2010 Stanley Cup playoffs#(4) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (8) Montreal Canadiens

Image:Hhof stanley cup.jpg]]

The top eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The top three seeds in each conference were awarded to the division winners; while the five remaining spots were awarded to the highest finishers in their respective conferences.

The following teams qualified for the playoffs:

1. Washington Capitals, Southeast Division champions, Eastern Conference regular season champions, President's Trophy winners – 121 points
2. New Jersey Devils, Atlantic Division champions – 103 points
3. Buffalo Sabres, Northeast Division champions – 100 points
4. Pittsburgh Penguins – 101 points
5. Ottawa Senators – 94 points
6. Boston Bruins – 91 points
7. Philadelphia Flyers – 88 points (41 wins)
8. Montreal Canadiens – 88 points (39 wins)

1. San Jose Sharks, Pacific Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions – 113 points
2. Chicago Blackhawks, Central Division champions – 112 points
3. Vancouver Canucks, Northwest Division champions – 103 points
4. Phoenix Coyotes – 107 points
5. Detroit Red Wings – 102 points
6. Los Angeles Kings – 101 points
7. Nashville Predators – 100 points
8. Colorado Avalanche – 95 points

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

{{#invoke:transcludable section|main|section=Bracket|text=

{{16TeamBracket|RD1-RD2-path=0

|RD2-group1=Eastern Conference

|RD2-group2=Western Conference

|RD1=Conference quarterfinals

|RD2=Conference semifinals

|RD3=Conference finals

|RD4=Stanley Cup Finals

|RD1-seed01 = 1

|RD1-team01 = Washington

|RD1-score01 = 3

|RD1-seed02 = 8

|RD1-team02 = Montreal

|RD1-score02 = 4

|RD1-seed03 = 2

|RD1-team03 = New Jersey

|RD1-score03 = 1

|RD1-seed04 = 7

|RD1-team04 = Philadelphia

|RD1-score04 = 4

|RD1-seed05 = 3

|RD1-team05 = Buffalo

|RD1-score05 = 2

|RD1-seed06 = 6

|RD1-team06 = Boston

|RD1-score06 = 4

|RD1-seed07 = 4

|RD1-team07 = Pittsburgh

|RD1-score07 = 4

|RD1-seed08 = 5

|RD1-team08 = Ottawa

|RD1-score08 = 2

|RD1-seed09 = 1

|RD1-team09 = San Jose

|RD1-score09 = 4

|RD1-seed10 = 8

|RD1-team10 = Colorado

|RD1-score10 = 2

|RD1-seed11 = 2

|RD1-team11 = Chicago

|RD1-score11 = 4

|RD1-seed12 = 7

|RD1-team12 = Nashville

|RD1-score12 = 2

|RD1-seed13 = 3

|RD1-team13 = Vancouver

|RD1-score13 = 4

|RD1-seed14 = 6

|RD1-team14 = Los Angeles

|RD1-score14 = 2

|RD1-seed15 = 4

|RD1-team15 = Phoenix

|RD1-score15 = 3

|RD1-seed16 = 5

|RD1-team16 = Detroit

|RD1-score16 = 4

| RD2-seed01= 4

| RD2-team01= Pittsburgh

| RD2-score01= 3

| RD2-seed02= 8

| RD2-team02= Montreal

| RD2-score02= 4

| RD2-seed03= 6

| RD2-team03= Boston

| RD2-score03= 3

| RD2-seed04= 7

| RD2-team04= Philadelphia

| RD2-score04= 4

| RD2-seed05= 1

| RD2-team05= San Jose

| RD2-score05=4

| RD2-seed06= 5

| RD2-team06= Detroit

| RD2-score06= 1

| RD2-seed07= 2

| RD2-team07= Chicago

| RD2-score07= 4

| RD2-seed08= 3

| RD2-team08= Vancouver

| RD2-score08= 2

| RD3-seed01= 8

| RD3-team01= Montreal

| RD3-score01= 1

| RD3-seed02= 7

| RD3-team02=Philadelphia

| RD3-score02= 4

| RD3-seed03=1

| RD3-team03= San Jose

| RD3-score03= 0

| RD3-seed04= 2

| RD3-team04= Chicago

| RD3-score04= 4

| RD4-seed01= E7

| RD4-team01= Philadelphia

| RD4-score01= 2

| RD4-seed02= W2

| RD4-team02= Chicago

| RD4-score02= 4

}} }}

File:Canadiens vs. Capitals - 2010 playoffs.jpg

The Washington Capitals entered the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winner, earning the NHL's best regular season record with 121 points. The Montreal Canadiens qualified for the playoffs as the eighth seed with 88 points, losing the tiebreaker over Philadelphia on total wins (41 to 39). This was the first and to date only playoff meeting between these two teams. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series.

Montreal's point difference in the series was the fifth largest point differential (33 points) for a lower-seeded team beating a higher-seeded team in playoff history. It was also the first time an eighth-seeded team came back against a number one seed after being down 3–1 in the series, and the only time until 2023 when the Florida Panthers did so against the Boston Bruins. Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 45 saves and Tomas Plekanec won game one for the Canadiens with his goal 13:19 into the first overtime period. Washington forward Nicklas Backstrom scored the overtime winner in game two and completed a hat-trick with his goal 31 seconds into the first overtime period to give Washington a 6–5 win; Andrei Kostitsyn also scored a hat-trick during this game in a losing effort for the Canadiens. After a scoreless opening period in game three, the Capitals scored four times in the second period as they earned a 5–1 victory. Washington forward Alexander Ovechkin recorded three points as the Capitals won game four 6–3. Jaroslav Halak returned in game five for Montreal after sitting out the previous game and posted 37 saves as the Canadiens avoided elimination with a 2–1 win. Michael Cammalleri scored twice in the opening period of game six for Montreal and Jaroslav Halak made 53 saves as the Canadiens forced a seventh-game with a 4–1 victory. Montreal forward Dominic Moore scored the series-clinching goal late in the third period of game seven as the Canadiens hung on to a 2–1 decision.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Montreal Canadiens

|team2=Washington Capitals

|stadium2=Bell Centre

|stadium1=Verizon Center

|date1 =April 15

|score1 =3–2

|ot1 =1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030111.HTM

|1-1-1 =Michael Cammalleri (1) – pp – 12:36

|1-1-2 =15:33 – Joe Corvo (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Scott Gomez (1) – 07:34

|1-3-2 =00:47 – Nicklas Backstrom (1)

|1-4-1 =Tomas Plekanec (1) – 13:19

|1-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Jaroslav Halak 45 saves / 47 shots

|goalie1-2 =Jose Theodore 35 saves / 38 shots

|date2 =April 17

|score2 =5–6

|ot2 =1

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030112.HTM

|2-1-1 =Brian Gionta (1) – 01:00
Andrei Kostitsyn (1) – 07:58

|2-1-2 =10:21 – Eric Fehr (1)

|2-2-1 =Andrei Kostitsyn (2) – 11:06
Andrei Kostitsyn (3) – pp – 17:44

|2-2-2 =18:23 – Nicklas Backstrom (2)

|2-3-1 =Tomas Plekanec (2) – 14:54

|2-3-2 =02:56 – Alexander Ovechkin (1)
09:47 – Nicklas Backstrom (3)
18:39 – John Carlson (1)

|2-4-1 =No scoring

|2-4-2 =00:31 – Nicklas Backstrom (4)

|goalie2-1 =Jaroslav Halak 31 saves / 37 shots

|goalie2-2 =Jose Theodore 0 saves / 2 shots
Semyon Varlamov 19 saves / 22 shots

|date3 =April 19

|score3 =5–1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030113.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Boyd Gordon (1) – sh – 01:06
Brooks Laich (1) – 04:42
Eric Fehr (2) – 08:33
Alexander Ovechkin (2) – 13:50

|3-3-1 =02:25 – pp – Tomas Plekanec (3)

|3-3-2 =Matt Bradley (1) – 19:15

|goalie3-1 =Jaroslav Halak 10 saves / 13 shots
Carey Price 21 saves / 23 shots

|goalie3-2 =Semyon Varlamov 26 saves / 27 shots

|date4 =April 21

|score4 =6–3

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030114.HTM

|4-1-1 =09:12 – Michael Cammalleri (2)

|4-1-2 =Alexander Ovechkin (3) – pp – 08:10

|4-2-1 =15:42 – pp – Brian Gionta (2)

|4-2-2 =Mike Knuble (1) – sh – 19:53

|4-3-1 =18:42 – Dominic Moore (1)

|4-3-2 =Alexander Ovechkin (4) – 11:09
Jason Chimera (1) – 12:01
Mike Knuble (2) – en – 17:33
Nicklas Backstrom (5) – en – 19:49

|goalie4-1 =Carey Price 32 saves / 36 shots

|goalie4-2 =Semyon Varlamov 36 saves / 39 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =2–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030115.HTM

