‘Upset’ Day fires back at Holtz after Buckeyes win
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Moments after Ohio State players walked toward their tunnel carrying an “Ohio Against The World” flag, coach Ryan Day approached and emphatically pumped his fist toward the fans.
Day’s emotions had surged all week, fueled by comments from former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz that Ohio State loses big games because the team isn’t physical enough. Holtz told “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday that “Notre Dame will take that same approach” to hand Day another big-stage defeat.
Instead, the sixth-ranked Buckeyes prevailed 17-14 against No. 9 Notre Dame, and did so in a way that Day couldn’t have scripted any better. Ohio State drove the field and scored with one second left on a 1-yard Chip Trayanum touchdown run, confirmed following a replay review.
“I’m really upset … about what Lou Holtz said publicly about our team, and Ohio State, and Buckeye Nation,” Day said of Holtz, who was honored with Notre Dame’s 1988 national championship team during Saturday’s game. “We’re not going to stand for that. That’s not even close to true. We had one bad half a couple of years ago up in Ann Arbor, the second half. Every game we play in, we’re physical, we are.
“I don’t know where that narrative comes from, but that ends tonight.”
Holtz cited Ohio State’s consecutive losses to archrival Michigan, and its CFP losses against Georgia, Alabama and Clemson as examples of a team that lacked grit. The 86-year-old’s comments and similar ones from others appeared on videoboards around Ohio State’s football building leading up to the Notre Dame game.
Until the final drive, Ohio State likely wouldn’t have quieted its critics. The Buckeyes squandered a 10-0 lead and struggled in short-yardage situations, including being stopped on an end around at Notre Dame’s 11-yard line with 4:11 to play.
But Ohio State capitalized on its final possession, converting on third-and-10, fourth-and-7 and third-and-19. After an incomplete pass, Ohio State had a final play on Notre Dame’s 1-yard line and went to Trayanum. Notre Dame had only 10 defenders on the field for the play.
“I made the call,” Day said. “There were three seconds left, so I’m thinking that’s the last play anyways. … Not only do we need to get that yard for this program, but it was the right thing to do schematically.”
Day thinks the late comeback will be remembered as one of the biggest wins in team history. Trayanum, an Arizona State transfer who initially came to Ohio State to play linebacker, had no doubt he extended the ball across the goal line.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Trayanum’s touchdown marked the latest from scrimmage in a regular-season AP Top-10 matchup since Michael Crabtree‘s catch for Texas Tech in 2008 against Texas.
“As a running back, you live for runs like that,” Trayanum said. “The nitty-gritty runs, the runs where you’re fighting with your body to stay up and making sure nothing touched. You envision that as a running back. This feeling, it’s still surreal, but it’s definitely a good Buckeye win.”
Although Holtz’s comments struck a nerve with Day, the Buckeyes coach had heard similar criticism for a while following the team’s high-profile losses. He brought up Ohio State’s 21-10 season-opening win against Notre Dame in 2022 — “We physically got after them” — and said the team’s critics simply don’t watch film.
“We always say, ‘Ignore the noise,’ but every once in a while, after a while someone’s poking at you, you’ve got to stand up for what you believe in,” Day said. “That’s the way I was raised and that’s the way I’m going to be moving forward. I got a bunch of guys in there that I love, that I work with every single day. To see some of the things that were said, I get Ohio against the world, but we needed to go play like that today.
“We needed to win like that, to stop that narrative that’s going on, because it’s not true.”
Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord had faced his own criticism, from taking longer than expected to win the starting job, to struggling at times during a season-opening win against Indiana. McCord had a choppy first half Saturday night and struggled to find top wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who briefly left the game with an ankle injury and walked slowly to the tunnel afterward.
But McCord came alive on the final drive, twice finding Emeka Egbuka for long gains and hitting Julian Fleming to convert the fourth-and-7. He finished with 240 passing yards and no touchdowns or interceptions.
“Down four points with a chance to go win it there in the end, a historic stadium, a great environment against a great defense, you can’t draw it up any better than that,” McCord said. “To come away with a win, it wasn’t perfect, but it feels really, really good.”
McCord said Notre Dame played “soft” zone defense on the third-and-19 play, and Egbuka found an open spot, just short of the goal line.
“We thought we were going to be able to give them a different look and play some [Cover 4] and he threw a good ball, man,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “That last series we were trying to kind of mix it up a little bit with a young quarterback and not just play man every play. And he ended up putting it in a tight window.”
