As the first-round series in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs shift to the home ice of the underdogs, some teams have been pushed to the brink of elimination.

Will that be the case for the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils or Edmonton Oilers, as they carry 2-0 deficits into Friday?

Game 3 will be an important one. In Stanley Cup playoff history, teams with a 2-0 series lead have gone on to win the series 86% of the time; teams that have taken a 3-0 series lead have gone on to win 98% of the time.

Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down in Thursday’s games, and the Three Stars of Thursday Night from Arda Öcal.

Matchup notes

Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens
Game 3 (WSH leads 2-0) | 7 p.m. ET | TNT

Strangely, the Capitals have not done well historically after going up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series. They are the NHL’s only team with a losing record (4-6) in that situation.

Capitals goalie Logan Thompson didn’t play during the Vegas Golden Knights‘ Stanley Cup run in 2023, and he is more than making up for it with his play in this series. In Game 2, Thompson stopped all 14 third-period shots from the Canadiens to preserve the Caps’ lead. Overall, he has a .951 save percentage and 1.47 goals-against average for the series.

Connor McDavid or Connor McMichael? The Caps’ winger scored two goals in a Game 2 win, his first career multigoal game. McDavid has more multigoal games in his career but has not had one yet this postseason.

The Canadiens have had three different goal scorers in the series, including first-line forwards Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, as well as veteran Christian Dvorak. For Dvorak, his goal in Game 2 was the third of his career.

Though Thompson has been a big story for the Caps, Sam Montembeault has been equally vital to the Canadiens. He has made some impressive saves en route to a .921 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average (rates that a number of other teams would love to see from their goaltenders).

Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils
Game 3 (CAR leads 2-0) | 8 p.m. ET | TBS

The Hurricanes continued an impressive streak by winning Game 2 on Tuesday, as they’ve gone up 2-0 in each of their past five first-round series.

Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in Game 2, earning his 13th playoff win with Carolina, which is one shy of tying Arturs Irbe for the second-most playoff wins in Hurricanes/Whalers franchise history.

News flash: Seth Jarvis is good. His goal in Game 2 was his 14th career playoff goal, which ties Sebastian Aho for the most postseason goals scored by a player age 23 or younger in franchise history.

New Jersey is hoping for good news on injured players, as Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon sat out Tuesday’s game. Hughes averaged the second-most ice time per game on the team in the regular season (21:09), behind only Brett Pesce (21:19).

Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been solid in two defeats, with 66 saves on 71 shots (.930 save percentage).

Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers
Game 3 (LA leads 2-0) | 10 p.m. ET | TNT

With the caveat that the Oilers can never be counted out, the Kings now have history on their side as they look to escape the first round: the franchise has a 7-1 series record all time when leading 2-0 in a best-of-seven series.

The Kings’ power play continues to drive their success. Including the end of the regular season, they have scored a power-play goal in seven straight games, and are 5-for-10 in this series. That has helped them produce six goals in each of the first two games, a feat that has not been done since the 2014 San Jose Sharks (who did it against the Kings).

In Game 2, Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar became the first duo of Kings players to have four or more points in the same playoff game since Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey in 1992 (coincidentally, also against the Oilers).

After an uneven start to the 2023 playoffs, Stuart Skinner was benched, which seemed to improve his play thereafter. The Oilers are hoping something similar happens here; Skinner gave up five goals on 28 shots in Game 2 before being pulled. He is the third goalie in Oilers playoff history to give up five goals in consecutive playoff games, joining Grant Fuhr (1984, 1985) and Andy Moog (1981, 1983); the Oilers won the Stanley Cup in 1984 and ’85.

The Stars have shown up for Edmonton — Connor McDavid has four points, and Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl have three apiece — but the depth scoring has not been there. Could Kris Knoblauch jumble his lines a bit heading into Game 3?

Arda’s three stars from Thursday night

When the Blues needed him, he delivered: a hat trick and an assist in a 7-2 win as St. Louis avoids going down 3-0 vs. Winnipeg.

With his two power-play goals in the win over the Golden Knights, Kaprizov climbed an impressive list; according to ESPN Research, only Mario Lemieux and John Druce have more power-play goals in their first 22 playoff games.

With his second straight game-winning goal, Schmidt became the first Panthers defenseman with two winning goals in one postseason.

Thursday’s scores

Florida Panthers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 0
FLA leads 2-0

Defenseman Nate Schmidt scored a goal for the second straight game and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 19 shots the Lightning took on goal as the defending Cup champs took another on the road to start their playoff journey. But the biggest story in the aftermath was Brandon Hagel‘s hit on Aleksander Barkov that resulted in a five-minute major penalty — and knocked Barkov out of the game. Full recap.

