{"id":543864,"date":"2026-04-06T14:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/543864\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:56:18","slug":"nhl-schedule-today-april-6-games-storylines-wild-card-races-and-playoff-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/543864\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Schedule Today, April 6: Games, Storylines, Wild Card Races and Playoff Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the NHL<\/a> regular season entering its final stretch, more teams have begun to lock in postseason spots.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens have now clinched, tightening the focus on seeding and the remaining wild-card races.<\/p>\n

Attention now shifts to division positioning, particularly in the Atlantic, where three teams remain within reach of finishing first. At the same time, multiple teams in both conferences are still battling for the final playoff spots.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

A key Atlantic Division matchup between two playoff teams battling for the top seed in the division.<\/p>\n

\"Winnipeg<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jets center Jonathan Toews looks up the ice during a game against the Los Angeles Kings in the first period at Canada Life Centre.James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Seattle Kraken at Winnipeg Jets \u2014 7:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Winnipeg remains on the edge of the Western wild-card race, while Seattle\u2019s playoff hopes are nearly out of reach.<\/p>\n

Chicago Blackhawks at San Jose Sharks \u2014 10:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

San Jose looks to stay in the wild-card hunt, while Chicago remains positioned near the top of the draft lottery.<\/p>\n

Nashville Predators at Los Angeles Kings \u2014 10:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Both teams are tied in points for a Western wild-card spot, making this a critical head-to-head matchup.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (98) during a stoppage of play.Matt Krohn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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

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

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

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

M2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. M3 Philadelphia Flyers<\/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 95 pts<\/p>\n

WC2: Ottawa Senators \u2014 90 pts<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Flyers \u2014 90 pts<\/p>\n

New York Islanders \u2014 89 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

Related: NHL Fans Stunned as Islanders Fire Head Coach with Four Games Left<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 6, 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 the NHL regular season entering its final stretch, more teams have begun to lock in postseason spots.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5118],"tags":[233,2216,95,229,29,96,144,230,508,147,146,5,3862,145,161,38,5280,21,231,159,4,25,56,12323,519,168,234,92,3154,39,109,162,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-543864","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-atlantic-division","10":"tag-boston-bruins","11":"tag-buffalo-sabres","12":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","13":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","14":"tag-colorado-avalanche","15":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","16":"tag-connor-bedard","17":"tag-dallas-stars","18":"tag-edmonton-oilers","19":"tag-hockey","20":"tag-jonathan-toews","21":"tag-los-angeles-kings","22":"tag-minnesota","23":"tag-minnesota-wild","24":"tag-minnesotawild","25":"tag-montreal-canadiens","26":"tag-nashville-predators","27":"tag-new-york-islanders","28":"tag-nhl","29":"tag-ottawa-senators","30":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","31":"tag-playoff-teams","32":"tag-san-jose","33":"tag-san-jose-sharks","34":"tag-seattle-kraken","35":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","36":"tag-utah-mammoth","37":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","38":"tag-washington-capitals","39":"tag-wild","40":"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\/543864","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=543864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}