* The Senators and Golden Knights both clinched berths into the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with wins Saturday while the Oilers and Bruins also punched their tickets.
* Saturday marked the fourth time in the Wild Card era (since 2013-14) that four teams clinched a postseason berth on the same day. The others: March 28, 2024 (BOS, CAR, FLA & DAL), March 28, 2017 (SJS, ANA, EDM and NYR) and April 9, 2015 (NYI, DET, CGY & WPG).
* Anze Kopitar gave an emotional speech when addressing the fans in his final regular-season game in Los Angeles after the Kings defeated the Oilers to move within two points of third in the Pacific Division. They were one of several teams vying for a playoff position to pick up a win Saturday.
* A six-game Sunday opens with the Penguins and Capitals facing off on TNT in the second half of their back-to-back. Later, Beckett Sennecke and the Ducks take the ice in their final regular-season home game of 2025-26 with their sights set on clinching a playoff berth.
SENATORS CLINCH BERTH INTO STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS IN SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR
Jake Sanderson’s14th goal of the season was one of Ottawa’s three tallies Saturday afternoon as the Senators (43-27-10, 96 points) clinched a playoff spot by virtue of a win against the Islanders and the Devils defeating the Red Wings. Ottawa, which faced a standings deficit of 10 points on Jan. 30, moved past Boston (43-27-10, 96 points) for the first Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference thanks to the regulation wins tiebreaker (OTT: 37; BOS: 31).
* Sanderson (14-40—54 in 67 GP), no stranger to scoring crucial goals for the Senators after netting the overtime winner in Game 4 of the 2025 First Round against the Maple Leafs, is already one of two defensemen in franchise history with consecutive 50-point seasons (also Erik Karlsson: 5). He continued his offensive output in 2025-26 – his 14 goals are tied for the third most by a Senators defenseman in the past decade, behind only Karlsson (17 in 2016-17 & 16 in 2015-16).
* Ottawa overcame a double-digit standings deficit en route to clinching a playoff spot for the second time in franchise history after doing so in 2014-15 (max deficit: 14 points on Feb. 9, 2015). The Senators will make their 18th trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs dating to their postseason debut in 1997 – the most among all Canadian clubs through that span.
EICHEL NETS OVERTIME WINNER, SENDS GOLDEN KNIGHTS TO 2026 POSTSEASON
Jack Eichel scored the overtime winner – tying the second most in a single season and third most in franchise history – to help the Golden Knights secure their berth into the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vegas has spent 1,378 game days in a playoff spot since joining the NHL in 2017-18 – the most among all clubs and 10 more than the next closest (TBL: 1,368).
* The Golden Knights became the fourth franchise in NHL history to reach the postseason at least eight times in its first nine campaigns (EDM: 9x, NYR: 9x & STL: 8x). Vegas enters the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs looking to become the fourth franchise since the expansion era to make it to the Final three times within those first nine seasons, following Edmonton (5x), St. Louis (3x) and Philadelphia (3x).
* Eichel, who has the third-highest career points-per-game rate among American-born skaters in NHL history, enters the postseason with the sixth-most points in franchise history (10-33—43 in 40 GP). He can become one of the fastest American players in NHL history to reach 50 career playoff points – Brian Leetch (41 GP), Kevin Stevens (41 GP), Patrick Kane (46 GP) Craig Janney (46 GP) and Jeremy Roenick (50 GP) hold the current top five.
* ICYMI: Eichel was named the Golden Knights’ 2025-26 King Clancy nominee yesterday. His dedication to the community and to Best Buddies, an organization that creates opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, has spanned throughout his NHL career.
AND THE CLINCHES KEPT COMING AS THE BRUINS, OILERS PUNCHED THEIR TICKET
The Bruins and Oilers also secured their spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday – Boston did so by virtue of the Devils and Senators earning regulation wins versus the Red Wings and Islanders, respectively, while the Oilers did so after the Flyers defeated the Jets.
* The Bruins are returning to the postseason for the first time since 2023-24 when they made a Second Round appearance. Boston has made the playoffs for the 16th time in the previous 20 years (since 2006) – tied with the Capitals for the second most among all teams behind the Penguins (17). Boston has posted 17 series wins over that stretch, which trails only Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay (both w/ 20) for the most among all clubs. Those two clubs have already secured their spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Edmonton qualified for the postseason for the seventh straight year, which is tied for the second-longest run in franchise history behind 1979-80 to 1991-92 (13) and the NHL’s fourth-longest active streak behind the Lightning (9), Avalanche (9) and Hurricanes (8). Leon Draisaitl (41), Zach Hyman (35) and Connor McDavid (33) are the NHL’s top three playoff goal scorers since Hyman joined the Oilers in 2021-22 – the first of three appearances in at least the Conference Finals during that stretch.