|5-1-1 =Michael Cammalleri (3) – 01:30
Travis Moen (1) – 07:01

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =03:52 – Alexander Ovechkin (5)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Jaroslav Halak 37 saves / 38 shots

|goalie5-2 =Semyon Varlamov 26 saves / 28 shots

|date6 =April 26

|score6 =1–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030116.HTM

|6-1-1 =07:30 – pp – Michael Cammalleri (4)
09:09 – Michael Cammalleri (5)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =04:17 – Maxim Lapierre (1)
19:03 – en – Tomas Plekanec (4)

|6-3-2 =Eric Fehr (3) – 15:10

|goalie6-1 =Jaroslav Halak 53 saves / 54 shots

|goalie6-2 =Semyon Varlamov 18 saves / 21 shots

|date7 =April 28

|score7 =2–1

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030117.HTM

|7-1-1 =Marc-Andre Bergeron (1) – pp – 19:30

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =No scoring

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =Dominic Moore (2) – 16:24

|7-3-2 =17:44 – Brooks Laich (2)

|goalie7-1 =Jaroslav Halak 41 saves / 42 shots

|goalie7-2 =Semyon Varlamov 14 saves / 16 shots

|series = Montreal won series 4–3

}}

The New Jersey Devils entered the playoffs as the second overall seed in the Eastern Conference after winning the Atlantic Division with 103 points. The Philadelphia Flyers qualified as the seventh seed with 88 points, winning the tiebreaker over Montreal on total wins (41 to 39). This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the teams splitting the four previous series. They last met in the 2004 Eastern Conference quarterfinals where Philadelphia won in five games. Philadelphia won five of the six games during this year's regular season series.

The Flyers upset the Devils in five games. Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher made 23 saves in game one as the Flyers took the opening game 2–1. Devils forward Dainius Zubrus broke the tie in game two with just over four minutes remaining in the game as New Jersey evened the series with 5–3 victory. Daniel Carcillo scored the overtime winner for the Flyers in a 3–2 win in game three. Brian Boucher made 30 saves and Jeff Carter added two goals in game four as the Flyers pushed New Jersey to the brink of elimination with a 4–1 triumph. Philadelphia ended the series in game five with a 3–0 shutout; Boucher made 28 saves in the victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=New Jersey Devils

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=Prudential Center

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =2–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030121

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Chris Pronger (1) – pp – 09:25
Mike Richards (1) – 16:27

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =17:17 – Travis Zajac (1)

|goalie1-1 =Brian Boucher 23 saves / 24 shots

|goalie1-2 =Martin Brodeur 12 saves / 14 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =3–5

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030122

|2-1-1 =Arron Asham (1) – 09:33
Claude Giroux (1) – pp – 15:30

|2-1-2 =02:45 – sh – Zach Parise (1)

|2-2-1 =Chris Pronger (2) – pp – 18:48

|2-2-2 =03:44 – Colin White (1)
13:25 – pp – Andy Greene (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =15:56 – Dainius Zubrus (1)
19:27 – en – Ilya Kovalchuk (1)

|goalie2-1 =Brian Boucher 28 saves / 32 shots

|goalie2-2 =Martin Brodeur 26 saves / 29 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =2–3

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030123

|3-1-1 =08:49 – pp – Claude Giroux (2)

|3-1-2 =Brian Rolston (1) – pp – 07:15

|3-2-1 =01:15 – Mike Richards (2)

|3-2-2 =Brian Rolston (2) – pp – 16:38

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =03:35 – Daniel Carcillo (1)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Brian Boucher 17 saves / 19 shots

|goalie3-2 =Martin Brodeur 31 saves / 34 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =1–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030124

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Ilya Kovalchuk (2) – pp – 12:24

|4-2-1 =09:08 – pp – Jeff Carter (1)
17:27 – Daniel Briere (1)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =04:10 – Daniel Carcillo (2)
09:28 – Jeff Carter (2)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Brian Boucher 30 saves / 31 shots

|goalie4-2 =Martin Brodeur 24 saves / 28 shots

|date5 =April 22

|score5 =3–0

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030125

|5-1-1 =Daniel Briere (2) – 03:16

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Claude Giroux (3) – 11:48
Claude Giroux (4) – pp – 13:47

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Brian Boucher 28 saves / 28 shots

|goalie5-2 =Martin Brodeur 17 saves / 20 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–1

}}

The Buffalo Sabres entered the playoffs as the third overall seed in the Eastern Conference after winning the Northeast Division title with 100 points. The Boston Bruins qualified as the sixth seed with 91 points. This was the eighth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Boston winning five of the seven previous series. They last met in the 1999 Eastern Conference semifinals where Buffalo won in six games. Boston won four of the six games during this year's regular season series.

The Bruins eliminated the Sabres in six games. Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller made 38 saves as the Sabres took the opening game of the series. Michael Ryder and Zdeno Chara each scored twice in game two as the Bruins overcame a one-goal deficit entering the third period, taking the game 5–3. Boston broke the tie in game three with a goal from Patrice Bergeron with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation time. Buffalo squandered a two-goal lead in third period of game four as the Bruins forced overtime; at 7:41 of the second overtime period Miroslav Satan scored the game-winning goal for Boston, giving them a 3–1 series lead. The Sabres extended the series in game five with a 4–1 victory; at the end of the game, five players were assessed penalties after an altercation including Boston captain Zdeno Chara who was given an instigator penalty.{{cite web|title=Sabres score early, often to force Game 6 against Bruins|url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/recap/_/gameId/300423002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717045314/https://www.espn.com/nhl/recap/_/gameId/300423002|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 17, 2020|date=April 24, 2010|access-date=July 16, 2020}} As the penalty occurred in the final five minutes of the game Chara should have been suspended for game six, but the league rescinded the instigator penalty after the game, allowing Chara to avoid suspension.{{cite web|title=Bruins' Chara avoids suspension for Game 6|url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/bruins-chara-avoids-suspension-for-game-6-1.959261|date=April 24, 2010|access-date=July 16, 2020}} Miroslav Satan scored the series-winning goal in game six as Boston held on to a 4–3 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Boston Bruins

|team2=Buffalo Sabres

|stadium2=TD Garden

|stadium1=HSBC Arena

|date1 =April 15

|score1 =1–2

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030131

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =04:52 –Thomas Vanek (1)

|1-2-1 =Mark Recchi (1) – pp – 09:30

|1-2-2 =14:10 – Craig Rivet (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Tuukka Rask 30 saves / 32 shots

|goalie1-2 =Ryan Miller 38 saves / 39 shots

|date2 =April 17

|score2 =5–3

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030132

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =02:55 – Tyler Myers (1)
12:00 – Matt Ellis (1)

|2-2-1 =Michael Ryder (1) – 02:35
Zdeno Chara (1) – 09:54

|2-2-2 =16:41 – Jason Pominville (1)

|2-3-1 =Michael Ryder (2) – 05:23
Zdeno Chara (2) – 07:23
Mark Recchi (2) – en – 19:40

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Tuukka Rask 26 saves / 29 shots

|goalie2-2 =Ryan Miller 26 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =April 19

|score3 =1–2

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030133

|3-1-1 =15:17 – Dennis Wideman (1)

|3-1-2 =Mike Grier (1) – 06:57

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =12:57 – Patrice Bergeron (1)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Tuukka Rask 32 saves / 33 shots

|goalie3-2 =Ryan Miller 27 saves / 29 shots

|date4 =April 21

|score4 =2–3

|ot4 =2

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030134

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Tim Kennedy (1) – 02:12

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Steve Montador (1) – 06:59

|4-3-1 =02:07 – pp – David Krejci (1)
06:40 – Patrice Bergeron (2)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|4-4-1 =07:41 – pp – Miroslav Satan (1)

|4-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Tuukka Rask 35 saves / 37 shots

|goalie4-2 =Ryan Miller 36 saves / 39 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =1–4

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030135

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =01:54 – Adam Mair (1)
18:54 – Jason Pominville (2)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =09:22 – Mike Grier (2)

|5-3-1 =Johnny Boychuk (1) – pp – 19:30

|5-3-2 =18:17 – en – Tyler Ennis (1)

|goalie5-1 =Tuukka Rask 29 saves / 32 shots

|goalie5-2 =Ryan Miller 34 saves / 35 shots

|date6 =April 26

|score6 =3–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030136

|6-1-1 =13:39 – David Krejci (2)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =01:01 – pp – Mark Recchi (3)

|6-2-2 =Patrick Kaleta (1) – 06:34

|6-3-1 =07:18 – David Krejci (3)
14:49 – Miroslav Satan (2)

|6-3-2 =Nathan Gerbe (1) – 07:40
Thomas Vanek (2) – 18:47

|goalie6-1 =Tuukka Rask 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie6-2 =Ryan Miller 28 saves / 32 shots

|series = Boston won series 4–2

}}

File:Bill Guerin 2010-04-16 (cropped).JPG plays in-front of the Senators net April 16.]]

