Welcome fantasy managers to another edition of the Eastern Edge. This week we'll be taking a look at each of the four playoff series in the Eastern Conference. 

Let's get to it!

Carolina Hurricanes / Ottawa Senators (CAR wins series 4-0)

The Carolina Hurricanes are on to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after disposing of the Ottawa Senators in a four-game sweep. The line of Logan Stankoven – Jackson Blake – Taylor Hall caused Ottawa fits all series long with the trio accounting for a combined 16 points throughout the four games with all three currently playing at or above a point-per-game pace.

Taylor Hall, in particular, has been shot out of a cannon to begin the postseason with two goals and five assists to lead the Hurricanes in scoring while line mate Logan Stankoven has been a thorn in Ottawa's side as the diminutive center scored in each of the four games to lead Carolina in the goal scoring department. The Canes' first line of Sebasian Aho – Andrei Svechnikov – Seth Jarvis were relatively held in check by the Senators safe for Sebastian Aho's three goals in the series, two of which came via an empty net at the end of Game 4. The 'Canes will need much more out of winger Andrei Svechnikov who went pointless throughout the team’s first four games of the postseason.    

In goal, Frederik Andersen is proving once again that, if healthy, he is a top-tier netminder who can provide elite level goaltending when on his game. The big Dane is having himself a phenomenal start to the postseason with an unblemished record going 4-0 with a 1.10 goals against and .955 save percentage including a 100% quality start rate. The veteran netminder is a big reason as to why the Hurricanes never trailed in this series making timely saves each time the Sens were able to enjoy any sustained offensive pressure.

Read it (if you can) and weep pic.twitter.com/5sycNryEK0

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) April 25, 2026

The Ottawa Senators' undoing quite simply comes down to the fact that the offense was limited to a grand total of five goals throughout the four games series. The Senators owned the league’s eighth ranked offense over the course of the 2025-2026 NHL season with 3.40 goals per game played, however, that was turned on its head with the club currently dead last out of the sixteen playoff teams with 1.25 goals per game played.

Captain Brady Tkachuk was non-existent in terms of point production as the brash American failed to register a single point the entire series. Star winger Tim Stutzle did not fare much better with only a single assist in the series final game, as we all know, to make a deep run in the postseason your best players need to be your best players which was simply not the case for the Ottawa Senators over the course of their first round series.

Goaltender Linus Ullmark was Sens-ational (pardon the pun) in this series regardless of the outcome as the 6'4" 223 lbs. Swede fashioned himself a 0-3-1 record accompanied by a 2.03 goals against and .931 save percentage including a 100% quality start rate. Ullmark did everything he could to keep the Sens within striking distance in each and every game but just did not receive enough run support at any point throughout the series. Injuries certainly came into play on the club's blueline with both Artem Zub as well as U.S. Olympian Jake Sanderson missed games during the team's four-game sweep, however there will be plenty of time this off-season for team brass to figure out what additions / subtractions need to be made to this group moving forward.

Buffalo Sabers / Boston Bruins (BUF leads series 3-1)

The Buffalo Sabres have taken a stranglehold of their first-round matchup against the Boston Bruins thanks to the beatdown they administered on Sunday to the tune of a 6-1 victory that was never in doubt from start to finish. The Sabres will look to close out the series on home ice tonight in what is sure to be a very loud and raucous crowd at the KeyBank Center.

Buffalo's first line of Tage Thompson – Alex Tuch – Peyton Krebs has had the Bruins on their heels on more than one occasion with all three playing at or above the point-per-game threshold while defenseman Bowen Byram is enjoying a superb start to the Sabres' postseason having registered a goal in each of the last three games playing an average of over 22 minutes of time on ice a night. Buffalo is getting some excellent secondary scoring as well with nine players having scored a goal so far in this series demonstrating the organization's forward depth throughout the lineup.

The teams goaltending has been on point safe for a rather large hiccup from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in game two as both he and teammate Alex Lyon have given Buffalo some rather solid play in goal up to this point. Lyon has been particularly incredible since taking over from Luukkonen in Game 2 with the 33-year old boasting a 2-0 record accompanied by a miniscule 0.89 goals against and .964 save percentage including a 66.7% quality start rate. Lyon has stymied the Bruins at just about every turn, limiting Boston to many one-and-done opportunities over the past two games in which he has started.

Alex Lyon vs Boston:

24 shots faced
23 saves
.958 SV%

Sabres take a 3-1 series lead back to Buffalo for Game 5. pic.twitter.com/b0TWvi6Qbv

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— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 26, 2026

On the other hand, Boston has not received the kind of goaltending that Jeremy Swayman had provided for most of the 2025-2026 NHL campaign. Swayman has not shown well at all in this series with the American Olympian sporting a 1-3 record accompanied by a 3.50 goals against and .899 save percentage including a 75.0% quality start rate.

