2011 Stanley Cup playoffs#Western Conference Final

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 – 107 points
2. Philadelphia Flyers, Atlantic Division champions – 106 points (44 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}})
3. Boston Bruins, Northeast Division champions – 103 points
4. Pittsburgh Penguins – 106 points (39 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}})
5. Tampa Bay Lightning – 103 points
6. Montreal Canadiens – 96 points (41 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}})
7. Buffalo Sabres – 96 points (38 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}})
8. New York Rangers – 93 points

1. Vancouver Canucks, Northwest Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions, Presidents' Trophy winners – 117 points
2. San Jose Sharks, Pacific Division champions – 105 points
3. Detroit Red Wings, Central Division champions – 104 points
4. Anaheim Ducks – 99 points (43 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}})
5. Nashville Predators – 99 points (38 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}}, 4 points head-to-head vs. Phoenix, +25 goal differential)
6. Phoenix Coyotes – 99 points (38 {{abbr|ROWs|Regulation + Overtime Wins}}, 4 points head-to-head vs. Nashville, +5 goal differential)
7. Los Angeles Kings – 98 points
8. Chicago Blackhawks – 97 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-seed1 = 1

|RD1-team01 = Washington

|RD1-score01 = 4

|RD1-seed2 = 8

|RD1-team02 = NY Rangers

|RD1-score02 = 1

|RD1-seed3 = 2

|RD1-team03 = Philadelphia

|RD1-score03 = 4

|RD1-seed4 = 7

|RD1-team04 = Buffalo

|RD1-score04 = 3

|RD1-seed5 = 3

|RD1-team05 = Boston

|RD1-score05 = 4

|RD1-seed6 = 6

|RD1-team06 = Montreal

|RD1-score06 = 3

|RD1-seed7 = 4

|RD1-team07 = Pittsburgh

|RD1-score07 = 3

|RD1-seed8 = 5

|RD1-team08 = Tampa Bay

|RD1-score08 = 4

|RD1-seed9 = 1

|RD1-team09 = Vancouver

|RD1-score09 = 4

|RD1-seed10 = 8

|RD1-team10 = Chicago

|RD1-score10 = 3

|RD1-seed11 = 2

|RD1-team11 = San Jose

|RD1-score11 = 4

|RD1-seed12 = 7

|RD1-team12 = Los Angeles

|RD1-score12 = 2

|RD1-seed13 = 3

|RD1-team13 = Detroit

|RD1-score13 = 4

|RD1-seed14 = 6

|RD1-team14 = Phoenix

|RD1-score14 = 0

|RD1-seed15 = 4

|RD1-team15 = Anaheim

|RD1-score15 = 2

|RD1-seed16 = 5

|RD1-team16 = Nashville

|RD1-score16 = 4

|RD2-seed01 = 1

|RD2-team01 = Washington

|RD2-score01 = 0

|RD2-seed02 = 5

|RD2-team02 = Tampa Bay

|RD2-score02 = 4

|RD2-seed03 = 2

|RD2-team03 = Philadelphia

|RD2-score03 = 0

|RD2-seed04 = 3

|RD2-team04 = Boston

|RD2-score04 = 4

|RD2-seed05 = 1

|RD2-team05 = Vancouver

|RD2-score05 = 4

|RD2-seed06 = 5

|RD2-team06 = Nashville

|RD2-score06 = 2

|RD2-seed07 = 2

|RD2-team07 = San Jose

|RD2-score07 = 4

|RD2-seed08 = 3

|RD2-team08 = Detroit

|RD2-score08 = 3

|RD3-seed01= 5

|RD3-team01= Tampa Bay

|RD3-score01= 3

|RD3-seed02= 3

|RD3-team02= Boston

|RD3-score02= 4

|RD3-seed03= 1

|RD3-team03= Vancouver

|RD3-score03= 4

|RD3-seed04= 2

|RD3-team04= San Jose

|RD3-score04= 1

|RD4-seed01= E3

|RD4-team01= Boston

|RD4-score01= 4

|RD4-seed02= W1

|RD4-team02= Vancouver

|RD4-score02= 3

}} }}

The Washington Capitals entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference regular season champions, earning 107 points. The New York Rangers narrowly qualified for the postseason as the eighth seed with 93 points after narrowly missing the playoffs entirely the previous year. This was the sixth playoff series between the two franchises; Washington had won three of the previous five meetings between these teams. The two teams last met in the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, in which the Capitals defeated the Rangers in seven games. In the regular season series, the Rangers held a 3–1–0 record, winning the last three games by a combined score of 15–1,{{cite web|url=http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/gametracker/recap/NHL_20110225_NYR@WAS|title=No love: Rangers beat Capitals by a bagel in D.C.|date=February 25, 2011|work=CBSSports.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559016&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series1|title=Caps, Rangers showdown will be contrast of styles|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}}

The Capitals defeated the Rangers in five games. In game one, Capitals' forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin answered a Rangers goal by Matt Gilroy in the third period to tie the game 1–1, before Alexander Semin then scored late into overtime to give Washington a 1–0 series lead. In game two, Capitals goaltender Michael Neuvirth shut out the Rangers 2–0, with Jason Chimera and Jason Arnott potting goals for Washington in the second period for a 2–0 series lead. The Rangers would respond in game three with a victory at home by striking first and never trailing. After Washington tied the game twice, Brandon Dubinsky scored the game-winning goal late in regulation for a 3–2 win to cut the series lead to 2–1. The Rangers tried to even the series in game four with a trio of goals in the second period for a 3–0 lead, but Washington stormed back with their own trio of goals to tie the game 3–3, forcing overtime. The Capitals' Jason Chimera then scored the game-winning goal in double overtime for a 3–1 series advantage, in what is currently the Capitals' longest playoff game victory, lasting 92 minutes and 36 seconds. The series would finally end in game five back at Washington D.C., where the Capitals took an insurmountable 3–0 lead that resulted in a 3–1 victory after Wotjek Wolski scored New York's only goal with less than a minute remaining. The Rangers only scored eight goals in this series while the Capitals scored 13. This is currently the last series where the Capitals have defeated the Rangers, with the Rangers winning four straight series against Washington since then.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=New York Rangers

|team2=Washington Capitals

|stadium2=Madison Square Garden

|stadium1=Verizon Center

|date1 =April 13

|score1 =1–2

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =https://web.archive.org/web/20110414034340/https://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030111

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Matt Gilroy (1) – 01:56

|1-3-2 =13:44 – Alexander Ovechkin (1)

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =18:24 – Alexander Semin (1)

|goalie1-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie1-2 =Michal Neuvirth 24 saves / 25 shots

|date2 =April 15

|score2 =0–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030112

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =02:11 – Jason Chimera (1)
04:08 – pp – Jason Arnott (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 16 saves / 18 shots

|goalie2-2 =Michal Neuvirth 22 saves / 22 shots

|date3 =April 17

|score3 =2–3

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030113

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =05:30 – pp – Erik Christensen (1)

|3-2-2 =Alexander Ovechkin (2) – 19:00

|3-3-1 =08:01 – Vaclav Prospal (1)
18:21 – Brandon Dubinsky (1)

|3-3-2 =Mike Knuble (1) – pp – 14:48

|goalie3-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 23 saves / 25 shots

|goalie3-2 =Michal Neuvirth 32 saves / 35 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =4–3

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030114

|ot4 =2

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =05:24 – Artem Anisimov (1)
13:40 – Marian Gaborik (1)
13:47 – Brandon Dubinsky (2)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Alexander Semin (2) – 02:47
Marcus Johansson (1) – 03:44
Marcus Johansson (2) – 12:07

|4-4-1 =No scoring

|4-4-2 =Jason Chimera (2) – 12:36

|goalie4-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 49 saves / 53 shots

|goalie4-2 =Michal Neuvirth 36 saves / 39 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =1–3

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030115

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =05:59 – pp – Mike Green (1)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =07:04 – Alexander Ovechkin (3)

|5-3-1 =Wojtek Wolski (1) – 19:28

|5-3-2 =16:23 – Alexander Semin (3)

|goalie5-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 24 saves / 27 shots

|goalie5-2 =Michal Neuvirth 26 saves / 27 shots

|series = Washington won series 4–1

}}

The Philadelphia Flyers entered the playoffs as the second seed in the Eastern Conference after winning the Atlantic Division with 106 points, winning the tiebreaker over the Pittsburgh Penguins on regulation + overtime wins (44 to 39). The Buffalo Sabres earned the seventh seed with 96 points, losing the tiebreaker to Montreal in regulation + overtime wins (41 to 38). This was the ninth playoff meeting between these two teams; Philadelphia had won five of the eight previous playoff series. They last met in the 2006 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, which ended with Buffalo defeating Philadelphia in six games.