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with 101 points. The Ottawa Senators qualified as the fifth seed with 94 points. This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with the teams splitting the two previous series. They last met in the 2008 Eastern Conference quarterfinals where Pittsburgh won in four games. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series.

The Penguins defeated the Senators in six games. Ottawa forward Jarkko Ruutu scored the game-winning goal in game one as the Senators took the opening game 5–4. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist as Pittsburgh evened the series with a 2–1 win. Evgeni Malkin broke the tie for the Penguins early in the second period of game three as they took the series lead with a 4–2 victory. Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliott was pulled in the second period of game four after allowing four goals; the Penguins won the game 7–4. Ottawa avoided elimination in game five thanks to a 56 save effort by Pascal Leclaire; Matt Carkner scored the game-winning goal at 7:06 of the third overtime period. Pittsburgh overcame a three-goal deficit in game six to force overtime, where Pascal Dupuis ended the series at 9:56 of the first overtime as the Penguins advanced past the opening round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Ottawa Senators

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=Scotiabank Place

|stadium1=Mellon Arena

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =5–4

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030141.HTM

|1-1-1 =Peter Regin (1) – 08:45
Chris Neil (1) – 14:08

|1-1-2 =03:03 – pp – Evgeni Malkin (1)

|1-2-1 =Chris Kelly (1) – pp – 01:20
Erik Karlsson (1) – pp – 13:14

|1-2-2 =10:22 – pp – Evgeni Malkin (2)

|1-3-1 =Jarkko Ruutu (1) – 09:40

|1-3-2 =05:16 – Craig Adams (1)
17:36 – Alex Goligoski (1)

|goalie1-1 =Brian Elliott 17 saves / 21 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 21 saves / 26 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =1–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030142.HTM

|2-1-1 =Peter Regin (2) – 00:18

|2-1-2 =08:45 – Sidney Crosby (1)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =15:48 – Kris Letang (1)

|goalie2-1 =Brian Elliott 29 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 19 saves / 20 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030143.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Alexei Ponikarovsky (1) – 01:17

|3-2-1 =01:53 – pp – Mike Fisher (1)

|3-2-2 =Evgeni Malkin (3) – 05:57
Sidney Crosby (2) – pp – 19:15

|3-3-1 =12:58 – pp – Matt Cullen (1)

|3-3-2 =Bill Guerin (1) – 04:27

|goalie3-1 =Brian Elliott 20 saves / 24 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 20 saves / 22 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =7–4

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030144.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Evgeni Malkin (4) – pp – 11:50

|4-2-1 =07:06 – Chris Neil (2)
10:59 – Daniel Alfredsson (1)
13:19 – pp – Matt Cullen (2)

|4-2-2 =Sidney Crosby (3) – 03:47
Matt Cooke (1) – 03:59
Sidney Crosby (4) –06:12
Maxime Talbot (1) – sh – 12:38
Chris Kunitz (1) – 18:11

|4-3-1 =07:37 – Jason Spezza (1)

|4-3-2 =Jordan Staal (1) – pp – 12:27

|goalie4-1 =Brian Elliott 15 saves / 19 shots
Pascal Leclaire 20 saves / 23 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 26 saves / 30 shots

|date5 =April 22

|score5 =4–3

|ot5 =3

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030145.HTM

|5-1-1 =Mike Fisher (2) – pp – 10:25
Jarkko Ruutu (2) – 11:33

|5-1-2 =18:05 – pp – Kris Letang (2)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =18:34 – Chris Kunitz (2)

|5-3-1 =Peter Regin (3) – 10:24

|5-3-2 =09:01 – Sidney Crosby (5)

|5-4-1 =Matt Carkner (1) – 07:06

|5-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Pascal Leclaire 56 saves / 59 shots

|goalie5-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 40 saves / 44 shots

|date6 =April 24

|score6 =4–3

|ot6 =1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030146.HTM

|6-1-1 =05:19 – Matt Cullen (3)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =01:51 – Chris Neil (3)
09:48 – Daniel Alfredsson (2)

|6-2-2 =Matt Cooke (2) – 10:56

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Bill Guerin (2) – pp – 07:03
Matt Cooke (3) – 12:24

|6-4-1 =No scoring

|6-4-2 =Pascal Dupuis (1) – 09:56

|goalie6-1 =Pascal Leclaire 39 saves / 43 shots

|goalie6-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 28 saves / 31 shots

|series = Pittsburgh won series 4–2

}}

The San Jose Sharks entered the playoffs as the Western Conference regular season champions with 113 points. The Colorado Avalanche qualified as the eighth seed with 95 points. This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams with Colorado winning two of the previous three series. They last met in the 2004 Western Conference semifinals where San Jose won in six games. San Jose won this year's four-game regular season series earning five of eight points.

The Sharks eliminated the Avalanche in six games. Chris Stewart scored for the Avalanche in the final minute of game one as they took the opening game 2–1. Sharks forward Joe Pavelski tied game two in the final minute of regulation time before Devin Setoguchi scored the game-winner on the power-play 5:22 into the first overtime period; evening the series at one game each. Colorado goaltender Craig Anderson made 51 saves and Ryan O'Reilly was credited with scoring the overtime winner after San Jose defenceman Dan Boyle scored on his own goal as the Avalanche won game three 1–0. For the third consecutive time in the series overtime was required to solve game four as Joe Pavelski won the game for the Sharks with his goal 10:24 into the first overtime period. Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves to earn a shutout as the Sharks easily won game five 5–0. After falling behind early in the third period of game six San Jose scored four unanswered goals to close out the series with a 5–2 victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Colorado Avalanche

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=Pepsi Center

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =2–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030151

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =John-Michael Liles (1) – pp – 12:38

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Chris Stewart (1) – 19:10

|1-3-2 =07:59 – Ryane Clowe (1)

|goalie1-1 =Craig Anderson 25 saves / 26 shots

|goalie1-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 28 saves / 30 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =5–6

|ot2 =1

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030152

|2-1-1 =Kyle Cumiskey (1) – 01:10

|2-1-2 =19:18 – pp – Manny Malhotra (1)

|2-2-1 =Chris Stewart (2) – 00:24
Milan Hejduk (1) – 04:08
Brandon Yip (1) – 17:30

|2-2-2 =03:43 – Rob Blake (1)
07:10 – Devin Setoguchi (1)
19:45 – Scott Nichol (1)

|2-3-1 =Chris Stewart (3) – 05:34

|2-3-2 =19:28 – Joe Pavelski (1)

|2-4-1 =No scoring

|2-4-2 =05:22 – pp – Devin Setoguchi (2)

|goalie2-1 =Craig Anderson 46 saves / 52 shots

|goalie2-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 17 saves / 22 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =0–1

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030153

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =00:51 – Ryan O'Reilly (1)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Craig Anderson 51 saves / 51 shots

|goalie3-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 16 saves / 17 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =2–1

|ot4 =1

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030154

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Dan Boyle (1) – pp – 01:12

|4-2-1 =03:27 – pp – Paul Stastny (1)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|4-4-1 =No scoring

|4-4-2 =Joe Pavelski (2) – 10:24

|goalie4-1 =Craig Anderson 43 saves / 45 shots

|goalie4-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 33 saves / 34 shots

|date5 =April 22

|score5 =0–5

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030155

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =08:25 – Logan Couture (1)
10:21 – pp – Joe Pavelski (3)
15:30 – Dwight Helminen (1)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =10:37 – Logan Couture (2)
13:24 – pp – Patrick Marleau (1)

|goalie5-1 =Craig Anderson 29 saves / 33 shots
Peter Budaj 3 saves / 4 shots

|goalie5-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 28 saves / 28 shots

|date6 =April 24

|score6 =5–2

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030156

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Joe Pavelski (4) – 00:47

|6-2-1 =06:14 – Marek Svatos (1)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =04:51 – Brandon Yip (2)

|6-3-2 =Dan Boyle (2) – 07:33
Joe Pavelski (5) – 09:02
Devin Setoguchi (3) – en – 19:08
Douglas Murray (1) – en – 19:29

|goalie6-1 =Craig Anderson 29 saves / 32 shots

|goalie6-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 16 saves / 18 shots

|series = San Jose won series 4–2

}}

The Chicago Blackhawks entered the playoffs as the second overall seed in the Western Conference after winning the Central Division title with 112 points. The Nashville Predators qualified as the seventh seed with 100 points. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Chicago won four of the six games during this year's regular season series.

