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Winners and Losers From the First Games of the 2026 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
Welcome to the first day of the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, hockey fans. We've finally made it.
It was filled with goals, hits, thrills, and spills. Not bad for day one, and we've got more than two months of this to go.
The Hurricanes took care of business against the Senators, the Stars got crushed at home by the Wild, and the Flyers edged the Penguins in the first edition of the Battle of Pennsylvania.
So who stood out? And who needs to shape up?
Time now for Winners and Losers from Saturday's games.
Winner: Flyers' Youngsters Stepping Up
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In a Battle of Pennsylvania featuring an iconic, elder core vs. an exciting, up-and-coming roster, the Flyers' youngins prevailed in Game 1.
Two of Philadelphia's three goals came from players making their NHL postseason debuts: Jamie Drysdale and Porter Martone. Martone became the third youngest player in franchise history to score a playoff goal with his game-winner, and the first teenager since 1996 to score a playoff goal in his NHL debut.
Does this mean the Penguins are cooked, and the youthful vibe will persist? Absolutely not, and Pittsburgh's late-game push reinforced that: 1. This was a close, one-goal game, and 2. The Penguins weren't playing up to their standard for most of this game.
It's more than likely that the Penguins will come back for Game 2 with cranked up urgency, but the young Flyers demanded the Penguins (and all of us) take them seriously with the Game 1 win.
They did it their way -- fast, energetic, and a bit happy-go-lucky. They used their youth to their advantage, and it paid off.
Loser: Penguins' Stars Shut Down
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Evgeni Malkin tied it up early enough to make this a game, but there was no real offensive push from the stars beyond that until Bryan Rust's way-too-late goal at the end of the third.
Sidney Crosby was visibly frustrated, taking penalties for ripping helmets off, cross-checking, and chirping all over our TVs tonight. The captain was a minus-1, recording no points and two penalties in his 19:36 minutes.
If we know one thing about Crosby, he's not staying down for long. We should expect a big bounce back in Game 2, but the confidence the Flyers' youth movement gained from Game 1 could have grave consequences for the Penguins moving forward.
Erik Karlsson recorded just two shots and an assist, and Kris Letang was a minus-2 with no points. It's going to have to be a group effort from this Penguins core, and we didn't see that in Game 1.
Winner: Wild's Big Swings Pay Off in Game 1
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The Wild made a gigantic investment in Kirill Kaprizov to start the season, extending him to the richest deal in NHL history at eight years and $136 million. The investment put a healthy pressure on the team and management to finally get past the first round this year. That pressure led the Wild to make the trade of the year for Quinn Hughes.
Both of these players -- and the rest of Minnesota's stars -- stepped up majorly in Minnesota's 6-1, Game 1 win over the Stars. Kaprizov had one goal and two assists. Hughes had an assist, a plus-three rating, and a constant presence in the effort. Team USA standout Matt Boldy added two goals, an assist, and eight shots of his own.
Minnesota's confidence was palpable from start to finish, and you have to think much of this confidence and offense risk-taking came from knowing you've got these three players on your hockey team.
In a day that had previously been defined by depth scoring, the first game of the Wild-Stars series reminded us just how much taking the big swings can pay off for a team.
It's clear that if this is going to be the air-tight spectacle of a Round 1 series we anticipated, the Stars' stars are going to have to play up to their contract values.
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Loser: Stars' Game 1 Collapse
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Dallas' 6-1, Game 1 loss on home ice was jarring in every sense of the word. The Stars lacked the necessary offensive pressure you'd expect them to bring to the start of a playoff series until their first and only goal in the second. By then, they'd already been down 4-0.
As concerning as the lack of urgency to start was, if you're the Stars as least this catastrophe was contained to one game. If they can flush it and move on, it's just like any other playoff loss and doesn't have to define them. If they can't come out stronger and win Game 2, then Dallas, we've got a problem.
Was Jake Oettinger perfect in net? No, but once again, this loss was more about: 1. The Wild imposing themselves and acting with urgency on offense, 2. The top Wild players acting like the top Wild players, and 3. The offensive pressure the Stars failed to muster until it was far too late.
Winner: Eric Tulsky (And Logan Stankoven)
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Hey, remember that time the Hurricanes acquired Mikko Rantanen two seasons ago and had to trade him before the playoffs even began? Yeah, that stung in the short-term -- especially from an optics standpoint. But GM Eric Tulsky squeezed Logan Stankoven out of the deal.
Not only has 23-year-old Stankoven been a great fit on the Canes, but he's had some huge, perhaps unexpected, postseason goals. He netted the game-winner in Carolina's 2-0 Game 1 win and recorded the crucial centring assist on the only other goal of the game.