The series started out with a 1–0 shutout victory for Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller in game one, while Philadelphia came back to win games two and three. Miller got another 1–0 shutout victory in game four to tie the series at 2–2. In game five, Buffalo was up 3–0 at the end of the first period, but Philadelphia scored three goals to send the game to overtime. However, Tyler Ennis of Buffalo would score the overtime winner. In game six, Buffalo looked in good position to win after being up 3–1 after the first period, but Philadelphia rallied back, winning the game 5–4 on Ville Leino's overtime winner. In game seven, Philadelphia went up 4–0 about two minutes into the third period on a goal by Leino. Philadelphia ended up winning the game by a score of 5–2, winning the series four games to three. This was the last time the Sabres appeared in the playoffs.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Buffalo Sabres

|team2=Philadelphia Flyers

|stadium2=HSBC Arena

|stadium1=Wells Fargo Center

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =1–0

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030121

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Patrick Kaleta (1) – 05:56

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Ryan Miller 35 saves / 35 shots

|goalie1-2 =Sergei Bobrovsky 24 saves / 25 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =4–5

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030122

|2-1-1 =Thomas Vanek (1) – pp – 06:43
Thomas Vanek (2) – pp – 09:43
Andrej Sekera (1) – 12:30

|2-1-2 =04:00 – Claude Giroux (1)
07:20 – Daniel Carcillo (1)
13:14 – James van Riemsdyk (1)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =13:36 – pp – Ville Leino (1)
15:27 – Daniel Briere (1)

|2-3-1 =Cody McCormick (1) – 06:12

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Ryan Miller 29 saves / 34 shots

|goalie2-2 =Sergei Bobrovsky 4 saves / 7 shots
Brian Boucher 20 saves / 21 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030123

|3-1-1 =11:55 – pp – Drew Stafford (1)

|3-1-2 =Jeff Carter (1) – pp – 04:42

|3-2-1 =18:12 – Nathan Gerbe (1)

|3-2-2 =Daniel Briere (2) – 02:44
Nikolay Zherdev (1) – 16:44

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Kimmo Timonen (1) – en – 19:42

|goalie3-1 =Ryan Miller 22 saves / 25 shots

|goalie3-2 =Brian Boucher 35 saves / 37 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =0–1

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030124

|4-1-1 =09:38 – Jason Pominville (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Ryan Miller 32 saves / 32 shots

|goalie4-2 =Brian Boucher 28 saves / 29 shots

|date5 =April 22

|score5 =4–3

|ot5 =1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030125

|5-1-1 =Tyler Ennis (1) – 02:24
Thomas Vanek (3) – 03:51
Marc-Andre Gragnani (1) – pp – 15:36

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =08:12 – James van Riemsdyk (2)
09:57 – Andrej Meszaros (1)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =03:36 – Daniel Briere (3)

|5-4-1 =Tyler Ennis (2) – 05:31

|5-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Ryan Miller 36 saves / 39 shots

|goalie5-2 =Brian Boucher 8 saves / 11 shots
Michael Leighton 20 saves / 21 shots

|date6 =April 24

|score6 =5–4

|ot6 =1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030126

|6-1-1 =02:13 – Rob Niedermayer (1)
08:41 – pp – Thomas Vanek (4)
19:27 – pp – Thomas Vanek (5)

|6-1-2 =Daniel Briere (4) – 14:53

|6-2-1 =16:09 – Nathan Gerbe (2)

|6-2-2 =James van Riemsdyk (3) – 00:49
Daniel Briere – pp – 08:43

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Scott Hartnell (1) – 10:43

|6-4-1 =No scoring

|6-4-2 =Ville Leino (2) – 04:43

|goalie6-1 =Ryan Miller 44 saves / 49 shots

|goalie6-2 =Michael Leighton 5 saves / 8 shots
Brian Boucher 24 saves / 25 shots

|date7 =April 26

|score7 =2–5

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030127

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =19:41 – Braydon Coburn (1)

|7-2-1 =No scoring

|7-2-2 =04:45 – pp – Daniel Briere (6)
10:19 – pp – Claude Giroux (2)

|7-3-1 =Tyler Myers (1) – 06:33
Brad Boyes (1) – pp – 15:21

|7-3-2 =01:59 – Ville Leino (3)
10:03 – Daniel Carcillo (2)

|goalie7-1 =Ryan Miller 24 saves / 28 shots
Jhonas Enroth 7 saves / 8 shots

|goalie7-2 =Brian Boucher 26 saves / 28 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–3

}}

The Boston Bruins entered the playoffs as the third seed in the Eastern Conference after winning the Northeast Division with 103 points. The Montreal Canadiens earned the sixth seed with 96 points, winning the tiebreaker over Buffalo in regulation + overtime wins (41 to 38). One of the greatest rivalries in North American professional sports, this was the 33rd meeting of these teams in the postseason, which is the most frequent playoff series in NHL history. Montreal had a record of 24–8 against Boston in the 32 previous series played by the franchises, winning 18 straight between 1946 and 1987.{{cite web|url=https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/story/?id=359247&hubname=nhl-canadiens|title=YOUR CALL: WHAT IS THE DEFINING BRUINS-CANADIENS MOMENT?|date=March 24, 2011|access-date=April 10, 2012}}{{cite web|url=https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ycn-8280323|title=Most frequent NHL playoff series between same teams|date=April 12, 2011|first=Mark|last=Paul|work=Yahoo! Canada Sports}} Boston had only beaten Montreal en route to winning the championship once before, in 1929. The most recent meeting of these teams in the postseason was in the 2009 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, which ended with Boston sweeping Montreal.

During the {{NHL Year|2010}} season, Montreal won four of six meetings.{{cite web|url=https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BOS/2011_games.html|title=2010-11 Boston Bruins Schedule and Results|work=hockey-reference.com|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|access-date=March 9, 2011}} The February 9 game in which Boston won 8–6 featured six fights, a goalie fight, and a total of 187 penalty minutes.{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110210/ap_on_sp_ho_ga_su/hkn_canadiens_bruins/print|title=Bruins shoot, fight way to win over rival Montreal|date=February 9, 2011|access-date=March 3, 2011|agency=Associated Press|work=Yahoo! Sports}} The March 8 game, where the Canadiens beat the Bruins 4–1, was marred when the Bruins' Zdeno Chara checked Habs' Max Pacioretty into the glass, and the resulting injury ended Pacioretty's season.{{cite news|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap?gid=2011030810&print=1|title=Canadiens beat Bruins, extend streak to 5|date=March 8, 2011|access-date=March 9, 2011|agency=Associated Press|work=Yahoo! Sports}} The NHL did not suspend Chara for the hit, however Montreal Police opened a criminal investigation into the incident.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pacioretty-released-from-hospital-1.999400|title=Pacioretty on-ice hit to be investigated by police|date=March 10, 2011|access-date=March 10, 2011|work=CBC News|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation}}

In this series, the Boston Bruins dropped their first two games at home, but came back to hang on to a game three victory in Montreal. In game four, Andrei Kostitsyn gave the Montreal Canadiens a 3–1 lead, which they couldn't take advantage of, falling 5–4 on an overtime goal by former Montreal Canadien Michael Ryder. In game five, Boston's Ryder made a miraculous glove save while teammate and goaltender Tim Thomas was out of position, \{{Cite web |date=2011-04-24 |title=Michael Ryder Using Stick And Glove To Save Bruins - CBS Boston |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/michael-ryder-using-stick-and-glove-to-save-bruins/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=NHLBruins Status |url=https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1558438223797334018 |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Twitter |language=en}} and the contest went into double overtime for Nathan Horton to win it 2–1 for Boston. In game six, Montreal scored twice on 5-on-3 power plays and won it 2–1. Game seven was also forced into overtime, where Nathan Horton again won the game 4–3 and sent the Bruins to the second round of the playoffs. Boston became the first team to win a seven-game post-season series despite being held scoreless on the power play.{{cite web|last=Roarke|first=Shawn|title=Bruins beat Habs 4-3 in OT to win Game 7|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/Recap.htm?id=2010030137|work=NHL.com|access-date=April 28, 2011}}

On April 10, the scheduled date of the French-language Canadian federal election debate between party leaders was changed from April 14 to April 13 so it would not conflict with game one of the series.{{cite news|title=How Canadian: NHL trumps debate date|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/leaders-french-debate-bumped-by-nhl-playoffs-1.1061040|access-date=April 10, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=CBC|first=James|last=Fitz-Morris}} Games six and seven were played back-to-back due to a Lady Gaga concert, held on April 25 at the Bell Centre, and the requirement that the first round of the playoffs end by April 27.{{cite web|url=http://www.nesn.com/2011/04/rush-lady-gaga-to-play-in-montreal-between-bruins-canadiens-playoff-games.html|title=Rush, Lady Gaga to Play Concerts in Montreal Between Bruins-Canadiens Playoff Games|date=April 11, 2011|work=nesn.com}}

