Playoff urgency for many teams began prior to Olympic break

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2025-26 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. In this edition, Dan Lambert, former assistant with the Buffalo Sabres, Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames, discusses how some teams are already playing playoff-style hockey trying to earn a place in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

As the regular season winds down, the intensity around the Stanley Cup Playoff race naturally ramps up, especially for teams still trying to fight their way in.

For many of those clubs, the playoffs don't really start in mid-April. They begin weeks earlier.

That urgency was already building even before the 2026 Winter Olympics break.

In fact, some teams were treating games leading into that pause as must-win situations just to stay in the mix. Now, coming out of it, the picture hasn't changed much.

Though a handful of teams are out of contention, a large portion of the League still believes it has a shot and that belief goes a long way this time of year.

It doesn't mean every game feels exactly like a Game 7, but the mindset is close. There's a noticeable shift in how teams prepare and play. Coaches tighten things up, players sharpen their focus and the margin for error gets smaller by the day. Everyone understands that getting into the playoffs is the first hurdle, and once you're in, anything can happen.

The challenge is that the grind starts early. For teams in the race, it can feel like playoff hockey a month or more before the postseason even begins. That puts added pressure on coaching staffs to manage energy levels. Rest and recovery start to matter just as much if not more than systems and structure.

The Olympic break adds another layer to that. Players who didn't participate often come back refreshed, while those who did may already be feeling the wear and tear of a long season. At this point, some guys feel like they're already deep into Game 70 or beyond, so managing minutes and practice time becomes critical.

There's also just not much time to practice. With games coming every other night, teams lean more on video sessions and morning skates to get their points across. Some will skate between games, others won't. It really depends on the team but overall, the focus shifts toward keeping players as fresh as possible, both mentally and physically.

From a coaching standpoint, the routine doesn't change drastically, even if the games carry more weight. Preparation is still done game by game, but meetings might be a bit shorter and more direct. Special teams take on even greater importance, too. A timely power-play goal or a key penalty kill can be the difference in tight games, and teams know it.

Players, for their part, usually rise to the moment. When there's something on the line every night, you tend to see their best hockey. The key is not getting stuck on what already happened. Whether it's a tough loss or a big win, teams that handle this stretch well are the ones that quickly turn the page and focus on what's next.

For teams sitting comfortably near the top of the standings, the approach can be slightly different. Health becomes the priority.

Though securing home-ice advantage still matters, it's often more important to make sure key players are ready to go when the playoffs begin. That might mean being a little more cautious with bumps and injuries down the stretch.

Although playing at home is always nice, it may not carry quite the same edge it once did. Players are used to winning in different environments, and the game itself is called more consistently than in years past. At the end of the day, most teams believe that if they're playing the right way, they can win anywhere.

That's what makes this time of year so compelling. 

The urgency is real, the stakes are clear, and for a lot of teams, the playoffs have already begun, long before the standings make it official.