The Blackhawks defeated the Predators in six games. Nashville scored four times in the third period of game one to earn their franchise's first-ever road playoff victory; they had lost all of their ten previous playoff road games. Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi made 23 saves in a 2–0 shutout in game two, as Chicago evened the series. After trading goals in the opening period of game three, the Predators struck three times in the final 40 minutes including a penalty shot goal by Martin Erat. Antti Niemi earned his second shutout of the series in game four as Chicago took the game 3–0. The Blackhawks tied game five late in the third period on a short-handed goal by Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa ended the game 4:07 into overtime, ten seconds after he finished serving a major penalty for boarding. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews capped the scoring in the first period of game six; that saw the teams exchange seven goals. The Blackhawks held on to win the series-clinching game 5–3.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Nashville Predators

|team2=Chicago Blackhawks

|stadium2=Bridgestone Arena

|stadium1=United Center

|date1 =April 16

|score1 =4–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030161

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =09:43 – Patrick Kane (1)

|1-3-1 =J.P. Dumont (1) – 01:31
J.P. Dumont (2) – 10:31
Jerred Smithson (1) – en – 19:12
Martin Erat (1) – en – 19:46

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Pekka Rinne 25 saves / 26 shots

|goalie1-2 =Antti Niemi 22 saves / 24 shots

|date2 =April 18

|score2 =0–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030162

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =08:44 – pp – Dave Bolland (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =04:18 – Patrick Kane (2)

|goalie2-1 =Pekka Rinne 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie2-2 =Antti Niemi 23 saves / 23 shots

|date3 =April 20

|score3 =1–4

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030163

|3-1-1 =13:00 – Joel Ward (1)

|3-1-2 =Tomas Kopecky (1) – pp – 17:35

|3-2-1 =04:00 – David Legwand (1)
09:52 – Shea Weber (1)

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =14:25 – ps – Martin Erat (2)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Pekka Rinne 26 saves / 27 shots

|goalie3-2 =Antti Niemi 31 saves / 35 shots

|date4 =April 22

|score4 =3–0

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030164

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Patrick Sharp (1) – pp – 10:57

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Jonathan Toews (1) – 12:55
Patrick Sharp (2) – 16:17

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Pekka Rinne 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie4-2 =Antti Niemi 33 saves / 33 shots

|date5 =April 24

|score5 =4–5

|ot5 =1

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030165

|5-1-1 =David Legwand (2) – 06:23

|5-1-2 =09:57 – Andrew Ladd (1)
14:53 – Niklas Hjalmarsson (1)

|5-2-1 =Joel Ward (2) – sh – 17:31

|5-2-2 =16:24 – Tomas Kopecky (2)

|5-3-1 =Martin Erat (3) – 01:34
Martin Erat (4) – 11:39

|5-3-2 =19:46 – sh – Patrick Kane (3)

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =04:07 – Marian Hossa (1)

|goalie5-1 =Pekka Rinne 27 saves / 32 shots

|goalie5-2 =Antti Niemi 17 saves / 21 shots

|date6 =April 26

|score6 =5–3

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030166

|6-1-1 =08:50 – Shea Weber (2)
15:44 – pp – Jason Arnott (1)
19:05 – Jason Arnott (2)

|6-1-2 =Duncan Keith (1) – 06:38
Patrick Kane (4) – 09:54
Patrick Sharp (3) – 12:03
Jonathan Toews (2) – pp – 19:29

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =John Madden (1) – en – 19:52

|goalie6-1 =Pekka Rinne 27 saves / 31 shots

|goalie6-2 =Antti Niemi 25 saves / 28 shots

|series = Chicago won series 4–2

}}

The Vancouver Canucks entered the playoffs as the third overall seed in the Western Conference after winning the Northwest Division title with 103 points. The Los Angeles Kings qualified as the sixth seed with 101 points, earning their first playoff berth since 2002. This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Los Angeles winning two of the three previous series. They last met in the 1993 Smythe Division finals where Los Angeles won in six games. Vancouver won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

The Canucks eliminated the Kings in six games. Mikael Samuelsson scored twice for the Canucks in game one including the overtime winner 8:52 into the first overtime period as Vancouver took the opening game 3–2. The Kings evened the series in game two when Anze Kopitar scored the game-winning goal in the first overtime period at 7:28. Los Angeles chased Vancouver starter Roberto Luongo from game three after he allowed four goals against on sixteen shots, the Kings held on to win 5–3. Vancouver forward Henrik Sedin broke the tie in game four with 2:52 remaining in regulation time as the Canucks evened the series with a 6–4 victory. Mikael Samuelsson extended his goal scoring streak to five games as the Canucks easily won game five 7–2. Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo made 30 saves in game six and Daniel Sedin scored the series-winner for Vancouver late in the third period of a 4–2 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Los Angeles Kings

|team2=Vancouver Canucks

|stadium2=Staples Center

|stadium1=General Motors Place

|date1 =April 15

|score1 =2–3

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030171

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Jarret Stoll (1) – pp – 00:54
Fredrik Modin (1) – pp – 13:06

|1-2-2 =03:09 – pp – Mikael Samuelsson (1)
08:31 – Daniel Sedin (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =08:52 – Mikael Samuelsson (2)

|goalie1-1 =Jonathan Quick 41 saves / 44 shots

|goalie1-2 =Roberto Luongo 25 saves / 27 shots

|date2 =April 17

|score2 =3–2

|ot2 =1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030172

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =07:33 – pp – Steve Bernier (1)
09:49 – Mikael Samuelsson (3)

|2-2-1 =Fredrik Modin (2) – pp – 10:58
Wayne Simmonds (1) – 11:33

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|2-4-1 =Anze Kopitar (1) – pp – 07:28

|2-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Jonathan Quick 24 saves / 26 shots

|goalie2-2 =Roberto Luongo 29 saves / 32 shots

|date3 =April 19

|score3 =3–5

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030173

|won3 =1

|3-1-1 =11:00 – pp – Drew Doughty (1)

|3-1-2 =Mason Raymond (1) – 02:09

|3-2-1 =04:06 – pp – Michal Handzus (1)
12:18 – pp – Michal Handzus (2)
13:21 – Brad Richardson (1)

|3-2-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (4) – 14:53

|3-3-1 =09:21 – Ryan Smyth (1)

|3-3-2 =Daniel Sedin (2) – 04:18

|goalie3-1 =Jonathan Quick 25 saves / 28 shots

|goalie3-2 =Roberto Luongo 12 saves / 16 shots
Andrew Raycroft 6 saves / 7 shots

|date4 =April 21

|score4 =6–4

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030174

|4-1-1 =13:26 – pp – Drew Doughty (2)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =05:56 – pp – Dustin Brown (1)
17:09 – Anze Kopitar (2)

|4-2-2 =Christian Ehrhoff (1) – pp – 03:36
Pavol Demitra (1) – 15:35

|4-3-1 =13:18 – Wayne Simmonds (2)

|4-3-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (5) – 07:29
Sami Salo (1) – pp – 12:16
Henrik Sedin (1) – 17:08
Ryan Kesler (1) – en – 19:43

|goalie4-1 =Jonathan Quick 31 saves / 36 shots

|goalie4-2 =Roberto Luongo 22 saves / 26 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =2–7

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030175

|5-1-1 =Michal Handzus (3) – pp – 14:24

|5-1-2 =08:50 – Steve Bernier (2)
17:32 – Alexander Edler (1)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =08:26 – Daniel Sedin (3)
13:31 – Mikael Samuelsson (6)

|5-3-1 =Fredrik Modin (3) – 05:02

|5-3-2 =04:38 – Pavol Demitra (2)
06:31 – pp – Mikael Samuelsson (7)
09:50 – Steve Bernier (3)

|goalie5-1 =Jonathan Quick 21 saves / 26 shots
Erik Ersberg 2 saves / 4 shots

|goalie5-2 =Roberto Luongo 24 saves / 26 shots

|date6 =April 25

|score6 =4–2

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030176

|6-1-1 =10:08 – Alexander Frolov (1)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =15:57 – Drew Doughty (3)

|6-2-2 =Steve Bernier (4) – pp – 08:38

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Kevin Bieksa (1) – 01:57
Daniel Sedin (4) – 17:57
Alexandre Burrows (1) – en – 18:53

|goalie6-1 =Jonathan Quick 18 saves / 21 shots

|goalie6-2 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 32 shots

|series = Vancouver won series 4–2

}}

The Phoenix Coyotes entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Western Conference with 107 points. The Detroit Red Wings qualified as the fifth seed with 102 points. This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with Detroit winning both previous series. They last met in the 1998 Western Conference quarterfinals where Detroit won in six games. Detroit won this year's four-game regular season series earning six of eight points.

