How to watch Stanley Cup 2023 Playoffs live anywhere in the world

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Yes. We know. Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup 2022 rather convincingly. The Stanley Cup champions needed six games to beat Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. If you have been following Stanley Cup news even remotely you would know that, give or take (depending on when you read this guide), all that actually remains is for the teams to decide (by playing each other) who would become the winner from each given conference for the next edition of Stanley Cup playoffs.

At the time of writing this guide, all the teams except Colorado Avalanche had started to prepare for the next Stanley Cup playoffs after the regular NHL season.

Colorado Avalanche will have their next match against the in-form Chicago Blackhawks at home. If they can win that match then they can secure an early lead for the rest of the regular NHL season to eventually qualify for Stanley Cup 2023.

Tempa Bay Lightning may have won the coronavirus-hit 2020 Stanley Cup Final but the team showed great character and proved it wasn’t a fluke by winning 2021 Stanley Cup as well. We’re talking about Tempa Bay Lightning getting ahead of other teams such as St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks who are, in our opinion, more evenly matched. Of course, any of the 16 teams (4 from each division) could make it past the Stanley Cup playoffs and into the semi-finals and then win the Stanley Cup final 2023.

Our research shows that the regular season will not go beyond May 8 but given the pandemic (and the emergence of another possible pandemic), there is no way to guarantee the schedule won’t change.

And the finals of the Stanley Cup 2023 will begin pretty early in the month of July (Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin close to May 11) and the final should finish no later than July 9. Again, you should keep in mind that because of the pandemic (and other emerging health emergencies), schedules can vary by a lot unlike in the past where they only changed by a week or two.

In this guide, we will mention everything that you need to know in order to watch each and every Stanley Cup playoff match for free regardless of your home country. Now, before we move on to the actual steps that you will have to take, we should note that in this guide we will only mention and recommend official stream sources.

Why do we say that? Well, we say that because important sporting events such as Stanley Cup and others often make their way to shady and unscrupulous streaming sites online.

And people do watch such streams. But that does not make them legal. Because of that, we always suggest to our readers that they should only stream from sources that have proper licenses. We have come to know through our experience that official broadcasters offer users a higher quality of streaming video.

Moreover, you will not have to worry about certain groups taking down the streaming video because it violated copyrights while you are in the middle of watching a football game. With our guide, you will have the opportunity to watch each and every game of the Stanley Cup 2023 playoff and more without incurring any costs.

In other words, you will never have to worry about making use of unauthorized content streams ever again. At least not for the Stanley Cup you won’t.

On that note, we should also mention that the majority of the streaming services available online who are showing the Stanley Cup finals and other related games have regional restrictions on their content.So, if you want to watch Stanley Cup with the help of any of these streams then you will have to make use of a VPN service.

Read on to find out how to do that.

How to watch Stanley Cup 2023 playoffs and final abroad by using a VPN?

You asked. And we delivered. This is how you do it.

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First, you make use of a VPN or Virtual Private Network in order to get past geo-restrictions on various streaming services.

Once you do that, you should have no problems in unblocking content on other streaming sites as well.

If that sounded a bit complex on the face of it, then know that all you really need to do is to follow the simple steps that we have mentioned below in order to bypass all regional restrictions to successfully watch the Stanley Cup 2023 from any country on earth.

Here are the steps that you need to take.

  1. You will start your journey of watching Stanley Cup 2023 online for free by purchasing a VPN package.
    You can do that by going to the official website of a VPN service that you like.
    If you do not know which VPN  service you like, what you need to do is to click here to learn more about the best VPN service providers in the world right now.
    Now, remember that just because a VPN service has a good reputation doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be good for your needs as well.
    For example, there is a good chance that a VPN service like CyberGhost, NordVPN or ExpressVPN may work out for you very nicely.
    But you do not know that. And since you do not know that you should not take any risks. Read our guide to learn more about the best VPNs the industry has to offer to users just like you today.
    After reading up on all the best options, you are free to sign up for whichever VPN service you feel fits your needs the most.
    Of course, in an ideal situation, you will find a VPN service that is not only excellent for you but also very economical. But life is not fair. So do not go in there expecting that you will find the perfect VPN service for your needs at the perfect cost.
  2. Okay, so after you have decided to sign up for a VPN service and have purchased a VPN package from the official website of that VPN service, what you need to do is to download and then install the official VPN app for your device.
    We are reminding you again that you must make sure that you are downloading the VPN app that is meant for your streaming device or operating system.
    Do not make a mistake in this part of the guide.
  3. Now, when that is done you need to decide on which streaming platform would you like to remove geo-restrictions from and then access all its content from abroad.
  4. Then you need to connect to a fast VPN server which is located in the right and appropriate location and/or country.
    To take an example, you might have heard about fuboTV.
    This streaming service is only available to users who reside in the United States of America.
    If you want to unblock this service then you will have to connect to a VPN server that is located in the United States of America.
  5. Once you have completed step four, what we want you to do is to try and play some content on the streaming service of your choice.
    Our research shows that you should have no problems in playing the video.
    However, if the video does not play for you then the fix is easy enough as well.
    Just clear your cookies and cache.
    After that, refresh the given page and you should be good to go.

