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Minniesota Wild April - In Play! magazine
Minnesota dropped each of its games in Dallas during the regular season but Kirill Kaprizov headlined four Wild players with three points as the franchise produced its second-highest scoring game in playoff history (tied). File photo: Tim Jarrold -In Play! magazine
19
Apr

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS – APRIL 18, 2026 – WILD ACHIEVE FRANCHISE FIRST AS FOURSOME PILE UP THE POINTS IN DALLAS

In a First Round series that featured multiple 40-goal scorers on each side, it was the Wild offense that struck early and often in Game 1: Kirill Kaprizov (1-2—3) tied the Wild record for career postseason goals (16), Mats Zuccarello (0-3—3) matched the franchise record for assists in a playoff game and Matt Boldy (2-1—3) as well as Joel Eriksson Ek (2-1—3) also posted three points each as Minnesota produced the highest-scoring game to start any postseason in team history with a 6-1 win over Dallas.

  • Minnesota, in search of its first series win since the 2015 First Round, opened the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a victory for the fifth time – all of which have come on the road (also Game 1 of 2023 R1, 2021 R1, 2015 R1 & 2003 CQF). The Wild now own the opportunity to win each of their first two games of a playoff year for the first time in franchise history.
  • The Wild had four players post three points in the same playoff game for the first time in franchise history and became the first team to achieve the feat since the Lightning in Game 4 of the 2024 First Round.
  • Kaprizov, who scored the first of three Wild goals in a span of 5:34 to start the second period, finished the outing with his third career game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and tied Nino Niederreiter for the most in franchise history. Kaprizov’s performance boosted his career totals to 16-8—24 (26 GP) and sits among the highest goals-per-game producers in NHL history.

MARTONE CONTINUES TO MAKE HIS MARK AS FLYERS TAKE GAME 1 IN PITTSBURGH

Game 1 of the latest rendition of the “Battle of Pennsylvania” began with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang appearing in their 13th postseason together, tied for the second most by a trio of teammates in NHL history, and ended with five Flyers players finding the score sheet in their Stanley Cup Playoffs debut – including 19-year-old Porter Martone, who scored the game-winning goal and lifted Philadelphia to a 1-0 series lead.

  • In a regular season that concluded with Gen Z accounting for 60% of NHL players and 23 players who competed as a teenager, Martone continued his goal-scoring ways after entering the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the most tallies among all Flyers players (tied) since making his League debut on March 31. Overall, Martone became the youngest Flyers player to score in his postseason debut, ahead of Simon Gagne (20 years, 44 days, Game 1 of 2000 CQF).
  • Scoring in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is just the latest achievement Martone added to his hockey resume in 2025-26: he was the only freshman named to the All-Big Ten First Team, he was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team and he served as captain for Team Canada at the 2026 World Junior Championship – where he finished with a tournament-best six goals in seven games.

Stankoven, Hurricanes continue to shine in postseason-opening games

Logan Stankoven (1-1—2) scored the winner and Frederik Andersen made 22 saves as the Hurricanes blanked the Senators to take a 1-0 lead in their First Round series. Carolina improved to 7-0 in its last seven postseason-opening contests dating to Game 1 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

  • Stankoven tallied twice during the Hurricanes’ opener against the Devils in Game 1 of the 2025 First Round. He became the third player in franchise history with three career goals in postseason-opening contests, following Andrei Svechnikov (5) and Whalers forward Dean Evason (3).
  • Andersen became the first goaltender in Hurricanes/Whalers history with a shutout during a postseason-opening contest and the fourth to blank an opponent in any Game 1, following Petr Mrazek (2019 R2), Cam Ward (2006 CSF) and Kevin Weekes (2002 CSF).

Schedule features TNT, ESPN doubleheaders as four more Game 1s go Sunday

Eight more teams embark on their quest for a championship as four other First Round series start Sunday. NHL on TNT will make its 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs debut during the games in Denver and Tampa, while ESPN is set to carry the contests in Buffalo and Las Vegas.

BUFFALO, “SabrehoOD” SET TO CELEBRATE PLAYOFFS Returning TO “QUEEN CITY”

Tage Thompson and the Sabres host David Pastrnak and the Bruins during the first postseason contest at KeyBank Center since Game 6 of the 2011 Conference Quarterfinals. Buffalo will officially end its 14-season playoff drought when the puck drops against Boston as the Sabres seek their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

  • Thompson won a gold medal alongside Jeremy Swayman with Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 and 2025 World Championship, where Thompson tallied the overtime clincher and Swayman secured a shutout to give the Americans their first tournament win since 1933. They can become the first U.S. members of the “Triple Gold Club,” while Swayman can become the first goaltender of any nationality to join the exclusive group.

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

UTAH VIES FOR VICTORY VERSUS vegas IN FRANCHISE’S Postseason DEBUT

Clayton Keller and the Mammoth visit Mark Stone and the Golden Knights as Utah plays its first playoff game in club history. NHL franchises own an all-time record of 13-22-2 in their first-ever postseason contest, including wins by Seattle (Game 1 of 2023 R1) and Vegas (Game 1 of 2018 R1) during each of the last two instances.

  • Brandon Tanev played for the Kraken in their playoff debut, while Nate Schmidt did so with the Golden Knights whose first postseason contest featured Shea Theodore tallying the winning goal. Tanev and Schmidt can become the first players to play in a franchise’s first playoff game multiple times in their career since Pascal Dupuis and Scott Mellanby, who were with the Atlanta Thrashers (Game 1 of 2007 CQF) after Dupuis did so with the Wild (Game 1 of 2003 CQF) and Mellanby with the Panthers (Game 1 of 1996 CQF).

Lightning, Canadiens to renew playoff acquaintances in 2021 Final rematch

Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning host Nick Suzuki and the Canadiens in their first head-to-head postseason contest since Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, when Andrei Vasilevskiy had one of his NHL-record six career series-clinching shutouts to give Tampa Bay its second straight championship.

  • Kucherov added two more Art Ross Trophy wins to his resume since the 2021 Final, while Suzuki was named the youngest captain in franchise history and is coming off his first career 100-point season. Cole Caufield made his NHL debut just before the 2021 playoffs and is one of a few players from the run that remain with the Canadiens, who re-tooled their roster over the following five seasons and added Lightning icon Martin St. Louis as head coach.

KINGS to play PRESIDENTS’ TROPHY WINNERS, “ROCKET” RECIPIENT MacKinnon

Adrian Kempe and the Kings visit Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche to open their third head-to-head playoff series following seven-game wins by Colorado in the 2002 Conference Quarterfinals and 2001 Conference Semifinals. The Avalanche enter the postseason as Presidents’ Trophy winners for the fourth time in franchise history, which includes 2001 when they ousted the Kings en route to capturing the Stanley Cup.

  • Anze Kopitar is set to skate during the playoffs for the final time in his decorated career and will do so against Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner MacKinnon as well as Brent Burns, who has played three series versus the Kings (2016 R1, 2014 R1 & 2013 CSF). MacKinnon can add a second Cup to his trophy case on the heels of his first “Rocket” win, while Burns can capture his first championship after 22 campaigns and more than 1,700 career games between the regular season and playoffs.

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IPM Editor