The Stanley Cup Playoffs are finally here! The battle for Lord Stanley is down to just 16 teams, and this year could prove to be one of the most entertaining postseasons in recent memory.
The league is wide open this year, which opens the door for potential upsets and storylines that could make history. As all 16 teams are looking to etch their name in the history books forever, an argument can be made for any of these teams to go all the way. However, only eight will survive the first round.
Here are all the matchups we will see in the first round beginning on Saturday, April 19, a preview of the series, and my personal prediction.
Disclaimer: These predictions are of my personal opinion. This very well could be one of the worst bracket predictions of all time, but it is my opinion, and I am standing on it.
Eastern Conference
(M1) Washington Capitals vs. (WC2) Montreal Canadiens
The Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2010, and there are many similarities between that series and this one, 15 years later, maybe too many for Capitals fans’ liking.
The Capitals enter the postseason as the top seed in the East, as they did in 2010, and will once again face a Canadiens team that just squeaked into the playoffs. 15 years ago, Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals had a top offence in hockey but ran into a hot goaltender (Jaroslav Halak) who stood on his head and helped the Canadiens eliminate the Caps in game 7.
The Canadiens hope to make history repeat itself. Goaltender Samuel Montembeault has been one of the best in hockey since the 4 Nations break, when the Canadiens began a complete turnaround of their season. The Canadiens’ appearance in the postseason has made this season sound like something out of a storybook.
However, the Capitals have had a storybook season of their own, unexpectedly seeding first in the Eastern Conference. Ovechkin’s record-breaking season is only part of it. The Caps enter with the second-best offence in terms of goals per game (3.5) and the fourth-best penalty kill in hockey (82%).
The Capitals could spell trouble for a Canadiens team whose powerplay has finally clicked and has struggled to defend in front of Montembeault. Although the numbers say the Capitals should take this series with ease, the Canadiens have done the unexpected all year long, and I believe it doesn’t end here. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield will keep their breakout years rolling into the second round with help from a rocking Bell Centre and rookie phenom Ivan Demidov.
Canadiens in six games
(A1) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (WC1) Ottawa Senators
Before the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Lightning in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, the last time the Maple Leafs advanced past the opening round was 2004, when they played the Ottawa Senators. Now the two teams will meet in a postseason edition of the battle of Ontario for the first time since.
Not including the shortened 2020 season, this is the first time the Maple Leafs have won their division since 2000. This certainly looks like the best Leafs team in some time. In head coach Craig Berube‘s first season leading the Maple Leafs, he has seemingly built the grittiest Leafs team in a long time, something that fans have claimed to be missing in past years. Is this the year the Maple Leafs make a run?
On the other side of the battle of Ontario is a surprising and pesky Ottawa Senators team, led by captain Brady Tkachuk and former Vezina-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark.
This series should be a physical war, something the Leafs of years past have struggled with, especially their offence, which has gone quiet in past postseasons. But the storyline of this series will be goaltending. Anthony Stolarz has been quite the success story in the goal for Toronto, but can he outplay Ullmark in Ottawa?
The Senators will need Ullmark to play the best hockey of his career if this young team is going to have a chance against the division-winning Maple Leafs. Ullmark should be able to steal a couple of games and make the Maple Leafs uncomfortable at times, but ultimately, the Senators’ lack of playoff experience will cause them to fall short.
Maple Leafs in seven games
(A2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (A3) Florida Panthers
The Lightning and Panthers will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second consecutive season. The Panthers will hope to follow the same script from 2024, when they eliminated the Lightning and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The Panthers have won the Eastern Conference in each of the past two seasons. Now with the addition of Brad Marchand and the expected return of Matthew Tkachuk, who missed 30 games this season, the Panthers certainly have the assets to do it again.
The Panthers made quick work of the Lightning in 2024, as it took them only five games to advance past Tampa Bay, but this year the battle between two south Florida rivals is expected to be far more competitive. The Lightning finished the regular season with the best offence in hockey, averaging 3.6 goals per game, while only allowing an average of 2.6 per game, better than the Panthers in both categories.
This series can go either way, but the key, similar to the Leafs and Sens, will likely be goaltending. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky, two Vezina-winning and Cup-winning goaltenders meeting once again in a seven-game series, are bound to make this one of the more entertaining matchups of the first round. The better goaltender of the two will likely decide who advances to the second round.
