TONY’S TAKE – 2026 CONFERENCE FINAL PREVIEW
- Tony Fiorello
- May 19
- 7 min read
by Tony Fiorello
Welcome to this year’s editions of the NHL’s Eastern and Western Conference Finals, where four teams will battle for the right to become the final two squads to square off for the most famous trophy in sports.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Each of these four squads have reached this round as recently as 2021 – while both Montreal and Colorado were last here in ’21 and ’22, respectively, this will be the fourth time in the last eight years (and third in the last four) that the Carolina Hurricanes will be playing for the Prince of Wales Trophy and the Vegas Golden Knights are among the NHL’s final four teams for the fifth time in their nine-year history.
Throughout the postseason, Buffalo Sports Page will provide you with series previews and predictions from the start of round one through the finals. Previews will become more in-depth as the playoffs roll along, but for now here is our analysis of the conference finals.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal Canadiens
The ‘Canes are paced by the usual suspects up front (Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis) along with newcomer Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere averaged nearly a point per game from the blue line (Jaccob Slavin, the team’s best defender, has had an injury-marred season). Goaltenders Frederik Andersen and Brandon Bussi split starting duties during the regular season but Andersen has reclaimed the job in the postseason with some stellar performances in net – helping the ‘Canes sweep both the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers in the process.
The Montreal Canadiens, led by coach Martin St. Louis, general manager Kent Hughes and president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, are in the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Led by holdovers from the 2021 roster that reached the Final like Brendan Gallagher, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson while blending in new faces such as Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Noah Dobson and Mike Matheson, the Habs certainly don’t lack talent. Sam Montembeault lost the starting job in net to Jakub Dobes, and while neither had an outstanding regular season Dobes had impressive performances in goal during the team’s pair of seven-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres.
While the two teams are comparable in goals for during the regular season (Carolina second, Montreal seventh), they weren’t in goals allowed (Carolina was fifth, Montreal 16th). The special teams advantage also goes to Carolina – while the Canadiens were 10th on the power play, they were a mediocre 18th on the penalty kill. Meanwhile the Hurricanes were fourth and 11th on the power play and penalty kill, respectively.
PREDICTION
Hurricanes in six. Even though Carolina hasn’t won more than one game in the conference final in 20 years (in their last four appearances dating to 2009, they’ve won just one total contest), coach Rod Brind’Amour’s smothering defensive system and general manager Eric Tulsky’s more experienced roster will win out here against the Habs. The ‘Canes will reach the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights
The Colorado Avalanche have been one of hockey’s best teams for years and are coming off a President’s Trophy-winning campaign as the NHL’s best regular season squad. Paced by all-world talents Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas, they’re supported by solid players like Gabriel Landeskog, Brock Nelson, Brent Burns, Devon Toews, Nazem Kadri, Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen. The pair of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood have split duties in goal.
Coach Jared Bednar’s Avs accomplished the rare feat of leading the NHL in both goals scored and goals allowed. They also had the league’s best penalty kill, however general manager Chris MacFarland and president of hockey operations Joe Sakic’s roster was curiously just 27th on the power play. That didn’t matter in the first two rounds of the playoffs though, as they swept the Los Angeles Kings in four straight games and knocked out the Minnesota Wild in just five games.
The firing of Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy in exchange for veteran John Tortorella has seemingly lit a fire underneath the Golden Knights, as they rallied to win their division after slumping late in the season and have defeated both the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks in six games. Backed by excellent talent in Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbashev, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl, Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson, Vegas is typically in the thick of things as a contender year in and year out.
Middle of the pack in goals scored and allowed, general manager Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey operations George McPhee’s squad also has special teams units that are ranked in the league’s top-10. Carter Hart, Akira Schmid and Adin Hill all got playing time in goal in the regular season but Hart has been Tortorella’s choice as the man between the pipes since the playoffs began and has responded with an inspired run.
PREDICTION
Avalanche in seven. While they had a relatively easy time with their matchups in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Vegas presents a tougher matchup than both the Wild and Kings. Colorado will be pushed to the brink, but the Avs will reach their fourth Stanley Cup Final since moving to Denver in 1995-96.
STATS AND MUSINGS
· Four ex-Buffalo Sabres are on the Hurricanes’ roster this year (Taylor Hall, William Carrier, Eric Robinson and Nic Deslauriers) while Montreal has none. In the Western Final, the Avs employ Victor Olofsson and Vegas has Jack Eichel and Brayden McNabb.
· In 2022, Colorado appeared in the Western Conference Final for the first time in 20 years – ironically, that 20-year drought came after the Avs got to the NHL’s final-four round six times in their first seven seasons in the Mile High City. Now they’re back in this round for the second time in five seasons.
· This will be Montreal’s fourth Conference Final/Semifinal appearance since 2010 (’14 and ’21 were the other years). Only Tampa and the New York Rangers (seven and five, respectively) have been this far more often among Eastern Conference teams in that time span.
· Additionally, the Canadiens are tied with the Edmonton Oilers for the most Conference Final/Semifinal appearances by a Canadian franchise since 2000 with four.
· According to Sportsnet Stats, the Hurricanes are the fourth team ever to have 10 or more days off between playoff games and they will have played just eight games in 36 days between their regular season finale on April 14 and Game One of the Conference Final on May 21. None of the prior three squads won their next series.
· Per NHL Public Relations, Montreal is the youngest NHL team to advance to a conference final since the 1992-93 Canadiens – both with an average age of 25.8 years.
· The coaching matchup between Brind’Amour and St. Louis will be the first Conference Final or later matchup in the 21st century between two head coaches who both won the Stanley Cup as players – St. Louis in 2004 with the Lightning and Brind’Amour with Carolina in 2006.
· When they were in Hartford and known as the Whalers, the Hurricanes lost five different playoff series to Montreal. Since their move to Raleigh, Carolina has defeated Montreal twice in separate runs to the Stanley Cup Final – can they do it a third time?
· Colorado and Vegas are the last two Western Conference teams to win the Cup.
· Montreal has had 30 total comeback wins this season including playoffs, one shy of their franchise record set back in 1976 and tied in 1993 – both years they ended the season with Cup wins.
· The Canadiens’ Game Seven win over Buffalo was their 17th victory in such games, breaking a tie with Boston for the most all-time.
· Alex Newhook had the overtime winner against the Sabres in that game, who also had the game-winner in the Habs’ Game Seven against Tampa in the first round. He became the 14th player all-time with a pair of career game-winners in Game Sevens and only the second with two in one playoff year (along with Nathan Horton who did it for the Bruins in 2011).
· Dobes is just the third Montreal goaltender to win two Game Sevens in one postseason and the sixth rookie in league history to accomplish the feat.
· Carolina has surrendered just 10 total goals in their four-game sweeps of Ottawa and Philadelphia.
· The Hurricanes have become the 24th team all-time to win eight or more straight games in one playoff run – 18 of those 24 have won the Cup. They’ve also become the fifth team all-time to start a postseason 8-0 (along with the 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers, 1968-69 St. Louis Blues, 1959-60 Canadiens and 1951-52 Detroit Red Wings) and they’re also the first to sweep their first two series since every round became a best-of-seven in 1987.
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