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The 2020 NHL restart is wrapping up the qualifying round and round robin on Sunday, after which we’ll know the complete bracket for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Although the qualifying series involved eliminations after a best-of-five games, it technically was not part of the “Stanley Cup Playoffs.” Whatever the case, we got one winner-take-all game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets.
The first round of the playoffs gets underway Monday afternoon. The Philadelphia Flyers and Vegas Golden Knights claimed the top seed in each conference. There is no home ice advantage for either, but they do get to face a pair of 12 seeds that stunned fifth-seeded teams to earn a spot in the first round.
All three Sunday games impact the bracket, but we know most of the matchups. Here is what the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket looks like as of early Sunday afternoon. The league will re-seed the teams after each round. The game dates and times are still to be determined, likely once the Maple Leafs-Blue Jackets wrap up the day. We have listed out home and away teams, but that only matters for purposes of jerseys and bench since these are on two neutral sites. (*=if necessary)
Stanley Cup Finals — Rogers Place, Edmonton
(3) Dallas Stars vs. (2) Tampa Bay Lightning or (6) New York Islanders
Eastern Conference — Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
3rd round — Conference finals
(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (6) New York Islanders (TB leads series 3-1)
Game 1: Lightning 8, Islanders 2
Game 2: Lightning 2, Islanders 1
Game 3: Islanders 5, Lightning 3
Game 4: Lightning 4, Islanders 1
Game 5: Tuesday, September 15th
2nd round — Conference semifinals
(1) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (6) New York Islanders — (NYI wins series 4-3)
- Game 1: Islanders 4, Flyers 0: Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves and four Islanders scored four goals.
- Game 2: Flyers 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Kevin Hayes had two goals and Philippe Myers had the game-winning goal.
- Game 3: Islanders 3, Flyers 1: Jordan Eberle had two assists and Matt Martin, Leo Komarov, and Anders Lee each scored a goal.
- Game 4: Islanders 3, Flyers 2: Brock Nelson had two goals, Josh Bailey had two assists, and Thomas Greiss stopped 36 shots.
- Game 5: Flyers 4, Islanders 1
- Game 6: Flyers 5, Islanders 4 (2OT)
- Game 7: Islanders 4, Flyers 0
(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (4) Boston Bruins — (TB wins series 4-1)
- Game 1: Bruins 3, Lightning 2: Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, and Brad Marchand scored three straight goals before the Bruins held off a third period rally.
- Game 2: Lightning 4, Bruins 3 (OT): Blake Coleman scored two goals and Ondrej Palat scored the game-winner in overtime.
- Game 3: Lightning 7, Bruins 1: Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists, Alex Killorn had two goals and an assist, and Mikhail Sergachev had one goal and two assists.
- Game 4: Lightning 3, Bruins 1: Ondred Palat had two goals, Nikita Kucherov had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots.
- Game 5: Lightning 3, Bruins 2 (2OT): Victor Hedman scored the game-winner and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 45 shots.
1st round — Conference quarterfinals
(1) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens (Flyers win series 4-2)
- Game 1: Flyers 2, Canadiens 1: Carter Hart stopped 27 shots in the win. Jakub Voracek and Joel Farabee each scored a goal.
- Game 2: Canadiens 5, Flyers 0: Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each scored two goals and Max Domi notched three assists. Carey Price stopped all 30 shots he faced
- Game 3: Flyers 1, Canadiens 0: Carter Hart stopped all 23 shots he faced and Jakub Voracek scored the game’s lone goal in the first period.
- Game 4: Flyers 2, Canadiens 0: Carter Hart stopped all 29 shots and Michael Raffl and Philippe Myers each scored a goal.
- Game 5: Canadiens 5, Flyers 3: Joel Armia scored two goals and Montreal survived Philadelphia scoring three power play goals.
- Game 6: Flyers 3, Canadiens 2: Ivan Provorov, Kevin Hayes, and Michael Raffl each scored a goal in the win.
(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (7) Columbus Blue Jackets (TB wins series 4-1)
- Game 1: Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2 (5OT): Brayden Point scored two goals, including the game-winner in the fifth overtime. Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo set an NHL record with 85 saves in the game.
