With the final game of the first round of 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs completed Sunday night, there’s no rest for hockey fans. The second round begins Monday.
The first series to get rolling features the two remaining teams from the Atlantic Division, as the Florida Panthers visit the Toronto Maple Leafs (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Read on for a game preview with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Sunday’s game and the three stars of the first round from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 1 | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN
ESPN BET has installed the Panthers as the favorites in the series at -175, while the Maple Leafs are +150 to win the series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Panthers won the regular-season series 3-1 by an aggregate score of 13-7. A major factor in those four games was the Panthers’ power play, which converted five of 11 chances (45.5%). For comparison, the Leafs’ power play converted only one of nine opportunities (11.1%).
This is the second time these clubs have met in the postseason; the other time was also the second round in 2023. Florida eliminated Toronto in five games, punctuated by an overtime win in Game 5. (Nick Cousins scored the goal.)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz and Anthony Stolarz won the Stanley Cup with the 2024 Panthers. The only previous playoff series in NHL history in which three players dressed against a team with which they won a Cup during the previous season was when Los Angeles Kings teammates Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley skated against the Edmonton Oilers in 1989.
The Panthers have won more playoff games (39) since 2021 than they did in their first 26 seasons (19). Their 39 wins and 66 games played in the postseason since 2021 lead the NHL.
Florida’s postseason goal-scoring leaderboard features current players through the top four spots: Carter Verhaeghe (28), Sam Reinhart (23), Aleksander Barkov (20), Matthew Tkachuk (20).
This is the Leafs’ ninth straight postseason appearance, which is the longest active streak in the NHL and tied for the second longest in franchise history. That other nine-year streak ended in 1967 with a Stanley Cup win.
Toronto captain Auston Matthews is tied with Darryl Sittler for seventh in franchise history in playoff goals, with 25. His next goal will push him into a tie for fifth, with Steve Thomas and George Armstrong. Wendel Clark is atop the leaderboard, with 34.
Arda’s three stars from Round 1
Rantanen had 12 points in the first round to help the Stars eliminate his former team the Avalanche. He had multiple Stanley Cup playoff firsts along the way, including the first Game 7 with a third-period hat trick (“The Rantanen Game”).
McDavid put the team on his back many times during the series against the Kings, especially early. He finished with 11 points in the series, as the Oilers sent the Kings home in the first round for the fourth straight season.
The netminder allowed two goals or fewer in four of the Caps’ five games against the Canadiens, earning a .922 save percentage.
Sunday’s score
Winnipeg Jets 4, St. Louis Blues 3 (2OT)
WPG wins 4-3, plays DAL in Round 2
The Blues raced out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period — on goals by Jordan Kyrou and Mathieu Joseph — and many thought this could be another bad playoff memory for Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Though the Jets got one back in the second off the stick of Cole Perfetti, Blues center Radek Faksa scored with under a minute left in the period, giving them a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
St. Louis carried that lead into the final two minutes, when the Jets furiously rallied; Vladislav Namestnikov scored at 18:04, and Perfetti deflected in the game-tying goal with three seconds remaining. The teams fought hard through the first 36 minutes of OT, before Adam Lowry tipped Neal Pionk‘s shot from the point past Jordan Binnington for the series-clinching tally. Full recap.