SIX DAYS LEFT AND THEY WANT IN
With six days of the 2025-26 regular season remaining, there are still a number of teams in the hunt for a playoff berth – the Flyers, Capitals, Blue Jackets, Predators and Kings all collected crucial wins and points as they make their push towards the postseason.
* Porter Martone scored his third career goal and improved his point streak to four games while skating in just his seventh NHL contest and helped the Flyers (41-27-12, 94 points) maintain their two-point lead for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Philadelphia tied its most wins in a season since 2019-20 (41).
* Alex Ovechkin (1-0—1) recorded his 44th goal against the Penguins and Ilya Protas (1-2—3) recorded his first NHL goal and a three-point outing in his second career game to help the Capitals (41-30-9, 91 points) stay within three points of the Flyers. Ovechkin scored his 44th goal against the Penguins, which tied Bobby Clarke and Wayne Gretzky for the fourth most by any player versus the franchise. In case this was Ovechkin’s final game in Pittsburgh, the Penguins and their fans paid tribute to him with a video and a standing ovation. Public address announcer Ryan Mill said, “Ovi, thank you for 21 years of the greatest rivalry in hockey. It has been a pleasure. And if you want, we’ll let you go for 22.”
* Zach Werenski (0-1—1) factored on one of Columbus’ five goals and moved within one assist of setting the franchise record for the most in a single season as the Blue Jackets (40-28-12, 92 points) defeated the Canadiens to keep pace with the Flyers. Columbus, in action again Sunday, sat in last place in the Eastern Conference on Jan. 10 and was nine points out of a playoff position but has since posted a 22-10-5 record – tied for the fifth-most wins over that span. Should they secure a spot, it would mark the largest deficit they’ve overcome in franchise history to make the postseason.
* Steven Stamkos (1-1—2) scored to reach the 40-goal mark for the eighth time in his career and helped the Predators (38-32-10, 86 points) defeat the Wild (45-23-12, 102 points) to remain within one point of the final Wild Card position in the Western Conference. Stamkos tied Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille (all w/ 8) for the seventh-most 40-goal seasons in NHL history. The Predators forward is one of the League’s 12 players with 40 goals in 2025-26 – the fifth season in the past 20 years with as many, following 2022-23 (19), 2023-24 (17), 2021-22 (17) and 2018-19 (13).
* Artemi Panarin scored the lone goal and Anton Forsberg registered a shutout in the Kings’ 1-0 victory over the Oilers as Los Angeles (34-26-19, 87 points) moved within two points of Anaheim (42-32-5, 89 points) for third in the Pacific Division. After the final buzzer, captain Anze Kopitar gave an emotional speech when addressing the fans in what was his final regular-season game in Los Angeles.
* More notes from the Kings and every other team in action Saturday can be found in the latest edition of #NHLStats: Live Updates.
QUICK CLICKS
* Stanley Cup Playoff races remarkably tight with less than 1 week to go
* Red Wings ‘down’ after elimination extends playoff drought to 10 years
*Cole Caufield rocks childhood friend Drake Baldwin’s jersey before game
* Will Ferrell, Steve Carell attend Kings game together
* Bruins mark doubleheader with PWHL jerseys
DUCKS CONTINUE 2025-26 RESURGENCE WITH FINAL HOME GAME OF REGULAR SEASON
Beckett Sennecke (23-37—60 in 79 GP) and the Ducks (42-32-5, 89 points) return to action hoping to clinch a playoff spot in their final home game of the 2025-26 regular season as the 20-year-old rookie approaches multiple franchise records. Sennecke, one of five Anaheim skaters with 50 or more points this season, needs two assists to set the Ducks record for the most in a campaign by a rookie and can also set the franchise’s single-season rookie points record – a mark set by Trevor Zegras (23-38—61 in 75 GP) in 2021-22.
* Chris Kreider (22-26—48 in 73 GP) is also two points shy of joining Sennecke as the sixth Ducks skater to reach 50 points in 2025-26, which would tie 2006-07 for the most in one campaign in franchise history – a season that concluded with the club’s first and only Stanley Cup championship.