Both teams have plenty of playoff experience, but I believe the reigning champions will once again make a deep playoff run, as the team is arguably better than last year, but it won’t be without a fight from Nikita Kucherov and company.
Panthers in seven games
(M2) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (M3) New Jersey Devils
Before the season began, I picked the New Jersey Devils to win the Eastern Conference and be among the league’s best. But following the injury to their star forward, Jack Hughes, head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s first year with the Devils has been underwhelming. But that feeling of underachievement and disappointment has a huge opportunity to shift completely in the first round. The Devils missed the playoffs in 2024, and now they face the ever-dangerous Carolina Hurricanes.
The trades that sent Mikko Rantanen to and then from Carolina have somewhat derailed the Hurricanes’ season. Rod Brind’Amour‘s club has won just three of its past ten games entering the postseason. Do the Devils have the chance at catching the Hurricanes when they are most vulnerable?
The Devils have not looked great following Hughes’s injury and have relied mostly upon their powerplay, which is the third-best in hockey (28.2%), to score goals. The issue that arises is the matchup. The big storyline for this series is whether the Devils can find success on the man advantage. The Hurricanes sport the best penalty kill in hockey (83.6%) and only allow 2.8 goals per game, the 10th-best in the NHL.
The Hurricanes’ Achilles heel could prove to be their goaltending, an area that has been far too inconsistent throughout the year for a team wanting to be a Cup contender. At the trade deadline, the Hurricanes decided against upgrading in goal, opting to run with Pyotr Kochetkov and Frederik Andersen against Jacob Markstrom, who has shown flashes of his elite past.
If the Hurricanes can get consent goaltending throughout the series, while continuing to kill penalties at an elite rate, expect this series to be over sooner rather than later.
Hurricanes in five games
Western Conference
(C1) Winnipeg Jets vs. (WC2) St. Louis Blues
Fresh off winning the Presidents’ Trophy for leading the league in points during the regular season, the Winnipeg Jets will look to get past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2021. As the number one seed in the West, the Jets will get the St. Louis Blues, and although the Blues just barely made the postseason, head coach Jim Montgomery‘s squad will be far from a cakewalk for the Jets.
The Jets are coming off an unbelievable season, in large part due to the career season from Kyle Connor and Connor Hellebuyck, who is sure to repeat as the Vezina trophy winner. But will the best regular season in recent memory be enough to propel the Jets past their postseason demons?
For a team that seems to continually implode come playoff time, the Blues might just be a nightmare matchup for the Jets. St. Louis has been unbelievably hot late in the season, and now they must try to translate that momentum into playoff success. Can Jordan Binnington continue his strong bounce-back season and outduel Hellebuyck? The two goaltenders are no strangers to one another as they met earlier in the year during the 4 Nations tournament, when Binnington and Team Canada defeated Hellebuyck and Team USA. Will the Jets’ goaltender get revenge in the first round of the playoffs?
The Jets’ playoff success will heavily depend on Hellebuyck’s consistency. He struggled mightily in the 2024 playoffs, when the Avalanche eliminated the Jets in five games. For the Blues, Robert Thomas will need to carry his strong regular-season play and leadership into the playoffs, but players having breakout seasons, such as Jake Neighbours and Philip Broberg, are a few who will be just as important in this series.
I believe the strong momentum and exciting hockey that has gotten the Blues into the playoffs will be able to expose Hellebuyck and the Jets. The Blues have all the potential to send the Jets home early with playoff disappointment once again.
Blues in six games
(C2) Dallas Stars vs. (C3) Colorado Avalanche
The first-round series between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche has the potential to be the most entertaining of the eight taking place in this opening round. The headline of this series has hockey fans tuning in no matter where they reside. Mikko Rantanen is taking on his former team following the trade and then an eight-year, $96,000,000 extension with the Stars.
However, since the blockbuster trade occurred, the Stars have struggled, while the Avalanche have thrived. The Stars need to turn things around quick as they enter the postseason after dropping their last seven games. Now, to get back in the win column, the Stars will need to do so in the playoffs. A tough task, given it is no secret that entering the postseason cold as ice makes things significantly more difficult. The Stars will also be without Jason Robertson, one of their leading scorers, to begin the playoffs. Depth and secondary scoring will be more important than ever.
