The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have reached the point where every night could end in season-ending heartbreak for a team. On Wednesday, it happened for two teams, the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. On Thursday, that could happen for four teams.
With their loss in Game 5, the Maple Leafs are now 1-14 in potential series-clinching games over the past 20 years — the lone win was Game 6 of the 2023 first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Senators’ stars have shown up this postseason. Brady Tkachuk has points in each of the past four games, including a goal and two assists in Game 5. Tim Stutzle also had a goal and two assists, and he has points in six of eight games against Toronto this season (regular season and playoffs combined).
Linus Ullmark made 29 saves for his first career playoff shutout, and this was Ottawa’s second-largest shutout win in franchise playoff history (the Senators won 5-0 against the Maple Leafs in 2002).
The Maple Leafs need to get their power play revved up again. They have gone 0-for-7 in the past two games, compared to 5-for-9 in the first three.
While the Leafs’ offense dried up in past postseasons, the Core Four (Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares) is helping make sure that’s not the case in 2025. The quartet leads the team in scoring, and all four are at or above a point-per-game pace.
The winners of Game 5 in best-of-seven series tied 2-2 have gone on to win the series 79% of the time, a trend to which the Golden Knights would like to add.
Mark Stone continues to climb the Golden Knights’ career leaderboard. His goal in Game 5 gives him 33 in his playoff career with Vegas, three shy of Jonathan Marchessault‘s franchise record.
On the other hand, Jack Eichel needs to recapture his regular-season aura. Through five games, he has just three assists after leading the Golden Knights in scoring in the regular season with 94 points.
Prior to his regular-season injury, Kirill Kaprizov was among the leaders for the Hart Trophy as league MVP. He has been on a heater this postseason, with nine points (five goals, four assists) through five games. That’s the most points through five games to start a postseason in Wild franchise history.
Marc-Andre Fleury — who entered Game 5 when Filip Gustavsson left due to illness — has now appeared in the playoffs in 18 different seasons, breaking a tie with Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy for the most such seasons in NHL history.
The Stars have a 21-3 series record when leading 3-2 in a best-of-seven series, while the Avalanche have a 2-15 series record when trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven series.
Wyatt Johnston‘s goal nine seconds into Game 5 is tied for the fifth-fastest goal to start a game in Stanley Cup playoff history. Johnston leads the Stars in scoring this postseason, with five points (two goals, three assists) through five games.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists in Game 5, and he became the seventh player in NHL history to score a playoff goal against a team with which he scored 100 or more postseason points.
With a goal and an assist in Game 5, Nathan MacKinnon registered the 35th multipoint game of his postseason career, third most in Avalanche/Nordiques history.
Cale Makar has been very quiet by his standards, with just two assists through five games. Prior to this postseason, he had scored 80 points in 72 career postseason games, including 29 in 20 games en route to the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 2022.
The Oilers have a 14-1 series record when leading a best-of-seven 3-2, while the Kings have a 5-9 series record when behind by the same margin.
Edmonton is the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history with three straight comeback wins after facing a 2-0 series deficit, joining the Golden Knights in 2021 and the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.
The three players tied for the playoff scoring lead are in this series: Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (two goals, eight assists) and Leon Draisaitl (three goals, seven assists) and L.A.’s Adrian Kempe (four goals, six assists).
The switch to Calvin Pickard was a smart one for the Oilers; he has the ninth-best save percentage (.904) this postseason, compared to Stuart Skinner (last, at .810).
Thompson made 28 saves and allowed only one goal to backstop the Caps to a 4-1 win and a 4-1 series win, Washington’s first series victory since winning the Cup in 2018.
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Caps fans love Logan Thompson’s save late in the 3rd
Logan Thompson makes a crucial save for the Capitals to secure their 3-1 lead over the Canadiens.
He had a four-point night, including the insurance goal in the third period, to propel the Cats to capture the Battle of Florida, with a 6-3 final in Game 5 and a 4-1 series win, eliminating Tampa Bay.
Connor had a goal and two assists as Winnipeg keeps the home-team-wins-every-game trend alive in this series, as the Jets defeated the Blues 5-3 to take a 3-2 series lead. With his second game with three or more points this postseason, he became the third player in Thrashers/Jets 2.0 postseason history with multiple games with three-plus points in a single postseason, joining Blake Wheeler (three in 2018) and Paul Stastny (two in 2018).
Although a Canadiens win in Game 3 meant there would not be a sweep in the series, the Capitals made sure to get the job done before a trip back to Montreal. Alex Ovechkin started the scoring in the first period, joined by Jakob Chychrun in that frame and Tom Wilson in the second. Emil Heineman scored in the third to bring the score to 3-1, but Montreal got no closer before Brandon Duhaime‘s empty-net goal to seal the deal. Full recap.