Ohio State improved to 6-2 all-time against Notre Dame, the second-best record for a Fighting Irish opponent with a minimum of four games, trailing only the University of Chicago.
“There’s no doubt I am emotional,” Day said. “Because in life, when people start talking and saying things about you, at some point you’ve got to put your foot in the ground. Our team did that.”
Sports
Ranking the top 50 players in the Stanley Cup playoffs: Where do Hellebuyck, MacKinnon, Kucherov land?
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Neil Paine
As the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs began, a number of storylines dominated the conversation: Can Connor Hellebuyck turn his historic regular season into a Dominik Hašek-esque postseason run for the ages for the Winnipeg Jets? Will the Colorado Avalanche–Dallas Stars showdown be a quasi-Cup Final right away in Round 1? Is it finally the year for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to win it all, after the Edmonton Oilers came so close last season?
But beyond the matchups and narratives, it’s also a good time to take stock of which players bring the most value into the postseason.
That’s where goals above replacement (GAR) comes in — my evolved spin on earlier all-in-one value stats like Tom Awad’s goals versus threshold and Hockey-Reference’s point shares. The core idea of GAR is to measure a player’s total impact — in offense, defense or goaltending — above what a generic “replacement-level” player might provide at the same position. It also strives to ensure the league’s value is better balanced by position: 60% of leaguewide GAR is distributed to forwards, 30% to defensemen and 10% to goaltenders.
To then assess who might be most valuable on the eve of this year’s playoffs, I plugged GAR into a system inspired by Bill James’ concept of an “established level” of performance; in this case, a weighted average of each player’s GAR over the past three regular seasons, with more emphasis on 2024-25. And to keep the metric from undervaluing recent risers, we also apply a safeguard: no player’s established level can be lower than 75% of his most recent season’s GAR.
The result is a blend of peak, recent, and sustained performance — the players on playoff-bound teams who have been great, are currently great or are still trending upward — in a format that gives us a sense of who could define this year’s postseason.
One final note: Injured players who were expected to miss all or substantial parts of the playoffs were excluded from the ranking. Sorry, Jack Hughes.
With that in mind, here are the top 50 skaters and goaltenders on teams in the 2025 playoff field, according to their three-year established level of value, ranked by the numbers:
Five series of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have begun, and two more will begin Monday. Meanwhile, the two matchups in the Central Division are on to Game 2.
Here’s the four-pack of games on the calendar:
What are the key storylines heading into Monday’s games? Who are the key players to watch?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down last night, and the Three Stars of Sunday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals
Game 1 | 7 p.m., ESPN
You might’ve heard about the 2010 playoff matchup between these two teams a time or so in the past week.
In that postseason, the overwhelming favorite (and No. 1 seed) Capitals, led by Alex Ovechkin, were upset by the No. 8 seed Canadiens, due in large part to an epic performance in goal from Jaroslav Halak. Halak isn’t walking out of the tunnel for the Habs this time around (we assume); instead it’ll be Becancour, Quebec, native Sam Montembeault, who allowed four goals on 35 shots in his one start against the Caps this season.
Washington’s goaltender for Game 1 has yet to be revealed, as Logan Thompson was injured back on April 2. But there’s no question that there is a disparity between the offensive output of the two clubs, as the Caps finished second in the NHL in goals per game (3.49), while the Canadiens finished 17th (2.96). Can Montreal keep up in this series?
St. Louis Blues at Winnipeg Jets
Game 2 | 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
The Blues hung with the Jets for much of Game 1 and even looked like the stronger team at certain times, so pulling off the series upset remains on the table. But getting a win on the unfriendly ice at the Canada Life Centre would be of some benefit in shifting momentum before the series moves to St. Louis for Game 3. The Blues proved that Connor Hellebuyck is not invincible in Game 1, and they were led by stars Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas, who both got on the board.
The Jets have a mixed history after winning Game 1 of a playoff series, having gone 3-3 as a franchise (including the Atlanta Thrashers days) on such occasions. Like the Blues, the Jets were led by their stars, Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, but the game-tying goal came from Alex Iafallo, who has played up and down the lineup this season.
Colorado Avalanche at Dallas Stars
Game 2 | 9:30 p.m., ESPN
The Stars might like a redo on Game 1 after the visiting Avalanche essentially controlled the festivities for much of the contest. Stars forward Jason Robertson missed Game 1 because of an injury sustained in the final game of the regular season, and his return sooner than later would be excellent for Dallas; he scored three goals in three games against Colorado in the regular season. Also of note, teams that have taken a 2-0 lead in best-of-seven series have won 86% of the time.