This was Montreal's first Game 7 loss since 1994, also against the Bruins, and their last to date.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Montreal Canadiens

|team2=Boston Bruins

|stadium2=Bell Centre

|stadium1=TD Garden

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =2–0

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030131

|1-1-1 =Brian Gionta (1) – 02:44

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Brian Gionta (2) – 16:42

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Carey Price 31 saves / 31 shots

|goalie1-2 =Tim Thomas 18 saves / 20 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =3–1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030132

|2-1-1 =Michael Cammalleri (1) – 00:43
Mathieu Darche (1) – pp – 02:20

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =Yannick Weber (1) – 17:21

|2-2-2 =07:38 – Patrice Bergeron (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Carey Price 34 saves / 35 shots

|goalie2-2 =Tim Thomas 23 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030133

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =David Krejci (1) – 03:11
Nathan Horton (1) – 14:38

|3-2-1 =07:03 – Andrei Kostitsyn (1)

|3-2-2 =Rich Peverley (1) – 02:02

|3-3-1 =04:08 – Tomas Plekanec (1)

|3-3-2 =Chris Kelly (1) – en – 19:34

|goalie3-1 =Carey Price 21 saves / 24 shots

|goalie3-2 =Tim Thomas 34 saves / 36 shots

|date4 =April 21

|score4 =5–4

|ot4 =1

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030134

|4-1-1 =08:13 – Brent Sopel (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =06:52 – Michael Cammalleri (2)
07:47 – Andrei Kostitsyn (2)

|4-2-2 =Michael Ryder (1) – 02:13
Andrew Ference (1) – 09:59
Patrice Bergeron (2) – 17:04

|4-3-1 =01:39 – pp – P. K. Subban (1)

|4-3-2 =Chris Kelly (2) – 13:42

|4-4-1 =No scoring

|4-4-2 =Michael Ryder (2) – 01:59

|goalie4-1 =Carey Price 30 saves / 35 shots

|goalie4-2 =Tim Thomas 34 saves / 38 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =1–2

|ot5 =2

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030135

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Jeff Halpern (1) – 13:56

|5-3-2 =04:33 – Brad Marchand (1)

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =09:03 – Nathan Horton (2)

|goalie5-1 =Carey Price 49 saves / 51 shots

|goalie5-2 =Tim Thomas 44 saves / 45 shots

|date6 =April 26

|score6 =1–2

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030136

|6-1-1 =10:07 – pp – Michael Cammalleri (3)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =05:48 – pp – Brian Gionta (3)

|6-2-2 =Dennis Seidenberg (1) – 00:48

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Carey Price 31 saves / 32 shots

|goalie6-2 =Tim Thomas 25 saves / 27 shots

|date7 =April 27

|score7 =3–4

|ot7 =1

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030137

|7-1-1 =Yannick Weber (2) – pp – 09:49

|7-1-2 =03:31 – Johnny Boychuk (1)
05:33 – Mark Recchi (1)

|7-2-1 =Tomas Plekanec (2) – sh – 05:50

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =P. K. Subban (2) – pp – 18:03

|7-3-2 =09:44 – Chris Kelly (3)

|7-4-1 =No scoring

|7-4-2 =05:43 – Nathan Horton (3)

|goalie7-1 =Carey Price 30 saves / 34 shots

|goalie7-2 =Tim Thomas 34 saves / 37 shots

|series = Boston won series 4–3

}}

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the playoffs as the fourth overall seed in the Eastern Conference with 106 points, losing the tiebreaker for the Atlantic Division title to the Philadelphia Flyers on regulation + overtime wins (39 to 44). The Tampa Bay Lightning earned 103 points during the regular season to finish fifth overall in the Eastern Conference. This was the first playoff series between these two teams.{{cite news|title=Home ice may be dividing line between Pens, Bolts|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559010&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series4|access-date=April 12, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}}

To start the series, Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury shut-out Tampa Bay 3–0 in game one, with the Lightning responding with a 5–1 win in game two. Unfortunately for the Lightning, they dropped games three and four (game four in double overtime), only to answer with a huge 8–2 victory in Pittsburgh, forcing a game six at home that ended 4–2 in favour of Tampa Bay. In game seven, Lightning forward Sean Bergenheim scored about five minutes into the second period. The Lightning managed to hold on to that 1–0 lead, advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Tampa Bay Lightning

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=St. Pete Times Forum

|stadium1=Consol Energy Center

|date1 =April 13

|score1 =0–3

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030141

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =06:05 – Alexei Kovalev (1)
06:23 – Arron Asham (1)
19:18 – en – Chris Kunitz (1)

|goalie1-1 =Dwayne Roloson 37 saves / 39 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 32 saves / 32 shots

|date2 =April 15

|score2 =5–1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030142

|2-1-1 =Eric Brewer (1) – 02:02
Vincent Lecavalier (1) – pp – 06:53
Nate Thompson (1) – 17:02

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =Martin St. Louis (1) – pp – 19:46

|2-2-2 =09:08 – Craig Adams (1)

|2-3-1 =Mattias Ohlund (1) – en – 17:55

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Dwayne Roloson 35 saves / 36 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 16 saves / 20 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =3–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030143

|3-1-1 =15:19 – pp – Martin St. Louis (2)

|3-1-2 =Maxime Talbot (1) – 05:46
Arron Asham (2) – 06:31

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =02:12 – pp – Martin St. Louis (3)

|3-3-2 =Tyler Kennedy (1) – 02:43

|goalie3-1 =Dwayne Roloson 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 25 saves / 27 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =3–2

|ot4 =2

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030144

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Tyler Kennedy (2) – pp – 08:14

|4-2-1 =17:14 – pp – Martin St. Louis (4)

|4-2-2 =Arron Asham (3) – 02:39

|4-3-1 =16:43 – Sean Bergenheim (1)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|4-4-1 =No scoring

|4-4-2 =James Neal (1) – 03:38

|goalie4-1 =Dwayne Roloson 50 saves / 53 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 29 saves / 31 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =8–2

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030145

|5-1-1 =Simon Gagne (1) – 16:57
Steven Stamkos (1) – 17:43

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Vincent Lecavalier (2) – 01:55
Simon Gagne (2) – 05:31
Steven Stamkos (2) – pp – 07:00

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Pavel Kubina (1) – pp – 02:54
Pavel Kubina (2) – pp – 05:45
Dominic Moore – pp – 15:35

|5-3-2 =06:36 – Michael Rupp (1)
08:22 – Chris Conner (1)

|goalie5-1 =Dwayne Roloson 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie5-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 10 saves / 14 shots
Brent Johnson 7 saves / 11 shots

|date6 =April 25

|score6 =2–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030146

|6-1-1 =16:36 – Teddy Purcell (1)

|6-1-2 =Pascal Dupuis (1) – 08:23

|6-2-1 =05:44 – Sean Bergenheim (2)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =04:55 – Steve Downie (1)
09:34 – Ryan Malone (1)

|6-3-2 =Jordan Staal (1) – 03:48

|goalie6-1 =Dwayne Roloson 27 saves / 29 shots

|goalie6-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 17 saves / 21 shots

|date7 =April 27

|score7 =1–0

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030147

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =Sean Bergenheim (3) – 05:41

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =No scoring

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Dwayne Roloson 36 saves / 36 shots

|goalie7-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 22 saves / 23 shots

|series = Tampa Bay won series 4–3

}}

The Vancouver Canucks entered the playoffs as the Western Conference regular season champions and Presidents' Trophy winners, earning 117 points. The Chicago Blackhawks, the defending Stanley Cup champions, barely qualified for the post-season as the eighth and final seed with 97 points. This was the third consecutive year that Vancouver and Chicago met in the playoffs. Chicago previously eliminated Vancouver in the second round in both 2009 and 2010; both of those series went to six games.{{cite news|title=Hawks, Canucks ready for round three of grudge match|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559102&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series5|access-date=April 12, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}}

The Canucks defeated the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks in seven games. After losing the first three games of the series, Chicago won the next three. This was the seventh time in NHL history that a team forced a seventh game after trailing 3–0 in a playoff series.{{cite news|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=310424004&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426213725/http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=310424004&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 26, 2011|title=Ben Smith scores in OT as Blackhawks force Game 7|date=April 24, 2011|agency=Associated Press|publisher=ESPN}} However, Vancouver won the seventh game in overtime to avoid becoming the fourth team in NHL history (and first Presidents' Trophy winning team) to lose a series after initially taking a 3–0 series lead.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Chicago Blackhawks

|team2=Vancouver Canucks

|stadium2=United Center

|stadium1=Rogers Arena

|date1 =April 13

|score1 =0–2

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030151

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =07:03 – Chris Higgins (1)
10:23 – Jannik Hansen (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Corey Crawford 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie1-2 =Roberto Luongo 32 saves / 32 shots

|date2 =April 15

|score2 =3–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030152

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =07:30 – Jannik Hansen (2)

|2-2-1 =Ben Smith (1) – 14:50

|2-2-2 =00:30 – pp – Daniel Sedin (1)
19:46 – Alexander Edler (1)

|2-3-1 =Viktor Stalberg (1) – 01:56
Ben Smith (2) – 12:50

|2-3-2 =10:06 – Daniel Sedin (2)

