Updated 2025 NHL Playoff Bracket, Schedule and Top Highlights from April 26
There will be no sweeping in Round 1 of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson scored in overtime of Saturday's Game 4 to stave off elimination by the Toronto Maple Leafs and extend the series to at least five games.
The Tampa Bay Lightning also secured their first win of the postseason on Saturday, while the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche each evened their respective series.
Here's a look at the results, highlights and upcoming schedule after a busy night of hockey.
Saturday, April 26 Results
Tampa Bay Lightning 5, Florida Panthers 1 (FLA leads 2-1)
Vegas Golden Knights 4, Minnesota Wild 3, OT (Series tied 2-2)
Ottawa Senators 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 3, OT (TOR leads 3-1)
Colorado Avalanche 4, Dallas Stars 0 (Series tied 2-2)
Sunday, April 27 Schedule
Winnipeg Jets at St. Louis Blues, 1 p.m. ET (WPG leads 2-1)
Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils, 3:30 p.m. ET (CAR leads 2-1)
Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens, 6:30 p.m. ET (WSH leads 2-1)
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers, 9:30 p.m. ET (LAK leads 2-1)
Saturday, April 26 Highlights
Lightning 5, Panthers 1
The Tampa Bay Lightning have secured their first win of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
At first, the Florida Panthers looked on track for a third straight dominant win when Matthew Tkachuk opened scoring less than three minutes into the first period.
The Lightning answered late in the first thanks to a slick setup from Nikita Kucherov.
Nick Paul finished off a two-on-one chance with Jake Guentzel to give the Lightning their first lead of the series midway through the second period.
Game 4 started to get chippy toward the end of the second:
Jake Guentzel extended the lead in the first 30 seconds of the third period.
Luke Glendening added to the advantage with a wrister late in the third.
Tkachuk spent the final five minutes of the game in the box for hitting Guentzel ahead of Anthony Cirelli's empty netter.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves in the victory. The Lightning will now have the chance to even the series at Amelie Arena when the puck drops for Game 4 on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.
Golden Knights 4, Wild 3 (OT)
Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev scored 17 and a half minutes into overtime to even this first round series at two games apiece.
Earlier Saturday afternoon, Vinnie Hinostroza took a high-sticking penalty and the Golden Knights capitalized with Shea Theodore's opening goal.
The Wild's Justin Brazeau answered minutes later with a behind-the-net spinorama feed to Marco Rossi for the tying goal.
Minnesota's Marcus Foligno gloved down a puck at the netfront before scoring on a rebound to put the Wild ahead late in the second period.
Vegas' Nicolas Roy tied the game on a third-period power play.
Tomas Hertl put the Knights back in front with a deflection less than one minute of game time before Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon answered with a tying wraparound goal.
Vegas goaltender Adin Hill helped send the game to overtime with a stop on a one-timer from Kirill Kaprizov.
The Golden Knights had to kill off an overtime penalty, but successfully held off the Wild long enough for Barbashev to play hero at 17:26 of extra time.
Both teams will have the chance to grab a series lead when the series returns to Las Vegas for Game 5 on Tuesday at a time yet to be determined.
Senators 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)
For the third straight game, the Battle of Ontario went to overtime.
This time it was the Ottawa Senators who emerged victorious thanks to Jake Sanderson's game-winning tally.
Earlier Saturday night, the Senators pulled ahead thanks to special teams dominance that led to a power-play goal from Tim Stutzle and a shorthanded strike by Shane Pinto.
Leafs forward John Tavares tipped in a late goal to end the first frame before Matthew Knies tied the game on a breakaway midway through the second period.
David Perron put the Sens ahead early in the third before Toronto's Oliver Ekman-Larsson tied the game with just over five minutes left in regulation.
Ottawa's Drake Batherson took a four-minute double minor for high-sticking Chris Tanev in overtime, but the Senators successfully killed off the penalty.
Sanderson then beat Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz at 17:42 of extra time to give the Senators their first win of the series.
The Leafs will get another chance to end this series at home when the Senators return to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday.
Avalanche 4, Stars 0
The Stars fell into an early deficit thanks to a shorthanded goal from Logan O'Connor and a power play strike from Nathan MacKinnon.
Gabriel Landeskog, who recently made his return from the knee injury that sidelined him for almost three full seasons, helped pad the Avs' lead in the second period with his first goal since 2022.
The Stars pulled Jake Oettinger after Landeskog's goal. The netminder had stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced through almost 40 minutes.
Casey DeSmith made seven saves of his own before Landeskog screened him on a Samuel Girard goal.
The game ended with a scrum at Ball Arena.
Mackenzie Blackwood recorded 23 saves in the first playoff shutout of his NHL career.
