On a special edition of The Athletic Hockey Show, the guys preview all four Western Conference Stanley Cup playoff matchups, discuss what to expect when the postseason begins on Saturday, and make their first round picks to close out the show. This episode was recorded live at 11:30am ET on April 17, 2026. 00:00 Intro 00:56 Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars 21:08 Utah Mammoth vs. Vegas Golden Knights 39:15 Anaheim Ducks vs. Edmonton Oilers 58:45 Los Angeles Kings vs. Colorado Avalanche 1:07:40 Predictions For more Athletic Hockey Show content: Join The Athletic Hockey Show Discord Server: / discord Follow The Athletic Hockey Show wherever you listen to podcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-ho... Follow our hosts on Bluesky: Max Bultman: https://bsky.app/profile/mbultman.bsk... Mark Lazerus: https://bsky.app/profile/marklazerus.... Jesse Granger: https://bsky.app/profile/jessegranger... Sean Gentille: https://bsky.app/profile/seangentille... Sean McIndoe: https://bsky.app/profile/downgoesbrow... Hailey Salvian: https://bsky.app/profile/haileysalvia... Scott Wheeler: https://bsky.app/profile/scottcwheele... Chris Peters: https://bsky.app/profile/chrismpeters... Follow our hosts on X: Max Bultman: https://x.com/m_bultman Mark Lazerus: https://x.com/MarkLazerus Jesse Granger: https://x.com/JesseGranger_ Sean Gentille: https://x.com/seangentille Sean McIndoe: https://x.com/DownGoesBrown Frank Corrado: https://x.com/frankcorrado22 Hailey Salvian: https://x.com/hailey_salvian Corey Pronman: https://x.com/coreypronman Chris Peters: https://x.com/chrismpeters Scott Wheeler: https://x.com/scottcwheeler Subscribe to The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Photo credit: saiah J. Downing-Imagn Images