NHL qualifying round, round robin schedule for Sunday, August 2nd

The NHL returned to competitive play on Saturday with the start of its qualifying round series. Sunday brings three more qualifying round openers and the start of round robin play in each conference. We get a five game schedule starting at 2 p.m. and running through the end of the evening.

The NHL has 24 teams competing for a shot at the Stanley Cup trophy. The top four teams in each conference will play a round robin schedule to sort out the top four seeds. The remaining eight teams in each conference are playing in a qualifying round that the league has said is technically not part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The teams are seeded and each playing a five game series, with the winner of each series advancing to the formal playoff bracket.

Saturday brought two significant upsets to open he qualifying round. The 12th-seeded Chicago Blackhawks thumped the 5th-seeded Edmonton Oilers 6-4, and the 12th-seeded Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in overtime. There’s a long way to go for an upset, but in a five-game series, getting that first win is key.

Here is a list of game for Sunday, August 2nd with DraftKings Sportsbook money line odds in parenthesis. We’ll follow up with final scores and notable results for each game throughout the day. All times listed are eastern.

Arizona Coyotes (+117) vs. Nashville Predators (-136), 2 p.m. USA
Philadelphia Flyers (+112) vs. Boston Bruins (-129), 3 p.m. NBC
St. Louis Blues (-105) vs. Colorado Avalanche (-110), 6:30 p.m. NBCSN
Columbus Blue Jackets (+130) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (-150), 8 p.m. NHL Network
Minnesota Wild (-108) vs. Vancouver Canucks (-108), 10:30 p.m. NBCSN

Results

Coyotes 4, Predators 3 — Arizona poured in three first period goals and survived a late Nashville rally to take a 1-0 series lead. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak, and Clay Keller (PP) all scored in the first period. Michael Grabner added a second period shorthanded goal that would prove to be the game-winner after Filip Forsberg scored two power play goals for Nashville.

Flyers 4, Bruins 1 — The Flyers used a three goal second period to win this one with ease. Michael Raffl, Nate Thompson, and Philippe Myers each scored a goal, and Scott Laughton added one in the third period for insurance. The Flyers are now 1-0 in Eastern Conference round-robin play, while the Bruins open at 0-1.

Avalanche 2, Blues 1 — Ryan Graves and Nazem Kadri each scored in the third period to get Colorado the win and a 1-0 record in round-robin play. Philipp Grubauer stopped 31 of 32 shots in the win.

Blue Jackets 2, Maple Leafs 0 — Joonas Korpisalo stopped all 28 shots he faced to get Columbus the upset and 1-0 series lead. Cam Atkinson and Alexander Wennberg each scored a goal in the win.

Wild 3, Canucks 0 — Alex Stalock stopped 28 shots to get Minnesota a 1-0 series lead. Jared Spurgeon had two goals and one assist in the win.