Thursday featured tons of exciting playoff pucks with seasons on the line for four different teams. Three of those teams saw their 2025 Stanley Cup hopes end, while the other has forced a winner-take-all Game 7.

To summarize what the second round looks like, the Eastern Conference is all set with Florida facing Toronto, and Carolina matching up with Washington. Edmonton and Vegas will form one Western Conference series, while neither of the teams in the other West series have been decided.

Toronto 4, Ottawa 2 (Maple Leafs win series 4-2)

The Senators gave the Leafs a bit of a scare in winning Games 4 and 5, but ultimately the Leafs prevailed after taking a 3-0 series lead.

Max Pacioretty scored the eventual game-winning goal with under six minutes left in regulation.

Max Pacioretty scores his 4th career series-clinching goal #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/R8MbnQVP1d

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 2, 2025

The goal was Pacioretty's first since December 20, which spanned 17 regular-season and playoff games. It was also Pacioretty's first playoff goal since 2021.

Pacioretty had been moved up to a line with John Tavares and William Nylander earlier in the game, where he registered an assist on a goal from Nylander. However, Max Domi and Pontus Holmberg assisted on this goal.

The game-winning goal came less than two minutes after David Perron scored the game-tying goal, which gave a short-lived boost to the Ottawa faithful.

Nylander finished with two goals and a power-play assist. The three-point game gives Nylander nine points in the six-game series with Ottawa, leading Toronto. The Leafs dodged what would have been a self-inflicted bullet of entering brother Alex Nylander's name into the lineup card instead of William's name by mistake. Imagine the panic that would create in Toronto for a must-win game!  

"It could have been disastrous for Toronto."@FriedgeHNIC and the panel discuss a lineup mistake switching the Nylander brothers, which could have led to William Nylander being removed from the game. pic.twitter.com/8hGQPu0qTG

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 2, 2025

Auston Matthews also scored for the Leafs, while Brady Tkachuk also scored for the Sens.

Pacioretty finished this game with seven hits, while Mitch Marner registered five hits. Neither player is known for dishing out the hits, but Pacioretty totalled 23 hits in the four games he appeared in, while Marner picked up 10 hits over his past two games. They will need to bring their A game physically against a Panthers team that is not known to shy away from body contact in the playoffs.

The Senators left it all out there in Game 6 with some gaudy hit totals of their own: Drake Batherson (9), Brady Tkachuk (8), Tim Stutzle (6), and Michael Amadio (6). I'm sure the Senators will reveal more about the nature of Tkachuk's injury from the 4 Nations over the coming days. Even though Tkachuk scored four goals and seven points in this series, a healthier playoff Tkachuk could be even more difficult for opponents to handle in future seasons.

Vegas 3, Minnesota 2 (Golden Knights win series 4-2)

Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore each had a goal and an assist to help the Golden Knights eliminate the Wild. Eichel's goal was his first of the series, and he has five points over his past three games after being held without a point in his first three games of the series. Stone has four points over his last three games.

On a night where star players have been posting big numbers in unconventional stats, Eichel co-led Vegas with five blocked shots, along with Theodore.

The Golden Knights were without Pavel Dorofeyev for Game 6 due to an undisclosed injury. Dorofeyev is considered day-to-day, so his status is unknown for Game 1 of the next series against Edmonton.   

Ryan Hartman scored both Wild goals while leading the team with six shots on goal. Hartman had quite a series, finishing with six points in six games with at least a point in five of the six games. Despite the loss, the Wild also had impressive performances from Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, who each scored five goals. Kaprizov led the Wild with nine points.

Happy retirement to beloved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who has suited up in an NHL uniform for the final time. Fleury's last game was Game 5, when he took over in net when Filip Gustavsson (illness) exited after the second period. Gustavsson was back in net in Game 6.

Marc-André Fleury's career is over.

• 3 Stanley Cups (2009/2016/2017)
• Vezina Trophy (2021)
• 575 regular season wins (2nd all-time)
• 92 playoff wins (4th all-time)
• 1,221 GP (reg season + playoffs) (3rd all-time)

He'll be HOF eligible in 2028.
pic.twitter.com/dulIcxHaKd

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) May 2, 2025

A first-round exit is par for the course for the Wild, as they have now lost nine consecutive postseason series. However, they could be ready to finally make their way out of the mushy middle with the bulk of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts finally coming off the books and a healthier Kaprizov next season. Part of that cap space will be offset by Brock Faber's extension ($8.5 million cap hit) kicking in, but don't be surprised if the Wild add another piece in free agency.