Stankoven's now got four goals in his last four playoff games, and this would've been his third postseason multi-goal game had the second goal been attributed to him (it was close, but it bounced off Taylor Hall).
Stankoven ended Game 1 leading the Hurricanes with one goal, one assist, and six shots on net. In a low-scoring game and what promises to be a low-scoring series, depth scoring like this will be the difference. Stankoven looked great beyond the scoresheet tonight as well, and he made Tulsky's decision-making look great in the process.
Loser: Goalie Narratives
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Goaltending is always going to matter in the playoffs, but when both goaltenders play well, your skaters are going to have to step up. This is exactly what happened in Canes-Sens Game 1.
Linus Ullmark made a few crucial stops to keep his team in the game, and the pressure never let up once it got going. Despite the 2-0 loss, Ullmark ended up with a .931 save percentage, stopping 27 of 29 Carolina shots.
On Carolina's end, there was a big decision to make: Would the Hurricanes go with veteran Freddie Andersen, who has had great playoff runs but has struggled in the regular season and has considerable wear-and-tear? Would they go with Brandon Bussi, an unexpected star in net for them at the beginning of the season, who was starting to fade at the end?
In typical Rod Brind'Amour fashion, he went with the vet.
It paid off as Andersen posted his sixth career playoff shutout, stopping all 22 of Ottawa's shots. His 47th career playoff win is tied for 26th all-time.
We'll see how the Hurricanes' situation in net plays out, but Andersen earned an extended stay in the starter's net today.
Later on in the evening, Jake Oettinger failed to shake the demons of playoffs past as the Stars dropped Game 1, 6-1 with him in net. One goal was an empty netter, and several goals were due to defensive lapses, but Oettinger would like one or two back.
Would it have been the difference in the game? No. Does another brutal score in a playoff loss add to the narratives surrounding Oettinger, add to the mounting pressure, and erode confidence? You bet. Oettinger allowed five goals on 28 shots for an .821 save percentage on the night. There's still plenty of time to re-write this story, but it's not the way he wanted it to start.
Loser: Brady Tkachuk's Theatrics
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You can't blame Tkachuk for trying to throw the Hurricanes off their game by challenging captain Jordan Staal to a fight the second the puck dropped. That's kind of his thing, and he does it quite effectively.
The thing is, this is the Carolina Hurricanes we are talking about. Even more specifically, this is 37-year-old Staal we're talking about. This man has seen it all in his almost two decades in the NHL, and he's certainly seen his fair share of Tkachuk family fun in the Hurricanes' many postseason run-ins with brother Matthew and the Panthers.
The Hurricanes are the veteran playoff team in this situation, while the Senators are in the second year of their window with this core. This was a physical game, and to be fair, Tkachuk was pretty effective in the dirty areas all game. Establishing the grit was necessary at the start of a tight, defense-heavy series, but so was establishing depth scoring.
The winner of this game was the team that did the latter.
Highlights From Penguins-Flyers
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GOAL!: Porter Martone adds insurance late at 17:23 of the third period.
GOAL! Travis Sanheim puts the Flyers back in front at 10:00 of the third period!
GOAL! Evgeni Malkin gets the Penguins on the board and ties it up at 15:51 of the second period.
GOAL! Jamie Drysdale opens the scoring in Game 1 off a feed from Trevor Zegras at 9:19 of the second period.
NO GOAL! The Flyers get a potential game-opening goal ruled out by the officials in the first period.
Highlights from Stars-Wild
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GOAL! Jason Robertson gets the Stars on the board.
GOAL! Rout is on for the Stars with Matt Boldy making it 4-0.
GOAL! Ryan Hartman puts Minnesota further in front with a deflection at 3:28 of the second period.
GOAL! Kirill Kaprizov adds to the lead with an absolute laser past Jake Oettinger 56 seconds into the second period.
GOAL! The Wild take the first lead of the series as Joel Eriksson Ek cashes in on the power play in the first period off a great setup from Matt Boldy at 5:35.
Highlights From Canes-Senators
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GOAL! Carolina goes up 2-0 as Stankoven pots his second of Game 1 at 7:11 of the third period.
SENS DENIED! Video review takes this potential game-tying goal off the board in the third period after a great save from Freddie Andersen.
GOAL! Logan Stankoven opens the scoring in Game 1, beating Linus Ullmark at 2:11 of the second period.
Nikolaj Ehlers tries the Michigan, but can't pull it off!
FIGHT! Brady Tkachuk and Jordan Staal threw down to open Game 1 between the Hurricanes and Senators.
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