Two players must continue their elite play from the regular season for the Avalanche to win this series.
Firstly, no surprise, Nathan MacKinnon must carry the load. Coming off his incredible season that saw the Avs’ star collect 116 points, second most in his career behind last season’s 140, MacKinnon is the key in this series for both teams. Obviously, the Avalanche can’t afford MacKinnon to go quiet, and he takes over, it becomes hard to imagine a scenario where the Stars advance to the second round. But MacKinnon is also the key for the Stars. Dallas will need all hands on deck to shut down one of the league’s best, and if they can succeed, the odds become ever in their favor.
Next, the goaltending matchup is interesting. Jake Oettinger has been an elite goaltender for a few years now and still has tons of time to improve even further for the Dallas Stars. But Mackenzie Blackwood is finding a career resurgence in Colorado. Blackwood looked great with the Sharks earlier in the season, but following the trade that sent him to the Avalanche, he has turned a new leaf and is now crucial to his team’s playoff success.
In the end, I believe the Stars’ woes, along with how strong the Avalanche look, will be too much. Captain Gabriel Landeskog will play his first game since the Avs won the cup in 2022, which should provide a huge boost for the Avalanche. The Stars are still an elite hockey team when everything clicks, but MacKinnon and the Avalanche will be too much in the end.
Avalanche in seven games
(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild
The Vegas Golden Knights enter with high expectations as Pacific Division champions and the second-best team in the West, but their opponent enters the postseason with a lot of questions. The Minnesota Wild are just about back to full health for the first time since nearly the beginning of the season. Due to the injuries to the Wild’s star players like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, the team lacked chemistry and firepower, which caused a lackluster regular season. But now back to full health and looking dangerous towards the end of the regular season, are the Wild a sneaky underdog capable of pulling off the upset?
The case with the Wild is rather simple, but it comes with many questions. The Wild will either be dangerous and shocking due to the incredible talent that Kaprizov possesses and the fact that no other teams have seen the Wild at full strength. But, chemistry could be an issue, as it is incredibly difficult to return from a long time off to get thrown right into playoff hockey. If the Wild can play at their full strength, this team has the potential to make a run.
The Golden Knights are only two years removed from a Stanley Cup Championship, and this year’s team might be just as good. Adin Hill will need to play like he did in 2023 because his struggles in goal this year are no secret. How much does Captain Mark Stone have left in the tank? Another strong playoff run from Stone would do wonders for Vegas’ quest for its second championship in franchise history.
Although the Golden Knights very well may be the most balanced team in hockey, Kaprizov is an anomaly, and his presence completely rejuvenates the Wild’s first line. This series will be a long battle, but the Wild’s success on this road this season leads me to believe they won’t be afraid of the Vegas lights.
Wild in seven games
(P2) Los Angeles Kings vs. (P3) Edmonton Oilers
For the fourth consecutive postseason, the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers will meet in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Kings have yet to beat the Oilers, but this might be their best shot yet. Can the Kings finally slay the dragon that is Connor McDavid and the Oilers?
The Kings have certainly looked like the better team during the regular season. However, the Oilers are a team that plays their best hockey come playoff time. For the Kings, their defense is once again their strong suit. They allowed 2.5 goals per game in the regular season, good for the second-best in the league. But their offense looks much better than last year, and the continued breakout of Quinton Byfield as his career high of 23 goals this season has aided the Kings’ offensive success.
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is having a complete 180-degree turnaround of a season from his 2023 year with the Capitals, but can he continue his dominance, especially at home against one of the best offensive duos the league has ever seen? McDavid and Leon Draisaitl will dictate this series and the rest of the postseason for the Oilers, but goaltender Stuart Skinner will play a huge role in this series.
This series can go one of two ways. The Kings will find success if they keep pucks out of the end and play a physical and slow style of hockey. The Oilers will be hoping to outscore the Kings with their speed and offensive prowess. If the Kings allow the Oilers to do whatever they want offensively while struggling to score, they will be in a world of trouble. Goaltending and the Kings’ offence will be the storylines to watch out for.
Expect the Oilers to play their best hockey come playoff time once again, as they outscore the Kings and set out on another playoff run, a year removed from their game seven defeat to the Panthers.
Oilers in six games
The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway! Enjoy a first round of entertainment, and do not be surprised if the underdogs find some success.