The NHL 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs continue Thursday with Game 3s in three first-round series. Two of those contests could see teams pushed to the brink of elimination.
The Ottawa Senators are one of those clubs that will be looking to avoid that precarious position when they host the Carolina Hurricanes at Canadian Tire Centre. The top seed in the Eastern Conference, Carolina followed a 2-0 triumph in the series opener with a 3-2 double-overtime victory in Game 2 as Jordan Martinook, who failed to convert a penalty shot in the first extra session, scored at 13:53 of the second OT to give the Hurricanes a 2-0 series lead.
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Also hoping to get back in their matchup are the Los Angeles Kings, who welcome the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche to Crypto.com Arena. This series also has been low-scoring, which is a bit surprising since Colorado led the NHL with 298 goals during the regular season. The Avalanche won the first two games by identical 2-1 scores, with Logan O'Connor scoring the winning goal in the opener less than six minutes into the third period and Nicolas Roy tallied at 7:44 of overtime in Game 2.
Thursday's slate begins when the Buffalo Sabres visit TD Garden to face off against the Boston Bruins. Buffalo drew first blood in the series, rallying from a two-goal deficit with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period to post a 4-3 victory. But the Sabres' attempt to come back from being down by four in the latter half of the third in Game 2 fell short as the Bruins held on and evened the matchup with a 4-2 triumph.
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Pastrnak led the Bruins in the regular season with 100 points, making him just the third player in franchise history (Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito) to reach the century mark in four consecutive campaigns. The 29-year-old Czech right wing is tied for the postseason lead with five points and notched a pair of assists in each of the first two games of Boston's series against Buffalo. I like him to register at least one in Game 3.
Aho matched his career high with a team-leading 53 assists in 2025-26. The 28-year-old Finnish center set up at least seven goals in six of his first seven postseasons but has yet to do so in the matchup against the Senators. Carolina's line of Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake has accounted for three of the team's five goals in the series, so I expect Aho's unit to start revving it up offensively in Game 3 and believe he'll set up a tally or two.
Colorado's top five scorers during the regular season have been limited to a combined two assists by Los Angeles thus far. MacKinnon, who won the Maurice Richard Trophy with a career-high 53 goals, has yet to find the back of the net in the series. The Hart Trophy contender went three consecutive games without a tally just once in the last three postseasons and scored in all but one of the seven contests of the Avalanche's first-round loss to the Dallas Stars in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, so I believe he'll rediscover his touch on Thursday.
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