Game 1 Date Announced For Boston Bruins' First Round Matchup at Buffalo
The NHL has released the dates for the first games of the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The No. 5-seeded Boston Bruins will open its playoff series with the No. 2 Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., on Sunday. The puck drop time has yet to be announced.
Boston and Buffalo met four times during the regular season and the Bruins won three of those.
The first matchup came on Oct. 11, 2025, which Boston won 3-1 at home. The pair met again later in the month on Oct. 30 and the Bruins picked up a 4-3 overtime win also at home.
The next two games were at Buffalo. The Sabres won the third meeting 4-1 on Dec. 27 and Boston earned a win in the last regular season meeting between the pair 4-3 in overtime on March 25.
This year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs will kick off on Saturday with three games. The first one will be No. 6 Ottawa at No. 1 Carolina at 3 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN, followed by No. 3 Minnesota at No. 2 Dallas at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN, and the last game of the night will be No. 8 Philadelphia at No. 7 Pittsburgh at 8 p.m., also on ESPN. Each game will be on SN and TVAS as well.
The second day of Game 1’s do not have times or networks yet, but there will be four games in total on Sunday. No. 1 Colorado will host the second Western Conference Wild Card which will be determined on Thursday night. No. 4 Montreal will play at No. 3 Tampa Bay, and No. 5 Utah will play at No. 4 Vegas.
The final Game 1 of the opening round will be on Monday, however the teams in that game have yet to be announced and will be determined based on Thursday night’s slate of games. The three teams still looking for seeding are the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings.
The rest of the Round 1 schedule will be announced once the regular season is completed.
Below is the full schedule for the first games of the playoffs from the NHL.
Saturday, April 18 – Game 1, with Networks
3 p.m. ET, Ottawa Senators at Carolina Hurricanes; ESPN, SN, TVAS
5:30 p.m. ET, Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars; ESPN, SN, TVAS
8 p.m. ET, Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins; ESPN, SN, TVAS
Sunday, April 19 – Game 1
Time/TV TBD, +Western Conference Wild Card #2 at Colorado Avalanche
Time/TV TBD, Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning
Time/TV TBD, Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres
Time/TV TBD, Utah Mammoth at Vegas Golden Knights
Monday, April 20 – Game 1
Time/TV TBD, +Pacific Division #3 at +Pacific Division #2
+ The final two matchups for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs will be decided tonight with the Edmonton Oilers (91 points), Anaheim Ducks (90 points) and Los Angeles Kings (91 points) all in action.
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Kim Rankin is one of the lead writers for Boston Bruins on SI and Boston College On SI. A 2020 graduate of the University of Alabama. she joined Alabama Crimson Tide On SI in February 2024 covering baseball, softball, football, men’s basketball, and more for BamaCentral, but has also contributed to Missouri Tigers On SI. She previously worked as the brand manager at Tide 100.9 FM in Tuscaloosa, Ala. She has covered a wide variety of events including SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals, and bowl games.