Speed, Pressure And Possession: The Common Thread Among The NHL's Final Four
As advanced analytics become more and more integrated into hockey, some NHL stats give a good idea of how a playoff series will play out.
That's the case for the conference finals during the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. NHL Edge has tracked puck and player data throughout the first half of the post-season and has given a glimpse of how the Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens made it this far.
Here are what some analytics say about the final four teams in this year's playoffs.
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Eastern Conference Final Impact
Carolina will try to poke at a Montreal defense that has given up 2.71 goals a game in these playoffs by cycling, winning puck battles and getting pucks on net. Carolina was second in the NHL during the regular season in shots, so Jakub Dobes will have to be on his game.
The Hurricanes can play a possession game all they want, but one thing they can't do is put Montreal on the power play. Montreal has scored on one-quarter of its power plays, which ranks tied for fifth in the playoffs. They generate so much pressure that it's nearly impossible to stop.
In the playoffs, they lead in offensive zone time on the power play, as well as defensive zone time on the power play. What Carolina does at 5-on-5, Montreal does on the power play.
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Vegas Golden Knights
The rise of Mitch Marner in the playoffs has put Vegas in a great position. The team plays and scores in the hard areas of the ice.
The Knights are first in high-danger goals and high-danger shooting percentage. There are three players tied for the most high-danger goals, and they're all Golden Knights: Mitch Marner, Brett Howden and Pavel Dorofeyev all have five. None of those players is even in the top five for high-danger shots either.
They're sixth in the playoffs for offensive zone percentage, which doesn't sound amazing, but they're second out of the teams remaining.
For skating speed, they rank between fourth and 10th in speed bursts of 22-plus mph, 20 to 22 mph and 18 to 20 mph, which is fine considering their goals are coming from the slot and not the rush.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche led the regular season in shots, goals-for per game, assists, penalty minutes, penalty-kill percentage, goals against per game, save percentage and, most importantly, wins.
For the playoffs, they have the highest skating speed hit so far with 23.92 mph, thanks to Cale Makar, who isn't even suiting up for Game 1. They're also first in at least 22 mph bursts. So basically, their top-end skaters are faster than your top-end skaters.
They're in first for mid-range goals, and they're in a three-way tie for long-range goals with five.
Although their power play has gotten better in the spring, they are still outside the top 10 in offensive zone percentage on the power play. They're tied for fifth with Montreal for power-play percentage, but the pressure isn't there.
NHL Playoff Predictions 2026: Who Will Represent The Western Conference In The Stanley Cup Finals?
The regular-season champion Colorado Avalanche are set to clash with the powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights in a heavyweight showdown in the Western Conference final. Can the Avs' league-leading offense overwhelm Vegas to push Colorado into the Stanley Cup final?
Western Conference Final Impact
High-danger goals are hard to come by in the playoffs due to the fact that teams are so structured and bought into the defensive side of the puck.
Vegas has the highest shooting percentage in the playoffs, so what happens when that lowers a bit? Will they struggle to generate offense from the perimeter?
Depending on how much time Cale Makar misses, Colorado will lose a lot of speed from their back end.
This series may simply come down to special teams, and if that's the case, Vegas leads the way on both ends.
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 4:02 PM.