- Game 2: Blue Jackets 3, Lightning 1: Joonas Korpisalo stopped 36 shots in the win, and Pierre-Luc Dubois assisted on two goals.
- Game 3: Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2: Victor Hedman scored what proved to be the game winner and Brayden Point notched his third goal of the series.
- Game 4: Lightning 2, Blue Jackets 1: Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow each scored a goal, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28 of 29 shots.
- Game 5: Lightning 5, Blue Jackets 4 (OT): Brayden Point scored the series-clincher in overtime after the Lightning blew a 2-0 lead then came back from a 4-2 deficit.
(3) Washington Capitals vs. (6) New York Islanders (NYI win series 4-1)
- Game 1: Islanders 4, Capitals 2: T.J. Oshie scored two goals to open the game for Washington, but New York responded with four straight goals from four different players to win.
- Game 2: Islanders 5, Capitals 2: Nick Leddy scored a goal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau notched two assists. Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in the loss.
- Game 3: Islanders 2, Capitals 1 (OT): Mathew Barzal scored the game-winner in overtime and Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 of 23 shots.
- Game 4: Capitals 3, Islanders 2: Alex Ovechkin scored two goals in the win.
- Game 5: Islanders 4, Capitals 0: Semyon Varlamov stopped 23 shots and Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals in the win.
(4) Boston Bruins vs. (5) Carolina Hurricanes (BOS wins series 4-1)
- Game 1: Bruins 4, Hurricanes 3 (2OT): The game was delayed a day due to the Lightning-Blue Jackets 5OT contest. Patrice Bergeron scored the game-winner in 1:13 of the second overtime.
- Game 2: Hurricanes 3, Bruins 2: Andrei Svechnikov scored a goal and added an assist, and Dougie Hamilton scored the game-winner in the third period.
- Game 3: Bruins 3, Hurricanes 1: The game was delayed a day due to the Lightning-Blue Jackets 5OT game. Charlie Coyle, Sean Kuraly, and Brad Marchand each scored a goal in the win.
- Game 4: Bruins 4, Hurricanes 3: Jake DeBrusk scored two goals, including what proved to be the game-winner.
- Game 5: Bruins 2, Hurricanes 1: David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron scored two second period goals and Jaroslav Halak stopped 23 of 24 shots in the series-clinching win.
Western Conference — Rogers Place, Edmonton
3rd round — Conference finals
(1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (3) Dallas Stars (DAL wins series 4-1)
Game 1: Stars 1, Golden Knights 0
Game 2: Golden Knights 3, Stars 0
Game 3: Stars 3, Golden Knights 2
Game 4: Stars 2, Golden Knights 1
Game 5: Stars 3, Golden Knights 2 (OT)
2nd round — Conference semifinals
(1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (5) Vancouver Canucks — (VGK wins series 4-3)
- Game 1: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 0: Robin Lehner stopped 26 shots while Mark Stone and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist.
- Game 2: Canucks 5, Golden Knights 2: Tyler Toffoli and Elias Pettersson each had a goal and two assists and Bo Horvat scored two goals.
- Game 3: Golden Knights 3, Canucks 0: Robin Lehner stopped 31 shots, and Alex Tuch, Zach Whitecloud, and Mark Stone each scored a goal.
- Game 4: Golden Knights 5, Canucks 3: Max Pacioretty had two goals and an assist, Nate Schmidt scored one goal and assisted on another, and Mark Stone had three assists.
- Game 5: Canucks 2, Golden Knights 1
- Game 6: Canucks 4, Golden Knights 0
- Game 7: Golden Knights 3, Canucks 0
(2) Colorado Avalanche vs. (3) Dallas Stars — (DAL wins series 4-3)
- Game 1: Stars 5, Avalanche 3: Alexander Radulov had two goals and an assist, and Jamie Benn had three assists.
- Game 2: Stars 5, Avalanche 2: Alexander Radulov had a goal and an assist and Anton Khudobin stopped 38 shots
- Game 3: Avalanche 6, Stars 4: Cale Makar had three assists, Mikko Rantanen had one goal and one assist, and Nikita Zadorov had one goal and one assist.
