{"id":542410,"date":"2026-04-05T17:32:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542410\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T17:32:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:32:34","slug":"nhl-schedule-today-april-5-games-standings-playoff-picture-and-wild-card-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542410\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Schedule Today, April 5: Games, Standings, Playoff Picture and Wild Card Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

With just over a week remaining before the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a>, movement across the standings continues to shape the postseason picture.<\/p>\n

Saturday brought limited shifts in the standings, but the Western Conference’s wild-card race still features multiple contenders, while the Eastern Conference race is as tightly packed as it can be with multiple teams separated by tiebreakers.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Wild at Detroit Red Wings \u2014 1:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Detroit looks to hold position in a crowded wild-card race, while Minnesota continues pushing for playoff seeding.<\/p>\n

Florida Panthers at Pittsburgh Penguins \u2014 3:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh aims to secure home-ice advantage, while Florida was eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Boston Bruins at Philadelphia Flyers \u2014 3:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Philadelphia continues its push in the wild-card race, while Boston looks to maintain their big lead at the top of it.<\/p>\n

Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators \u2014 5:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Ottawa holds a wild-card spot due to tiebreakers and faces a potential first-round opponent, while Carolina continues leading the division.<\/p>\n

\"Montreal<\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) celebrates with his teammates.Stephen R&period; Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Stephen R&period; Sylvanie-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

New Jersey Devils at Montreal Canadiens \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Montreal remains in the race for division positioning, while New Jersey tracks toward draft lottery placement.<\/p>\n

Washington Capitals at New York Rangers \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Washington continues climbing back into the wild-card race, while New York remains focused on draft positioning.<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche \u2014 9:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Colorado continues pushing toward the league\u2019s top seed, while St. Louis remains on the edge of the Western playoff race.<\/p>\n

\"Buffalo<\/p>\n

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (26) reacts at Enterprise Center.Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Jeff Curry-Imagn Images)Projected Stanley Cup Playoff matchupsEastern Conference<\/p>\n

A1 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. WC1 Boston Bruins<\/p>\n

A2 Montreal Canadiens vs. A3 Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n

M1 Carolina Hurricanes vs. WC2 Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n

M2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. M3 New York Islanders<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/p>\n

C1 Colorado Avalanche vs. WC2 Nashville Predators<\/p>\n

C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n

P1 Edmonton Oilers vs. WC1 Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n

P2 Anaheim Ducks vs. P3 Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n

NHL’s Wild-Card RacesEastern Conference<\/p>\n

WC1: Boston Bruins \u2014 94 pts<\/p>\n

WC2: Ottawa Senators \u2014 88 pts<\/p>\n

Detroit Red Wings \u2014 88 pts<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Flyers \u2014 88 pts<\/p>\n

Columbus Blue Jackets \u2014 88 pts<\/p>\n

Washington Capitals \u2014 87 pts<\/p>\n

Western Conference<\/p>\n

WC1: Utah Mammoth \u2014 86 pts<\/p>\n

WC2: Nashville Predators \u2014 81 pts<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Kings \u2014 81 pts<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks \u2014 79 pts<\/p>\n

Related: Hayley Wickenheiser Linked to Maple Leafs GM Job<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the NHL<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just over a week remaining before the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, movement across the standings continues to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[233,95,229,29,144,230,147,93,2217,146,62,5,145,161,38,5280,21,231,576,159,35,4,25,56,100,4011,970,168,534,84,104,92,3154,39,109,2071,162,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-542410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-buffalo-sabres","11":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche","13":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","14":"tag-dallas-stars","15":"tag-detroit-red-wings","16":"tag-eastern-conference","17":"tag-edmonton-oilers","18":"tag-florida","19":"tag-hockey","20":"tag-los-angeles-kings","21":"tag-minnesota","22":"tag-minnesota-wild","23":"tag-minnesotawild","24":"tag-montreal-canadiens","25":"tag-nashville-predators","26":"tag-new-jersey","27":"tag-new-york-islanders","28":"tag-new-york-rangers","29":"tag-nhl","30":"tag-ottawa-senators","31":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","32":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","33":"tag-rasmus-dahlin","34":"tag-sam-montembeault","35":"tag-san-jose-sharks","36":"tag-st-louis","37":"tag-st-louis-blues","38":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","39":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","40":"tag-utah-mammoth","41":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","42":"tag-washington-capitals","43":"tag-western-conference","44":"tag-wild","45":"tag-winnipeg-jets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}