The first round of the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs is nearly complete, with seven teams advancing to the second round and three of the four second-round series set. On Friday, May 1, the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Utah Mammoth in Game 6, the Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, and the Tampa Bay Lightning eked out a 1-0 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens to stay alive. The bracket now sends the Golden Knights to the Anaheim Ducks and leaves the Sabres waiting on the winner of Montreal and Tampa Bay, a Game 7 set for Sunday in Tampa.
Who Gets to Keep Playing
The playoff machine keeps narrowing the field, and the teams with the most leverage are the ones still standing. The Vegas Golden Knights advanced by beating the Utah Mammoth in Game 6 on Friday, May 1, setting up a meeting with the Anaheim Ducks. The Buffalo Sabres also advanced by beating the Boston Bruins on Friday. Their opponent is still undecided because the Tampa Bay Lightning stayed alive with a 1-0 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens.
The bracket listed the Hurricanes as having won their series 4-0 over the Senators, the Flyers as having won 4-2 over the Penguins, the Sabres as having won 4-2 over the Bruins, the Lightning and Canadiens tied 3-3 before Game 7, the Avalanche as having swept the Kings, the Wild as having beaten the Stars in six games, the Golden Knights as having won 4-2 over the Mammoth, and the Ducks as having won 4-2 over the Oilers. The bracket also listed Game 7 between Montreal and Tampa Bay for May 3 in Tampa Bay.
One second-round series will open before then, with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday on ABC. The Hurricanes swept the Ottawa Senators and the Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. The Colorado Avalanche will open at home against the Minnesota Wild on Sunday night. The Avalanche swept the Los Angeles Kings and the Wild beat the Dallas Stars in six games.
The Bottom Line on the Ice
Friday's games included the Lightning 1, Canadiens 0 in overtime, the Sabres 4, Bruins 1, and the Golden Knights 5, Mammoth 1. In the Lightning-Canadiens game, Gage Goncalves scored at 9:03 of overtime to keep the Lightning series alive. Montreal would have advanced with a win, but the game went to overtime scoreless.
In that same game, Ivan Demidov was called for goalie interference with 4 minutes left in regulation after crashing into Andrei Vasilevskiy. Nikita Kucherov was called for an overtime penalty, but the Lightning killed it and Jakub Dobes made a big save on Kucherov after he came out of the penalty box. Phillip Danault cleared a puck that was about to go over the goal, and Vasilevskiy played well.
The Sabres-Bruins game was another clean example of one side taking control early and never giving it back. Alex Tuch gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead in the first period, Mattias Samuelsson made it 2-0, and David Pastrnak got Boston on the board with a one-timer on a 2-on-1 break with Pavel Zacha. Buffalo led 2-0 after the first period, with Tuch and Samuelsson scoring and Tage Thompson collecting two assists. Buffalo won 4-1. The Bruins lost their third straight and dropped to 0-7 against left-handed starters.
In the Golden Knights game, Brett Howden opened the scoring for Vegas in the first period. He had four goals over his last three games, including the double-overtime goal in Game 5. Mitch Marner scored to make it 2-0 late in the second period, Colton Sissons restored Vegas' two-goal lead, Kailer Yamamoto got one back for Utah, Marner added another power-play goal, and Cole Smith scored an empty-netter. Jeremy Lauzon left the game after taking a puck off the side of the head, then returned. Vegas led the series 3-2 entering the game.
What the Bracket Says About Power
The bracket is now doing what brackets do: sorting winners, discarding losers, and turning the whole thing into a clean hierarchy of who gets to keep moving and who gets sent home. The Golden Knights, Sabres, Hurricanes, Flyers, Avalanche, Wild, and Ducks are all listed as advancing in one form or another, while the Bruins and Mammoth were pushed out on Friday and the Canadiens now face a do-or-die Game 7.
The schedule keeps the pressure on. The Hurricanes host the Flyers on Saturday, and the Avalanche open at home against the Wild on Sunday night. Montreal and Tampa Bay will settle their series on Sunday in Tampa, with the winner moving on and the loser done. The league's structure leaves no room for anything but advancement or elimination, and every result feeds the next round of the same machine.