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.

The Montreal Canadiens have gone through the wringer to get to the Eastern Conference final. They're the only team to play the maximum 14 games through two rounds.

Of the 16 playoff teams, the Canadiens rank outside the top 10 in percentage of game time in the offensive and defensive zones. They're also outside of the top 10 in maximum skating speed, but they're sixth in the number of skating bursts of at least 22 mph and second in 20-to-22 mph and 18-to-20 mph bursts.

Part of ranking high has to do with playing more games than any other squad. Out of the four remaining teams, Montreal ranks second in average speed bursts of at least 22 mph, third in average 20-to-22 mph bursts and fourth in average 18-to-20 mph bursts.

That said, speed has been part of the Canadiens' game all year long. They were a top-10 team in speed bursts during the regular season. That makes sense considering they're the second-youngest team in the NHL, according to eliteprospects.com.

The Canadiens also rank in the top five in shot speeds between 90 and 100 mph, 80 and 90 mph, and 70 and 80 mph. They also sit top-three in high-danger shots on goal and high-danger goals.

One problem for the Habs is they lead in penalty minutes and have the fourth-worst penalty-kill percentage in the playoffs. Their their power-play percentage ranks fifth in the playoffs, however, and they have the second-best PP percentage out of the remaining four teams.

As for goaltending, the Canadiens rank fifth in team save percentage and third out of the remaining squads, according to naturalstattrick.com. The deeper teams go into the playoffs, the more goaltending matters.

Due to only playing eight games, the Canes don't have a large portion of data, but the numbers that they do have are impressive.

Despite not having many games, they still rank in the top 10 in speed bursts between 20 and 22 mph and 18 to 20 mph. This just shows how fast this team has played through two short rounds.

They led the NHL in offensive-zone and defensive-zone percentage in the regular season, and they're doing it now in the playoffs. Coach Rod Brind'Amour's possession-based system is so elite, and he's perfected it over the years.

It used to be a given that when a Hurricanes player crossed the red line, he was going below the goal line from a dump. Now, they're incorporating more controlled entries and skill to their transition game.

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.

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.

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.

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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