The second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs has passed the midway point, with all but one series through Game 4.

What have been the biggest lessons learned through the first part of the second round? Which teams and players have surprised (in either a good or bad way)? How will all of it matter when it comes to the rest of the postseason?

ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski break it all down:

Could a recent playoff trend be a good omen for the Stars?

Of course, there’s still quite a bit that can change in the Winnipeg Jets–Dallas Stars series. But let’s just say that the Stars go on to win the series and advance to the Western Conference finals. It would be their third consecutive conference finals appearance, and their fourth visit since 2020. While they have yet to win the Stanley Cup during that window, does that level of consistency make them the preeminent team in the West?

There’s no shortage of challengers, with the Vegas Golden Knights winning the Cup in 2023, and the Edmonton Oilers coming within a game of doing so last season. If Dallas makes it to the next round, it will face one of those two.

But what makes the Stars’ situation one worth contextualizing is how it compares to other teams’ since the NHL moved to the Eastern/Western format in 1994. Beating the Jets and getting to a third straight conference finals would make the Stars just the fourth team under the current format to earn that distinction. The Detroit Red Wings did it first (from 1995 through 1998) and won two Stanley Cups. They did it again from 2007 through 2009, winning another title in 2008.

The most recent team was the Chicago Blackhawks, who did it from 2013 through 2015 and won two Cups. — Clark

Toronto needs a new tactic

The Maple Leafs looked like fish out of water in Game 4 against the Florida Panthers, a brutal 2-0 shutout loss in which the reigning Stanley Cup champions were in top form. Florida smothered Toronto with sustained offensive zone pressure, leading the Leafs to take multiple penalties and generally kill any ounce of momentum they tried to generate.

If it weren’t for a stellar (wasted) performance from goaltender Joseph Woll, the final score would have been a blowout, because Toronto had no answers for Florida’s heat.

play

Sam Bennett nets goal to double Panthers’ lead

Sam Bennett’s goal gives the Panthers a 2-0 lead halfway throughout the third period.

Unlike earlier in the series, when the Leafs were capitalizing on rush chances and literally spinning Sergei Bobrovsky in circles, the Panthers battened down the hatches to keep Toronto on the outside while boxing out better in front of Bobrovsky. If they can maintain that, and the Leafs can’t make adjustments, the Panthers are looking at a third straight Eastern Conference finals appearance.

Should Toronto want to make one of its own, it’s time to make some changes, and for its top skaters to step up. Mitch Marner doesn’t have a shot on goal since he scored the winner in Game 2. Auston Matthews doesn’t have a goal yet in the second round and hasn’t registered one against Florida in nine career postseason tilts.

Toronto coach Craig Berube said after Sunday’s loss that there are players the Leafs need more from — no names required. It’s clear. Both teams have owned home ice in the series so far. Toronto has that advantage still as this one becomes a best-of-three. The question is, what sort of counterpunch will the Leafs throw now that Florida’s claws are out and sharpened? — Shilton

Can Hellebuyck be trusted for the Olympics?

The first question Team USA’s brain trust will need to answer before the 2026 Winter Olympic men’s hockey tournament: Are the contests in Milan considered home games or road games? Because the answer could determine its starting goaltender.

At this point, Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck‘s struggles on the road in the Stanley Cup playoffs have reached the point of absurdity. He has won the Vezina Trophy twice in his career and will win it again this season. He’s a finalist for the Hart (MVP). There isn’t much debate, statistically or anecdotally, that he’s the best goaltender in the world … in the regular season.

In his past 20 playoff games, Hellebuyck is 7-13 with a .866 save percentage and a 3.90 goals-against average. The balance of those putrid numbers have come on the road, where Hellebuyck has lost eight of his past nine starts with an .835 SP and a 5.20 GAA.

After the first round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues, the bar for Hellebuyck was set at “can he get through a road game without being pulled?” The good news in Game 3 against Dallas is that he cleared that bar. The bad news is that he lost again and wasn’t very good, letting in a fluttering Roope Hintz shot for Dallas’ first goal, and then scoring what the NHL ruled was an own goal on Alex Petrovic‘s kicked puck in the third.

