.png?w=3800&h=2000 "Updated 2026 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Bracket, Schedule and Top Highlights from April 24")
The Montreal Canadiens began out Friday’s Stanley Cup playoff motion by taking a first-round sequence lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lane Hutson scored simply over two minutes into extra time to safe a 3-2 win for the Canadiens in Friday evening’s Game 3 in Montreal.
Here’s a have a look at Friday’s outcomes and the upcoming schedule as the primary spherical of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs continues this weekend.
Friday schedule and outcomes
Montreal Canadiens 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 in OT (Canadiens lead 2-1)
Utah Mammoth 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (Mammoth lead 2-1)
Anaheim Ducks 7, Edmonton Oilers 4 (Ducks lead 2-1)
Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators, 3 p.m. ET (Hurricanes lead 3-0)
Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild, 5:30 p.m. ET (Stars lead 2-1)
Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers, 8 p.m. ET (Flyers lead 3-0)
Canadiens 3, Lightning 2 (OT)
For the third time in as many playoff video games, the Lightning and Canadiens went to extra time Friday evening.
For the second straight outing, it was the Canadiens who emerged victorious from the additional interval.
The crowd at Bell Centre first erupted when Alexandre Texier opened scoring for the Habs 5 minutes into the primary interval.
After two Lightning targets, Kirby Dach obtained the gang again in it with a tying purpose late within the second.
The Canadiens obtained two breakaway probabilities within the third interval, however had been unable to beat Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Vasilevskiy made one final cease on the third-period buzzer to ship the sport to extra time earlier than Hutson beat him on the slapshot early in extra time.
The Lightning will look to even the sequence with a street win when the puck drops for Game 4 in Montreal on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.
Mammoth 4, Golden Knights 2
The Mammoth dominated early within the first playoff house sport in Utah historical past.
The NHL’s latest franchise began out Game 3 by scoring 4 targets on simply eight photographs in opposition to Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart.
Jack Eichel scored halfway via the sport for the Golden Knights earlier than Nic Dowd minimize the Mammoth’s result in two with three minutes left in regulation.
The Golden Knights had been in the end unable to get well from the early deficit regardless of outshooting the Mammoth 31-12.
Vegas will hope to regroup with a greater begin to Monday’s Game 4 in Salt Lake City.
Connor McDavid’s first purpose of the 2026 playoffs wasn’t sufficient to steer the Ducks previous the Oilers because the sequence swung to Anaheim.
The Ducks grabbed an early lead late within the first interval with an influence play purpose from Mikael Granlund.
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The Oilers regained the lead early within the second with back-to-back targets from Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, however the guests held the benefit for lower than 10 minutes earlier than Alex Killorn tied the sport for the Ducks.
Granlund used a excessive stick to attain a Ducks go-ahead purpose that in the end obtained waved off late within the second.
The sport nonetheless swung the Ducks’ approach early within the third with two fast tallies, together with the primary postseason tally of Beckett Sennecke’s profession.
McDavid obtained the Oilers inside one with a power-play purpose halfway via the body.
Anaheim’s Jeffrey Viel in the end put the sport away with a late insurance coverage purpose. He additionally dropped the gloves with the Oilers’ Vasily Podkolzin within the remaining 30 seconds of regulation.
The Oilers have a protracted solution to go to make it again to a 3rd straight Stanley Cup Final. McDavid and his staff will look to regroup earlier than returning to Anaheim for Game 4 on Sunday evening.