Now the other thing that you need to remember here is that all the Stanley Cup matches will get broadcasted live. This is the reason why we believe you should sign up for a VPN that works well with the streaming service of your choice well before the finals begin.

If you do that, then at the time when you are faced with any streaming problems, you will still have many chances to get some assistance from the customer support department of your VPN service. More importantly, though, you will not have to miss the beginning of a game that you considered the most important of your season.

How to watch Stanley Cup NHL 2023 playoffs for free via US TV

You should not have any issues in streaming each and every Stanley Cup playoff game live in 2023 on NBC Sports. Of course, depending on your location, you should expect the game starting time to vary a little bit. However, there are lots of places on the internet that provide you with up-to-date information on all the upcoming matches and fixtures.

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In order to read up on that click here to access the live NBC broadcast schedule.

Again, we want to mention here that watching Stanley Cup playoffs and other NHL games online is absolutely free.

But that holds true only for those people who have cable TV packages that come with access to the channel NBC Sports.

However, if you have a cable subscription that does not come with access to NBC Sports or if you are a cord cutter and do not have access to a cable subscription, to begin with, then there is no need for you to panic.

There are lots of other ways in which you can follow all the match action live and for free. Allow us to mention a couple of them. Did you know that NBC Sports actually allows online consumers to sign in to their service via their Hulu or fuboTV or DirecTV Now account?

And then watch Live TV? Yes. They do. In fact, you can sign in to NBC Sports by signing in with the help of your Sling TV, PlayStation Vue (which is now defunct, so you shouldn’t count it) and/or Youtube TV accounts as well.

The great thing about all of these services is that all of them come with a completely working free trial. During the free trial period, users can watch any channel that they want. Now, the other great thing about the free trial period is that it lasts long enough for the user to pretty much any and all playoff fixtures.

Our research shows that the free trial period for Hulu lasts for around 30 days (the standard Hulu package’s free trial lasts 30 days). But since you want to access channels that show Stanley Cup 2023 final then you’ll have to sign up for Hulu with Live TV. And Hulu with Live TV only offers a 7 day trial period.

If you sign up for Hulu with Live TV’s free trial period and then not forget to cancel your subscription before the 7 day period runs out, then you should have no problems in watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and finals live and free. The other thing that you need to keep in mind about these platforms is that all of them have geo-restrictions on their content.

For the end user, that means if you do not have access to a VPN service or you do not live in the United States then you cannot access the content that they offer. You must have access to a VPN service that has servers in the US. Again, if you have not signed up for a VPN service, what you need to do is to click here and read our guide on the best VPN service providers in the market today.

Many would say that you should sign up for an industry powerhouse like CyberGhost, NordVPN or ExpressVPN, but we say that you should read briefly about each of them before committing to any single VPN service. Your needs are unique. And that means you cannot just sign up for a VPN service that is good for another user.

What we will add to that is that you should try to sign up for a VPN service that offers from 7 to 30 days of official money-back guarantee. That way you can try out the service and not take any risks with your money either. The reason why we like VPN services that offer users money-back guarantees is that you never know what will happen in the future.

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Want to know how to watch Stanley Cup outside US? Then read this guide.

And if you do not feel satisfied with your current VPN service then a money-back guarantee is the only thing that can get you your money back. All premium VPN service providers are able to enable users to watch the Stanley Cup final or playoffs online.

If you find that your VPN service does not unblock Stanley Cup online then you can simply ask for your money back and then cancel your subscription by asking for a refund. Just to recap, here are the channels offering live Stanley Cup matches

  • NBC
  • NBC Sports
  • CNBC
  • USA
  • The Golf Channel
  • NHL TV (from around $24.99 per month)
  • NHL Network
  • Fox Sports
  • NHL Center ICE

How to watch Stanley Cup 2023 online and live in Canada

Well, the first thing you need to know here is that in Canada, CBC Sports and Sportsnet (via SN Now +)have bought their way in sharing the official English-language coverage license to the 2023 edition of the Stanley Cup. That is great. Meanwhile, TVA Sports has managed to get exclusive broadcasting right as the country’s primary French-language Stanley Cup broadcaster.

Both TVA Sports and Sportsnet allow users to first log in and then stream all of their match content for pretty much free if the user is able to prove that the respective channel comes included with his/her cable TV package. Again, if you find that your cable subscription package doesn’t come with either TVA Sports and Sportnets, then you can purchase a digital subscription.