|goalie2-1 =Corey Crawford 23 saves / 27 shots

|goalie2-2 =Roberto Luongo 23 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =April 17

|score3 =3–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030153

|3-1-1 =06:54 – pp – Duncan Keith (1)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =12:40 – pp – Patrick Sharp (1)

|3-2-2 =Christian Ehrhoff (1) – pp – 10:03
Daniel Sedin (3) – 10:57

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (1) – 06:48

|goalie3-1 =Corey Crawford 23 saves / 26 shots

|goalie3-2 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 32 shots

|date4 =April 19

|score4 =2–7

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030154

|4-1-1 =01:43 – Bryan Bickell (1)

|4-1-2 =Sami Salo (1) – pp – 04:46

|4-2-1 =05:18 – Brian Campbell (1)
05:35 – Duncan Keith (2)
14:45 – Dave Bolland (1)
18:57 – Michael Frolik (1)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =02:49 – pp – Patrick Sharp (2)
13:21 – pp – Patrick Sharp (3)

|4-3-2 =Daniel Sedin (4) – pp – 16:24

|goalie4-1 =Corey Crawford 21 saves / 23 shots

|goalie4-2 =Roberto Luongo 22 saves / 28 shots
Cory Schneider 6 saves / 7 shots

|date5 =April 21

|score5 =5–0

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030155

|5-1-1 =Marian Hossa (1) – pp – 05:54
Duncan Keith (3) – 06:18
Patrick Kane (1) – 12:17

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Marian Hossa (2) – 01:26
Duncan Keith (4) – 04:47

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Corey Crawford 36 saves / 36 shots

|goalie5-2 =Roberto Luongo 8 saves / 12 shots
Cory Schneider 13 saves / 14 shots

|date6 =April 24

|score6 =3–4

|ot6 =1

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030156

|6-1-1 =14:57 – Bryan Bickell (2)

|6-1-2 =Daniel Sedin (5) – 02:06
Alexandre Burrows (1) – 18:48

|6-2-1 =15:08 – Dave Bolland (2)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =02:31 – ps – Michael Frolik (2)

|6-3-2 =Kevin Bieksa (1) – 00:58

|6-4-1 =15:30 – Ben Smith (3)

|6-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Corey Crawford 32 saves / 35 shots

|goalie6-2 =Cory Schneider 17 saves / 20 shots
Roberto Luongo 12 saves / 13 shots

|date7 =April 26

|score7 =1–2

|ot7 =1

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030157

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =02:43 – Alexandre Burrows (2)

|7-2-1 =No scoring

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =Jonathan Toews (1) – sh – 18:04

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|7-4-1 =No scoring

|7-4-2 =05:22 – Alexandre Burrows (3)

|goalie7-1 =Corey Crawford 36 saves / 38 shots

|goalie7-2 =Roberto Luongo 31 saves / 32 shots

|series = Vancouver won series 4–3

}}

The San Jose Sharks entered the playoffs as the second seed in the Western Conference after winning the Pacific Division with 105 points. The Los Angeles Kings earned the seventh seed with 98 points. This was the first meeting of these teams in the post-season.{{cite news|title=Sharks, Kings set for California grudge match|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559097&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series6|access-date=April 12, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}}

The series started out with a bang in game one, with Dany Heatley scoring only 28 seconds into the game. That game was later on won by Joe Pavelski in overtime, but a good response by the Kings in game two gave them a 4–0 shutout victory in San Jose. In game three, San Jose became the fifth team in NHL playoff history to win a game after facing a 4–0 deficit, where Devin Setoguchi of San Jose scored the game-winning goal in overtime, to make the final score 6–5. Still, at home, Los Angeles lost game four by a score of 6–3. In game five, at San Jose, Los Angeles would win by a score of 3–1. However, that would not be enough, as Joe Thornton of San Jose scored the game-winning goal in overtime of game six to eliminate Los Angeles from the playoffs.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Los Angeles Kings

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=Staples Center

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 14

|score1 =2–3

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030161

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =00:28 – Dany Heatley (1)

|1-2-1 =Dustin Brown (1) – pp – 07:25
Justin Williams (1) – 16:20

|1-2-2 =10:23 – Logan Couture (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =14:44 – Joe Pavelski (1)

|goalie1-1 =Jonathan Quick 42 saves / 45 shots

|goalie1-2 =Antti Niemi 33 saves / 35 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =4–0

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030162

|2-1-1 =Jack Johnson (1) – pp – 12:13
Drew Doughty (1) – pp – 15:43

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =Drew Doughty (2) – 15:42

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =Kyle Clifford (1) – 04:54

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Jonathan Quick 34 saves / 34 shots

|goalie2-2 =Antti Niemi 19 saves / 23 shots

|date3 =April 19

|score3 =6–5

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030163

|3-1-1 =02:26 – Willie Mitchell (1)
02:39 – Kyle Clifford (2)
18:22 – Michal Handzus (1)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =00:44 – Brad Richardson (1)
13:47 – Ryan Smyth (1)

|3-2-2 =Patrick Marleau (1) – 03:08
Ryane Clowe (1) – pp – 06:53
Logan Couture (2) – 13:32
Ryane Clowe (2) – 18:35
Joe Pavelski (2) – 19:29

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =Devin Setoguchi (1) – 03:09

|goalie3-1 =Jonathan Quick 30 saves / 36 shots

|goalie3-2 =Antti Niemi 6 saves / 10 shots
Antero Niittymaki 11 saves / 12 shots

|date4 =April 21

|score4 =6–3

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030164

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =11:00 – Brad Richardson (2)
16:04 – Justin Williams (2)

|4-2-2 =Ryane Clowe (3) – 03:58
Jason Demers (1) – 05:12
Ryane Clowe (4) – pp – 09:28

|4-3-1 =13:11 – Alexei Ponikarovsky (1)

|4-3-2 =Joe Thornton (1) – 02:28
Joe Pavelski (3) – 03:22
Torrey Mitchell (1) – 11:42

|goalie4-1 =Jonathan Quick 21 saves / 27 shots

|goalie4-2 =Antti Niemi 35 saves / 38 shots

|date5 =April 23

|score5 =3–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030165

|5-1-1 =Wayne Simmonds (1) – 03:36
Kyle Clifford (3) – 07:14
Dustin Penner (1) – 08:42

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =05:43 – Patrick Marleau (2)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Jonathan Quick 51 saves / 52 shots

|goalie5-2 =Antti Niemi 1 save / 4 shots
Antero Niittymaki 18 saves / 18 shots

|date6 =April 25

|score6 =4–3

|ot6 =1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030166

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =13:27 – pp – Justin Williams (3)

|6-2-2 =Kyle Wellwood (1) – 02:58
Jason Demers (2) – 16:52

|6-3-1 =00:18 – Ryan Smyth (2)
11:39 – pp – Trevor Lewis (1)

|6-3-2 =Dany Heatley (2) – 08:48

|6-4-1 =No scoring

|6-4-2 =Joe Thornton (2) – 02:22

|goalie6-1 =Jonathan Quick 31 saves / 35 shots

|goalie6-2 =Antti Niemi 26 saves / 29 shots

|series = San Jose won series 4–2

}}

The Detroit Red Wings entered the playoffs as the third seed in the Western Conference after winning the Central Division with 104 points. This was Detroit's 20th straight appearance in the postseason. The Phoenix Coyotes earned the sixth seed with 99 points, losing tiebreakers over the Anaheim Ducks and the Nashville Predators in total regulation + overtime wins (43 to 38). They also lost the tiebreaker to Nashville on goal differential (+25 to +5). This was a rematch of the previous year's Western Conference quarterfinals, in which Detroit defeated Phoenix in seven games.{{cite news|title='Yotes out for revenge, first series win against Wings|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559098&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series7|access-date=April 12, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}}

The Red Wings had 13 different goal scorers in the series. This was the only sweep in the first round of the playoffs.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Phoenix Coyotes

|team2=Detroit Red Wings

|stadium2=Jobing.com Arena

|stadium1=Joe Louis Arena

|date1 =April 13

|score1 =2–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030171

|1-1-1 =Kyle Turris (1) – 02:16

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =07:38 – Pavel Datsyuk (1)
12:02 – Johan Franzen (1)
18:16 – pp – Brian Rafalski (1)

|1-3-1 =Radim Vrbata (1) – 07:38

|1-3-2 =03:16 – Jiri Hudler (1)

|goalie1-1 =Ilya Bryzgalov 32 saves / 36 shots

|goalie1-2 =Jimmy Howard 26 saves / 28 shots

|date2 =April 16

|score2 =3–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030172

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =10:42 – pp – Pavel Datsyuk (2)
15:50 – pp – Brian Rafalski (2)
19:01 – Darren Helm (1)

|2-2-1 =Radim Vrbata (2) – pp – 07:02

|2-2-2 =01:11 – Tomas Holmstrom (1)

|2-3-1 =Shane Doan (1) – pp – 05:49
Shane Doan (2) – pp – 08:37

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Ilya Bryzgalov 27 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Jimmy Howard 30 saves / 33 shots

|date3 =April 18

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030173

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Ruslan Salei (1) – 01:57
Drew Miller (1) – 02:41

|3-2-1 =11:43 – pp – David Schlemko (1)

|3-2-2 =Valtteri Filppula (1) – 02:50

|3-3-1 =13:00 – pp – Ray Whitney (1)

|3-3-2 =Johan Franzen (2) – 00:45

|goalie3-1 =Ilya Bryzgalov 30 saves / 34 shots

|goalie3-2 =Jimmy Howard 28 saves / 30 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =6–3