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Nate Schmidt’s slapshot gives Panthers the early lead

Nate Schmidt scores on a slapshot to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead vs. the Lightning.

Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Ottawa Senators 2 (OT)
TOR leads 3-0

For the second straight game, the two teams needed extra time to settle matters. And for the second straight game, the Maple Leafs emerge victorious, sending the Senators to the brink of elimination. Claude Giroux and Matthew Knies traded power-play goals in the second, followed by Auston Matthews and Brady Tkachuk in the third. Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit scored the game winner on a seeing-eye shot from distance 1:19 into OT. Recap.

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Simon Benoit’s OT winner gives Leafs 3-0 series lead

Simon Benoit nets the overtime winner for the Maple Leafs to give them a 3-0 series lead over the Senators.

Minnesota Wild 5, Vegas Golden Knights 2
MIN leads 2-1

Well, this is an interesting one. In a postseason thus far driven by the favorites taking series leads, the Wild have outpaced the heavily favored Golden Knights through three games of this series. Kirill Kaprizov added a pair of goals in this one, giving him four this postseason. The Wild have scored five goals in two straight games, and 12 overall for the series. Recap.

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Marcus Foligno’s empty-netter completes Game 3 win for Wild

Marcus Foligno scores with under two minutes left to give the Wild a 5-2 win over the Golden Knights.

St. Louis Blues 7, Winnipeg Jets 2
WPG leads 2-1

St. Louis will not go quietly into the night. The Blues netted three goals in the first period — including the first two of Pavel Buchnevich‘s hat trick — and didn’t look back. Buchnevich also tallied an assist, while Cam Fowler (one goal, four assists) and Robert Thomas (four assists) joined him in filling up the box score. Recap.

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Pavel Buchnevich completes his hat trick for Blues

Pavel Buchnevich scores his third goal of the game for a hat trick to put the Blues up 4-1 over the Jets.

Kemi Badenoch has said the Tories are “not doing a deal with Reform” after a Conservative mayor appeared to advocate for a “coming together” of the two rival parties.

The leader of the opposition criticised talk of “stitch ups” ahead of next week’s local elections and said she was instead focused on ensuring that voters have a “credible Conservative offer”.

Speaking to reporters from Stratford-upon-Avon, she said: “We are not doing a deal with Reform. There’s not going to be a pact.

“What we need to do right now is focus on ensuring that voters have a credible Conservative offer.

“When we start talking about stitch ups before an election it sounds as if we are not thinking about the people out there but just about how we win.

“Winning is just the first step – we need to talk about how we are going to deliver for the people of this country.”

Her words come after Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen suggested his party may have to join forces with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

In an interview with Politico, he said: “I don’t know what it looks like. I don’t know whether it’s a pact. I don’t know whether it’s a merger … [or] a pact of trust and confidence or whatever.

“But if we want to make sure that there is a sensible centre-right party leading this country, then there is going to have to be a coming together of Reform and the Conservative Party in some way.”

He added: “What that looks like is slightly above my pay grade at the moment.”

The intervention from the Conservatives’ last remaining mayor will create further trouble for Ms Badenoch after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick vowed to “bring this coalition together” to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer competing for votes by the time of the next election.

According to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News, Mr Jenrick – who lost the Tory leadership campaign to Ms Badenoch – said he would try “one way or another” to make sure the two right-wing parties do not end up handing a second term to Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Jenrick has denied his words amounted to calling for a pact with Reform – and told Good Morning Britain: “I’ve said time and again that I want to put Reform out of business … I want to send Nigel Farage back to retirement.”

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Questioned about Mr Jenrick’s remarks, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told Sky News he was not going to do a deal with the Conservative Party.

He said: “I mean he’s clearly shaping himself up to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. He doesn’t care what internal division he causes within the Parliamentary Party.

“But he’s actually mistaken. We are not going to do a deal with a Conservative Party that gave us record tax levels since the war, mass migration, I mean I could go on.”

Three men have been jailed for a combined total of 99 years for plotting to murder a member of a gang that carried out Britain’s biggest-ever cash robbery.

Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019.

He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006.

The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid.

The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down.

Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey.

The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday.

Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne – 30 years.

Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a “sophisticated” career criminal.

Detectives said the shooting could seem like “the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster” but added it was actually “horrific criminality” from “hardened organised criminals”.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio “were motivated by a promise of financial gain”.

Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: “I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain.

“The culpability of each one of you is very high.

“The harm caused to the victim was very serious – indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious. He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need.”

The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers.

A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland.

Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.