NHL Games on TV Today – Sunday, May 3, 2026 (ET)
Sunday closes one door and opens another. The 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs deliver the first round’s only Game 7 – Montreal at Tampa Bay – and then swing straight into the Western Conference second round, with the Minnesota Wild visiting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.
Both games are on TNT, truTV and HBO Max in the United States, with Sportsnet, SN360, CBC and TVA Sports covering them in Canada.
Sunday’s NHL Schedule at a Glance
| Time (ET) | Matchup | Round | US TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 PM | Montreal Canadiens at Tampa Bay Lightning (Game 7) | First Round | TNT / truTV / HBO Max |
| 9:00 PM | Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche (Game 1) | Second Round | TNT / truTV / HBO Max |
🏒 Game of the Day: Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (Game 7)
6:00 PM ET | TNT / truTV / HBO Max (US) · Sportsnet / CBC / TVA Sports (Canada)
Six games, six one-goal decisions, four overtimes. This series has been the tightest of the postseason from the opening faceoff, and it now gets the ending it deserves – the first Game 7 these two franchises have ever played.
Tampa Bay stayed alive on Friday in the most nerve-shredding way possible: a scoreless 60 minutes at the Bell Centre before Gage Goncalves banged in his own rebound at 9:03 of overtime, moments after the Lightning killed a Nikita Kucherov tripping penalty. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for the eighth playoff shutout of his career, and Jakub Dobes was nearly his equal with 32 stops at the other end.
The history leans Tampa Bay’s way. The Lightning carry a .700 winning percentage into their 11th all-time Game 7, the best mark of any franchise with more than five, and they are 4-1 in Game 7s on home ice. They are also playing to avoid a fourth consecutive first-round exit – an outcome that would be hard to square with a 50-win regular season.
Montreal, though, has been comfortable in this building. The Canadiens are contesting their 25th Game 7 overall and can tie Boston for the most Game 7 wins in league history, while extending their own record for road wins in the scenario. Nick Suzuki, Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov have driven the offense all series, and Dobes has been the most surprising goaltender left in the bracket. The winner heads to Buffalo for a second-round meeting with the Atlantic champions.
Prediction: Montreal steals another one in Tampa – a low-event, one-goal Game 7 that goes the Canadiens’ way.
Minnesota Wild vs. Colorado Avalanche (Game 1)
9:00 PM ET | TNT / truTV / HBO Max (US) · Sportsnet / SN360 / CBC / TVA Sports (Canada)
Colorado enters as the most rested and arguably the most complete team in the bracket. The Presidents’ Trophy winners swept the Los Angeles Kings, closing it out with a 5-1 win in Game 4 in which Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added an assist. Cale Makar, Nicolas Roy and Devon Toews also scored, Gabriel Landeskog picked up two assists, and Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves. Jared Bednar’s team never trailed in the series in any meaningful way.
Minnesota arrives with less rest but real belief. The Wild ousted Dallas in six games to reach the second round for the first time since 2015, leaning on Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy’s clutch scoring and rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt. This is also the first playoff meeting between these two teams since 2014 – the series in which a teenaged MacKinnon made his postseason debut.
The blue lines make this fascinating. Makar and Quinn Hughes rank first and second in scoring among defensemen since 2019-20 and have combined for three of the last four Norris Trophies. There is a subplot on the Colorado side too: Brent Burns, drafted 20th overall by Minnesota in 2003, becomes just the fourth player in NHL history to face his draft team in a playoff series at age 40 or older.
Prediction: Colorado’s speed and rest tell early – Avalanche take Game 1 comfortably at home.
A winner-take-all opener and a heavyweight second-round debut in the same night. By the time the Denver game ends, the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs will finally be complete, and Buffalo will know who is coming.
