NHL Games on TV Today – Tuesday, May 26, 2026 (ET)
One game on the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs schedule tonight, and a place in the Stanley Cup Final is on the line. The Vegas Golden Knights host Game 4 of the Western Conference Final holding a 3-0 series lead over the Colorado Avalanche and a chance to sweep the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
Coverage is on ESPN in the United States, with Sportsnet, CBC and TVA Sports carrying it in Canada.
Tuesday’s NHL Schedule at a Glance
| Time (ET) | Matchup | Series Status | US TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 PM | Colorado Avalanche at Vegas Golden Knights (Game 4) | Vegas leads 3-0 | ESPN |
🏒 Game of the Day: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vegas Golden Knights (Game 4)
9:00 PM ET | ESPN (US) · Sportsnet / CBC / TVA Sports (Canada)
Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena produced the swing of the postseason. Colorado built a 3-0 first-period lead through Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and a Jack Drury short-handed breakaway, and then lost the game 5-3.
The turn began with a Pavel Dorofeyev power-play goal waved off and upheld on review, and accelerated the moment Mark Stone returned to the lineup for the first time since Game 1 and scored 19 seconds into the second period. William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar followed with their first goals of the playoffs, and Tomas Hertl broke the tie at 8:21 of the third, dancing around Sam Malinski before beating Scott Wedgewood with a backhand.
The context is almost hard to believe. Vegas had been 0-19 in the playoffs when trailing by three goals; Colorado had been 74-1 when holding a three-goal lead. John Tortorella said afterward he wanted his group to feel what it had just done before going back to work.
Colorado’s outlook is bleak. Jared Bednar described the mood as low as it can get and gave his team 24 to 36 hours to regroup. Cale Makar returned for Game 3 after missing two games, but Nathan MacKinnon was hobbled after blocking a shot with his leg in the second period and may not be fully healthy. Only four teams in NHL history have recovered from a 3-0 series deficit, Los Angeles in 2014 being the most recent, and teams leading a semifinal series 3-0 are 49-0 all time.
Vegas is chasing its third Stanley Cup Final appearance after 2018 and 2023. For Colorado, a sweep would end a Presidents’ Trophy season in the harshest possible way – Chicago in 2013 remains the last team to win both the trophy and the Cup in the same year.
Prediction: Vegas finishes it – the Golden Knights complete the sweep and book their Stanley Cup Final ticket.
In the East: Carolina Keeps Winning in Overtime
Andrei Svechnikov scored at 14:06 of overtime on Monday to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 win at the Bell Centre and a 2-1 series lead. He took a pass from Seth Jarvis above the right circle and beat Jakub Dobes through a Sebastian Aho screen, moments after Lane Hutson turned the puck over in the neutral zone.
Shayne Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall scored in regulation for Carolina, with Frederik Andersen making just 11 saves. Mike Matheson and Hutson replied for Montreal, and Dobes was superb with 35 stops. The Canadiens also had what would have been Noah Dobson’s first career playoff goal wiped out for offside.
Carolina is now 5-0 in overtime this postseason – only the fourth team in NHL history to win at least its first five overtime games in a single playoff run – and 10-1 overall. Game 4 is Wednesday in Montreal.
If Vegas closes tonight, the Golden Knights get a long rest while the East sorts itself out. Colorado, meanwhile, is playing to avoid one of the most jarring endings a 121-point season could have.
