Hurricanes Eastern Conference Final Schedule set—sort of
It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - MAY 04: A general view prior to Game Two of the Second Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Philadelphia Flyers at Lenovo Center on May 04, 2026 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Cato Cataldo/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images Before the second round of the playoffs started, we were all on pins and needles as to when the Hurricanes would start their series against Philadelphia, all the while thinking “surely we’ll have a little bit of a heads up. ” The fact that the league announced the start of a playoff series less than 48 hours from Game One, the criticism they took for it, plus the NBA having an intricate outline available of what the schedule would be in an if/then format had people all across the NHL up in arms.
Apparently they listened because almost immediately the NHL started doing the same thing—essentially announcing game times multiple days in advance and having every scenario covered so fans and teams could be ready for what would come next. This even affected the Canes, as they knew going into Game Four against Philly they would have played Game Five in Raleigh at 7 PM after the league initially called it TBA. Once again the league seems to have decided it was time to be proactive instead of reactive.
On Thursday night, while the NFL was in the midst of their social media teams’ Super Bowl of publishing what their schedule would be, the NHL announced what the Conference Finals series would look like for both the East and the West, as well as which network was taking the broadcasts. Notably they did this during Game Five of the Buffalo/Montreal series, meaning they have accounted for the fact that the series could go all the way until Monday of next week. #NHL Conference Finals could begin as early as Tuesday May 19.
pic. twitter. com/bSYzcEKCYe — SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) May 14, 2026 The west is set and will start on Wednesday next week allowing for both teams to get a little bit of extra rest.