That is a pretty effective alternative as well. Our research shows that both TVA Sports and Sportsnet offer users standard cable packages for as low as $5 per month (SN Now+ costs $15 per month) Canadian dollars per month. The problem with both these streaming services is that none of them offer a free trial period.

That can come back to bite you in the backside if something does go wrong with your stream and you feel like quitting. On the other hand, it is also true that the likes of CBS Sports will be showing a list of selected Stanley Cup fixtures, all free of any kind of charge, via the official CBC Sports application for the Android and iOS platform.

Moreover, you should also know that in Canada the only real channels where you can watch Stanley Cup are,

  • TVA Sports
  • CBC Sports
  • Sportsnet
  • RDS
  • TSN
  • NHL Live (Canadian equivalent of NHL.TV)

In other words, you will have to use a VPN service in order to log in to any of these channels while abroad.

How to watch the Stanley Cup 2023 live and online in the UK.

Our research shows that the only online platform that is showing Stanley Cup 2023 playoffs is Premier Sports as far as the United Kingdom is concerned. So, if you would prefer, you do have the option of adding Stanley Cup-compatible channels to your current Virgin or Sky TV subscription. With the help of Virgin TV Go and Sky Go apps, you have the option of watching the whole tournaments live and online.

However, for most people, we think that the easiest way to watch the Stanley Cup 2023 edition playoffs is to forget about cable TV subscriptions and apps and concentrate signing up for the Premier Player subscription plan. This plan (for Sky TV), our research shows, costs around £9.99 per month.  However, the service does not offer users a free trial period anymore. Virgin TV still offers a free trial which lasts for one 14 days.

If you are a Virgin customer however, you have to pay around £12.99 per month. As a consequence of the free trial though, you definitely have the chance of watching each and every Stanley Cup game/fixture for pretty much no money. All that you have to ensure is to cancel your subscription before the date of the trial comes.

The other thing we should perhaps mention here is that this service too has regional restrictions. And if you are not living in the UK then you cannot access its content. If you want to remove those restrictions then sign up for a VPN service. Subscribers who are abroad can log in to their account by first connecting to a server that is located in the United Kingdom first. Apart from that, BT Sport might show some games in the UK. You can also go with NHL.tv as your go-to live streaming service as it is available in the UK.

What about all the other locations?

You do not need to go to your safe place (assuming you have one to begin with) if we have not  mentioned your specific country in any of our sections above.Why do we say that? Well, we say that because NHL.tv will broadcast all the Stanley Cup 2023 playoff games. Not only that, it will also stream the final stage all over the world in over 50 countries live and raw. The list of countries is pretty expansive but some of the included countries are as follows,

  • Germany
  • Italy
  • Spain
  • France
  • Australia

We should mention here that unlike all the other streaming services that we have named so far, the official NHL.tv streaming service does not have a free trial. But it only costs $39.99 (for the entire season) for one team. For people living in Europe, this translates to around 40 euros per season. We think that the NHL.tv service is the most reasonably priced streaming service of all that we have mentioned. As for access to all matches, users only have to pay $49.99 per year

All of that is great but how does this Stanley Cup actually work?

Right off the bat, you should know that the format of Stanley Cup has a reasonably straightforward format. Here is how it works. The tournament starts with the first round and there are sixteen NHL teams playing it. These teams all come through their own qualification matches. They take part in a series of best-of-seven games.

The matches continue unless and until a total of four teams remain from both the Western and Eastern conferences. Then, the winning teams from the first round have to repeat the process till there are only two NHL teams left. As expected, these two teams go to the last and final round. In the final round, the first NHL team that manages to win a total of four games takes home the Stanley Cup title.

Moreover, each player of the winning team gets to have Championship rings awarded to them. One more thing you have to note about this tournaments is that the Stanley Cup tournament can and does end at the exact moment when a given NHL team is able to win its fourth match. Why are we mentioning that again? Well, we are mentioning it again because no one can guarantee if a given set of two teams would play all the seven games.

Another interesting point to note here is that, none of the matches can end in a result that the judges can consider a tie. A tie simply does not exist when it comes to Stanley Cup finals. So what happens when the scores are level? Well if the scores are indeed level and the match has reached its end play, then both the teams involved in the final continue to play a 20-minute match an unlimited number of times.

However, this time around each team can only have five men on the pitch. And unless one team scores these overtime periods continue indefinitely. In practice however, the two involved teams only have to play a few overtime periods.

Zohair A. Zohair is currently a content crafter at Security Gladiators and has been involved in the technology industry for more than a decade. He is an engineer by training and, naturally, likes to help people solve their tech related problems. When he is not writing, he can usually be found practicing his free-kicks in the ground beside his house.
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