Latest 2025 NHL Playoff Standings and Predicting Seedings for East, West Brackets
The New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild each helped their wild-card causes on Wednesday night in their battle at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers got two points for winning the game, but the Wild picked up a point for sending the contest to overtime.
New York moved back level with the Montreal Canadiens in the race for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, while Minnesota remained ahead on a tiebreaker over the St. Louis Blues for the top Western Conference wild-card spot.
Perhaps the most important result on Wednesday, though, was the Toronto Maple Leafs' win over the Florida Panthers that opened up a three-point lead in the Atlantic Division.
The East wild-card race will be under a brighter spotlight on Thursday with Montreal, the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets all playing at home.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
- Toronto - 96 points
- Tampa Bay - 93
- Florida - 92
Metropolitan Division
- Washington - 105
- Carolina - 96
- New Jersey - 87
Wild-Card Race
- Ottawa - 84
- Montreal - 79
- New York Rangers - 79
- Columbus - 77
- Detroit - 75
- New York Islanders - 74
Toronto and the Rangers picked up huge results in their respective playoff races on Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs moved three points clear of Tampa Bay in the Atlantic with their home win over the Panthers.
Toronto has one game left with both the Lightning and Panthers. If it wins both, or even splits those games, it should be in good shape to win the Atlantic and set up a first-round meeting with a wild-card foe.
The wild-card race will be congested until the end of the regular season. The Rangers moved back level with the Canadiens on Wednesday.
Montreal should beat Boston on Thursday to give itself a small cushion going into the weekend.
Columbus hosts a Colorado team that struggled to beat Chicago on Wednesday night. The Avalanche might come into Ohio ticked off at how poorly they played against the Blackhawks, or they could suffer a let down after putting so much energy into a comeback.
The Blue Jackets hope the latter is the case so they can continue pushing toward the second wild-card spot.
Columbus has played the fewest games of any East wild-card contender, but its next four games come against Colorado, Toronto and Ottawa twice. The Blue Jackets must emerge from those games with at least five or six points to get past Montreal and the Rangers.
Bracket Prediction
Ottawa vs. Toronto
Florida vs. Tampa Bay
Montreal vs. Washington
New Jersey vs. Carolina
Western Conference
Central Division
- Winnipeg - 106
- Dallas - 102
- Colorado - 96
Pacific Division
- Vegas - 98
- Los Angeles - 93
- Edmonton - 91
Wild-Card Race
- Minnesota - 89
- St. Louis - 89
- Calgary - 82
- Vancouver - 81
- Utah - 80
Minnesota squeezed out a point from its high-scoring affair with the Rangers to move up to 89 points and level with the Blues.
The point turned out to be a big one since Vancouver failed to gain any ground in a disappointing 5-0 loss to Seattle.
The gap between the Wild and Blues to the Flames is now seven points. Even with two games in hand, the Flames will have trouble making up that gap.
St. Louis is on a 10-game winning streak and Minnesota has an easier finish compared its current stretch of games.
If the Wild pull points from their matchups with the Islanders and Dallas Stars, they should have a big enough buffer over Calgary and Vancouver.
Minnesota also plays the Flames and Canucks in consecutive games next weekend, so even if it falters, it can control its own fate.
Edmonton has a big opportunity in the Pacific Division to move level with the Los Angeles Kings on 93 points on Thursday.
The Oilers have three remaining games with the San Jose Sharks, starting on Thursday, and that could be the difference to get them past the Kings for second place and home ice in the first round.
Bracket Prediction
St. Louis vs. Winnipeg
Colorado vs. Dallas
Minnesota vs. Vegas
Los Angeles vs. Edmonton