The Red Wings defeated the Coyotes in seven games. Phoenix went three for four on the power-play in game one as they took the opening game by a final score of 3–2. Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg scored a hat trick in game two as Detroit evened the series with a 7–4 win. Petr Prucha scored the game-winning goal for the Coyotes in game three as Phoenix took the game with a 4–2 victory. Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard made 29 saves to shut out the Coyotes in game four as the Red Wings tied the series with a 3–0 win. The Red Wings broke the tie in game five just past the midway mark of the third period with two goals scored 70 seconds apart and held on to win 4–1. Phoenix forced a seventh game with a dominant special teams performance in game six recording three power-play goals in the victory. After a scoreless first period in game seven, the Red Wings scored four times in the second period en route to a 6–1 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Detroit Red Wings

|team2=Phoenix Coyotes

|stadium2=Joe Louis Arena

|stadium1=Jobing.com Arena

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =2–3

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030181.HTM

|1-1-1 =Tomas Holmstrom (1) – 12:17
Nicklas Lidstrom (1) – pp – 16:27

|1-1-2 =14:13 – pp – Keith Yandle (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =06:15 – pp – Wojtek Wolski (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =02:19 – pp – Derek Morris (1)

|goalie1-1 =Jimmy Howard 32 saves / 35 shots

|goalie1-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 38 saves / 40 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =7–4

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030182.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =10:23 – Keith Yandle (2)

|2-2-1 =Henrik Zetterberg (1) – pp – 06:27
Pavel Datsyuk (1) – 08:20
Valtteri Filppula (1) – 10:25

|2-2-2 =07:05 – Wojtek Wolski (2)
09:09 – Matthew Lombardi (1)

|2-3-1 =Justin Abdelkader (1) – 02:32
Henrik Zetterberg (2) – 13:54
Valtteri Filppula (2) – pp – 17:54
Henrik Zetterberg (3) – en – 19:12

|2-3-2 =09:24 – Shane Doan (1)

|goalie2-1 =Jimmy Howard 27 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 32 saves / 38 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030183.HTM

|3-1-1 =14:42 – Valtteri Filppula (3)

|3-1-2 =Sami Lepisto (1) – pp – 00:29

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Wojtek Wolski (3) – 19:28

|3-3-1 =09:59 – Johan Franzen (1)

|3-3-2 =Petr Prucha (1) – 08:16
Radim Vrbata (1) – 11:38

|goalie3-1 =Jimmy Howard 29 saves / 33 shots

|goalie3-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 29 saves / 31 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =0–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030184.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =15:33 – pp – Henrik Zetterberg (4)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =15:53 – Pavel Datsyuk (2)
16:18 – Henrik Zetterberg (5)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Jimmy Howard 29 saves / 29 shots

|goalie4-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 32 saves / 35 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =4–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030185.HTM

|5-1-1 =Drew Miller (1) – 17:04

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =09:45 – Ed Jovanovski (1)

|5-3-1 =Tomas Holmstrom (2) – 11:09
Pavel Datsyuk (3) – 12:19
Henrik Zetterberg (6) – en – 19:04

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Jimmy Howard 30 saves / 31 shots

|goalie5-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 25 saves / 28 shots

|date6 =April 25

|score6 =5–2

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030186.HTM

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Lauri Korpikoski (1) – sh – 04:10

|6-2-1 =02:51 – Brad Stuart (1)

|6-2-2 =Mathieu Schneider (1) – pp – 02:27
Radim Vrbata (2) – pp – 10:09
Wojtek Wolski (4) – 14:01

|6-3-1 =16:29 – Darren Helm (1)

|6-3-2 =Taylor Pyatt (1) – pp – 05:25

|goalie6-1 =Jimmy Howard 24 saves / 29 shots

|goalie6-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 31 saves / 33 shots

|date7 =April 27

|score7 =6–1

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030187.HTM

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =Pavel Datsyuk (4) – pp – 02:01
Pavel Datsyuk (5) – 03:42
Nicklas Lidstrom (2) – pp – 13:52
Brad Stuart (2) – 19:55

|7-2-2 =08:23 – Vernon Fiddler (1)

|7-3-1 =Todd Bertuzzi (1) – 06:35
Nicklas Lidstrom (3) – pp – 12:14

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Jimmy Howard 32 saves / 33 shots

|goalie7-2 =Ilya Bryzgalov 44 saves / 50 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–3

}}

This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with Montreal winning the previous series. They last met in the 1998 Eastern Conference quarterfinals where Montreal won in six games. Pittsburgh won three of the four games during this year's four-game regular season series.

The Canadiens defeated the Penguins in seven games. Pittsburgh scored four times on the power-play in game one as they took the opening game 6–3. Michael Cammalleri scored twice for Montreal in game two and Jaroslav Halak made 38 saves as the Canadiens evened the series with a 3–1 win. Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin's fifth goal of the playoffs broke a scoreless tie in the third period of game three as the Penguins earned a 2–0 victory; Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves to shut-out the Canadiens. Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves for Montreal in game four as Montreal won the game 3–2. In game five, Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in a 2–1 victory. Montreal forward Maxim Lapierre scored the game-winning goal in game six as the Canadiens won their fourth consecutive elimination game of the playoffs. Montreal's Brian Gionta scored twice on the power-play in game seven as the Canadiens eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions with a 5–2 win. Game seven was the last game ever to be played at Mellon Arena, the Penguins' home rink since the start of the franchise. Incidentally, the Canadiens were the winners of the first game played against the Penguins at Mellon Arena in 1967.{{cite web|url=http://nhlreference.com/teams/teamscores.htm?tm=PIT&yr=1967|title=Pittsburgh Penguins 1967-68 game log and Scores|publisher=Nhlreference.com|access-date=May 26, 2014}} The Penguins moved into the Consol Energy Center starting the next season.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Montreal Canadiens

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=Bell Centre

|stadium1=Mellon Arena

|date1 =April 30

|score1 =3–6

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030211.HTM

|1-1-1 =P. K. Subban (1) – 04:30

|1-1-2 =08:38 – pp – Sergei Gonchar (1)
13:27 – pp – Jordan Staal (2)

|1-2-1 =Michael Cammalleri (6) – 15:27

|1-2-2 =02:34 – pp – Kris Letang (3)
18:36 – Craig Adams (2)

|1-3-1 =Brian Gionta (3) – pp – 12:29

|1-3-2 =02:59 – pp – Alex Goligoski (2)
19:11 – en – Bill Guerin (3)

|goalie1-1 =Jaroslav Halak 15 saves / 20 shots
Carey Price 3 saves / 3 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 28 saves / 31 shots

|date2 =May 2

|score2 =3–1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030212.HTM

|2-1-1 =Brian Gionta (4) – 15:48

|2-1-2 =04:38 – Matt Cooke (4)

|2-2-1 =Michael Cammalleri (7) – pp – 07:29

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =Michael Cammalleri (8) – 17:06

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Jaroslav Halak 38 saves / 39 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 18 saves / 21 shots

|date3 =May 4

|score3 =2–0

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030213.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Evgeni Malkin (5) – pp – 01:16
Pascal Dupuis (2) – en – 19:45

|goalie3-1 =Jaroslav Halak 23 saves / 24 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 18 saves / 18 shots

|date4 =May 6

|score4 =2–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030214.HTM

|4-1-1 =02:34 – Tom Pyatt (1)

|4-1-2 =Maxime Talbot (2) – 03:27
Chris Kunitz (3) – pp – 05:18

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =02:07 – Maxim Lapierre (2)
03:40 – Brian Gionta (5)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Jaroslav Halak 33 saves / 35 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 22 saves / 25 shots

|date5 =May 8

|score5 =1–2

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030215.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =18:18 – pp – Kris Letang (4)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =09:50 – Sergei Gonchar (2)

|5-3-1 =Michael Cammalleri (9) – pp – 19:29

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Jaroslav Halak 23 saves / 25 shots

|goalie5-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 32 saves / 33 shots

|date6 =May 10

|score6 =3–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030216.HTM

|6-1-1 =01:13 – Michael Cammalleri (10)

|6-1-2 =Sidney Crosby (6) – 07:22

|6-2-1 =10:45 – Michael Cammalleri (11)
13:15 – Jaroslav Spacek (1)

|6-2-2 =Kris Letang (5) – pp – 05:21

|6-3-1 =11:03 – Maxim Lapierre (3)

|6-3-2 =Bill Guerin (4) – 18:36

|goalie6-1 =Jaroslav Halak 34 saves / 37 shots

|goalie6-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 21 saves / 25 shots

|date7 =May 12

|score7 =5–2

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030217.HTM

|7-1-1 =Brian Gionta (6) – pp – 00:32
Dominic Moore (3) – 14:23

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =Michael Cammalleri (12) – 03:32
Travis Moen (2) – sh – 05:14

|7-2-2 =08:36 – Chris Kunitz (4)
16:30 – Jordan Staal (3)

|7-3-1 =Brian Gionta (7) – pp – 10:00

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Jaroslav Halak 37 saves / 39 shots

|goalie7-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 9 saves / 13 shots
Brent Johnson 6 saves / 7 shots

|series = Montreal won series 4–3

}}

This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the teams splitting the four previous series. They last met in the 1978 Stanley Cup Semifinals where Boston won in five games. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series, including a 2–1 overtime win by Boston at the 2010 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park on New Year's Day.