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Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals: Game Highlights
Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals: Game Highlights
The scoring began quickly, as Kyle Connor netted a goal for Winnipeg 1:23 in, and Nathan Walker answered for the Blues at 3:42. Winnipeg carried a 2-1 edge into the second thanks to Nino Niederreiter‘s first of the postseason. After Jimmy Snuggerud tied it with his second career playoff goal, Dylan DeMelo and Vladislav Namestnikov netted goals to put Winnipeg up 4-2. The score would remain the same until Adam Lowry‘s empty-netter made it 5-2; Walker would add a goal with less than a minute left to pull the game back within two, but that was it. Full recap.
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St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets: Game Highlights
St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets: Game Highlights
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts stubbed a toe in his left foot during an off-the-field incident and missed the opener of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ highly anticipated series against the New York Yankees on Friday.
Betts is not expected to go on the injured list, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but he will not start against the Yankees on Saturday or Sunday. Roberts said the hope is that Betts will return to the lineup shortly thereafter.
“For me, right now, it’s just day-to-day,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 8-5, come-from-behind win.
The incident, which affected the tip of Betts’ second toe, was believed to have occurred late Wednesday night, after the Dodgers returned from a six-game road trip, when Betts banged his toe against a piece of furniture at his house. Betts called Roberts to inform him about his toe on Friday morning, then underwent X-rays at Dodger Stadium later that afternoon.
Those X-rays revealed a fracture, a source told ESPN, confirming what Betts told the Los Angeles Times after Friday’s game. The Dodgers’ training staff will spend the weekend attempting to get the swelling down on his toe. At this point, the Dodgers don’t believe he can make the injury any worse by playing on it.
Said Roberts: “It’s going to be one of those situations per his [pain] tolerance.”
Betts’ injury isn’t the Dodgers’ most serious at the moment. Late-inning reliever Evan Phillips, who was rehabbing a forearm injury, didn’t feel right playing catch earlier this week and will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, knocking him out for all of 2025 and most of 2026.
Phillips, 30, was released by the Baltimore Orioles in August 2021 and designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays less than two weeks later. The Dodgers picked him up and turned him into a valuable late-game option. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, saved 44 games and struck out 206 batters in 179 regular-season innings.
But Phillips dealt with arm issues during last year’s postseason run and was left off the team’s World Series roster. He then went on the IL because of a rotator cuff strain in the middle of March, returned a month later, notched seven scoreless appearances, then went back on the IL on May 7 because of what the team called forearm discomfort. Platelet-rich-plasma injections did not take. Phillips never got better.
“As we started getting into it, it wasn’t really responding,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We felt like this could be a possibility, so as he got deeper into the process and it wasn’t really getting better, the decision to do it was pretty much evident with our information.” The loss of Phillips is coupled with the Dodgers having four other high-leverage relievers on the IL — Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech, all of whom are right-handed.
The Dodgers tried to backfill some of that depth by trading for former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz on Thursday. But Diaz, who struggled so badly this season that the Cincinnati Reds optioned him to Triple-A, will initially work out of the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona.
The Dodgers also have three starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — recovering from shoulder injuries, with Shohei Ohtani not expected to join the rotation until sometime after the All-Star break.
The lineup, at least, had been healthy. Until now.
Betts, 32, got off to a slow start but was still slashing .254/.338/.405 with eight home runs and five stolen bases while slotting between the hot-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 spot. More notably, Betts had proved to be a capable major league shortstop after working during the offseason at the position.
The hope is that the toe injury doesn’t set him back much longer than the rest of this weekend.
In the meantime, Miguel Rojas will continue to get starts at shortstop.
“It’s a good part about having depth,” Gomes said. “Keep the train moving.”
But the timeline was moved up one series and three days.
Trout was activated off the injured list and went 1-for-5 as the designated hitter in Friday night’s 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. The Angels slugger missed 26 games because of soreness in his left knee that was eventually diagnosed as a bone bruise. The three-time American League MVP had two operations last year on the knee after tearing his meniscus.
“Felt good. Struck out on two at-bats, but other than that, felt all right,” said Trout, who batted fifth for the first time in 1,532 starts.
Trout lined a base hit to left-center in the fourth inning. He thought he had a hit in his first at-bat in the second inning, but Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez made a nice grab on a low line drive.
“I thought he had some good at-bats, considering that he hadn’t seen live pitching in a while,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He hit the ball hard three times today. They made some good pitches when he struck out. But welcome back, Mike.”
Trout’s return also helped the Angels snap a five-game losing streak and improve to 28-30.
It was the first time since Sept. 26, 2011, Trout’s rookie season, that he started a game hitting lower than third.
