The 2025-26 NHL postseason may come to an end for two teams on Saturday.
The Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins both face must-win situations for the remainder of the first round as they’re sitting in 3-0 holes. The Minnesota Wild, meanwhile, are trying to avoid falling into a 3-1 deficit against the Dallas Stars.
The stakes couldn’t be much higher.
Here’s an overview of the action on the ice.
Carolina Panthers 4, Ottawa Senators 2 (CAR wins series 4-0)
Minnesota Wild 3, Dallas Stars 2 (Series tied 2-2)
Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Philadelphia Flyers 2 (PHI leads 3-1)
Buffalo Sabres vs. Boston Bruins, 2 p.m. (BUF leads 2-1)
Colorado Avalanche vs. Los Angeles Kings, 4:30 p.m. (COL leads 3-0)
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. (MTL leads 2-1)
Edmonton Oilers vs. Anaheim Ducks, 9:30 p.m. (ANA leads 2-1)
Four goals were the margin of victory through the first three games of the series, and Game 4 offered more of the same early on.
The score remained deadlocked through the first period. The minutes continued to tick away in the second until Taylor Hall finally broke the stalemate and gave Carolina the lead.
Less than two minutes later, though, Drake Batherson capitalized on a power-play opportunity and brought the Senators level.
Logan Stankoven is nothing if not consistent. The Hurricanes forward had one goal in each of the first three games, and he made it four in a row midway through the third period.
With the Senators’ season hanging in the balance, coach Travis Green pulled goaltender Linus Ullmark late into the third period. That allowed Sebastian Aho to have a wide-open shot at doubling the Canes’ advantage.
Dylan Cozens got one back for Ottawa, but it was too little too late. Another empty-netter from Aho assured Carolina of victory.
Matt Boldy played overtime hero Saturday night as the Minnesota Wild evened up their first-round series with the Dallas Stars.
The Stars were five and a half minutes away from a regulation win when Marcus Foligno tied the game with his first goal of the playoffs.
Jake Oettinger kept the Stars alive in the final six minutes of overtime with a stop on a point-blank chance from Boldy.
Boldy also had a kicked-in goal disallowed before he finally scored the winner with just over 29 seconds left in overtime.
The Wild will now have a chance to take a 3-2 series lead when the series swings back to Minnesota for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the playoffs to help the Penguins stay alive with a Game 4 victory.
Crosby opened scoring with first-period power play goal Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell then capitalized on a misplayed puck by Flyers netminder Dan Vladar to give the visitors a two-goal lead.
A goal-line save from Christian Dvorak and a tally from Denver Barkey helped the Flyers stay in the game in the second period.
Crosby then kicked the puck to Kris Letang for the go-ahead goal in the fifth period.
An empty-netter from Connor Dewar sealed the win as the Penguins forced Game 5.
Arturs Silovs, who made 28 saves in his playoff debut for the Penguins, could be back in net Monday night as the series swings back to Pittsburgh.