Philadelphia became the third NHL team to come back from a 3–0 deficit to win a series, joining the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders as the only teams to accomplish this feat (the 2014 Los Angeles Kings became the fourth team to do this in 2014). Bruins forward Marc Savard ended game one with his goal 13:52 into the first overtime period, giving Boston a 5–4 victory. Milan Lucic broke the tie late in the third period of game two to give the Bruins a 3–2 win. Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask made 34 saves in a 4–1 Bruins win during game three. In game four, Bruins forward Mark Recchi tied the game in the final minute of the third period, however the Bruins came up short in overtime as Simon Gagne extended the series with a goal 14:40 into the first overtime period in a 5–4 Flyers victory. Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton made 23 saves in a 4–0 split shutout for the Flyers in game five; Boucher was injured in the second period and did not return to the game. The Flyers forced a seventh game with a 2–1 victory in game six. In game seven, Philadelphia came back from a 3–0 goal deficit to win by a score of 4–3.{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/breakingnews/article/809969--flyers-complete-shocking-comeback|title=Flyers complete shocking comeback|first=Howard|last=Ulman|work=Toronto Star|date=May 14, 2010|access-date=May 15, 2010|location= Boston|agency=Associated Press}}

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=Boston Bruins

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=TD Garden

|date1 =May 1

|score1 =4–5

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030221.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =02:39 – Steve Begin (1)
12:54 – Patrice Bergeron (3)

|1-2-1 =Ryan Parent (1) – 07:38
Chris Pronger (3) – pp – 15:48

|1-2-2 =11:43 – pp – Miroslav Satan (3)

|1-3-1 =Mike Richards (3) – pp – 12:37
Daniel Briere (3) – 16:38

|1-3-2 =07:25 – David Krejci (4)

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =13:52 – Marc Savard (1)

|goalie1-1 =Brian Boucher 41 saves / 46 shots

|goalie1-2 =Tuukka Rask 32 saves / 36 shots

|date2 =May 3

|score2 =2–3

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030222.HTM

|2-1-1 =Mike Richards (4) – 17:06

|2-1-2 =05:12 – Johnny Boychuk (2)

|2-2-1 =Daniel Briere (4) – 19:35

|2-2-2 =09:31 – Miroslav Satan (4)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =17:03 – Milan Lucic (1)

|goalie2-1 =Brian Boucher 24 saves / 27 shots

|goalie2-2 =Tuukka Rask 24 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =May 5

|score3 =4–1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030223.HTM

|3-1-1 =02:32 – Arron Asham (2)

|3-1-2 =Blake Wheeler (1) – 04:11
Miroslav Satan (5) – 05:45

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Mark Recchi (4) – pp – 02:30
Patrice Bergeron (4) – en – 18:08

|goalie3-1 =Brian Boucher 16 saves / 19 shots
Johan Backlund 0 saves / 0 shots

|goalie3-2 =Tuukka Rask 34 saves / 35 shots

|date4 =May 7

|score4 =4–5

|ot4 =1

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030224.HTM

|4-1-1 =19:06 – Daniel Briere (5)

|4-1-2 =Mark Recchi (5) – 15:37

|4-2-1 =04:28 – Chris Pronger (4)
08:35 – Claude Giroux (5)

|4-2-2 =Michael Ryder (3) – 10:56

|4-3-1 =14:20 – Ville Leino (1)

|4-3-2 =Milan Lucic (2) – pp – 03:49
Mark Recchi (6) – 19:28

|4-4-1 =14:40 – Simon Gagne (1)

|4-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Brian Boucher 33 saves / 37 shots

|goalie4-2 =Tuukka Rask 29 saves / 34 shots

|date5 =May 10

|score5 =4–0

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030225.HTM

|5-1-1 =Ville Leino (2) – 06:41

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Scott Hartnell (1) – 11:16
Simon Gagne (2) – pp – 17:53

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Simon Gagne (3) – 06:48

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Brian Boucher 9 saves / 9 shots
Michael Leighton 14 saves / 14 shots

|goalie5-2 =Tuukka Rask 27 saves / 31 shots

|date6 =May 12

|score6 =1–2

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030226.HTM

|6-1-1 =06:58 – Mike Richards (5)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =16:20 – pp – Daniel Briere (6)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Milan Lucic (3) – 19:00

|goalie6-1 =Michael Leighton 30 saves / 31 shots

|goalie6-2 =Tuukka Rask 25 saves / 27 shots

|date7 =May 14

|score7 =4–3

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030227.HTM

|7-1-1 =James van Riemsdyk (1) – 17:12

|7-1-2 =05:27 – pp – Michael Ryder (4)
09:02 – pp – Milan Lucic (4)
14:10 – Milan Lucic (5)

|7-2-1 =Scott Hartnell (2) – 02:49
Daniel Briere (7) – 08:39

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =Simon Gagne (4) – pp – 12:52

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Michael Leighton 22 saves / 25 shots

|goalie7-2 =Tuukka Rask 23 saves / 27 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–3

}}

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Detroit winning two of the three previous series. They last met in the 2007 Western Conference semifinals where Detroit won in six games. Detroit won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

The Sharks eliminated the Red Wings in five games. San Jose scored three times in less than 90 seconds in the first period of game one, as they held on late to a 4–3 victory. After trading goals in the first period of game two, Detroit took the lead in the second period before San Jose came back in the third period, getting the game-winning goal from Joe Thornton at 12:37. The Sharks forced overtime in game three after coming back from a two-goal deficit in the third period, Patrick Marleau scored the overtime-winner for San Jose at 7:07 of the first overtime period. Detroit forward Johan Franzen scored a natural hat trick in the first period of game four and he scored again in the third period to cap off a four goal, six point night as the Red Wings extended the series with a 7–1 victory. No other player would score four times in a playoff game again until Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored four goals for the Ottawa Senators in a 6–5 overtime victory in game two of the 2017 Eastern Conference Second Round series against the New York Rangers. San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves in the series-clinching win during game five.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Detroit Red Wings

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=Joe Louis Arena

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 29

|score1 =3–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030231

|1-1-1 =Daniel Cleary (1) – 11:40

|1-1-2 =09:05 – pp – Joe Pavelski (5)
10:01 – Dany Heatley (1)
10:24 – Devin Setoguchi (4)

|1-2-1 =Johan Franzen (2) – 04:45

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Brian Rafalski (1) – 02:57

|1-3-2 =00:50 – pp – Joe Pavelski (6)

|goalie1-1 =Jimmy Howard 23 saves / 27 shots

|goalie1-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 20 saves / 23 shots

|date2 =May 2

|score2 =3–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030232

|2-1-1 =Pavel Datsyuk (6) – 06:51
Tomas Holmstrom (3) – pp – 13:17

|2-1-2 =09:01 – pp – Joe Pavelski (8)
10:32 – Ryane Clowe (2)

|2-2-1 =Nicklas Lidstrom (4) – 02:00

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =04:40 – pp – Joe Pavelski (9)
12:37 – Joe Thornton (1)

|goalie2-1 =Jimmy Howard 41 saves / 45 shots

|goalie2-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 28 saves / 31 shots

|date3 =May 4

|score3 =4–3

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030233

|3-1-1 =13:33 – Tomas Holmstrom (4)
18:37 – Daniel Cleary (2)

|3-1-2 =Devin Setoguchi (5) – 19:56

|3-2-1 =01:42 – Henrik Zetterberg (7)

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Joe Thornton (2) – 06:42
Logan Couture (3) – 13:17

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =Patrick Marleau (2) – 07:07

|goalie3-1 =Jimmy Howard 29 saves / 33 shots

|goalie3-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 32 saves / 35 shots

|date4 =May 6

|score4 =1–7

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030234

|4-1-1 =05:40 – pp – Todd Bertuzzi (2)
07:50 – Johan Franzen (3)
10:43 – Johan Franzen (4)
11:16 – Johan Franzen (5)
18:50 – Valtteri Filppula (4)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =03:05 – pp – Brian Rafalski (2)

|4-2-2 =Dany Heatley (2) – pp – 19:11

|4-3-1 =07:33 – pp – Johan Franzen (6)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Jimmy Howard 28 saves / 29 shots

|goalie4-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 4 saves / 9 shots
Thomas Greiss 26 saves / 28 shots

|date5 =May 8

|score5 =1–2

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030235

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Brian Rafalski (3) – 02:40

|5-2-2 =04:54 – pp – Joe Thornton (3)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =06:59 – Patrick Marleau (3)

|goalie5-1 =Jimmy Howard 30 saves / 32 shots

|goalie5-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 33 saves / 34 shots

|series = San Jose won series 4–1

}}

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Chicago winning two of the three previous series. They last met in the previous year's Western Conference semifinals where Chicago won in six games. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series.