Whoever wins Game 5 in Dallas will now have the chance to lead the series when these two teams drop the puck again on Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Updated 2025 NHL Playoff Bracket, Schedule and Top Highlights from April 25
It was a big Friday in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers earned their first wins of the postseason at home on Friday night.
Each team will now get the chance to tie their respective series on Sunday.
Here's a look at Friday night's results and highlights, as well as what to expect over the rest of the weekend.
Friday Stanley Cup playoffs results
Montreal Canadiens 6, Washington Capitals 3 (WSH leads 2-1)
New Jersey Devils 3, Carolina Hurricanes 2, 2OT (CAR leads 2-1)
Edmonton Oilers 7, Los Angeles Kings 4 (LAK leads 2-1)
Saturday Stanley Cup playoffs schedule
Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers, 1 p.m. ET (FLA leads 2-0)
Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild, 4 p.m. ET (MIN leads 2-1)
Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators, 7 p.m. ET (TOR leads 3-0)
Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche, 9:30 p.m. ET (DAL leads 2-1)
Friday highlights
Canadiens 6, Capitals 3
The Canadiens were at risk of falling into a 0-3 series deficit on Friday.
The home team answered instead with a definitive first victory of their first-round matchup with the Washington Capitals.
Jabs between Arber Xhekaj and Tom Wilson during pregame warmups set the tone early for a chippy Game 3 in Montreal.
Caps defenseman Matt Roy gathered the rebound from a Rasmus Sandin shot to open scoring early in the first period on Friday night.
Alexandre Carrier thrilled the fans at Bell Centre by wiring a tying goal through traffic on a power play late in the first period.
Midway through the second frame, Nick Suzuki took advantage of a face-off win at the beginning of a Canadiens power play to give the Habs their first lead of the night.
Caps blueliner Jacob Chychrun answered with a tying goal minutes later.
The Canadiens responded with less than 10 seconds left in the second frame, when Cole Caulfield went down to one knee to put a cross-ice pass from Lane Hutson in the back of the net.
Seconds of game time later, a brawl sent Josh Anderson diving into the Capitals' bench area to grapple with Wilson.
Alex Ovechkin evened the score on a feed from Dylan Strome early in the third, but the Habs regained their lead thanks to a puck deflecting in off the stick of Caps winger Brandon Duhaime.
Juraj Slafkovsky put the Habs ahead by the first time by finishing off a Canadiens rush late in the third. Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson was injured on the play following a collision with Strome.
Thompson was replaced by Charlie Lindgren before Alex Newhook added a late power-play goal to put away the game for the Canadiens.
The Canadiens will now have the chance to tie the series when the Capitals return to Montreal for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Devils 3, Hurricanes 2 (2OT)
Simon Nemec played hero in extra time for the New Jersey Devils.
Nemec scored 2:36 into double overtime to bring the crowd at Prudential Center to their feet to celebrate the Devils' first win of the series on Friday night.
Before the game, the home crowd celebrated Jonas Siegenthaler's return to the Devils' lineup for the first time suffering a leg injury on Feb. 4.
Timo Meier found Devils captain Nico Hischier alone in front of the net to open scoring late in the first period.
Dawson Mercer scored early in the third period to put the home team ahead by two goals.
Two late penalties against the Devils— an interference call on Brian Dumoulin and tripping penalty on Erik Haul— cost the hosts a regulation win.
Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho scored on consecutive Hurricanes power plays to tie the game at two goals apiece.
The Canes killed off two overtime penalties to keep the game scoreless through the first OT, but Nemec scored early in the second to seal the Devils' win.
The Devils will have the chance to tie the series when they return to Prudential Center for Game 4 on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Oilers 7, Kings 4
The Oilers are one win closer to a return to the Stanley Cup Final.
The home team surged ahead of the Kings early on Friday night with two quick goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard.
Kings winger Adrian Kempe answered late in the opening frame with his fourth goal of the series, before Kevin Fiala tied the game on a second-period power play.
Game 3 opened up with a flurry of goals in the second period, including a pair just nine seconds of game time apart.
Drew Doughty gave the Kings the lead on a power-play goal before the Oilers' Connor Brown and Kings' Trevor Moore exchanged back-to-back tallies at even strength.
Darcy Kuemper dove across the Kings' crease to keep the game tied midway through the third:
Officials reviewed Evander Kane's tying strike for an illegal kicking motion but ultimately ruled it a good goal.
The Kings were assessed a penalty for the failed challenge, and Bouchard took advantage by putting the Oilers ahead with his second goal of the night.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid helped ice the game with one of the Oilers' two empty-netters.
The Oilers will now have the opportunity to tie the series at home when the puck drops for Game 4 on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Updated 2025 NHL Playoff Bracket, Schedule and Top Highlights from April 24
The Toronto Maple Leafs forced the Ottawa Senators to the brink of playoff elimination in front of a Sens home crowd on Thursday night.
