Only four teams remain in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche, and Vegas Golden Knights are now just one step away from the final.

Bleacher Report’s staff dives into the big Conference Final matchups: Hurricanes vs Canadiens in the East and Avalanche vs Golden Knights in the West. 

Each team has taken a different path, but only two will reach the Stanley Cup Final in June. In the East, Lyle Richardson and Joe Yerdon pick the Carolina Hurricanes, while Lyle Fitzsimmons believes in the Canadiens.

Richardson predicts the Hurricanes will win in six games. He points to Carolina’s playoff experience, strong structure, and top goaltending from Frederik Andersen. Additionally, the Hurricanes have yet to lose a playoff game this season.

He also mentioned Montreal's strong scorers, such as Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. However, he believes the Carolina Hurricanes have the advantage because of their strong defense and penalty killing percentage (95) — second-best this postseason.

Joe Yerdon also picked the Hurricanes to win in six games. He praised Carolina’s puck control, shot volume, and consistency. He believes their strong possession game will reduce Montreal’s scoring chances.

Lyle Fitzsimmons, however, picked the Montréal Canadiens to win in six games. He highlighted their tenacity, which was apparent in their consecutive Game 7 road wins and their season sweep against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Across those regular-season games, the Canadiens outscored Carolina 15-8 despite being heavily outshot.

Overall, the panel picked Carolina 2-1, but Montreal remains a dangerous team capable of causing an upset.

Looking at their playoff runs, the Hurricanes have been the best defensive team in the playoffs so far. They have allowed only 25.1 shots per game. The Canadiens, on the other hand, have relied on offense and resilience across the two rounds.

Western Conference Final: Colorado Avalanche vs Vegas Golden Knights

In the West, all three analysts, Lyle Richardson, Lyle Fitzsimmons, and Joe Yerdon, pick the Colorado Avalanche.

Richardson feels the Colorado Avalanche will win the finals in six games. He states that stars like Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas give Colorado a stronger offensive dynamic than the Vegas Golden Knights.

Lyle Fitzsimmons and Joe Yerdon also picked Colorado, but believe the series will finish in five games. They praised the Avalanche’s squad depth, dominance, and tougher playoff path. Overall, every staff member picked Colorado.

As for their journey to the Western Conference Finals, the Avalanche reached this stage after dominant wins, including a sweep of the Kings and a five-game series victory against Minnesota. They lead the playoffs with 4.11 goals per game, while allowing just 2.56 goals against.

The Vegas Golden Knights also arrive in strong form after two six-game series wins. Their defense is only slightly behind Colorado, allowing 2.58 goals against.

Both teams are capable of utilizing the man advantage, with Colorado's power-play percentage of 25% only slightly behind Vegas' 25.7%. The Golden Knights, however, boast a better penalty-killing percentage, at 86.3.

Bleacher Report’s staff mostly expects the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Read more at the NHL Fan Central.

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Edited by

Sijo Paul