Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview and Live Thread - April 26

It starts in the afternoon in the frozen northern wastes, and then moves on to Canada: Which goaltender will show up today?

ELIMINATION: St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild, Game 6 (MIN 3 - 2 STL)

3:00 Eastern, NBC, Sportsnet

Well this is different. After being relegated to starts approaching their local bedtimes for TV, the central shitlord showdown gets prime matinee billing on NBC proper.

After falling behind early to yet another Tarasenkgoal, the Wild took Game 5 on the back of what was clearly the best shot quality in the world, 4-1 despite only getting 19 shots on goal (13 of which were in the second period). That's a .789 SV% for St. Louis's Jake Allen. What a strange game.

St Louis goes home if we see that Devan Dubnyk again.

We get Game 7 if the one from Game 4 shows up.

ELIMINATION: Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators, Game 6 (MTL 3 - 2 OTT)

6:00 Eastern, CBC, NBC Sports

You could really just copy and paste a lot of the above and change the names to fit. Ottawa have come back from the brink of getting 4-0'd to be on the verge tonight of forcing Game 7. They rolled Game 5 5-1, with those 5 goals coming on all of 25 shots, giving up 20 in the third as Craig Anderson backstopped one hell of a turtle. It's funny, after the story of Ottawa's run to the playoffs was goaltender Andrew Hammond, the story of their postseason may well turn out to be goaltender Andr Craig Anderson. He's played in 3 games and given up 4 goals, which, if you're not mathematically inclined, is decent, take my word for it.

We get Game 7 if Godlike Anderson continues.

Ottawa goes home if PK Subban chops off his hand Vader-style.