Slowing down the Avs’ stars will be critical in Game 2, which is a sound — if perhaps unrealistic — strategy. With his two goals in Game 1, Nathan MacKinnon became the third player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to score 50 playoff goals, joining Joe Sakic (84) and Peter Forsberg (58). In reaching 60 assists in his 73rd playoff game, Cale Makar became the third-fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach that milestone, behind Bobby Orr (69 GP) and Al MacInnis (71 GP).
Edmonton Oilers at Los Angeles Kings
Game 1 | 10 p.m., ESPN2
This is the fourth straight postseason in which the Oilers and Kings have met in Round 1, and Edmonton has won the previous three series. Will the fourth time be the charm for the Kings?
L.A. went 3-1-0 against Edmonton this season, including shutouts on April 5 and 14. Quinton Byfield was particularly strong in those games, with three goals and an assist. Overall, the Kings were led in scoring this season by Adrian Kempe, with 35 goals and 38 assists. Warren Foegele — who played 22 playoff games for the Oilers in 2024 — had a career-high 24 goals this season.
The Oilers enter the 2025 postseason with 41 playoff series wins, which is the second most among non-Original Six teams (behind the Flyers, with 44). They have been eliminated by the team that won the Stanley Cup in each of the past three postseasons (Panthers 2024, Golden Knights 2023, Avalanche 2022). Edmonton continues to be led by Leon Draisaitl — who won his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer this season — and Connor McDavid, who won the goal-scoring title in 2022-23 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs last year, even though the Oilers didn’t win the Cup.
Arda’s Three Stars of Sunday
For the last several seasons, much of the postseason narrative for the Leafs has been the lack of production from the Core Four. So this was a dream Game 1 against Ottawa for Marner (one goal, two assists), Nylander (one goal, one assist), John Tavares (one goal, one assist) and Matthews (two assists) in Toronto’s 6-2 win over Ottawa.
Stankoven’s two goals in the second period put the game out of reach, with the Canes winning 4-1 in Game 1. Stankoven is the second player in Hurricanes/Whalers history to score twice in his first playoff game with the club (the other was Andrei Svechnikov in Game 1 of the first round in 2019)
Howden had two third-period goals in the Golden Knights’ victory over the Wild in Game 1, including a buzzer-beating empty-netter to make the final score 4-2.
Sunday’s results
Hurricanes 4, Devils 1
Carolina leads 1-0
The Hurricanes came out inspired thanks in part to the raucous home crowd and took a quick lead off the stick of Jalen Chatfield at 2:24 of the first period. Logan Stankoven — who came over in the Mikko Rantanen trade — scored a pair in the second period, and the Canes never looked back. On the Devils’ side, injuries forced Brenden Dillon and Cody Glass out of the game, while Luke Hughes left in the third period but was able to return. Full recap.
0:44
Logan Stankoven’s 2nd goal gives Hurricanes a 3-0 lead
Logan Stankoven notches his second goal of the game to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead.
Maple Leafs 6, Senators 2
Toronto leads 1-0
The first skirmish in the Battle of Ontario goes to the home side, as the Leafs never let the Senators get very close in this one. Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mitch Marner scored in the first, John Tavares and William Nylander tallied in the second, while Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies put the game away in the third. Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig — scorer of a controversial empty-net goal against Toronto in 2024 — scored for Ottawa. Full recap.
0:42
William Nylander zips home a goal to pad the Maple Leafs’ lead
William Nylander zips the puck past the goalie to give the Maple Leafs a 4-1 lead.
Golden Knights 4, Wild 2
Vegas leads 1-0
In Sunday’s nightcap, the two teams played an evenly matched first two periods, as Vegas carried a 2-1 lead into the third. Then, Brett Howden worked his magic, scoring a goal to pad the Knights’ lead 2:28 into that frame, and putting the game to bed with an empty-netter that beat the buzzer. The Wild were led by Matt Boldy, who had two goals, both assisted by Kirill Kaprizov. Full recap.
0:31
Brett Howden buries Wild in Game 1 with buzzer-beating goal
Brett Howden sends the Minnesota Wild packing in Game 1 with an empty-net goal for the Golden Knights in the final second.
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