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030174

|4-1-1 =05:46 – Taylor Pyatt (1)
09:46 – Shane Doan (3)

|4-1-2 =Tomas Holmstrom (2) – 03:47
Patrick Eaves (1) – 18:47

|4-2-1 =01:09 – pp – Martin Hanzal (1)

|4-2-2 =Niklas Kronwall (1) – pp – 04:49

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Daniel Cleary (1) – 13:41
Todd Bertuzzi (1) – 15:34
Patrick Eaves (2) – en – 19:24

|goalie4-1 =Ilya Bryzgalov 34 saves / 39 shots

|goalie4-2 =Jimmy Howard 24 saves / 27 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–0

}}

The Anaheim Ducks entered the playoffs as the fourth overall seed in the Western Conference with 99 points, winning tiebreakers over the Nashville Predators and the Phoenix Coyotes in total regulation + overtime wins (43 to 38). The Nashville Predators also earned 99 points during the regular season to finish fifth overall. They lost the tiebreaker to Anaheim by having fewer games won in regulation + overtime (43 to 38) while winning the tiebreaker over the Phoenix Coyotes in goal differential (+25 to +5). This was the first playoff series between these two teams.{{cite news|title= High-scoring Ducks challenge shutdown Preds|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=559126&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series8|access-date=April 12, 2011|date=April 10, 2011|work=NHL.com}} Nick Spaling's second goal of the game early in the third period of Game 6 gave the Predators the lead and they held on to win the game 4–2. This was Nashville's first playoff series victory in franchise history since entering the league in 1998.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030186&navid=DL%7cNHL%7cPlayoffs2011Round1Series8|title=Preds reach second round for first time|date=April 24, 2011|first=John|last=Manasso|work=NHL.com|publisher=National Hockey League}}

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Nashville Predators

|team2=Anaheim Ducks

|stadium2=Bridgestone Arena

|stadium1=Honda Center

|date1 =April 13

|score1 =4–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030181

|1-1-1 =Shea Weber (1) – pp – 04:13

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Steve Sullivan (1) – 15:16
Mike Fisher (1) – 18:08

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Mike Fisher (2) – 00:56

|1-3-2 =11:24 – pp – Teemu Selanne (1)

|goalie1-1 =Pekka Rinne 27 saves / 28 shots

|goalie1-2 =Dan Ellis 20 saves / 24 shots
Ray Emery 6 saves / 6 shots

|date2 =April 15

|score2 =3–5

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030182

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =05:24 – pp – Corey Perry (1)
06:02 – pp – Teemu Selanne (2)

|2-2-1 =Shea Weber (2) – pp – 04:29

|2-2-2 =07:12 – Bobby Ryan (1)
15:54 – Ryan Getzlaf (1)

|2-3-1 =Patric Hornqvist (1) – pp – 01:30
Joel Ward (1) – 10:17

|2-3-2 =19:07 – en – Bobby Ryan (2)

|goalie2-1 =Pekka Rinne 23 saves / 27 shots

|goalie2-2 =Ray Emery 31 saves / 34 shots

|date3 =April 17

|score3 =3–4

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030183

|3-1-1 =15:00 – pp – Martin Erat (1)
15:38 – Jordin Tootoo (1)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Teemu Selanne (3) – pp – 18:10
Teemu Selanne (4) – 18:40

|3-3-1 =05:25 – David Legwand (1)
10:21 – Mike Fisher (3)

|3-3-2 =Matt Beleskey (1) – 06:48

|goalie3-1 =Pekka Rinne 13 saves / 16 shots

|goalie3-2 =Ray Emery 33 saves / 37 shots

|date4 =April 20

|score4 =6–3

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030184

|4-1-1 =05:45 – Patric Hornqvist (2)

|4-1-2 =Cam Fowler (1) – pp – 04:41
Saku Koivu (1) – 05:14

|4-2-1 =05:44 – pp – Joel Ward (2)
14:14 – Matthew Halischuk (1)

|4-2-2 =Teemu Selanne (5) – pp – 11:41

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Corey Perry (2) – sh – 01:17
Ryan Getzlaf (2) – 04:51
Brandon McMillan (1) – 06:46

|goalie4-1 =Pekka Rinne 23 saves / 29 shots
Anders Lindback 9 saves / 9 shots

|goalie4-2 =Ray Emery 19 saves / 22 shots

|date5 =April 22

|score5 =4–3

|ot5 =1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030185

|5-1-1 =Kevin Klein (1) – 08:32

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =13:39 – pp – Jason Blake (1)

|5-3-1 =Joel Ward (3) – 11:20
Shea Weber (3) – 19:24

|5-3-2 =00:40 – Bobby Ryan (3)
14:16 – Jason Blake (2)

|5-4-1 =Jerred Smithson (1) – 01:57

|5-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Pekka Rinne 23 saves / 26 shots

|goalie5-2 =Ray Emery 33 saves / 37 shots

|date6 =April 24

|score6 =2–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030186

|6-1-1 =19:32 – Nick Spaling (1)

|6-1-2 =Teemu Selanne (6) – 10:22

|6-2-1 =03:29 – Steve Sullivan (2)

|6-2-2 =Jason Blake (3) – pp – 18:23

|6-3-1 =04:43 – Nick Spaling (2)
19:50 – en – David Legwand (2)

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Pekka Rinne 25 saves / 27 shots

|goalie6-2 =Ray Emery 26 saves / 29 shots

|series = Nashville won series 4–2

}}

This was the second playoff series between these two teams. Washington and Tampa Bay previously met in the 2003 Eastern Conference quarterfinals, where Tampa Bay defeated Washington in six games. In the six-game regular season series between these teams, Washington won four games (including one win in a shootout). In game one, Sean Bergenheim, the player with the winning goal in game seven against Pittsburgh, opened the scoring for Tampa Bay, but goals from Alexander Semin and Eric Fehr put Washington up 2–1, only for Tampa Bay to regain the lead and win with Steven Stamkos' late second period power play goal. Late in game two, Tampa Bay was up 2–1, when Capitals forward and captain Alexander Ovechkin received a pass from behind the net to tie the game at two, but in overtime, Tampa Bay forward and captain Vincent Lecavalier put in his second goal of the game to win it for Tampa Bay. Game three was a hard-fought game for Washington, after being up 3–2 to start the third period. However, Washington would ultimately lose game three by a score of 4–3. Washington would then lose game four by a score of 5–3, to fall to Tampa Bay in a 4–0 series sweep.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Tampa Bay Lightning

|team2=Washington Capitals

|stadium2=St. Pete Times Forum

|stadium1=Verizon Center

|date1 =April 29

|score1 =4–2

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030211

|1-1-1 =Sean Bergenheim (4) – 02:12

|1-1-2 =04:08 – Alexander Semin (4)

|1-2-1 =Steve Downie (2) – 16:17
Steven Stamkos (3) – pp – 19:28

|1-2-2 =01:51 – Eric Fehr (1)

|1-3-1 =Dominic Moore (2) – en – 19:20

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Dwayne Roloson 26 saves / 28 shots

|goalie1-2 =Michal Neuvirth 20 saves / 23 shots

|date2 =May 1

|score2 =3–2

|ot2 =1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030212

|2-1-1 =Vincent Lecavalier (3) – pp – 19:01

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =14:52 – Brooks Laich (1)

|2-3-1 =Martin St. Louis (5) – 07:35

|2-3-2 =18:52 – Alexander Ovechkin (4)

|2-4-1 =Vincent Lecavalier (4) – 06:19

|2-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Dwayne Roloson 35 saves / 37 shots

|goalie2-2 =Michal Neuvirth 20 saves / 23 shots

|date3 =May 3

|score3 =3–4

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030213

|3-1-1 =11:03 – Sean Bergenheim (5)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =11:51 – Vincent Lecavalier (5)

|3-2-2 =Mike Knuble (2) – 00:59
John Carlson (1) – 07:58
Alexander Ovechkin (5) – pp – 17:27

|3-3-1 =05:23 – Steven Stamkos (4)
05:47 – Ryan Malone (2)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Dwayne Roloson 29 saves / 32 shots

|goalie3-2 =Michal Neuvirth 26 saves / 30 shots

|date4 =May 4

|score4 =3–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030214

|4-1-1 =12:37 – pp – Ryan Malone (3)

|4-1-2 =Marco Sturm (1) – pp – 18:30

|4-2-1 =04:41 – Sean Bergenheim (6)
12:34 – Sean Bergenheim (7)

