We’re into the second round of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, and eight of the top nine teams from the regular season standings–sorry, Winnipeg–are still alive. In fact, every team still remaining scored between 104 and 114 points this year, setting up the run to the finals as a potentially thrilling one.
If you live in the United States, all of the remaining playoff games will be televised on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT or TBS. But if you don’t have cable and you want to watch NHL action live online, we’ve found several ways you can watch games for free or cheap.
The Best Way to Watch the NHL Playoffs Live Stream
If you want to watch a live stream of every NHL playoff game from now through the Stanley Cup Finals, and you want to do it for as cheap as possible, then Sling TV is going to be your No. 1 option.
The “Sling Orange” channel bundle includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 (which simulcasts ABC games), TNT and TBS–every single channel you need for the playoffs–and costs just $40 per month. You could even add on the $11-per-month “Sports Extra” for NBA TV, and you’d have everything you need to watch both the NHL and NBA playoffs, and it’d still be cheaper than any other live-TV streaming service.
And here’s a bonus for hockey fans who are looking for an IIHF World Championship live stream: NHL Network is also included in the “Sports Extra” add-on. That’ll get you about half of the games for the tournament (the other half are on ESPN+), including all of Team USA’s games, half of the quarterfinals, both semifinals and the gold-medal game. And again, this is the cheapest streaming service with NHL Network.
Is There a Free NHL Playoffs Live Stream?
Maybe you’re not totally locked in to every game of the playoffs, and you’re just here at some point to tune in for a single game or a week’s worth of games, then we would suggest trying out YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream, which both include all the channels you need to watch every NHL playoff game.
Both of these are more expensive long-term options than Sling (YouTube TV’s “Base Plan” is $58 per month for your first three months, while DirecTV Stream’s “Entertainment” plan is $80 per month), but they both come with a free five-day trial. As such, you could sign up, watch a couple of games and then cancel without ever having to pay anything.
If also want the NHL Network in order to watch the IIHF World Championship, you’ll want to go with DirecTV Stream’s “Ultimate” package or above.
You could also try out Fubo‘s “Pro” channel package, which has ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. It’s a tier below those options since it doesn’t include TBS or TNT, but it comes with a seven-day trial, so it’s a fine option if there’s a certain game on the ESPN channels you’re trying to watch for free.
Watch the NHL Playoffs Live Stream on Max
The B/R Sports add-on through Max (formerly HBO Max) includes every NBA, NHL and MLS game that is televised on TBS, TNT or truTV.
What’s great here is that while Max costs $10 per month, the B/R Sports add-on–which will eventually cost an extra $10 per month–is currently included in the regular Max subscription for free.
Of course, this won’t get you every NHL playoff game, but it’s a really cheap way to watch a good amount of games. It’s also nice timing with the coinciding NBA playoffs, which will have a lot of TNT games.
How to Watch NHL Playoffs Live Stream from Abroad
All of these streaming services are US-only, but a virtual private network (VPN) can help get you around that problem if you’re currently abroad. With a VPN, you’re able to hide your location and connect to a digital server in another country, which lets you bypass location-restrictions and stream content from other countries.
Our recommendation is NordVPN, which is No. 1 on our lists of both the best VPN services or the best VPN deals. It doesn’t limit bandwidth speeds, it’s really easy to use and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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