The Blackhawks defeated the Canucks in six games for the second consecutive year in the second round. Five different Vancouver players scored in game one and Roberto Luongo made 36 saves in the opening game victory. Kris Versteeg's first goal of the playoffs broke the tie in game two with 1:30 remaining in regulation time as the Blackhawks evened the series with a 4–2 win. Chicago forward Dustin Byfuglien scored a hat trick in game three as the Blackhawks won 5–2. In game four Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews recorded a hat trick of his own (scoring all three goals on the power-play) as Chicago broke the game open in the second period and won by a final score of 7–4. Kevin Bieksa scored twice for the Canucks in game five as Vancouver avoided elimination with a 4–1 victory. After a scoreless opening period in game six the Blackhawks struck three times in the second period and held on to win the game 5–1, earning their second consecutive trip to the Western Conference Final.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Vancouver Canucks

|team2=Chicago Blackhawks

|stadium2=General Motors Place

|stadium1=United Center

|date1 =May 1

|score1 =5–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030241

|1-1-1 =Christian Ehrhoff (2) – 13:51
Mason Raymond (2) – 19:49

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Henrik Sedin (2) – 00:32
Kyle Wellwood (1) – pp – 10:59
Michael Grabner (1) – 16:21

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =02:07 – pp – Patrick Kane (5)

|goalie1-1 =Roberto Luongo 36 saves / 37 shots

|goalie1-2 =Antti Niemi 20 saves / 25 shots
Cristobal Huet 3 saves / 3 shots

|date2 =May 3

|score2 =2–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030242

|2-1-1 =Mason Raymond (3) – 01:22
Mikael Samuelsson (8) – pp – 05:02

|2-1-2 =07:40 – Brent Seabrook (1)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =06:49 – sh – Patrick Sharp (4)
18:30 – Kris Versteeg (1)
19:12 – en – Patrick Kane (6)

|goalie2-1 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 33 shots

|goalie2-2 =Antti Niemi 24 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =May 5

|score3 =5–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030243

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Kris Versteeg (2) – 05:19
Dustin Byfuglien (1) – pp – 16:47

|3-2-1 =09:07 – Jannik Hansen (1)
19:06 – Alexandre Burrows (2)

|3-2-2 =Dustin Byfuglien (2) – pp – 11:24

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Marian Hossa (2) – 07:45
Dustin Byfuglien (3) – 13:58

|goalie3-1 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 35 shots

|goalie3-2 =Antti Niemi 31 saves / 33 shots

|date4 =May 7

|score4 =7–4

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030244

|4-1-1 =01:34 – Kyle Wellwood (2)
14:36 – pp — Daniel Sedin (5)

|4-1-2 =Brent Seabrook (2) – 00:18
Jonathan Toews (3) – pp – 09:23

|4-2-1 =18:16 – pp – Alexander Edler (2)

|4-2-2 =Jonathan Toews (4) – pp – 00:27
Patrick Sharp (5) – pp – 12:47
Jonathan Toews (5) – pp – 15:22

|4-3-1 =14:37 – Henrik Sedin (3)

|4-3-2 =Tomas Kopecky (3) – 06:59
Dave Bolland (2) – en – 19:23

|goalie4-1 =Roberto Luongo 27 saves / 33 shots

|goalie4-2 =Antti Niemi 26 saves / 30 shots

|date5 =May 9

|score5 =4–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030245

|5-1-1 =Christian Ehrhoff (3) – 00:59
Kevin Bieksa (2) – 14:24

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Kevin Bieksa (3) – pp – 13:00

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Alexandre Burrows (3) – en – 19:15

|5-3-2 =12:51 – Jonathan Toews (6)

|goalie5-1 =Roberto Luongo 29 saves / 30 shots

|goalie5-2 =Antti Niemi 20 saves / 23 shots

|date6 =May 11

|score6 =5–1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030246

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =Troy Brouwer (1) – 02:00
Kris Versteeg (3) – 02:36
Dave Bolland (3) – sh – 19:15

|6-3-1 =03:44 – Shane O'Brien (1)

|6-3-2 =Patrick Kane (7) – 08:17
Dustin Byfuglien (4) – 08:42

|goalie6-1 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 35 shots

|goalie6-2 =Antti Niemi 29 saves / 30 shots

|series = Chicago won series 4–2

}}

{{see also|NHL conference finals}}

This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams with Montreal winning three of the five previous series. They last met in the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals which Philadelphia won in five games. This was Philadelphia's ninth appearance in the conference finals. They last went to the conference finals in 2008, which they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games. This was Montreal's sixth Conference finals appearance. They last went to the conference finals in 1993; which they won in five games over the New York Islanders. The teams split this year's four-game regular season series. Since adopting a conference based playoff seeding format in the 1993–94 NHL season this was the first Conference Final contested by the seventh and eighth seeds.

The Flyers defeated the Canadiens in five games. Michael Leighton made 28 saves in game one to earn a shutout as Philadelphia took the opener 6–0. The Flyers scored twice on the power-play in game two and Leighton shutout the Canadiens again in a 3–0 win. After being shutout in the first two games of the series Montreal scored five times in game three to earn a victory. In game four, Michael Leighton earned his third shutout of the series as the Flyers took a 3–1 series lead with another 3–0 win. Flyers forward Jeff Carter scored the series-winning goal in the second period of game five and added an empty net goal in the third period to seal the game as Philadelphia advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since {{scfy|1997}}.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Montreal Canadiens

|team2=Philadelphia Flyers

|stadium2=Bell Centre

|stadium1=Wachovia Center

|date1 =May 16

|score1 =0–6

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030311

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =03:55 – pp – Braydon Coburn (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =00:30 – James van Riemsdyk (2)
04:23 – Daniel Briere (8)
09:53 – pp – Simon Gagne (5)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =12:13 – Scott Hartnell (3)
13:26 – Claude Giroux (6)

|goalie1-1 =Jaroslav Halak 10 saves / 14 shots
Carey Price 9 saves / 11 shots

|goalie1-2 =Michael Leighton 28 saves / 28 shots

|date2 =May 18

|score2 =0–3

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030312

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =04:16 – pp – Daniel Briere (9)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =15:49 – pp – Simon Gagne (6)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =10:24 – Ville Leino (3)

|goalie2-1 =Jaroslav Halak 20 saves / 23 shots

|goalie2-2 =Michael Leighton 30 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =May 20

|score3 =1–5

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030313

|3-1-1 =07:05 – Michael Cammalleri (13)
16:52 – Tom Pyatt (2)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Simon Gagne (7) – 08:22

|3-3-1 =02:00 – Brian Gionta (8)
11:33 – Dominic Moore (4)
19:29 – pp – Marc-Andre Bergeron (2)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Jaroslav Halak 25 saves / 26 shots

|goalie3-2 =Michael Leighton 33 saves / 38 shots

|date4 =May 22

|score4 =3–0

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030314

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Claude Giroux (7) – 05:41
Ville Leino (4) – 14:53

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Claude Giroux (8) – en – 18:47

|goalie4-1 =Jaroslav Halak 22 saves / 24 shots

|goalie4-2 =Michael Leighton 17 saves / 17 shots

|date5 =May 24

|score5 =2–4

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030315

|5-1-1 =Brian Gionta (9) – 00:59

|5-1-2 =04:25 – sh – Mike Richards (6)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =03:07 – Arron Asham (3)
04:31 – Jeff Carter (3)

|5-3-1 =Scott Gomez (2) – 06:53

|5-3-2 =19:37 – en – Jeff Carter (4)

|goalie5-1 =Jaroslav Halak 22 saves / 25 shots

|goalie5-2 =Michael Leighton 25 saves / 27 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–1

}}

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. This was San Jose's second appearance in the conference finals. They last went to the conference finals in 2004, which they lost to the Calgary Flames in six games. This was Chicago's ninth Conference finals appearance. They last went to the conference finals in the previous year; which they lost in five games to the Detroit Red Wings. Chicago won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

The Blackhawks swept the Sharks in four games. Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi made 44 saves in game one as Chicago took the opening game 2–1. Chicago had a three-goal lead halfway through the second period of game two and held on to win the game by a final score of 4–2. The Sharks came back to tie the game in the third period of game three thanks to Patrick Marleau’s second goal of the game, however San Jose came up short in overtime as Dustin Byfuglien ended the game at 12:24 of the first overtime period, giving Chicago a 3–0 series lead. Chicago trailed by two goals near the halfway mark of the second period before scoring four unanswered goals to complete the sweep in game four and they advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in eighteen years.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Chicago Blackhawks

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=United Center

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =May 16

|score1 =2–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030321

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =11:19 – pp – Jason Demers (1)

|1-2-1 =Patrick Sharp (6) – 07:44

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Dustin Byfuglien (5) – 13:15