|4-2-2 =John Erskine (1) – 13:40

|4-3-1 =05:07 – pp – Marc-Andre Bergeron (1)
16:52 – Martin St. Louis (6)

|4-3-2 =John Carlson (2) – 17:54

|goalie4-1 =Dwayne Roloson 33 saves / 36 shots

|goalie4-2 =Michal Neuvirth 32 saves / 37 shots

|series = Tampa Bay won series 4–0

}}

This was the sixth playoff series between these two teams. It was a rematch of the previous year's Eastern Conference semifinals, in which Philadelphia came back from a 3–0 series deficit to beat Boston in seven games. Boston swept Philadelphia out of the playoffs, avenging their blown 3–0 lead to move on to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030224|title=Bruins make amends, finish sweep of Flyers|date=May 7, 2011|first=Shawn P.|last=Roarke|work=NHL.com|publisher=National Hockey League}} This series featured some goaltending trouble for Philadelphia; Boston outscored Philadelphia 20–7 in four games. Brian Boucher started the first three games, but was pulled in all three: he was removed from games one and three due to performance, and he was briefly removed from game two due to injury. In all, Philadelphia started three different goaltenders in the 11 games that they played in the 2011 playoffs; six of those games featured a change of goalie.{{cite web|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/flyers-fall-flat-in-postseason-swept-in-2nd-round/c-562202|title=Flyers fall flat in postseason, swept in 2nd round|date=May 7, 2011|access-date=Jun 30, 2023|website=nhl.com}}

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Boston Bruins

|team2=Philadelphia Flyers

|stadium2=TD Garden

|stadium1=Wells Fargo Center

|date1 =April 30

|score1 =7–3

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030221

|1-1-1 =David Krejci (2) – 01:52
Nathan Horton (4) – 19:24

|1-1-2 =11:02 – Daniel Briere (7)

|1-2-1 =Mark Recchi (2) – 02:34
David Krejci (3) – 15:26
Brad Marchand (2) – 17:14

|1-2-2 =17:30 – James van Riemsdyk (5)

|1-3-1 =Brad Marchand (3) – 14:59
Gregory Campbell (1) – 17:39

|1-3-2 =13:02 – pp – Mike Richards (1)

|goalie1-1 =Tim Thomas 31 saves / 34 shots

|goalie1-2 =Brian Boucher 18 saves / 23 shots
Sergei Bobrovsky 8 saves / 10 shots

|date2 =May 2

|score2 =3–2

|ot2 =1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030222

|2-1-1 =Chris Kelly (4) – 12:50
Brad Marchand (4) – 14:15

|2-1-2 =00:29 – James van Riemsdyk (6)
09:31 – pp – James van Riemsdyk (7)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|2-4-1 =David Krejci (4) – 14:00

|2-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Tim Thomas 52 saves / 54 shots

|goalie2-2 =Brian Boucher 32 saves / 35 shots
Sergei Bobrovsky 6 saves / 6 shots

|date3 =May 4

|score3 =1–5

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030223

|3-1-1 =00:30 – Zdeno Chara (1)
01:03 – David Krejci (5)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =13:39 – Daniel Paille (1)
15:14 – Nathan Horton (5)

|3-2-2 =Andrej Meszaros (2) – 16:26

|3-3-1 =18:38 – pp – Zdeno Chara (2)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Tim Thomas 37 saves / 38 shots

|goalie3-2 =Brian Boucher 16 saves / 20 shots
Sergei Bobrovsky 7 saves / 8 shots

|date4 =May 6

|score4 =1–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030224

|4-1-1 =12:02 – pp – Milan Lucic (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Kris Versteeg (1) – 13:22

|4-3-1 =02:42 – Johnny Boychuk (2)
15:03 – Milan Lucic (2)
18:04 – en – Brad Marchand (5)
19:35 – en – Daniel Paille (2)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Tim Thomas 22 saves / 23 shots

|goalie4-2 =Sergei Bobrovsky 22 saves / 25 shots

|series = Boston won series 4–0

}}

This was the first playoff series between these two teams. It was also the first time that the Nashville Predators played in the second round of the playoffs. Vancouver and Nashville had split the four-game regular season series between them. Vancouver won this series in six games to advance to the Conference finals for the first time since 1994.{{cite news|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap?gid=2011050927&print=1|title=Canucks beat Predators to advance to West finals|date=May 9, 2011|access-date=May 10, 2011|first=Beth|last=Rucker|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Yahoo! Sports}} Each game in this series was decided by just a single goal (with the exception of an empty net goal scored by Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin in game four).

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Nashville Predators

|team2=Vancouver Canucks

|stadium2=Bridgestone Arena

|stadium1=Rogers Arena

|date1 =April 28

|score1 =0–1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030231

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =12:14 – Chris Higgins (2)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Pekka Rinne 29 saves / 30 shots

|goalie1-2 =Roberto Luongo 20 saves / 20 shots

|date2 =April 30

|score2 =2–1

|ot2 =2

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030232

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =02:00 – sh – Alexandre Burrows (4)

|2-3-1 =Ryan Suter (1) – 18:53

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|2-4-1 =Matthew Halischuk (2) – 14:51

|2-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Pekka Rinne 32 saves / 33 shots

|goalie2-2 =Roberto Luongo 44 saves / 46 shots

|date3 =May 3

|score3 =3–2

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030233

|3-1-1 =10:18 – sh – David Legwand (3)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Ryan Kesler (1) – pp – 01:00

|3-3-1 =13:18 – Joel Ward (4)

|3-3-2 =Chris Higgins (3) – 03:03

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =Ryan Kesler (2) – pp – 10:45

|goalie3-1 =Pekka Rinne 44 saves / 47 shots

|goalie3-2 =Roberto Luongo 28 saves / 30 shots

|date4 =May 5

|score4 =4–2

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030234

|4-1-1 =19:18 – pp – Joel Ward (5)

|4-1-2 =Christian Ehrhoff (2) – 15:04

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Alexander Edler (2) – 09:43

|4-3-1 =03:27 – Cody Franson (1)

|4-3-2 =Ryan Kesler (3) – pp – 07:28
Henrik Sedin (1) – en – 19:39

|goalie4-1 =Pekka Rinne 24 saves / 27 shots

|goalie4-2 =Roberto Luongo 19 saves / 21 shots

|date5 =May 7

|score5 =4–3

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030235

|5-1-1 =David Legwand (4) – sh – 03:42

|5-1-2 =05:59 – Raffi Torres (1)
15:06 – Ryan Kesler (4)

|5-2-1 =David Legwand (5) – 00:51

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Joel Ward (6) – 01:14
Joel Ward (7) – 05:45

|5-3-2 =16:14 – Ryan Kesler (5)

|goalie5-1 =Pekka Rinne 31 saves / 34 shots

|goalie5-2 =Roberto Luongo 19 saves / 23 shots

|date6 =May 9

|score6 =2–1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030236

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Mason Raymond (1) – 07:45
Daniel Sedin (6) – pp – 09:28

|6-2-1 =03:31 – David Legwand (6)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Pekka Rinne 17 saves / 19 shots

|goalie6-2 =Roberto Luongo 23 saves / 24 shots

|series = Vancouver won series 4–2

}}

This was the fifth playoff series between these two teams. This was a rematch of the previous year's Western Conference semifinals, in which San Jose defeated Detroit in five games. After losing the first three games, Detroit won the next three, to force a seventh game. This was the eighth time this feat had been achieved in NHL history, the third time in the last two seasons, the second time in the 2011 playoffs, and the second time that the Red Wings had accomplished the feat. Chicago had accomplished the same feat against Vancouver in the conference quarterfinals, ultimately losing that series. Since the New York Islanders twice forced a game seven after being down 3–0 during the 1975 Stanley Cup playoffs, there had been 112 consecutive failed attempts to repeat that feat prior to the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, after which it has happened in three of the seven possible series.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=562511|title=Focus doesn't change for Red Wings|date=May 11, 2011|first=Brian|last=Hedger|work=NHL.com|publisher=National Hockey League}} San Jose won the seventh game by a score of 3–2 to avoid becoming the fourth team in NHL history to lose a series after taking a 3–0 series lead. It allowed them their second consecutive trip to the conference finals. Six of the games were decided by only one goal; the only exception was a 3–1 win by Detroit in game six, in which Darren Helm of Detroit scored an empty net goal.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Detroit Red Wings

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=Joe Louis Arena

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 29

|score1 =1–2

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030241

|1-1-1 =Nicklas Lidstrom (1) – 09:30

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =10:22 – pp – Joe Pavelski (4)

