When does the NHL season end?

There are just five Washington Capitals games left until they count again in October. That’s it. Just five. But when does the NHL regular season come to an end?

For the Caps it ends on Thursday April 13 on Fan Appreciation Night against the New Jersey Devils. As is the case for every team except four. That’s right the final day of the NHL regular season is just two games.

Those games are the Buffalo Sabres at the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Colorado Avalanche at the Nashville Predators. Like the Caps, the Predators playoff streak came to an end. Neither of those games are nationally televised unless you’re subscribed to ESPN plus.

Now here’s what the playoff matchups would look like if the season ended today. We’ll start with the Western Conference. The Winnipeg Jets would play the top seeded Vegas Golden Knights. The Seattle Kraken would face the defending Cup champs in the Avalanche.

The Dallas Stars would take on the Minnesota Wild. The Edmonton Oilers would face the Los Angeles Kings. Both promise to be good matchups and we’ll definitely root for Marcus Johansson and the Wild.

Now let’s look to the Eastern Conference where before I break down the potential matchups I’ll announce this, the Pittsburgh Penguins are out. We’ll not completely but by at least one point. The Wild Card race is getting spicy even without the Caps involved.

The Florida Panthers leapfrogged the Penguins and now occupy the first wild card spot tied with the New York Islanders with 87 points. So if the season ended today, the Islanders would play the President’s Trophy winning Boston Bruins which feature Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway.

The Panthers would face the Carolina Hurricanes who are first in the Metro. The Metro side of the bracket would be a Hudson River rivalry with the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils. On The Atlantic side the Toronto Maple Leafs and Erik Gustafsson would face the Tampa Bay Lightning.