What channels are the NHL playoff qualifying games on?

The NHL playoff qualifiers kick off on August 1, and hockey fans can keep up with all of the games on a few different channels.

The NHL restarts its season on Saturday, with the league testing out a highly-anticipated 24-team playoff format. While fans are certainly excited to see hockey return to their screens, it’s important to know how to watch.

NBCUniversal has the rights to air the NHL playoffs, and most games will be available either on NBC or the NBC Sports Network. Despite the fact that the network recently launched Peacock, its streaming service, the games will not be available there.

While NBC has streamed the English Premier League on Peacock, it appears that the league’s television deal could prevent hockey from streaming on the app. However, for fans with cable watching the NHL playoff games should not be an issue.

Although some games are on NBC’s flagship channel, fans without NBCSN may encounter issues in watching the playoffs. The vast majority of the qualifying games will be aired on NBCSN, and fans whose television packages do not include it could miss most of the first round. However, there are plenty of streaming options available.

Fans with an NHL TV membership will be able to stream every game, and the league is offering a playoff membership for a one-time fee of $4.99. For both dedicated fans and new viewers who just miss sports, the subscription seems like a bargain.

Other services like Sling TV and Hulu with live TV will also carry the playoffs, so fans have plenty of options. In what figures to be an exciting postseason, more fans will likely tune in than ever before. In order to avoid missing out on the action, fans without cable should seriously consider their streaming options.