Simon Benoit scored just over one minute into overtime of Game 3 to give the Leafs a 3-0 series lead in Ottawa.
That wasn't the only playoff action that took place during a busy Thursday night.
Here's a look at tonight's results and highlights as well as what to expect when the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs continues Friday.
Thursday Stanley Cup playoffs Round 1 results
Florida Panthers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 0 (FLA leads 2-0)
Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Ottawa Senators 2, OT (TOR leads 3-0)
Minnesota Wild 5, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (MIN leads 2-1)
St. Louis Blues 7, Winnipeg Jets 2 (WPG leads 2-1)
Friday Stanley Cup playoffs Round 1 schedule
Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET (WSH leads 2-0)
Carolina Hurricanes at New Jersey Devils, 8 p.m. ET (CAR leads 2-0)
Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers, 10 p.m. ET (LAK leads 2-0)
Thursday highlights
Panthers 2, Lightning 0
Sergei Bobrovsky recorded the fourth playoff shutout of his career to help the defending champions claim a 2-0 series lead.
First, Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt remained one of the hottest players of the postseason by opening scoring with his third goal of the series.
Aleksander Barkov left the game after taking a hit from the Lightning's Brandon Hagel in the third period.
Sam Bennett sealed the win with an empty-netter after Bobrovsky stopped all 19 of the Lightning's shots on net.
The defending champions will now wait for an update on Barkov's status while preparing for the series to swing back to Sunrise on Saturday.
Maple Leafs 3, Senators 2 (OT)
The Senators came within one shot of the team's first playoff win since 2017 on Thursday night.
Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark started out the game by turning aside William Nylander on a first-period breakaway.
The Sens' offense meanwhile set a physical tone early by leading in hits through the first 20 minutes.
In the second period, Claude Giroux opened scoring for the Senators on a two-man advantage minutes before Leafs winger Matthew Knies took advantage of a Sens penalty and a crowded netfront to tie the game.
The Leafs came within inches of scoring late in the second period, but Ullmark again managed to keep the game tied.
Auston Matthews finally beat Ullmark less than a minute into the third period to give the Leafs the lead.
Brady Tkachuk finished off a Senators rush to tie the game with just under nine minutes remaining in regulation.
It was ultimately Benoit and the Leafs who triumphed in Ottawa. The Senators will now play for their postseason when the series returns to Ottawa on Saturday.
Wild 5, Golden Knights 2
The Wild grabbed their first series lead of the 2025 postseason on Thursday night.
Minnesota surged out to an early lead thanks to goals from Kirill Kaprizov on the power play and Marco Rossi at even strength.
Alex Pietrangelo got the Golden Knights on the board with a slapshot that snuck through the pads of Wild netminder Filip Gustavsson midway through the first period.
Matt Boldy helped the Wild regain the two-goal lead by capitalizing on a Golden Knights turnover behind the net in the second period.
Kaprizov padded the lead with two seconds left in the second by deflecting in his second power-play goal of the night.
Reilly Smith gave the Knights a late burst of momentum with a shorthanded goal in the final nine minutes of regulation.
The Knights got an opportunity to cut the deficit to one on a late power play, but Gustavsson made a clutch save before Marcus Foligno iced the game with a shorthanded empty-netter.
The Wild will now look to put the Knights on the edge of elimination with another win in Saturday's Game 4.
Blues 7, Jets 2
The St. Louis Blues are looking to turn around this series at home.
After falling into a 2-0 series deficit in Winnipeg, the Blues celebrated their first home game of the first round with three goals in the opening 16 minutes of Game 3.
David Gustaffson got the Jets on the board early in the third, but Buchnevich answered by completing the first playoff hat trick of his career.
The game got messy during the final 15 minutes. A flurry of Blues goals led to Vezina contender Connor Hellbuyck getting pulled, and a series of fights led to power plays for both teams.
St. Louis ended up celebrating the first win of the postseason with one final fight.
The Blues will now get the chance to even the series when both teams return to St. Louis for Sunday's matinee matchup.
Updated 2025 NHL Playoff Bracket, Schedule and Top Highlights from April 23
The NHL playoffs are in full swing and Wednesday saw another slate of exciting games.
The Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens played the second game of their series, as did the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars took on the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their first-round series.
Here's a look at the scores from Wednesday's action.