“He had to make some big stops. Him and [Dallas goalie Jake] Oettinger, they were going kind of toe to toe,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said after the game. “But we’re going to be judged — not just Connor — by what happens on the road. We’ve got to win.”

Oettinger, by contrast, is 12-11 with a .909 SP and a 2.63 GAA in his past 23 road playoff games. That’s not great, but it certainly isn’t getting pulled three times in the first round, either.

The U.S. has a deep goalie pool, but Oettinger is seemingly the next man up, having served as Hellebuyck’s backup at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. His play in this series and in other clutch moments — like the Stars’ Game 7 win against Colorado in Round 1 — should spark a conversation about the American’s Olympic starter, given Hellebuyck’s struggles when the games matter most.

However, it should be noted that Hellebuyck was outstanding at 4 Nations, with a 1.59 GAA and .932 SA in three games. Which begs the question: Perhaps you can trust him more playing in back of an All-Star team rather than the Winnipeg Jets, no matter where the games are played? — Wyshynski

The depth that has given the Oilers life could be the death of the Golden Knights

Seeing Adam Henrique score the first two goals in Game 4 before Evander Kane scored another did more than stake the Oilers to a 3-0 victory that now has them a win away from a second consecutive Western Conference finals appearance. It once again reinforced how the Oilers can rely on a level of depth that, by comparison, is lacking for the Golden Knights.

The statistic that has made that most clear is how the Oilers’ generational duo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have combined to score just three of their team’s 15 goals. Draisaitl scored in Game 1, but the rest of those contributions, including the game winner, came from elsewhere in the lineup. Draisaitl did score the game winner in Game 2, but the previous four goals were scored by his teammates. In Game 3, Corey Perry scored the first two goals.

Now compare that to the Golden Knights. The trio of Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl and Brett Howden combined to score 78 regular-season goals. They have been goalless through the first four games of their series against the Oilers. Vegas’ six primary defensemen combined to score 35 regular-season goals, with 17 of them belonging to Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore. The group has only one goal in the series.

It’s a lack of scoring depth that has been further compounded by the fact that Jack Eichel, who led the Golden Knights with 94 points in the regular season, hasn’t scored in the series. Meanwhile, leading goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, who missed the first two games with an injury, has also been blanked since his return. — Clark

Own goals for everyone?

Fans love seeing goals scored as much as players enjoy scoring them — except when it’s on their own net. And we’ve seen some doozies in that latter category this round.

There was the own goal in Game 3 between Dallas and Winnipeg on Sunday, when Petrovic’s go-ahead goal was found (after a lengthy official review) to have gone off Hellebuyck’s stick into the net. The night before, it was Draisaitl’s stick that put a puck past Stuart Skinner to give Vegas a buzzer-beating goal (with 0.4 seconds left on the clock) and its first win of the series.

play

Golden Knights stun Oilers with Reilly Smith’s buzzer-beating goal

Reilly Smith scores a miraculous goal for the Golden Knights with 0.4 remaining to give them the win.

Morgan Rielly‘s stick guided a puck in past Woll in Game 3 of Toronto’s series against Florida to cut into the Leafs’ 2-1 advantage. Toronto eventually lost 5-4 in overtime.

It’s not like there’s a good moment to score on your own net, but could the timing on any of them have been worse? If you’ve ever wondered why “just put pucks on net” is a time-honored hockey cliché, here’s your answer: Because anything can happen. — Shilton

Coaching in his 10th postseason, Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer has witnessed some startling individual playoff performances from his players. Like Ilya Kovalchuk‘s 19 points in 23 games for the Devils in 2012. Or Joe Pavelski‘s 14 goals in 24 games for the Sharks in 2016.

But nothing like the postseason that Rantanen is putting together for the Stars.

“It’s the best performance I’ve gotten to witness, standing where I’m standing,” DeBoer said after Dallas’ Game 3 win. “But for me, he’s just getting started. He’s just warming up here. I think he’s on a mission.”

