The first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs has heated up, and the endings of many series are approaching. How many teams will continue to play on Wednesday night?
There are two potential elimination games on the case file. First of all, Montreal Canadians - Washington Building (7pm, ESPN), with Alex Ovechkin & Co. On the edge of sealing the transaction on Habs.
Just 30 minutes later, the staggered game was the last game of the 2025 Florida Campaign (7:30 pm, ESPN2). Will the Florida Panthers win the fourth win, or will the Tampa Bay Lightning raise the series to 3-2?
Finally, St. Louis Bruce visited the Winnipeg Jets (9:30 PM, ESPN) After the first four games, major conspiracies included leading Vezina Trophy candidate Connor Hellebuyck continued to struggle with the goal.
Get a preview of the game with ESPN Research statistics insights, what happens in the game on Monday, and three-star statistics insights on Monday night.
Showdown notes
Montreal Canadians in the capital of Washington
Game 5 (WSH leads 3-1) | 7 pm ET | ESPN
Historically, the team that led the 3-1 series has won 90.8% of the games in Stanley Cup playoff history. In this case, the capital's record is 8-5, at 62%.
Cole Caufield is taking many Lens. His 21-shot goal was second in the playoffs (down to Nathan Mackinnon for 31 points) and was blocked with 11 shots, which ranked second in the playoffs, behind Jack Eichel.
Rookie guard Lane Hutson is the first year of the sixth year in playoff history, recording at least five assists in his first playoff series, joining Ray Bourque (1980), Janne Niinimaa (1997), Erik Karlsson (2010), Marc-Andre Gragnani (2011) and Quinn Hughes (2020).
Alex Ovechkin scored his biggest goal in NHL regular season history, ranking 13th on the 75-year-old playoff roster. His next will be ranked Mario Lemieux as 12th in No. 12.
Anthony Beauvillier is the first player in Capital history to assist in each of his first four playoff games with the club, while fourth place comes at least 1 point, following Dave Christian (five GPs in 1984), Adam Oates, Adam Oates (four GPs in 1998) and Mike Knuble (five GPs in 2010).
Florida Black Panthers in Tampa Bay Lightning
Game 5 (FLA lead 3-1) | 7:30 PM ET | ESPN2
In the 2025 playoffs, the home team's record is 23-10. The script turned over in the Florida Battle Series as the Highway won three of four games.
The Panthers have been leading the playoff series 3-1 5-0, ending Game 5's three series. Lightning has been 1-5 all time in one-seventh of the 1-3 trailing.
Lightning forward Jake Guentzel tied for the fourth-largest playoff goal since 2017 (40), behind Nathan Mackinnon (51) (51), Leon Draisaitl (44) and Brayden Point (44).
Andrei Vasilevskiy has been doing his best: after allowing 6 goals in 1st (.647), he allowed 5 goals in Game 2-4 (.936 percent savings).
Matthew Tkachuk tied with Nate Schmidt for the Panthers' goal score lead in this series (three), with 20 of its 48 professional playoff games against Florida. This ranks third in franchise history, behind only Sam Reinhart (2 of 22) and Carter Verhaeghe (27 of 65).
Sergei Bobrovsky has added a lead in every game and win since the start of the 2023 playoffs, Sergei Bobrovsky has added a lead in each category (47 games, 31 wins).
St. Louis Bruce of Winnipeg Jets
Game 5 (Series 2-2) | 9:30 ET | ESPN
Jets goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck met another playoff game. He has allowed 11 goals in the last two games and now has allowed more than 4 goals in 10 of the 14 starts of the last three playoffs. That's 71% rate, and in the same three seasons, he had a regular season rate of 17%.
After the start of the series - 5 points were scored in the first two games, winning both times!
Jordan Binnington fulfilled his mission in Game 4, but one game apart from one. Overall, this season, Binnington's savings percentage was .907, with an average score of 2.29 goals. In the 2019 Blues' Stanley Cup game, he averaged with a savings percentage of 0.914 and 2.46 goals.
Season trade added Cam Fowler played in his first playoff since 2017, making up for the wasted time to lead the Blues with 8 points (1 goal, seven assists). In the 2015 playoffs, Fowler's career-high playoff score was 10 of 16 games.
Arda's three stars start on Tuesday night
Ullmark recorded his first professional playoff suspension, becoming the second goalkeeper in Senate franchise history (with Craig Anderson) to secure a shutdown in a potential knockout.
Two goals, including the overtime champion, ended the three-point night and sent the Hurricanes into the second round with a 5-4 victory. The Crutch scored three goals in the second minute and equalized after an early 3-0 drop. This is Aho's 10th professional playoff power game goal that links Eric Staal to the franchise record.
Tkachuk and Stutzle were the first Senate teammates to be eliminated in team history. They will have another chance at home on Thursday.
Tuesday's score
Ottawa Senator 4, Toronto Maple Leaf 0
TOR Leader 3-2 | Game 6 Thursday
Senator goalkeeper Linus Ullmark faces the issue of getting into the playoffs, as his playoff professional performance didn't reach his regular season success. At least that night, he was excellent. Ullmark stopped all 29 shots, Maple Leaf pointed at him, Senators scored goals from Thomas Chabot and Dylan Cozens, and the empty grid of Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk blocked the night. Complete review.
Carolina Hurricane 5, New Jersey Devil 4 (2OT)
Automobile won 4-1 to win the WSH-MTL championship
It was a wild Tuesday night in Raleigh, with eight goals between the two teams between the two periods. The goalkeeper closed it for 40 minutes since then, and the team scored no points in the third stage and the first overtime. Until 4:17 in the second OT, Sebastian Aho scored a goal in the match and series. Complete review.
Vegas Golden Knights 3, Minnesota Outdoor 2 (OT)
VGK leads 3-2 | Game 6 Thursday
The team traded two goals in the same Minnesota power play – William Karlsson scored shortly and Kirill Kaprizov won the Powers game – Mark Stone limited the first stage with a 13:24 goal. Before the third inning 3:31, the score would remain 2-1 when Matt Boldy put the game on the two-point list. The Cavaliers only need 4:05 in the first OT period to score from Brett Howden's stick. Complete review.
Edmonton Oilers 3, Los Angeles Kings 1
EDM Leadership 3-2 | Game 6 Thursday
After winning the first two games of the series, the Kings are now looking up at the Oilers – who have beaten their team in the past three playoffs. The Kings first made it to the board with a powerful game goal by Andrei Kuzmenko, but Evander Kane would tie things up in less than three minutes. The final match winner stood out from the third place at Mattias Janmark 7:12, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added an empty net goal to make the game even more impossible. Complete review.