Wednesday's Scores/Schedule
Game 2: Washington Capitals def. Montreal Canadiens, 3-1 (WSH leads 2-0)
Game 3: Dallas Stars def. Colorado Avalanche 2-1 (DAL leads 2-1)
Game 2: Los Angeles Kings def. Edmonton Oilers 6-2 (LA leads 2-0)
Eastern Conference
Toronto Maple Leafs 2, Ottawa Senators 0 (Game 3 on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET)
Florida Panthers 1, Tampa Bay Lightning 0 (Game 2 on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET)
Washington Capitals 2, Montreal Canadiens 0 (Game 3 on Friday at 7 p.m. ET)
Carolina Hurricanes 2, New Jersey Devils 0 (Game 3 on Friday at 8 p.m. ET)
Western Conference
Vegas Golden Knights 1, Minnesota Wild 1 (Game 3 on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)
Los Angeles Kings 2, Edmonton Oilers 0 (Game 3 on Friday at 10 p.m. ET)
Winnipeg Jets 2, St. Louis Blues 0 (Game 3 on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET)
Dallas Stars 2, Colorado Avalanche 1 (Game 4 on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET)
Washington Capitals def. Montreal Canadiens 3-1
Solid offense combined with a tremendous outing from Logan Thompson in front of the goal gave Washington enough to take a comfortable 2-0 lead in the series on Wednesday.
It was a slow first period, but Montreal struck early in the second with a goal from Christian Dvorak off an assist from Josh Anderson.
From there, it was all Washington.
Conor McMichael tied things up later in the second period and Dylan Strome scored moments later to make it 2-1.
After a slow offensive period for both teams in the third, the Capitals sealed the win with an open-net goal from McMichael.
Thompson was tremendous in the win, picking up 25 saves, including a clutch stop on a Montreal breakaway that prevented the Canadiens from tying the game in the third period.
The series will head to Montreal on Friday, where Washington will look to make it 3-0.
Los Angeles Kings def. Edmonton Oilers 6-2
The Los Angeles Kings got one game closer to advancing past the first round for the first time since 2014 with Wednesday's win.
The Kings got off to a hot start with a goal from Brandt Clarke in the first period.
Los Angeles then picked up a comfortable 3-0 lead after goals from Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe in the second period.
But Edmonton managed to stay afloat thanks to a goal from Leon Draisaitl in the second. The Oilers then made it a 3-2 game early in the third period when Viktor Arvidsson found the net against his former team.
After Arvidsson's goal, it was all Kings for the rest of the night. Los Angeles ran away with the game thanks to two more goals from Kempe and one from Anze Kopitar in the third period.
The series is far from over, but after scoring 12 goals in two games, the Kings' offense has all the momentum heading into Game 3 in Edmonton.
Dallas Stars def. Colorado Avalanche 2-1
It was another overtime thriller for the Stars and Avalanche on Wednesday.
Colorado got an early edge on a goal from Valeri Nichushkin in the first period before the Avalanche's offense went stagnant.
It took the Stars a while to answer, but they finally did with just over 10 minutes left in the third period when Jamie Benn evened the score during a power play.
Colorado got a power play late in the third period but failed to capitalize, and the game went into overtime.
Tyler Seguin, who scored in Monday's Game 2, played hero on Wednesday, scoring five minutes into overtime to seal the win for Dallas.
The Stars have now won back-to-back games in overtime, but the series will stay in Colorado on Saturday as Colorado looks to tie things up again.
Gabriel Landeskog to Play 1st NHL Game in 3 Years for Avalanche vs. Stars After Injury
Gabriel Landeskog is back.
The Colorado Avalanche captain hasn't played since the 2021-22 season due to issues with his right knee, but he'll return to the ice on Wednesday night in his team's Game 3 matchup in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Dallas Stars.
The series is tied at one game apiece.
"I'm thrilled. I think that's so much bigger than than hockey in this series," former Avalance center and current Stars star Matt Duchene told reporters about the possibility of Landeskog returning. "He was up at my cottage right after he had the surgery, showing me the pictures of before and after, all that stuff. And obviously as a guy, we have a good friendship. Our families are good friends, and we've been rooting for him to come back. Obviously, it makes our job harder having a guy like that out there, but on the friends side, the human side and the fellow athlete side, I think everyone's happy to see the progress he’s made."
It remains to be seen how effective Landeskog will be upon his return, given his lengthy layoff, but if the Avalanche get back the player who has compiled nine seasons with 20 or more goals, two seasons with 30 or more goals and three seasons with 60 or more points, they'll be getting a huge boost.
He was a huge factor for the team that won the Stanley Cup in the 2021-22 campaign, posting 11 goals and 11 assists that postseason, and the Avs won just one playoff series in two seasons without him.
Nobody is expecting Landeskog to return in top form. But having him back should provide the Avalanche with a boost nonetheless.
"Adding him back into our locker room, he's almost an extension of the coaching staff, but he's still one of the guys and the guy that everyone looks up to," head coach Jared Bednar told reporters Wednesday. "You can't get enough of that this time of the year."