While we continue to wait for the release of the full first round schedule, the NHL announced this afternoon that the Bruins and Sabres will begin their series on Sunday in Buffalo.
Sunday afternoon? Maybe. Sunday evening? Could be! Sunday night? Anything is possible.
But hey, at least we know: Sunday.
The league didn’t announce any broadcast information along with that date, so their news release was about as little help as it could possibly be, but it’s something.
If you follow the usual cadence for
these series, we’d probably be looking at something like Sunday-Tuesday-Friday-Sunday, but there are occasionally extra days in between some of these games depending on availability.
The Celtics already have home playoff games scheduled for TD Garden on Sunday, Tuesday, and (if necessary) Tuesday, April 28, and Sunday, May 2.
With those dates in mind, the B’s home schedule for Games 3 and 4 shouldn’t conflict with the NBA at all.
At this point, it’s a little strange that the league hasn’t released a full schedule, especially in the Eastern Conference, when all of the match-ups are set.
I can understand maybe not releasing a full schedule with exact times and broadcast channels, as that will likely depend on how the Western Conference match-ups shake out.
However, you know who is playing who in the East, so it really shouldn’t be that hard to fill those dates.
I guess it’s easy to get impatient when you’ve waited a year to get back in the playoffs, eh?
If you’re interested in the other teams’ schedules for their respective series openers:
Saturday, April 18
- Senators at Huricanes, 3 PM
- Wild at Stars, 5:30 PM
- Flyers at Penguins, 8 PM
Sunday, April 19
- WC2 at Avalanche, TBD
- Canadaiens at Lightning, TBD
- Bruins at Sabres, TBD
- Mammoth at Golden Knights, TBD
Monday, April 20
- Pacific #3 at Pacific #2, TBD
The first round of the playoffs is always fun, as there seem to be two or three games on every night for like a week, so we’ll have a chance to get our hockey fix.