Washington is happy to have Trout back, especially because he noted Trout wasn’t aggressive in rushing in his return. Washington also knows that Trout isn’t ready to return to his normal spot batting second or third.
“He hasn’t seen anything. So when you look at what we have, that’s where he sits,” Washington said before the game. “It doesn’t make sense for him to protect [Logan] O’Hoppe. So, I’ll put Mike behind him to protect O’Hoppe. He’s not ready to be at the top of the lineup, especially with those guys up there. As we go along the next couple of days, he’s not going to remain fifth.”
The 33-year-old Trout is hitting .180 with 9 home runs, 18 RBIs and a .712 OPS in 30 games. He will be the designated hitter for the weekend series against the Guardians before possibly returning to right field when the Halos head to Boston on Monday for a three-game series.
Even though Trout has shied away from wanting to be the designated hitter, he has done well in that spot. In eight games this season, he is 9-for-33 (.273) with 6 home runs and 9 RBIs.
Trout said whether he plays more games than originally planned at DH the remainder of the season is something that remains to be seen.
“Bone bruises are tricky. I know I am going to be sore, but I can deal with it,” he said. “I definitely have to be cautious, especially the first couple games.”
Trout has missed 404 of the Angels’ 665 games — almost 60% — since May 17, 2021, when he tore his calf muscle against Cleveland and was sidelined for the rest of that season. This is the fifth straight year he has had a stint of at least 25 games on the IL.
He missed five weeks of the 2022 season because of a back injury, and all but one game after July 3, 2023, after he broke a bone in his hand on a foul ball. Trout played in 29 games last season before the meniscus injury.
“There’s so many games that any sense of newness or something to make you excited is something that you’d latch on to. So, today is definitely a moment like that,” O’Hoppe said about Trout’s return. “He’s the heart of this organization. So, we’re happy to have our heart beating again for sure.”
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.
LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts stubbed a toe on his left foot during an off-the-field incident and was out of the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup Friday night for the opener of a highly anticipated weekend series against the New York Yankees.
Betts was scheduled to undergo X-rays at Dodger Stadium before first pitch. Until then, the team will hope for the best.
“It’s day-to-day right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So, that’s where we’re at.”
The incident — affecting Betts’ second toe — was believed to occur late Wednesday night, after the Dodgers returned from a six-game road trip through New York and Cleveland. Roberts didn’t find out until Betts called him Friday morning. He was vague on the details.
“I really don’t know,” Roberts said when asked how the injury occurred. “I think it was at home. It’s probably a dresser, nightstand, something like that. It’s just kind of an accident. I think that Mookie will be able to give more context, but that’s kind of from the training staff what I heard. So hopefully, it’s benign, it’s negative. Not sure, but I feel confident saying it’s day-to-day … but putting on a shoe today was difficult for him.”
Betts’ injury isn’t the Dodgers’ most serious at the moment. Late-inning reliever Evan Phillips, who was rehabbing a forearm injury, didn’t feel right playing catch earlier this week and will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, knocking him out for all of 2025 and most of 2026.
Phillips, 30, was released by the Baltimore Orioles in August 2021 and designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays less than two weeks later. The Dodgers picked him up and turned him into a valuable late-game option. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, saved 44 games and struck out 206 batters in 179 regular-season innings.
But Phillips dealt with arm issues during last year’s postseason run and was left off the team’s World Series roster. He then went on the IL because of a rotator cuff strain in the middle of March, returned a month later, notched seven scoreless appearances, then went back on the IL on May 7 because of what the team called forearm discomfort. Platelet-rich-plasma injections did not take. Phillips never got better.
“As we started getting into it, it wasn’t really responding,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “We felt like this could be a possibility, so as he got deeper into the process and it wasn’t really getting better, the decision to do it was pretty much evident with our information.”
The Dodgers tried to backfill some of that depth by trading for former All-Star closer Alexis Diaz on Thursday. But Diaz, who struggled so badly this season that the Cincinnati Reds optioned him to Triple-A, will initially work out of the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Ariz.
The Dodgers also have three starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki — recovering from shoulder injuries, with Shohei Ohtani not expected to join the rotation until sometime after the All-Star break.
The lineup, at least, had been healthy. Until now.
Betts, 32, got off to a slow start but was still slashing .254/.338/.405 with 8 home runs and 5 stolen bases while slotting between the hot-hitting Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the No. 2 spot. More notably, Betts had proven to be a capable major league shortstop after working during the offseason at the position.
But the toe injury could set him back, in much the same way a broken left hand robbed him of nearly two months in 2024.
At this point, Roberts said, “I don’t see it being long term.” But the Dodgers can’t say that definitively yet.
“We need to see the doctors and kind of get a better sense of it,” Gomes said. “It happened pretty recently, so it’ll take some time before we have a better understanding.”