Through 10 games, Rantanen leads the playoffs in goals (nine) and points (18). At one point, he had scored or assisted on 15 of 16 goals for the Stars, dating back to the first round. He’s the first player in Stanley Cup playoffs history with five three-point games through a team’s first 10 playoff games.

“Huge pickup at the deadline. He’s been awesome for us,” defenseman Alexander Petrovic said. “He’s a great guy in the room. He’s been on a tear.”

play

Steve Levy to McAfee: We should be talking more about Mikko Rantanen, Stars

Steve Levy joins Pat McAfee and breaks down Mikko Rantanen’s hot play in the postseason for the Stars.

He has done all of this after a turbulent season in which he was traded twice — from Colorado to Carolina and then to Dallas — before signing a blockbuster extension with the Stars. He has answered questions about his offensive prowess without having the benefit of Nathan MacKinnon on his team. He entered the playoffs as one of the NHL’s best postseason scorers of the past several seasons. He has blown away those expectations and is the current leader for the Conn Smythe Trophy (postseason MVP).

Yet though all of this torrid scoring recently, the Jets blanked him in their Game 2 shutout in Winnipeg.

“The biggest thing is time and space,” Arniel said. “I know that you hear that a lot in hockey, but at the end of the day, the more he holds onto it, the more he’s comfortable, the harder it is to deny what he’s trying to do next.”

But The Moose was back on the loose in the Stars’ Game 3 win, with a goal and two assists.

“I’m trying to stay in the moment. I’m happy to help the team and try to keep doing that as much as I can, both ends of the ice,” Rantanen said.

It’s certainly Mikko Rantanen’s moment. — Wyshynski

Ovechkin, Perry defying Father Time

Corey Perry will turn 40 on Friday, while Alex Ovechkin will hit that milestone in September. Perry and Ovechkin are part of a five-member group of players age 39 or older who have played more than one game this postseason. But to suggest Ovechkin and Perry are each having strong postseason campaigns for players their age only partially explains what they have done so far.

In fact, they’re having two of the best postseason campaigns for two players in their age-39 season in NHL history.

Perry, a Stanley Cup winner who ranks 38th in career playoff goals, has scored five times this postseason. Ovechkin, a fellow Stanley Cup winner who is tied with Mario Lemieux for 12th in playoff goals, has four. They’re both within striking distance of the most playoff goals in an age-39 season, per Quant Hockey. That mark is currently held by Jean Béliveau, with Le Gros Bill scoring six goals in 1971. — Clark

But have the Hurricanes solved Ovi?

Some might accuse Ovechkin’s game of being increasingly “one note.” But when played right, it’s a damn good note. And right now, the Washington Capitals are desperate for more of his contributions to their orchestra, at least at even strength.

Ovechkin’s line has been stifled by Carolina’s defense — namely Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns — so far in the series, and they’ve had far fewer shot attempts and chances than the opposition at 5-on-5. Ovechkin and linemate Dylan Strome especially thrive on creating chances off zone entries, and the Hurricanes aren’t giving them much in that respect.

Ovechkin continues to fight for open ice and does lead the Capitals in even-strength shots, but that hasn’t materialized into anything on the scoresheet; Ovechkin’s only goal of the series has been on the power play in Game 4.

Considering the Caps were just whacked 4-0 in Game 3 and 5-2 in Game 4, they are searching for consistent offensive contributions to carry them through. This is when Ovechkin has to start spinning his proverbial straw into gold again at full strength.

Washington got lucky in Game 2 after it was outshot 33-14 by the Hurricanes but still managed to come away with a 3-1 victory. If Carolina is finding its offensive groove now and beginning to solve Logan Thompson, then Washington must find ways to generate more offensive opportunities. That’s easier said than done against the Hurricanes’ smothering collective defensive game. — Shilton

Carolina is no joke

If you’ve been following the second round, you’ve undoubtedly come across a joke or two (or 10) about the relative quality of the Carolina Hurricanes‘ series against the Washington Capitals compared to that of the other three playoff series. Perhaps you’ve made a few yourself.