Colorado 7, Dallas 4 (series tied 3-3)

This game featured numerous twists and turns and was closer than the score showed, as Colorado's last two goals were into an empty net.

Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals for the Avalanche, while Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each scored a goal while adding two assists. MacKinnon has been doing his thing by leading the playoffs with six goals, although Makar had been slumping with no points in his previous three games. Both will need to be firing on all cylinders in order for the Avalanche to win Game 7.  

Martin Necas scored his first goal of the series, while Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson scored the Avalanche's other goals. Lehkonen led the Avs with eight shots in this game, while Makar and Necas fired six shots each. The Avalanche as a team took 48 shots on Jake Oettinger, so he is not tagged with a really bad start despite allowing five goals.

The Colorado win overshadows an outstanding period by Dallas teammates Mikko Rantanen and Roope Hintz. The two Finns are the first pair of teammates to record four points in one period in playoff history. Hintz finished the game with two goals and two assists, while Rantanen scored a goal with three assists. The fact that these two were able to dominate this way should bode well for the future, since it is important for the Stars that Rantanen is able to find his form. After joining the Stars, Rantanen finished with 18 points in 20 regular-season games, and he now has eight points in six playoff games.

Mikael Granlund scored the Stars' other goal in this game.

With six series now concluded, and the Jets and Blues playing Game 6 later today, the Avalanche and Stars will be the first and perhaps only first-round series to play a Game 7. The two teams will face off on Saturday to conclude a series that was tough to pick and features more talent than a typical first-round matchup.

Edmonton 6, Los Angeles 4 (Oilers win series 4-2)

In this series-clinching game for Edmonton, it only makes sense that Connor led the Oilers in scoring. Yes, Connor Brown. Who were you thinking of? Brown scored an empty-net goal while adding two assists, also finishing with a plus-3.

Adam Henrique, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse, and Trent Frederic scored the Oilers' other goals.

Calvin Pickard was better than the boxscore showed (four goals allowed on 27 shots). Pickard doesn't seem ready to give up the net, so expect him to start Game 1 against the Golden Knights. Leave it to Jack Michaels to accurately describe this save.

"Regular people would be hospitalized on that kind of save." 💀 pic.twitter.com/nKLASIRPYI

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 2, 2025

Unfortunately, Mattias Ekholm is doubtful for Round 2, as per Kris Knoblauch.

Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence, and Anze Kopitar scored the Kings' goals.

Adrian Kempe finishes his playoffs tied for second in playoff scoring (10 PTS in 6 GP), while Kopitar is in the top 10 in playoff scoring (9 PTS in 6 GP). Scoring didn't seem to be a problem for the Kings in this series, as they scored at least three goals in every game with the exception of Game 5. They simply couldn't handle Edmonton's high-powered attack.

The Oilers have now knocked out the Kings in four consecutive postseasons. The streak seemed to be ending after the Kings took a 2-0 lead in this series. It's probably not that simple, but this series started to turn the Oilers' way in Game 3 when they tied the game and the Kings made an ill-advised challenge of the game-tying goal. Losing the challenge, the Kings gave up the game-winning goal on the power play. For yet another season, the Kings have to wonder “what if we didn’t have to face the Oilers.”

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The Winnipeg Jets will not have Mark Scheifele in their lineup when they try to clinch their first-round series against St. Louis later today. Scheifele left Game 5 on Wednesday after he was hit sometime during the game. When exactly he was injured sparked a war of words between Blues coach Jim Montgomery and Jets coach Scott Arniel. Scheifele was the Jets' second-leading scorer during the regular season with 87 points, and he has also contributed six points in the series so far.

The Jets are also expected to be without Nikolaj Ehlers, although he travelled to St. Louis for Game 6 (unlike Scheifele). Vladislav Namestnikov is expected to be bumped up to center the top line in Scheifele's place, representing a significant downgrade to the Jets overall. The Blues currently have a 14-game home winning streak going, so the Jets will be in tough to clinch on the road without their top center.

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Leon Draisaitl, Connor Hellebuyck, and Nikita Kucherov are the three Hart Trophy nominees this season. I'm not sure who wins this award, as Kucherov is the Art Ross winner (121 PTS) and Draisaitl is the Rocket Richard winner (52 G). I'm pretty sure Hellebuyck will win the Vezina if he is being nominated as a goalie.

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According to multiple sources, Mike Sullivan is trending toward being named the next head coach of the New York Rangers. More will likely follow on this soon, although I'll agree with Dobber that this looks good for the Rangers fantasy-wise.

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