- Game 4: Stars 5, Avalanche 4: Radek Faksa had a goal and two assists and Roope Hintz had one goal and one assist.
- Game 5: Avalanche 6, Stars 3: Andre Burakovsky had two goals and an assist and Nathan MacKinnon had one goal and one assist.
- Game 6: Avalanche 4, Stars 1
- Game 7: Stars 5, Avalanche 4 (OT)
1st round — Conference quarterfinals
(1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (8) Chicago Blackhawks (VGK wins series 4-1)
- Game 1: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 1: Reilly Smith scored two goals in the third period for some insurance in the victory. Robin Lehner stopped 19 shots.
- Game 2: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 3 (OT): Reilly Smith notched an assist on the first goal of the game and then scored the game winner at the 7:13 mark of the first overtime.
- Game 3: Golden Knights 2, Blackhawks 1: Marc-Andre Fleury notched 26 saves for his 80th career playoff win, tying for him sixth all-time. Williams Karlsson and Patrick Brown scored for Vegas.
- Game 4: Blackhawks 3, Golden Knights 1: Corey Crawford stopped 46 of 47 shots on goal in the victory. Drake Caggiula and Matthew Highmore scored in the second, and Alex DeBrincat added an empty-netter in the third period.
- Game 5: Golden Knights 4, Blackhawks 3: Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist and Alex Tuch and Alex Martinez each added a goal in the win.
(2) Colorado Avalanche vs. (7) Arizona Coyotes (COL wins series 4-1)
- Game 1: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 0: Darcy Kuemper stopped 37 shots in the shutout. The Avs got all three goals in the third period, from Nazem Kadri, J.T. Compher, and Mikko Rantanen.
- Game 2: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2: Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 of 32 shots, and Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Jost, and Andre Burakovsky each scored a goal in the win.
- Game 3: Coyotes 4, Avalanche 2: Darcy Kuemper stopped 49 shots on the night. Derek Stepan, Brad Richardson, Taylor Hall, and Lawson Crouse all scored for Arizona.
- Game 4: Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1: Nazem Kadri scored two goals and five other players found the net, while Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots.
- Game 5: Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1: Nathan McKinnon and Nazem Kadri each scored two goals and Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots.
(3) Dallas Stars vs. (6) Calgary Flames (Stars win series 4-2)
- Game 1: Flames 3, Stars 2: Dillon Dube scored two goals and Cam Talbot notched 24 saves in the win.
- Game 2: Stars 5, Flames 4: Miro Heiskanen scored two goals and Corey Perry notched one goal and one assist in the win.
- Game 3: Flames 2, Stars 0: Cam Talbot stopped all 35 shots he faced and Mikael Backlund and T.J. Brodie each scored a goal.
- Game 4: Stars 5, Flames 4: Stars center Joe Pavelski scored a hat trick in the win to counter two goals from Flames center Sam Bennett.
- Game 5: Stars 2, Flames 1: John Klingberg scored the game-winner in the third period and Anton Khudobin stopped 28 of 29 shots.
- Game 6: Stars 7, Flames 3: Denis Gurianov scored four goals and notched one assist in the series-clinching win.
(4) St. Louis Blues vs. (5) Vancouver Canucks (Canucks win series 4-2)
- Game 1: Canucks 5, Blues 2: Bo Harvat scored two goals and Jacob Markstrom stopped 29 of 31 shots.
- Game 2: Canucks 4, Blues 3 (OT): Bo Horvat scored two goals and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots.
- Game 3: Blues 3, Canucks 2 (OT): Brayden Schenn scored the game-winner in overtime and Jacob Markstrom stopped 48 shots.
- Game 4: Blues 3, Canucks 1: Ryan O’Reilly scored two goals and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 of 35 shots.
- Game 5: Canucks 4, Blues 3: Tyler Motte scored two goals and J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist.
- Game 6: Canucks 6, Blues 2: Tyler Motte scored two goals and Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 shots.