April 29, 2026
The NBA and NHL playoffs overlap every year. Here is how to follow both.
By Fixtured
For anyone who follows the NBA and NHL playoffs, the schedule becomes one of the most demanding stretches of the sports year.
Sometime in mid-April, two of the most intense postseasons in professional sport start running at the same time. The NBA and NHL playoffs both begin on the same weekend, and they both run through June. For fans who follow only one, that is straightforward enough. For anyone who follows both, the schedule becomes one of the most demanding stretches of the sports year.
Right now, in May 2026, both are in their second rounds. The NBA Conference Semifinals have games most nights of the week, and the NHL has its own second-round series running on the same evenings. On any given Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, there could be two or three NBA games followed by two or three NHL games, spread across a six-hour window. Saturday and Sunday afternoons often have NHL matchups that give way to NBA tip-offs in the evening.
Why it compounds
The NBA playoffs use a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the higher seed hosting Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 and the lower seed hosting Games 3, 4, and 6. Each series is best of seven, and all four rounds follow the same structure. The NBA Finals tip off at 8:30 PM ET on ABC.
The NHL playoffs follow the same best-of-seven format with the same 2-2-1-1-1 home-and-away split. The difference is that the NHL also has an afternoon game slot, with some matchups starting as early as 2 PM ET on weekends, which can mean an NHL game finishing just as the first NBA game of the evening tips off.
Keeping up with both
The challenge is not knowing the format — it is knowing, on any given night, what is playing and when. The NBA and NHL schedules are released round by round as series progress, so the full picture only becomes clear a few days at a time. Checking two separate league apps or sites to assemble a complete evening of sport is the kind of friction that causes fans to miss things.
Fixtured has both the NBA and NHL playoffs in one schedule. You can follow any combination of teams across both sports and see the full picture of what is on each night. Download the app here and follow the rest of the playoffs without the back-and-forth.
