By Basil Stroh

HOME ICE IS NICE, BUT WILL A ROAD TEAM BREAK THROUGH?

All four games scheduled across a full 11 hours of playoff action on Sunday will be Game 4s in a series that have seen the home team win each contest. Stars such as Jordan Binnington in St. Louis, Nico Hischier in New Jersey, Cole Caufield in Montreal and Connor McDavid in Edmonton will look to lead their teams to another home win and even their respective series 2-2.

* The Jets (26-15-0, 52 points) had more road wins than any team in the 2024-25 regular season, and will need to tap into that success at Enterprise Center against the Blues, who last lost a game on home ice in February and have 13 consecutive home wins overall dating to the regular season. Binnington closed the 2024-25 regular season on a franchise-record 11-game home win streak and made 17 saves in Game 3 to backstop the Blues to their first win of the series.

* A close Hurricanes–Devils series will contest Game 4 with New Jersey looking to secure back-to-back home victories to tie the series after withstanding a Carolina comeback attempt with a double-overtime victory in Game 3. Through the first three games of the series, 81% of playing time has seen the two teams tied or within a goal (163:43 of 202:36).
* Cole Caufield (37 regular season & 2 playoffs) has 39 total goals this year and sits one away from becoming the first Canadiens player in a decade to score 40, last achieved by Max Pacioretty in 2014-15 (37 regular season & 5 playoffs). At the other end of the ice, 39-year-old Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has three goals through the first three games of this series, and his next playoff tally will tie Mario Lemieux (76) for 12th in NHL history.

* The Kings and Oilers have combined to average 10 goals per game through the first three contests of the series, including four game-tying goals, three of which came in Game 3. The teams are led in points by Adrian Kempe (4-5—9 in 3 GP) and Connor McDavid (2-5—7 in 3 GP). With a point in Game 4, Kempe would become the fastest Kings player to 10 points in a postseason, a mark currently held by Wayne Gretzky (5 GP in 1991) and Daryl Evans (5 GP in 1982). McDavid’s next three-point game (he already has two in 2025) will tie Denis Savard for the fifth most in Stanley Cup Playoffs history on a list loaded with Oilers greats.

COURTESY NHL PUBLIC RELATIONS