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =07:03 – Benn Ferriero (1)

|goalie1-1 =Jimmy Howard 44 saves / 46 shots

|goalie1-2 =Antti Niemi 24 saves / 25 shots

|date2 =May 1

|score2 =1–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030242

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =04:54 – pp – Ian White (1)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =Henrik Zetterberg (1) – pp – 13:58

|2-3-2 =01:39 – Niclas Wallin (1)

|goalie2-1 =Jimmy Howard 35 saves / 37 shots

|goalie2-2 =Antti Niemi 33 saves / 34 shots

|date3 =May 4

|score3 =4–3

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030243

|3-1-1 =19:38 – pp – Nicklas Lidstrom (2)

|3-1-2 =Devin Setoguchi (2) – pp – 12:57

|3-2-1 =13:59 – Patrick Eaves (3)
18:17 – pp – Pavel Datsyuk (3)

|3-2-2 =Devin Setoguchi (3) – pp – 14:49

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Dan Boyle (1) – 15:52

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =Devin Setoguchi (4) – 09:21

|goalie3-1 =Jimmy Howard 34 saves / 38 shots

|goalie3-2 =Antti Niemi 38 saves / 41 shots

|date4 =May 6

|score4 =3–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030244

|4-1-1 =06:22 – Todd Bertuzzi (2)
11:09 – Nicklas Lidstrom (3)
18:01 – pp – Nicklas Lidstrom (4)

|4-1-2 =Logan Couture (3) – 18:16

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Dan Boyle (2) – 13:44

|4-3-1 =18:33 – Darren Helm (2)

|4-3-2 =Dany Heatley (3) – 01:14

|goalie4-1 =Jimmy Howard 25 saves / 28 shots

|goalie4-2 =Antti Niemi 36 saves / 40 shots

|date5 =May 8

|score5 =4–3

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030245

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =17:18 – Devin Setoguchi (5)

|5-2-1 =Niklas Kronwall (2) – 16:25

|5-2-2 =15:32 – Joe Pavelski (5)

|5-3-1 =Jonathan Ericsson (1) – 03:43
Daniel Cleary (2) – 05:29
Tomas Holmstrom (3) – 13:52

|5-3-2 =00:54 – Logan Couture (4)

|goalie5-1 =Jimmy Howard 39 saves / 42 shots

|goalie5-2 =Antti Niemi 18 saves / 22 shots

|date6 =May 10

|score6 =1–3

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030246

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =10:38 – Henrik Zetterberg (2)
12:32 – Valtteri Filppula (2)
18:55 – en – Darren Helm (3)

|6-3-2 =Logan Couture (5) – 03:54

|goalie6-1 =Jimmy Howard 24 saves / 25 shots

|goalie6-2 =Antti Niemi 42 saves / 44 shots

|date7 =May 12

|score7 =2–3

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030247

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =12:20 – pp – Devin Setoguchi (6)
19:01 – Logan Couture (6)

|7-2-1 =Henrik Zetterberg (3) – 13:10

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =Pavel Datsyuk (4) – 13:59

|7-3-2 =12:13 – Patrick Marleau (3)

|goalie7-1 =Jimmy Howard 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie7-2 =Antti Niemi 38 saves / 40 shots

|series = San Jose won series 4–3

}}

{{Main|NHL conference finals}}

This was the first playoff series between these teams. Boston won three of the four games that were played in the regular season. Bruins rookie Tyler Seguin scored a goal and an assist in his first career playoff game in game one. In game two, he tied the NHL record for points by a teenager in a single playoff period with four points, two goals and two assists (held by Trevor Linden). Game seven featured remarkable discipline from both teams, as no penalties were called of any kind for either team during the game, the first time this had happened in the playoffs in over twenty years. Boston's Nathan Horton recorded his second game-seven-winning goal in this year's playoffs, as his first was scored against Montreal in round one.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Tampa Bay Lightning

|team2=Boston Bruins

|stadium2=St. Pete Times Forum

|stadium1=TD Garden

|date1 =May 14

|score1 =5–2

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030311

|1-1-1 =Sean Bergenheim (8) – 11:15
Brett Clark (1) – 11:34
Teddy Purcell (2) – 12:40

|1-1-2 =15:59 – Tyler Seguin (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =Marc-Andre Bergeron (2) – pp – 13:37
Simon Gagne (3) – en – 17:29

|1-3-2 =18:59 – Johnny Boychuk (3)

|goalie1-1 =Dwayne Roloson 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie1-2 =Tim Thomas 29 saves / 33 shots

|date2 =May 17

|score2 =5–6

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030312

|2-1-1 =Adam Hall (1) – 00:13
Martin St. Louis (7) – 19:53

|2-1-2 =13:58 – pp – Nathan Horton (6)

|2-2-1 =Vincent Lecavalier (6) – pp – 07:48

|2-2-2 =00:48 – Tyler Seguin (2)
02:24 – David Krejci (6)
06:30 – Tyler Seguin (3)
16:16 – pp – Michael Ryder (3)
19:41 – Michael Ryder (4)

|2-3-1 =Steven Stamkos (5) – 03:47
Dominic Moore (3) – 13:15

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Dwayne Roloson 21 saves / 27 shots
Mike Smith 8 saves / 8 shots

|goalie2-2 =Tim Thomas 36 saves / 41 shots

|date3 =May 19

|score3 =2–0

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030313

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =David Krejci (7) – 01:09

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Andrew Ference (2) – 08:12

|goalie3-1 =Dwayne Roloson 23 saves / 25 shots

|goalie3-2 =Tim Thomas 31 saves / 31 shots

|date4 =May 21

|score4 =3–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030314

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =Patrice Bergeron (3) – 11:47
Michael Ryder (5) – 16:34
Patrice Bergeron (4) – sh – 17:58

|4-2-1 =06:55 – Teddy Purcell (3)
07:58 – Teddy Purcell (4)
10:53 – Sean Bergenheim (9)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =06:54 – Simon Gagne (4)
19:23 – en – Martin St. Louis (8)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Dwayne Roloson 6 saves / 9 shots
Mike Smith 21 saves / 21 shots

|goalie4-2 =Tim Thomas 32 saves / 36 shots

|date5 =May 23

|score5 =1–3

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030315

|5-1-1 =Simon Gagne (5) – 01:09

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =04:24 – Nathan Horton (7)
15:56 – Brad Marchand (6)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =19:47 – en – Rich Peverley (2)

|goalie5-1 =Mike Smith 17 saves / 19 shots

|goalie5-2 =Tim Thomas 33 saves / 34 shots

|date6 =May 25

|score6 =4–5

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030316

|6-1-1 =00:36 – Teddy Purcell (5)

|6-1-2 =Milan Lucic (3) – 07:09
David Krejci (8) – 16:30

|6-2-1 =07:55 – pp – Martin St. Louis (9)
13:35 – pp – Teddy Purcell (6)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =00:34 – pp – Steven Stamkos (6)
10:15 – Martin St. Louis (10)

|6-3-2 =David Krejci (9) – pp – 09:46
David Krejci (10) – 13:28

|goalie6-1 =Dwayne Roloson 16 saves / 20 shots

|goalie6-2 =Tim Thomas 21 saves / 26 shots

|date7 =May 27

|score7 =0–1

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030317

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =No scoring

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =No scoring

|7-3-2 =12:27 – Nathan Horton (8)

|goalie7-1 =Dwayne Roloson 37 saves / 38 shots

|goalie7-2 =Tim Thomas 24 saves / 24 shots

|series = Boston won series 4–3

}}

This was the first playoff series between these teams. Vancouver won three of the four games that were played in the regular season; their only loss to San Jose came in a shootout. Both Vancouver and San Jose played in a series during the 2011 playoffs (Quarterfinals and Semifinals, respectively) where each took a 3–0 series lead, only to see the opposing team win the next three games to force a seventh game. However, both won their respective seventh games to advance to the next round of the playoffs. San Jose, facing elimination in game five, held a 2–1 lead near the end of the game until Ryan Kesler forced overtime by scoring with only 13.2 seconds left in the third period after a controversial icing call. After a scoreless first overtime, Kevin Bieksa was able to capitalize on an unexpected rebound to score the series-winning goal 10:18 into the second overtime, sending Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994. The Canucks had previously won the Western Conference Final on May 24, 1994, 17 years to the day before this year's conference final win, and both games went to double overtime.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030325|title=San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks Game Recap - 05/24/2011|publisher=Nhl.com|date=May 25, 2011|access-date=April 10, 2012}}

