Stanley Cup playoffs daily: How many teams will force a Game 7?
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.
Thursday night begins with the Ottawa Senators, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings facing a 3-2 deficit. On the flip side, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers could all punch their tickets to the second round by earning one more victory.
How will it all shake out?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down in Wednesday’s games and the Three Stars of Wednesday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators
Game 6 (TOR leads 3-2) | 7 p.m. ET | TBS
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.
Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild
Game 6 (VGK leads 3-2) | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN
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.
Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche
Game 6 (DAL leads 3-2) | 9:30 p.m. ET | TBS
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.
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers
Game 6 (EDM leads 3-2) | 10 p.m. ET | ESPN
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).
Anze Kopitar has 26 playoff goals, tied with Jeff Carter and Dave Taylor for the third most in franchise playoff history, behind Wayne Gretzky (29) and Luc Robitaille (41).
Arda’s three stars from Wednesday night
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.
0:37
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).
Wednesday’s scores
Washington Capitals 4, Montreal Canadiens 1
WSH wins series 4-1, plays CAR in next round
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.
1:58
Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals: Game Highlights
Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals: Game Highlights
Florida Panthers 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 3
FLA wins series 4-1, plays winner of TOR-OTT
Both teams came out strong in the first period, with Lightning goals by Gage Goncalves and Nick Paul and Panthers goals from Carter Verhaeghe and Anton Lundell. The tide turned in the second, with the Panthers taking a 4-3 lead on goals by Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett, with the Bolts scoring one off the stick of Jake Guentzel. In the third, it was all about the Panthers’ defensive system refusing any efforts from Tampa Bay, while Eetu Luostarinen scored off a patient feed from Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhart added an empty-netter. Full recap.
1:59
Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: Game Highlights
Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: Game Highlights
Winnipeg Jets 5, St. Louis Blues 3
WPG leads 3-2 | Game 6 Friday
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.
2:00
St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets: Game Highlights
St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets: Game Highlights
The New York Rangers are in advanced contract talks to make former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan their next head coach, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and Kevin Weekes on Thursday.
The deal is expected to be one of the richest coaching contracts in NHL history, the sources said.
Sullivan would head to New York in a move that is coming together three days after he left his job with Pittsburgh, where he coached for 10 seasons and won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons amid a retooling of the roster.
David Quinn, Sullivan’s top assistant in Pittsburgh, is not expected to join him in New York. Quinn will be a candidate for other head coaching vacancies, including Pittsburgh’s, according to sources.
John Tortorella is a strong possibility to rejoin the Rangers organization. Sullivan, Quinn and Tortorella were on the coaching staff for Team USA at Four Nations.
In New York, Sullivan would replace Peter Laviolette, who was fired after the Rangers didn’t make the postseason for the first time since 2021.
Sullivan was selected by the Rangers in the 1987 draft but never played for New York, choosing to stay in college at Boston University before going on to an 11-year NHL playing career with four teams.
Sullivan, 57, previously served as a Rangers assistant coach from 2009 to 2013 on Tortorella’s staff. He also was the head coach of the Boston Bruins for the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons.
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Ryan S. Clark
Winnipeg Jets coach Scott Arniel said Thursday that star center Mark Scheifele will not travel with team ahead of Game 6 against the St. Louis Blues.
Scheifele will remain in Winnipeg after he missed the second and third periods of his team’s 5-3 victory Wednesday against the Blues in Game 5 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
“You’re hoping for the best that maybe he wakes up today and things are better,” Arniel told reporters before the team flight to St. Louis. “But right now, he won’t be making the trip, and we’ll just go day-to-day moving forward.”
With 13:51 remaining in the opening period, the Jets were in the Blues’ zone when Scheifele had just played the puck along the half wall. That’s when he was instantly checked by Blues captain Brayden Schenn. Scheifele appeared to be concentrating on the puck and looked as if he did not see Schenn, who connected with the top half of Scheifele’s chest and knocked him down to the ice.
Schenn was given a two-minute minor for interference and another two-minute minor for roughing.
A little more than 10 minutes later, Scheifele was involved in another physical sequence. He was just about to reach the Blues’ zone when forward Radek Faksa also checked him and appeared to have struck Scheifele in the same area as the previous hit from Schenn.
Scheifele finished the first period, but Arniel spoke to the officials as both teams were entering the dressing room before first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery confirmed with reporters after the game that Arniel spoke to the officials about the Schenn hit before sharing his thoughts.
“Let’s make it clear: Fifty-five got hurt from the Faksa hit,” Montgomery said. “He played six minutes after the Schenn hit. He didn’t come back after he got rocked by Faksa.”
Upon hearing Montgomery’s comments, Arniel had some thoughts of his own.
“I didn’t know Monty got his medical degree and can say how our player got hurt. He’s way off base and should not make that comment,” Arniel told reporters. “There’s some things that have been going on in this series and that was a repeat of what we’ve seen before: A player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very unprotected spot. Like hitting him in the sense, almost blindsiding him. Not happy with how the call was made. A two-minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about.
“It is something we have talked to the league about for five games.”
On Thursday, Arniel was asked if Scheifele was in concussion protocol.
“I’m not going down that road,” Arniel said.
It’s possible that the Jets could once again turn to Vladislav Namestnikov like they did in Game 5 and elevate him to the top line. The second-line center would take Scheifele’s place on the first line alongside Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi.
Namestnikov, who had 11 goals and 38 points in 78 regular-season games, had his strongest game of the postseason in Game 5. He finished with a goal and two points while logging 17:15 of ice time.
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