NHL Games on TV Today – Thursday, April 30, 2026 (ET)
Thursday brings a short but brutal two-game slate in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and both games are elimination games. The Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks each lead their first-round series 3-2, and each gets a chance to close it out on home ice against a heavyweight opponent that has been here before.
Both matchups are carried nationally in the United States on TNT, truTV and HBO Max, with Sportsnet, SN360, SNE, CBC and TVA Sports handling the Canadian broadcasts.
Thursday’s NHL Schedule at a Glance
| Time (ET) | Matchup | Series Status | US TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:30 PM | Dallas Stars at Minnesota Wild (Game 6) | Minnesota leads 3-2 | TNT / truTV / HBO Max |
| 10:00 PM | Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks (Game 6) | Anaheim leads 3-2 | TNT / truTV / HBO Max |
🏒 Game of the Day: Edmonton Oilers vs. Anaheim Ducks (Game 6)
10:00 PM ET | TNT / truTV / HBO Max (US) · Sportsnet / SN360 / CBC / TVA Sports (Canada) · KCOP-13 and Victory+ locally
Anaheim has the two-time defending Western Conference champions on the ropes and a chance to end nearly a decade of waiting. The Ducks have not won a playoff series since 2017 – when they eliminated these same Oilers in a seven-game second-round classic – and they can close the door tonight in front of a Honda Center crowd that has waited a long time for a night like this.
The first attempt did not go to plan. Anaheim had a chance to finish it in Game 5 at Rogers Place and never got going, losing 4-1 as Leon Draisaitl scored twice, Evan Bouchard piled up three assists, and Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two helpers apiece. Vasily Podkolzin opened the scoring for the fifth straight game in the series, which is the pattern Joel Quenneville’s team desperately needs to break.
The counterweight is that Anaheim is built for exactly this kind of night. The Ducks tied for the league lead with 26 comeback wins during the regular season, and every single victory in this series has come after falling behind. Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry, Cutter Gauthier and defenseman Jackson LaCombe have driven the offense, while Lukas Dostal has been busy but resilient in goal.
Edmonton, meanwhile, knows the math. McDavid has been blunt about the size of the task – win in a hostile building, then win a Game 7 – but this is a roster that has reached back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and does not scare easily.
Prediction: Anaheim finally scores first, and a young Ducks team closes out its biggest win in nine years.
Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild (Game 6)
7:30 PM ET | TNT / truTV / HBO Max (US) · SNE / SN360 / TVA Sports (Canada)
Minnesota travels home to Grand Casino Arena with a chance to reach the second round for the first time since 2015. The Wild took control of the series with a 4-2 win in Dallas on Tuesday, powered by Kirill Kaprizov’s goal and two assists, a late second-period power-play goal from Matt Boldy, and a third-period strike from Michael McCarron. Mats Zuccarello also scored in his first game back from a three-game absence.
Rookie goaltender Jesper Wallstedt has been a quiet key for John Hynes’ team, stopping 20 shots in Game 5 with 11 of those saves in the third period. Add Quinn Hughes quarterbacking the power play and Brock Faber logging heavy minutes, and Minnesota has the structure it needs to squeeze a desperate opponent.
Dallas has a scoring problem that has become impossible to ignore: the Stars have converted just three of 117 attempts at five-on-five across the series, including an 0-for-40 stretch in Game 4. Jake Oettinger has kept them alive with 24 saves in Game 5, and Jason Robertson found one with the net empty, but the group is also missing Roope Hintz and Nils Lundkvist. Miro Heiskanen has pointed to simplifying the attack – more traffic, more pucks to the net – as the fix.
History favors Dallas in this matchup: the Stars won both previous first-round meetings with Minnesota, in 2016 and 2023, each time in six games. A Game 7, if needed, would be back in Dallas on Saturday.
Prediction: Minnesota finishes it at home in a tense one-goal game and ends an 11-year second-round drought.
Two games, two teams facing elimination, and two franchises chasing series wins they have not tasted in years. If the Wild and Ducks both deliver, the first round shrinks dramatically overnight – and the second-round bracket starts to take shape.