Monday night’s Game 4 was the outlier in what has otherwise been a grinding, tight-checking series in which four or fewer total goals were scored in each of the first three games, including a 4-0 shutout by goalie Frederik Andersen in Game 3.

The Hurricanes are the Hurricanes. Coach Rod Brind’Amour couldn’t care less about the entertainment value of this series or any series. His team’s mission is to vampirically suck the life out of opponents with a combination of puck possession, defensive zone coverage, reliable goaltending and elite penalty killing. Through four games, it has been mission accomplished.

Brind’Amour was asked about fans and media from other markets boiling down the Hurricanes’ virtues to simply being a monotonous “shot volume” team.

“It’s lazy. It’s lazy. Because you’re not really watching the game then. You’re picking out part of it,” he said. “But there’s a method to all of it. It doesn’t irk me.”

When the Canes don’t have the puck, they’re preventing shots: Carolina is allowing an average of 24.6 shots per game this postseason, third best among active teams.

“There have been times through this series when I’ve thought in my head, ‘shoot the puck.’ But then we have to get that puck through,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said.

Again, this is what the Hurricanes do. This is what the Hurricanes have done. And this is what they’ll continue to do in the Eastern Conference finals unless the Capitals have a rally in them. Which would be exciting. But the Hurricanes aren’t about that excitement.

“You don’t want to give them any life or give them any hope,” Canes winger Seth Jarvis said of Thursday’s Game 5 back in D.C. — Wyshynski

Apparently, even the Colorado Rockies have their limits.

On Sunday, the day after an embarrassing 21-0 loss to the San Diego Padres dropped the team’s record to 6-33, the Rockies finally fired longtime manager Bud Black — despite general manager Bill Schmidt giving Black a vote of confidence prior to Saturday’s game. Colorado is careening toward not just a seventh consecutive losing season, but a season that could be headed in the same direction as the Chicago White Sox in 2024: chasing the modern record for losses in a season.

Yep, here we go again.

Saturday’s loss capped a remarkable seven-game stretch in which the Rockies allowed six, nine, eight, 10, 11, 13 and 21 runs, respectively. They became the first team in MLB history to allow at least eight runs and then increase their runs allowed in each of their next four games. The 21-0 loss was the third-biggest shutout margin in the major leagues since 1901. The Rockies’ pitching line over that seven-game skid: 62 IP, 96 H, 25 BB, 49 SO, 11 HR, .353 batting average and 9.00 ERA.

And the ERA was 9.00 only because 16 of the 78 total runs they allowed were unearned.

That unearned runs total might suggest that the Rockies, contrary to owner Dick Monfort’s claim back in February, will not have one of the best infield defenses in “history.” Instead, the Rockies rank 28th in the majors in defensive runs saved across all positions — and last in runs allowed and second-to-last in runs scored.

Now, this isn’t all Black’s fault, of course. The Rockies have been headed in this direction for years, trying to build mostly from within as they rarely make trades or sign free agents (and when they did, it was for Kris Bryant, who has barely been on the field in four seasons with the team). The belief across the sport is the Rockies remain well behind other organizations in applying analytics and that they’ve made major mistakes, such as not getting enough in return for Nolan Arenado or letting Trevor Story head to free agency without trading him.

The Rockies did rally to win on Sunday in what would be Black’s final game after nine seasons to improve to 7-33, with third-base coach Warren Schaeffer taking over as interim manager for the rest of the season and former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, recently named the team’s hitting coach, taking over as bench coach.

“While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary,” Monfort said in a statement. “We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies Baseball.”

Comparisons to the White Sox are inevitable. The Rockies’ record through 40 games, prior to Monday’s loss to Texas, put them on a pace to finish 28-134 — which would be a remarkable 13 games worse than Chicago’s 41-121 record.

It’s not like the Rockies haven’t earned that win-loss record: They have been outscored by 128 runs, the second-worst run differential through 40 games since 1900, with only the 2023 Oakland Athletics worse at minus-144. Those A’s were 9-31 through 40 games and 12-50 through 62 games — a 31-win pace — but they at least managed to play a little better the rest of the way and finished 50-112.