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=San Jose Sharks

|team2=Vancouver Canucks

|stadium2=HP Pavilion

|stadium1=Rogers Arena

|date1 =May 15

|score1 =2–3

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030321

|1-1-1 =Joe Thornton (3) – 18:47

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Patrick Marleau (4) – pp – 08:44

|1-2-2 =01:49 – Maxim Lapierre (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =07:02 – Kevin Bieksa (2)
08:21 – pp – Henrik Sedin (2)

|goalie1-1 =Antti Niemi 35 saves / 38 shots

|goalie1-2 =Roberto Luongo 27 saves / 29 shots

|date2 =May 18

|score2 =3–7

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030322

|2-1-1 =Logan Couture (7) – pp – 02:28
Patrick Marleau (5) – pp – 13:03

|2-1-2 =09:39 – pp – Daniel Sedin (7)
10:18 – Raffi Torres (2)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =12:05 – Kevin Bieksa (3)

|2-3-1 =Ben Eager (1) – 17:27

|2-3-2 =07:56 – pp – Chris Higgins (4)
11:41 – pp – Daniel Sedin (8)
14:30 – Aaron Rome (1)
16:42 – Mason Raymond (2)

|goalie2-1 =Antti Niemi 31 saves / 38 shots

|goalie2-2 =Roberto Luongo 28 saves / 31 shots

|date3 =May 20

|score3 =3–4

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030323

|3-1-1 =03:56 – pp – Patrick Marleau (6)
08:22 – pp – Ryane Clowe (5)
17:25 – Patrick Marleau (7)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =06:46 – pp – Dan Boyle (3)

|3-3-2 =Alexandre Burrows (5) – 01:09
Dan Hamhuis (1) – pp – 13:39
Kevin Bieksa (4) – pp – 16:04

|goalie3-1 =Antti Niemi 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie3-2 =Roberto Luongo 34 saves / 38 shots

|date4 =May 22

|score4 =4–2

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030324

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Ryan Kesler (6) – pp – 09:16
Sami Salo (2) – pp – 10:55
Sami Salo (3) – pp – 11:11

|4-3-1 =07:02 – Andrew Desjardins (1)
15:55 – Ryane Clowe (6)

|4-3-2 =Alexandre Burrows (6) – 05:43

|goalie4-1 =Antti Niemi 9 saves / 13 shots

|goalie4-2 =Roberto Luongo 33 saves / 35 shots

|date5 =May 24

|score5 =2–3

|ot5 =2

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030325

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =08:02 – Alexandre Burrows (7)

|5-2-1 =Patrick Marleau (8) – pp – 09:57

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Devin Setoguchi (7) – 00:24

|5-3-2 =19:46 – Ryan Kesler (7)

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =10:18 – Kevin Bieksa (5)

|goalie5-1 =Antti Niemi 31 saves / 34 shots

|goalie5-2 =Roberto Luongo 54 saves / 56 shots

|series = Vancouver won series 4–1

}}

{{Main|2011 Stanley Cup Finals}}

As the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Vancouver Canucks earned home ice advantage over the Boston Bruins in the Finals. This was the first playoff series between Vancouver and Boston. Vancouver and Boston met only once in the 2010–11 regular season, on February 26, 2011. Boston won that game by a score of 3–1. This was Vancouver's third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals; in both of their previous appearances, they lost to a team from New York. In 1982, they were swept by the Islanders. In 1994, they lost to the Rangers in seven games. This was Boston's first appearance in the Finals since their five-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in 1990. Boston last won the Stanley Cup in 1972, when they defeated the New York Rangers in six games.

In a back-and-forth series, the Bruins triumphed in seven games to win their first Stanley Cup since 1972. The Canucks and Bruins each won their first three home games. All three Vancouver wins were close affairs at Rogers Arena: two 1–0 wins in games one and five, and a 3–2 overtime victory in game two. In Boston at TD Garden however, the games were extremely one-sided, with the Bruins winning games three, four, and six by scores of 8–1, 4–0 and 5–2, respectively.{{cite web|url=https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2011/6/17/2228768/how-the-bruins-won-and-how-the-canucks-lost |title=How the Bruins Won, And How the Canucks Lost |website=stanleycupofchowder.com |publisher=Stanley Cup of Chowder |author=Phunwin |date=June 17, 2011 |access-date=March 17, 2012}} In the deciding Game 7 at Rogers Arena, the Bruins shut out the Canucks 4–0 to win the Stanley Cup with a 4–3 series victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Boston Bruins

|team2=Vancouver Canucks

|stadium2=TD Garden

|stadium1=Rogers Arena

|date1 =June 1

|score1 =0–1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030411

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =19:41 – Raffi Torres (3)

|goalie1-1 =Tim Thomas 33 saves / 34 shots

|goalie1-2 =Roberto Luongo 36 saves / 36 shots

|date2 =June 4

|score2 =2–3

|ot2 =1

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030412

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =12:12 – pp – Alexandre Burrows (8)

|2-2-1 =Milan Lucic (4) – 09:00
Mark Recchi (3) – pp – 11:35

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =09:37 – Daniel Sedin (9)

|2-4-1 =No scoring

|2-4-2 =00:11 – Alexandre Burrows (9)

|goalie2-1 =Tim Thomas 30 saves / 33 shots

|goalie2-2 =Roberto Luongo 28 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =June 6

|score3 =1–8

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030413

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =00:11 – Andrew Ference (3)
04:22 – pp – Mark Recchi (4)
11:30 – sh – Brad Marchand (7)
15:47 – David Krejci (11)

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =11:38 – sh – Daniel Paille (3)
17:39 – Mark Recchi (5)
18:06 – Chris Kelly (5)
19:29 – pp – Michael Ryder (6)

|3-3-2 =Jannik Hansen (3) – 13:53

|goalie3-1 =Tim Thomas 40 saves / 41 shots

|goalie3-2 =Roberto Luongo 30 saves / 38 shots

|date4 =June 8

|score4 =0–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030414

|4-1-1 =11:59 – Rich Peverley (3)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =11:11 – Michael Ryder (7)
13:29 – Brad Marchand (8)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =03:39 – Rich Peverley (4)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Tim Thomas 38 saves / 38 shots

|goalie4-2 =Roberto Luongo 16 saves / 20 shots
Cory Schneider 9 saves / 9 shots

|date5 =June 10

|score5 =0–1

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030415

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =04:35 – Maxim Lapierre (2)

|goalie5-1 =Tim Thomas 24 saves / 25 shots

|goalie5-2 =Roberto Luongo 31 saves / 31 shots

|date6 =June 13

|score6 =2–5

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030416

|6-1-1 =05:31 – Brad Marchand (9)
06:06 – Milan Lucic (5)
08:35 – pp – Andrew Ference (4)
09:45 – Michael Ryder (8)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =06:59 – pp – David Krejci (12)

|6-3-2 =Henrik Sedin (3) – pp – 00:22
Maxim Lapierre (3) – 17:34

|goalie6-1 =Tim Thomas 36 saves / 38 shots

|goalie6-2 =Roberto Luongo 5 saves / 8 shots
Cory Schneider 30 saves / 32 shots

|date7 =June 15

|score7 =4–0

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030417

|7-1-1 =Patrice Bergeron (5) – 14:37

|7-1-2 =No scoring

|7-2-1 =Brad Marchand (10) – 12:13
Patrice Bergeron (6) – sh – 17:35

|7-2-2 =No scoring

|7-3-1 =Brad Marchand (11) – en – 17:16

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Tim Thomas 37 saves / 37 shots

|goalie7-2 =Roberto Luongo 17 saves / 20 shots

|series = Boston won series 4–3

}}

These are the top ten skaters based on points. If the list exceeds ten skaters because of a tie in points, goals take precedence, and all the tied skaters are shown.{{cite web |title= 2010–2011 – Playoffs – All Skaters – Summary – |url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm#?navid=nav-sts-indiv|publisher= NHL.com |access-date=June 4, 2011 }}

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= 2010–2011 – Playoffs – Goalie – Summary – Goals against average |url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20113ALLGAGAll&sort=goalsAgainstAverage&viewName=wlt |publisher= NHL.com |access-date=June 4, 2011 }}

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 third 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, with NBC also airing the first two and final three games of the Stanley Cup Finals, while Versus broadcast games three and four. This was the last postseason that only selected first and second-round games were nationally televised, as well as the last postseason American regional sports networks carrying both their teams' first- and second-round games. After Comcast, the owners of Versus, completed its acquisition of a majority stake in NBC Universal, the combined company signed a new TV contract in April 2011. Among the new changes scheduled for 2012, all playoff games were to air nationally for the first time on either NBC or one of NBC Universal's cable channels, and the regional sports networks limited to only airing first-round games.{{cite news|url=http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/06/nbc-universal-to-televise-entire-stanley-cup-playoffs-for-first-time/|title=2012 NHL Playoffs Airing Nationally for First Time on NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, NHLN.|agency=NBC Sports|date= April 6, 2012|publisher= NBCSports.com|access-date=April 7, 2012}}{{cite news|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/hockey/nhl/04/19/tv-contract.ap/index.html?eref=sihp|title=NHL reaches new television deal to remain on NBC, Versus|agency=Associated Press|date=April 19, 2011|publisher=SI.com|access-date=April 19, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110424114128/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/hockey/nhl/04/19/tv-contract.ap/index.html?eref=sihp|archive-date=April 24, 2011}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110531150655/http://espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2011/matchup/_/teams 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs at ESPN]

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box

|before = 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs

|after = 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs

|title = Stanley Cup playoffs

|years = 2011|

}}

{{S-end}}

{{2010–11 NHL season by team}}

{{Stanley Cup playoffs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs}}

Playoffs, 2011

Category:Stanley Cup playoffs

sv:National Hockey League 2010/2011#Slutspelet