{"id":545770,"date":"2026-04-07T15:56:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545770\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:56:30","slug":"nhl-schedule-today-april-7-games-storylines-wild-card-races-and-playoff-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/545770\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Schedule Today, April 7: Games, Storylines, Wild Card Races and Playoff Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 10 days remaining in the NHL’s<\/a> regular season, the playoff picture continues to tighten as more teams secure their spots while others fight to stay alive. Division races and wild-card positioning remain unsettled in both conferences.<\/p>\n

Recent results have shifted the Western wild-card race again, while the Eastern Conference remains tightly packed with multiple teams separated by narrow margins and tiebreakers.<\/p>\n

Florida Panthers at Montreal Canadiens \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Montreal has already clinched and continues pushing for Atlantic positioning, while Florida plays out the season after its elimination from postseason contention.<\/p>\n

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

Ottawa looks to strengthen its wild-card position, while Tampa Bay continues battling for the top spot in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Columbus Blue Jackets at Detroit Red Wings \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Both teams sit just outside a playoff spot, making this a critical head-to-head matchup in the Eastern race.<\/p>\n

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

Philadelphia holds a playoff position but faces pressure from teams behind, while New Jersey nears elimination.<\/p>\n

Boston Bruins at Carolina Hurricanes \u2014 7:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Carolina looks to maintain conference positioning, while Boston continues building on its postseason seeding in the East.<\/p>\n

\"Montreal<\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacob Fowler.Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images<\/p>\n

(Marc DesRosiers-IMAGN Images)<\/p>\n

Colorado Avalanche at St. Louis Blues \u2014 8:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Colorado continues to lead the Western Conference, while St. Louis remains on the edge of the Western playoff race.<\/p>\n

Calgary Flames at Dallas Stars \u2014 8:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Dallas continues to hold its position near the top of the Central, while Calgary remains in the draft lottery picture.<\/p>\n

Seattle Kraken at Minnesota Wild \u2014 8:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Minnesota has secured its playoff spot and continues focusing on seeding, while Seattle\u2019s chances continue to fade.<\/p>\n

\"Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov (39) reacts after scoring a goal.Timothy T&period; Ludwig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(Timothy T&period; Ludwig-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Edmonton Oilers at Utah Mammoth \u2014 9:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Both teams remain in position for a potential first-round matchup, with division seeding still undecided.<\/p>\n

Vegas Golden Knights at Vancouver Canucks \u2014 10:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Vegas continues competing for Pacific positioning, while Vancouver remains focused on the draft lottery.<\/p>\n

Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks \u2014 10:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Nashville remains in a tight wild-card race, while Anaheim continues pushing for the division title.<\/p>\n

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 Los Angeles Kings<\/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

Detroit Red Wings \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: Los Angeles Kings \u2014 83 pts<\/p>\n

Nashville Predators \u2014 82 pts<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks \u2014 81 pts<\/p>\n

Related: Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard Sends Confident Message Before Sharks Game<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Apr 7, 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 10 days remaining in the NHL’s regular season, the playoff picture continues to tighten as more teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[2210,71,95,229,26,29,144,230,147,93,2217,146,62,5,145,509,161,38,5280,21,2409,576,151,159,4,25,56,100,168,234,534,540,92,3154,27,39,109,2071,162,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-545770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-blues","10":"tag-boston-bruins","11":"tag-buffalo-sabres","12":"tag-calgary-flames","13":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","14":"tag-colorado-avalanche","15":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","16":"tag-dallas-stars","17":"tag-detroit-red-wings","18":"tag-eastern-conference","19":"tag-edmonton-oilers","20":"tag-florida","21":"tag-hockey","22":"tag-los-angeles-kings","23":"tag-matvei-michkov","24":"tag-minnesota","25":"tag-minnesota-wild","26":"tag-minnesotawild","27":"tag-montreal-canadiens","28":"tag-nashville","29":"tag-new-jersey","30":"tag-new-jersey-devils","31":"tag-new-york-islanders","32":"tag-nhl","33":"tag-ottawa-senators","34":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","35":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","36":"tag-san-jose-sharks","37":"tag-seattle-kraken","38":"tag-st-louis","39":"tag-tampa-bay","40":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning","41":"tag-utah-mammoth","42":"tag-vancouver-canucks","43":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","44":"tag-washington-capitals","45":"tag-western-conference","46":"tag-wild","47":"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\/545770","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=545770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}