So, maybe there’s hope for the Rockies.

Indeed, that’s what made the White Sox so amazing last year — it took a lot of consistently awful baseball to lose 121 games. They were 12-28 through 40 games and 14-30 through 44 games before the losing really kicked in:

• May 17 to June 6: 1-18

• July 10 to Aug. 5: 0-21

• Aug. 17 to Sept.13: 3-22

To the White Sox’s credit, they did manage to win five of the final six games, so while they have the most losses since 1900, their .253 winning percentage is not the worst, with the 1916 A’s (.235), 1935 Braves (.248), 1962 Mets (.250) and 1904 Senators (.252) all worse.

But the Rockies are playing from ahead with such a historically bad start. They have a chance at setting a new single season loss record. And here are the three reasons they might catch the White Sox:

1. The starting pitching is terrible

The Rockies have a 7.09 ERA through 40 games, which is the worst by a National League team since … the 2004 Rockies had a 7.33 ERA. Only two other teams, the Baltimore Orioles and Miami Marlins, have a rotation ERA higher than 4.62 this season. On the other hand, the 2024 White Sox managed to rank 25th in the majors in rotation ERA. They had two excellent starters in Garrett Crochet (6-12, 3.58 ERA, 4.1 WAR) and Erick Fedde (7-4, 3.11 ERA, 4.6 WAR), at least until Fedde was dealt at the trade deadline.

The Rockies, meanwhile, are still relying on Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela — the same trio featured in the rotation when the Rockies made the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. They were worth a combined 13.2 WAR in 2018, but that was seven years ago, and the Rockies’ loyalty in contract extensions to all three hasn’t paid off. Freeland signed a five-year, $64 million extension in 2022 but has a 5.01 ERA and just 3.4 WAR since then. Marquez signed a two-year, $20 million extension coming off Tommy John surgery in 2023, but he has an 8.27 ERA this season. Senzatela has won four games since signing a $50.5 million deal in 2022.

In 2025, they’re a combined 2-17 with a 6.79 ERA while allowing a .349 average. Chase Dollander was the team’s top prospect entering the season but has 6.88 ERA through seven career starts and poor Bradley Blalock was left in to allow 12 runs on Saturday. And it’s not just that they’re pitching at Coors Field, either. Certainly, injuries have played a role with Marquez and Senzatela, but Freeland has been mostly healthy … and has a 4.51 ERA on the road since 2022.

In other words, while the White Sox’s rotation at least kept them in games at times, the Rockies are often out of it before they can get to their bullpen.

2. The offense might be worse

The White Sox hit .221/.278/.340 while scoring just 507 runs in 2024 — a remarkable 97 fewer than the next lowest team. The Rockies are hitting .219/.286/.360 through their first 40 games and are on pace for 539 runs. They have marginally better raw stats, but that doesn’t factor in Coors Field. They’re hitting .189 in 20 road games.

The 2024 White Sox were a historically bad offense. The only player with regular playing time to finish with an above-average OPS+ was Tommy Pham, who posted a 103 OPS+ in 297 plate appearances. Their top three players in plate appearances were Andrew Vaughn (98 OPS+), Andrew Benintendi (94) and Gavin Sheets (89). The down-roster players were even worse than that with the likes of Miguel Vargas (.104 average in 135 at-bats), Martin Maldonado (.119 average in 135 at-bats) and Dominic Fletcher (.206 average, one home run in 223 at-bats).

The Rockies do have two players with an above-average OPS+ in catcher/DH Hunter Goodman (127) and outfielder Jordan Beck (131). While I’m skeptical whether either player can keep that going, they do have other hitters who might improve, including Ezequiel Tovar, Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia, who each ran an OPS+ above 100 last season (although, just barely).

Chicago finished with a wRC+ (weighted runs created plus) of 75. That figure adjusts for home park and era, and it is tied for 13th worst since 1947 and ranks third worst since 2000. Meanwhile, Colorado currently has a wRC+ of 66. That would be the worst since 1947 — worse than the 1963 Mets, who hit .219/.285/.315 on their way to a wRC+ of 69.