The Bruins have been leaky defensively throughout their first round series ranking second last amongst playoff teams with 3.75 goals against per game (the Oilers have worse defensive metrics at 5.00 goals against per game). Combine that with the fact that Boston's offense is only generating 2.25 goals per game which ranks them 13th out of the 16 teams and one can clearly see why the Buffalo Sabres currently hold a 3-1 series lead with a chance to move onto the second round with a game five victory at home. In order to stay alive, the Bruins will need more from star winger David Pastrnak who has tickled the twine only once in the first four games, albeit with four assists pushing him over the point per game status (5PTS in 4GP). That goes double for first line center Elias Lindholm who has been relatively quiet having produced only one goal throughout the series’ first four games. Suffice to say, you know you are in trouble when the only plus players on the roster are two of your fourth liners (Sean Kuraly / Mark Kastelic) as well as third pairing defenseman (Andrew Peeke).

If the Bruins are to push this series to a sixth game in Boston, they will need to limit Buffalo's dominant first line while generating much more at the offensive end of the ice in order to give Swayman a little more "run support" than they've given him this series.

Montreal Canadiens / Tampa Bay Lightning (Series tied 2-2)

This series is playing out as many would have expected with two heavyweights trading body shots with neither squad backing down after the Lightning demonstrated their championship pedigree clawing back from a 2-0 deficit late in the second period of Game 4 to knot up their first round matchup at two games apiece.

Brandon Hagel leads the 2026 #StanleyCup Playoffs with six goals and has already matched the @TBLightning record for goals in a playoff series (4x; last: Brayden Point in 2021 SCSF).#NHLStats: https://t.co/xmKCCNou2p pic.twitter.com/6H0Apf3FNI

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) April 27, 2026

Brandon Hagel – Jake Guentzel – Nikita Kucherov have been a handful for the Canadiens in this series with each playing above the point-per-game threshold, easily out playing Montreal’s first line of Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield – Juraj Slafkovsky throughout. Slafkovsky in particular has been invisible since his hat trick in Game 1, going pointless in the following three games. Caufield has been held relatively quiet as well having scored only once to this point in the series with Tampa limiting his time and space leading to very few open looks for the Habs sniper. As for captain Nick Suzuki, he has been fed a steady dose of Anthony Cirelli's line which has been the main reason that Montreal's big guns have been held in check.

Goaltending has basically been a wash over the course of the series with Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy posting a 2-2 record accompanied by a 2.58 goals against and .882 save percentage. Meanwhile, Montreal rookie Jakub Dobes is sporting a 2-2 record of his own with a 2.60 goals against and .883 save percentage. Both netminders have come up big with some timely saves at key moments to give their respective teams a chance to come out victorious on a nightly basis.

In what has been a thrilling series between two evenly matched teams, it remains to be seen if the Lightning can lean on their cup experience to fend off a young hard charging Montreal Canadiens squad or can the Habs take the next step in their evolution and break through while assert themselves as one of the league's perennial contenders joining the game's elite franchises moving forward.

Philadelphia Flyers / Pittsburgh Penguins (PHI leads series 3-2)

Dan Vladar has raised his level of play exponentially since the start of the postseason as the 6'5" 209lbs goaltender has been everything the Flyers could have asked for and more. Vladar has fashioned a 3-2 record accompanied by a sparkling 2.03 goals against and .913 save percentage up to this point in the series. He has been a major reason as to why Philadelphia finds itself one game from eliminating their cross-state rivals.

Philadelphia has given Vladar plenty of offensive support as well with a total of 12 players having scored a goal in this series to the Penguins' seven. It has been a complete team effort from Philly's perspective both offensively with Philadelphia ranking eighth at 3.00 goals per game in the postseason and defensively as the Flyers rank third out of all playoff teams at 2.20 goals against per game.

That being said, Sidney Crosby has been heating up over the last three games notching five points in the process with the last two games being of the multi-point variety. Captain Canada has gotten some support on the offensive in the form of winger Rickard Rakell who has posted four points in five games as well as Evgeni Malkin – Kris Letang – Connor Dewar with each player potting two goals apiece over the course of the first five games.

Arturs Silovs saved 18/20 shots in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win against Philadelphia in game 5 of the series tonight!

The Penguins have won 2 games with Silovs in net

3-2 series lead for the Philadelphia Flyers pic.twitter.com/DF0KlzMEc4

— Maietta Sports Media (@MaiettaSports) April 28, 2026

The biggest reason Pittsburgh has been able to claw back in this series is the phenomenal play of Arturs Silovs since taking over from Stuart Skinner in game four. All Silovs has done is fashion a 2-0 record accompanied by a tidy 2.00 goals against and .920 save percentage including a 100% quality start rate. The former Vancouver Canuck has looked calm and steady in the crease and will need to continue doing just that if the Pens hope to pull off what would be a massive comeback in this series.

Can the Buffalo Sabres close out the Bruins in Game 5 at the KeyBank Center? Will the Flyers be able to wrestle momentum back into their favor for game six in Philly? Who will take a pivotal game five in the Montreal – Tampa Bay series?

Buckle up folks! It's about to get interesting.              

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on X @mikeouellet9 or BlueSky @mikeouellet9.bsky.social

(All stats courtesy of: Dobber's Frozen Tools)

See you all again next Tuesday!