The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs has begun in the NHL on this evening. Seven series in the first round not involving the New Jersey Devils are taking place. This is a place for the People Who Matter to discuss them as they happen.
Apologies for opening this up a bit late. The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs has begun in Winnipeg with the Jets taking Game 1 late over St. Louis. This is the most exciting hockey tournament in the world. Arguably the best playoffs in all of professional sports. The first round alone for 2025 is amazing on paper with rivalries and a slate of 16 teams that have an argument of some kind to make it to the second round.
This is an open post to discuss all of the playoff series except the one involving Our Favorite Team, the New Jersey Devils. We will be covering that one in oh so many other posts for the next few weeks (and hopefully beyond!) on this Devils-specific site. This post is for discussion of any of the other seven series in the first round. Here is a refresher of what they are:
Eastern Conference
Washington Capitals (Metropolitan Division 1st Place, Eastern Conference 1st Place) vs. Montreal Canadians (Wild Card #2) – The Battle of Surprise Teams. The Washington Capitals did not rebuild. They reloaded and romped their way through the regular season. Few expected this. Fewer expected a young Montreal Canadiens team to surge enough among a heap of mid teams in the East to take the last wild card sport in the East.
Tampa Bay Lightning (Atlantic Division 2nd Place) vs. Florida Panthers (Atlantic Division 3rd Place) – The Battle of Florida. The Lightning’s core still has enough left in the tank to compete and compete hard. The defending Stanley Cup Champions should have Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad back to kickstart a team that sagged their way to the end of the 2024-25 season. The rivalry alone should kickstart things.
Toronto Maple Leafs (Atlantic Division 1st Place) vs. Ottawa Senators (Wild Card #1) – The Battle of Ontario. The Maple Leafs have made it beyond the first round of the playoffs all of one (1) time since a salary cap was instituted in the NHL. The Senators have made it to the playoffs for the first time since Pittsburgh knocked them out of the Eastern Conference Finals in double-overtime back in 2017. All eyes are on Toronto to make a run but Ottawa will relish their chances to be the next team to spoil the Leafs.
Western Conference
Winnipeg Jets (Central Division 1st Place, Western Conference 1st Place, President’s Trophy winners) vs. St. Louis Blues (Wild Card #2) – The Battle of Goliath versus David. The Blues got hot and rode the hot streak into the wild card picture. It worked out that they took the last one due to one season-saving equalizer by Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek. Call them David. Winnipeg, on the other hand, has ran through the regular season like a hot knife through butter. All eyes are on them to go deep. Call them Goliath. Apologies again for this late open post; they are up 1-0 already in the series.
Dallas Stars (Central Division 2nd Place) vs. Colorado Avalanche (Central Division 3rd Place) – The Battle of Rantanen. Mikko Rantanen was a point machine for Colorado but contract negotiations broke down such that the Avs dealt him to Carolina. It did not work out in Raleigh so the Canes traded him to Dallas, who signed him to a fat extension. The Avalanche may be the fastest team in the league. Dallas has been strong up until their last few weeks of the season (and losing Jason Robertson right before the postseason hurts). It will be a series to watch.
Las Vegas Golden Knights (Pacific Division 1st Place) vs. Minnesota Wild (Wild Card #1) – The Battle of Fleury. The G-Knights have been unusually quiet in their dominance as they took the Pacific Division. They once were backed in the net by Marc-Andre Fleury until the ruthless Vegas organization shipped him out. Fleury ended up with Minnesota for a farewell tour. The Wild may be getting healthy enough at the right time to make it interesting. Will M-A Fleury have one last playoff hurrah at the expense of one of his former teams?
Los Angeles Kings (Pacific Division 2nd Place) vs. Edmonton Oilers (Pacific Division 3rd Place) – The Battle Reignited. The Kings and Oilers have faced off in the first round for four straight years. They are likely sick of it. The Kings are one of the best defensive teams in the league and have offensive talents emerging to make them difficult in general to face. The Oilers still have two of the best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and they are back in form. Familiarity breeds contempt and the contempt will be on display soon enough.
The Rules: The rules remain the same as always for this site as this is an open post. Please keep your language clean (no language masking, abbreviating, etc. I mean it: no swearing), respect your fellow Devils fan with no personal attacks (play nice or you will not play here), no illegal streams (this means no asking, no hints, no nothing about it), and please keep your comments relevant to the non-Devils playoff series in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you want to include other league news, that’s fine.