Still, the Rockies had the second-worst wRC+ last season ahead of only the White Sox — and brought back almost entirely the same group of players. Like the White Sox, the Rockies also aren’t particularly young. The average age of Chicago in 2024, adjusted for playing time, was 27.8, right at the MLB average of 27.9; Colorado is at 28.0 years old, just a notch below the MLB average of 28.2.

Is there help on the way? Infield prospect Adael Amador is up in the majors now and hitting .173 through his first 20 games. Former first-round pick Zac Veen was up for a spell and hit .118 in 34 at-bats. Outfielder Yanquiel Fernandez is one of the team’s top prospects and is hitting .208 in Triple-A. And the rest of their hitting prospects are further away. They will get a boost when Tovar returns from the injured list, but any improvement is going to have come from players already on the roster.

3. They have a tougher schedule

While the AL Central saw three teams make the playoffs and four teams finish above .500 in 2024 — beating up on the White Sox helped in that regard — the 2025 NL West looks like a much tougher division. Some numbers:

• In 2024, the four other AL Central teams were 226-213 outside the division (.522).

• So far in 2025, the four other NL West teams are 80-58 outside the division (.579).

The catch here is the Rockies have played only 13 games so far within their division — and have gone 2-11. They still have 39 of their 52 division games left to play. It doesn’t help that with the Rockies playing their worst baseball right now, they’re in the midst of a difficult stretch: Their only series between now and June 12 against teams with losing records are the current series against Texas (the Rangers entered the series 20-21) and one against the Marlins June 2-4.

So, can the Rockies lose 122 games?

They weren’t forecasted to be this bad. In fact, FanGraphs projects them playing close to .400 ball the rest of the way and finishing 55-107.

The biggest difference between the 2025 Rockies and the 2024 White Sox is the bullpen. Chicago had a bad bullpen that went 15-49 with a 4.73 ERA and was particularly bad in close games, finishing with minus-11.22 win probability added, the worst total for any bullpen since 2000.

Colorado ranks 19th in bullpen ERA at 4.07, and its high-leverage relievers have been solid, with the Rockies also ranking 19th in the majors with a bullpen WPA of 0.57 — though they’re 0-3 in extra-inning games (the White Sox went 4-10 in extra-inning games). Jake Bird and Seth Halvorsen have been effective while Zach Agnos has a couple saves and only one earned run allowed in 10 ⅓ innings, although he has struck out only four batters. If the Rockies can hold the leads they do get, they should be able to avoid the fate of the White Sox.

They’ll have to get those leads to begin with, though. Eleven of the Rockies’ 34 losses are considered “blowout” losses — five or more runs. That’s around 32%. The 2024 White Sox had a 31% blowout loss rate. The 1962 Mets were also at 31%. That tells us that the Rockies have a chance to chase down last year’s historic White Sox club.

It’s an astonishingly bad start to a season. But here’s maybe the most astonishing number of all: The Rockies drew 38,423 fans for that 21-run loss on Saturday.

Give the Rockies’ marketing people a raise.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday that quarterback Carson Beck has been cleared to participate in all team summer activities and is approaching 100 percent following elbow surgery last year.

Cristobal said Beck has been throwing for the past three weeks as part of his rehab regimen. Beck missed all of spring practice and has yet to throw to Miami’s receivers as part of organized team activities. But that is all about to change when Miami begins summer workouts next week.

“He’s good to go,” Cristobal told ESPN at the ACC spring meetings. “He’s exceeding every benchmark.”

Beck underwent surgery on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament, which he injured on the final play of the first half in second-ranked Georgia‘s 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7.

Beck started at Georgia for two seasons, going 24-3, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had him rated as the No. 5 quarterback for the 2025 draft. But given his injury and inconsistent performance in 2024, Beck entered the portal in January. He quickly opted for Miami, where he will replace No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward.

Beck threw for 7,426 yards over his two seasons as Georgia’s starter, fifth most among all FBS passers since 2023, with 57 total touchdowns and 23 turnovers.