The National Hockey League (NHL) updated the schedule for the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs earlier today. The changes are as follows:
On Friday, April 28th:
- Game 6 of the First Round series between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders will start at 7 p.m. ET in New York. The game will be broadcast on TBS in the U.S. and on SN360 and TVAS2 in Canada.
- Game 6 of the First Round series between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers will start at 7:30 p.m. ET in Sunrise. The game will be televised on TNT in the U.S. and on SN, CBC, and TVA Sports in Canada.
- Game 6 of the First Round series between the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild will start at 9:30 p.m. ET in St. Paul. The game will be broadcast on TBS in the U.S. and on SN360 and TVAS2 in Canada.
- Game 6 of the First Round series between the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken will start at 10 p.m. ET in Seattle. The game will be televised on TNT in the U.S. and SN and TVA Sports in Canada.
The Favorites
Heading into the weekend, the Boston Bruins remain the sports betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup leading the Florida Panthers 3-2 heading into today’s game in Florida. The Bruins lost Game #5 in overtime in Boston but need just one more win to wrap up the series. The Bruins will start Linus Ullmark, while the Panthers expect to go with veteran Sergei Bobrovsky.
Just behind the Bruins are the Toronto Maple Leafs, who lead the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-2 on the strength of a 4-2 home win on Thursday night. The Leafs can close out the Lightning in Tampa Bay with a win on Saturday and advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 19 years. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay will look to push the series to seven games.
In the Western Conference, the Vegas Golden Knights have advanced to the second round by defeating the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Thursday night at home in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves for the Golden Knights, who will face the Edmonton Oilers or Los Angeles Kings in the second round. Edmonton leads that series 3-2 and plays in Los Angeles on Saturday night with a chance to advance.
Finally, the defending champion Colorado Avalanche, who surprisingly trail the Seattle Kraken 3-2 heading into a must-win game #6. Seattle held on to a 3-2 win on Wednesday to take the series lead from Colorado at Ball Arena. Colorado trailed 3-1 before Evan Rodrigues cut it to 3-2 at 16:23, with goalie Alexandar Georgiev pulled for the extra skater, but they were unable to find the equalizer in the waning minutes. The Avalanche played without defenseman Cale Makar, who was out due to a one-game suspension for interference on Jared McCann in game #4. Makar is expected to play in Game #6 in Seattle.