO, SNP). In Canada, TVA Sports will air the game.
• Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars at 8 PM ET. ESPN2 will broadcast the game in the United States. SN360 and TVAS2 will air the game in Canada.
• The Anaheim Ducks vs. the Edmonton Oilers at 10 PM ET in Edmonton. TNT, truTV, and HBO Max will broadcast the game in the United States. Sportsnet, CBC, and TVA Sports will air the game in Canada.

The prime-time slots aim to boost viewership and give fans across North America better access to the games.

Extended Rest Period Ahead of April 28 Games

April 28th will be a high stakes Game 5 tie for all three teams. All of them are currently on roughly equal footing.

With this schedule in place, they will enter the game with some respite. Instead of the standard two day-period that we've seen in the league, there's one extra day built into the schedule to give players some breathing room.

One coach is clearly happy. Stars coach Glen Gulutzan explained, "I saw a lot of our guys this morning coming into the meal room; people are tired. It's late. It's good that we have this series spread out a little bit that we can have a little practice today tomorrow and a game on Saturday, because I think both teams are pretty tired."

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Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar