• 13 First-Round Games Over Four Days Beginning Monday at 7 p.m. ET
• New York Rangers Host New Jersey Devils on April 22 in Primetime on ABC
• The Point will Air Daily as a Lead-in Show for Games Throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs
• ESPN Launches Playoff Hockey Challenge; Accepting Entries Until April 17

With the NHL regular season complete, the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN presented by GEICO have arrived as 16 teams battle it out for the coveted and most prestigious trophy in sports. Providing fans with continuous action, 13 first-round games will play out over the first four days on ESPN and ESPN2, beginning Monday, April 17. In addition, ESPN’s NHL studio show, The Point, will air regularly as a lead-in to games throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The playoff puck drops Monday, April 17, in a first-round matchup between the Metropolitan Division-winning Carolina Hurricanesand the New York Islanders at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The Hurricanes, led by Martin Necas and Sebastian Aho, earned a playoff berth for the fifth-consecutive season and now own their sixth division title in franchise history, while the Islanders earned the top Eastern Conference wild card spot behind the play of goalie Ilya Sorokin and Brock Nelson, who led the team in points, goals and assists.

At 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, the Boston Bruins enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs after the most successful regular season in NHL history, setting single-season records for wins and points. Led by 60-goal scorer David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, the Bruins – this season’s Presidents’ Trophy winner – face a Florida Panthers team that made a late season push to secure the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. While Florida played nowhere near their Presidents’ Trophy caliber from a season ago, Matthew Tkachuk still had an MVP-like season with 109 points.

The Dallas Stars and team points, goals and assists leader Jason Robertson head into the playoffs on a six-game winning streak when they host the Minnesota Wild and its points leader, Kirill Kaprizov, who is listed as day-to-day, at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Closing out the first night of playoff action at 10 p.m. on ESPN, the Los Angeles Kings face off against the Edmonton Oilers and the all-star duo of Connor McDavid, who became the first player in 27 years to reach 150 points in a season, and 128-point scorer Leon Draisaitl, for the second time in as many seasons in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. While the teams spilt their regular-season matchups, the Oilers have gone on to become one of the hottest teams heading into the postseason – winning nine straight and 14 of their last 15 regular season games.

Leading off Tuesday’s playoff tripleheader, the Tampa Bay Lightning once again face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division two-three series matchup at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Led by the trio of Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and William Nylander, the Leafs – winners of four-straight to close out their regular season – hope to finally break the team’s first-round playoff curse when they take the ice against Nikita Kucherov and the Lightning, who came back to beat them in seven last year.

At 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, the Winnipeg Jets will face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time after meeting in the 2018 Western Conference Final. Led by Jack Eichel and Chandler Stephenson, the Golden Knights hope to repeat their 2018 performance against the Jets that led them to their historic Stanley Cup Final berth in their inaugural season.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche and winners of three-consecutive Central Division crowns will attempt to repeat their playoff performance from a year ago behind the play of Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen when they host the Seattle Kraken, who are headed to the postseason for the first time in only their second NHL season, at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN.

On Saturday, April 22, the New York Rangers host the New Jersey Devils in a primetime game-three matchup on ABC at 8 p.m.. Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Rangers are set to collide with Jack Hughes and the Devils in the seventh all-time “Hudson River Rivalry” postseason series – the first since the 2012 Conference Finals. The Devils finished second in the Metropolitan Division ahead of the Rangers but have a record of 1-1-1 against them in regular season play.

The commentators and telecast details for each game are detailed below. Commentator assignments and coverage details for ESPN games beyond April 24 will be announced in the coming days.

– TELECAST & COMMENTATOR SCHEDULE –

*Commentator assignments and studio show times may be subject to change.

NHL Digital Content on ESPN.com and ESPN App
Go to ESPN.com/NHL or the ESPN App for up-to-the-minute NHL news, information and analysis, including premium editorial content by ESPN senior NHL writer Greg Wyshynski, exclusively for ESPN+ subscribers.

• Stanley Cup Playoffs Central: Bracket, schedule, scores, highlights, analysis
• Keys to the offseason: Free agency, draft plans for eliminated NHL teams (ESPN+ Premium Content)
• Which teams will be the Bruins’ toughest playoff challenge? (ESPN+ Premium Content)
• Inside the Bruins’ amazing, record-breaking season
• Lapsed fan’s guide to the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs
• Stanley Cup playoffs preview: Breaking down all 16 teams in the NHL postseason
• Expert picks for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs
• How the Bruins can avoid the mistakes of Presidents’ Trophy winners past
• Tuesday: NHL Rank: The top 50 players in the playoffs
• Tuesday (Apr. 18): Wyshynski’s bracket for the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs (ESPN+ Premium Content)

ESPN Launches Playoff Hockey Challenge
ESPN Playoff Hockey Challenge allows fans to predict the winner of each playoff round for the chance to win a Grand Prize of $2,500 once the Stanley Cup is raised. Like all ESPN Fantasy games, Playoff Hockey Challenge is free to play and makes it easy for fans to fill out brackets and compete with friends, family and others by creating and joining groups. Fans can complete and submit up to two brackets at ESPN.com/playoffhockeychallenge or on the ESPN Fantasy App for iOS and Android. Entries for the Hockey Playoff Challenge will be accepted until Monday, April 17, when the puck drops for the first matchup of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

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CONTACTS:

ESPN
Danny Chi | [email protected] | 213-405-4400
Andrea DiCristoforo | [email protected] | 603-759-7670

ESPN+
[email protected]