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Antti Niemi 44 saves / 45 shots

|goalie1-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 38 saves / 40 shots

|date2 =May 18

|score2 =4–2

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030322

|2-1-1 =Andrew Ladd (2) – 12:48

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =Dustin Byfuglien (6) – 06:59
Jonathan Toews (7) – pp – 08:29

|2-2-2 =11:08 – pp – Patrick Marleau (4)

|2-3-1 =Troy Brouwer (2) – 06:18

|2-3-2 =15:32 – Patrick Marleau (5)

|goalie2-1 =Antti Niemi 20 saves / 22 shots

|goalie2-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 23 saves / 27 shots

|date3 =May 21

|score3 =2–3

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030323

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =06:59 – pp – Patrick Sharp (7)

|3-2-2 =Patrick Marleau (6) – pp – 03:58

|3-3-1 =13:05 – Dave Bolland (4)

|3-3-2 =Patrick Marleau (7) – 15:37

|3-4-1 =12:24 – Dustin Byfuglien (7)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Antti Niemi 44 saves / 46 shots

|goalie3-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 35 saves / 38 shots

|date4 =May 23

|score4 =2–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2009030324

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Logan Couture (4) – 11:08

|4-2-1 =13:15 – Brent Seabrook (3)
18:38 – Dave Bolland (5)

|4-2-2 =Patrick Marleau (8) – sh – 07:35

|4-3-1 =14:05 – pp – Dustin Byfuglien (8)
19:18 – en – Kris Versteeg (4)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Antti Niemi 16 saves / 18 shots

|goalie4-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 23 saves / 26 shots

|series = Chicago won series 4–0

}}

{{main|2010 Stanley Cup Finals}}

This was the second playoff series between these two teams and the first since 1971 when the Blackhawks swept the Flyers in four games in the Stanley Cup quarterfinals. Philadelphia won the only meeting between these teams in the regular season. Prior to the 2010 Finals, both teams had previously lost in their last five consecutive Finals appearances (Chicago in {{scfy|1962}}, {{scfy|1965}}, {{scfy|1971}}, {{scfy|1973}}, and {{scfy|1992}}; and Philadelphia in {{scfy|1976}}, {{scfy|1980}}, {{scfy|1985}}, {{scfy|1987}}, and {{scfy|1997}}). Having lost in the 2010 Finals, the Flyers became the third team in NHL history to lose in six consecutive Finals appearances, after the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. It also was the first time since the Flyers themselves lost in 1987 that a team in the city of Philadelphia lost a championship in a non-presidential inauguration year (Phillies in {{wsy|1993}} and 2009 World Series, Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, Flyers in {{scfy|1997}}, and 76ers in 2001 NBA Finals).{{cite news|title=Two cities that could use a CUP|date=June 2, 2010|first=Ken|last=Warren|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|page=B3}} This was the first Stanley Cup won in overtime since the New Jersey Devils in {{scfy|2000}}.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=Chicago Blackhawks

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=United Center

|date1 =May 29

|score1 =5–6

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030411.HTM

|1-1-1 =Ville Leino (5) – 06:38
Scott Hartnell (4) – pp – 16:37
Daniel Briere (10) – 19:33

|1-1-2 =07:46 – Troy Brouwer (3)
11:50 – sh – Dave Bolland (6)

|1-2-1 =Blair Betts (1) – 07:20
Arron Asham (4) – 18:49

|1-2-2 =01:11 – Patrick Sharp (8)
09:31 – Kris Versteeg (5)
15:18 – Troy Brouwer (4)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =08:25 – Tomas Kopecky (4)

|goalie1-1 =Michael Leighton 15 saves / 20 shots
Brian Boucher 11 saves / 12 shots

|goalie1-2 =Antti Niemi 27 saves / 32 shots

|date2 =May 31

|score2 =1–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030412.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =17:09 – Marian Hossa (3)
17:37 – Ben Eager (1)

|2-3-1 =Simon Gagne (8) – pp – 05:20

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Michael Leighton 24 saves / 26 shots

|goalie2-2 =Antti Niemi 32 saves / 33 shots

|date3 =June 2

|score3 =3–4

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030413.HTM

|3-1-1 =14:58 – pp – Daniel Briere (11)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =09:55 – pp – Scott Hartnell (5)

|3-2-2 =Duncan Keith (2) – 02:49
Brent Sopel (1) – 17:52

|3-3-1 =03:10 – Ville Leino (6)

|3-3-2 =Patrick Kane (8) – 02:50

|3-4-1 =05:59 – Claude Giroux (9)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Michael Leighton 24 saves / 27 shots

|goalie3-2 =Antti Niemi 28 saves / 32 shots

|date4 =June 4

|score4 =3–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030414.HTM

|4-1-1 =04:35 – pp – Mike Richards (7)
14:48 – Matt Carle (1)
19:23 – Claude Giroux (10)

|4-1-2 =Patrick Sharp (9) – 18:32

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =06:43 – Ville Leino (7)
19:35 – en – Jeff Carter (5)

|4-3-2 =Dave Bolland (7) – pp – 12:01
Brian Campbell (1) – 15:50

|goalie4-1 =Michael Leighton 31 saves / 34 shots

|goalie4-2 =Antti Niemi 26 saves / 30 shots

|date5 =June 6

|score5 =4–7

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030415.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =12:17 – pp – Brent Seabrook (4)
15:26 – Dave Bolland (8)
18:15 – Kris Versteeg (6)

|5-2-1 =Scott Hartnell (6) – 00:32
Kimmo Timonen (1) – 04:38

|5-2-2 =03:13 – Patrick Kane (9)
15:45 – pp – Dustin Byfuglien (9)

|5-3-1 =James van Riemsdyk (3) – 06:36
Simon Gagne (9) – 17:24

|5-3-2 =16:08 – Patrick Sharp (10)
17:55 – en – Dustin Byfuglien (10)

|goalie5-1 =Michael Leighton 10 saves / 13 shots
Brian Boucher 11 saves / 14 shots

|goalie5-2 =Antti Niemi 23 saves / 27 shots

|date6 =June 9

|score6 =4–3

|ot6 =1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/GS030416.HTM

|6-1-1 =19:33 – pp – Scott Hartnell (7)

|6-1-2 =Dustin Byfuglien (11) – pp – 16:49

|6-2-1 =08:00 – Daniel Briere (12)

|6-2-2 =Patrick Sharp (11) – 09:58
Andrew Ladd (3) – 17:43

|6-3-1 =16:01 – Scott Hartnell (8)

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|6-4-1 =No scoring

|6-4-2 =Patrick Kane (10) – 04:06

|goalie6-1 =Michael Leighton 37 saves / 41 shots

|goalie6-2 =Antti Niemi 21 saves / 24 shots

|series = Chicago won series 4–2

}}

These are the top ten skaters based on points. If the list exceeds ten skaters because of a tie in points, goals take precedence.{{cite web

|title=2009–2010 - Playoffs - All Skaters - Summary - Total points

|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/app?component=completePointLeadersList&page=statshome&service=direct

|publisher=NHL.com

|access-date=May 1, 2010

|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725114715/http://www.nhl.com/ice/app?component=completePointLeadersList&page=statshome&service=direct

|archive-date=July 25, 2010

}}

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus

This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage with at least 420 minutes played. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion are bolded.{{cite web |title= 2009–2010 - Playoffs - Goalie - Summary - Goals against average |url= http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20103ALLGAGAll&sort=goalsAgainstAverage&viewName=wlt |publisher= NHL.com |access-date=April 15, 2010 }}{{cite web |title= 2009–2010 - Playoffs - Goalie - Summary - Save percentage |url= http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20103ALLGAGAll&sort=savePercentage&viewName=wlt |publisher= NHL.com |access-date=April 15, 2010 }}

GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds)

National Canadian English-language coverage of the first three rounds of the playoffs were split between CBC and TSN. This was the second year of a six-year agreement in which CBC and TSN selected the rights to individual series in the first three rounds using a draft-like setup.{{cite web |url=https://playbackonline.ca/2008/06/03/tsn-20080603/ |title=TSN clinches landmark NHL deal |publisher=playbackonline.ca |date=June 3, 2008 |access-date=July 13, 2021}} CBC held exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals. French-language telecasts were broadcast on RDS and RDS2.

In the United States, national coverage was split between NBC and Versus. During the first and second round, excluding games exclusively broadcast on NBC, the regional rights holders of each participating U.S. team produced local telecasts of their respective games. Not all first and second round games were nationally televised, while the conference finals were exclusively broadcast on either NBC or Versus. NBC then aired the first two and final two games of the Stanley Cup Finals, while Versus broadcast games three and four.

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box

|before = 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs

|after = 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs

|title = Stanley Cup playoffs

|years = 2010|

}}

{{S-end}}

{{2009–10 NHL season by team}}

{{Stanley Cup playoffs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs}}

Category:Stanley Cup playoffs

Playoffs, 2010

sv:National Hockey League 2009/2010#Slutspelet