The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin Saturday with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets and the Dallas Stars each hosting Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round.
The Jets (56-22-4), the No. 1 seed in the West, will host the St. Louis Blues, the second wild card, in Game 1 of that best-of-7 series at Canada Life Centre (6 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX, FDSNMW). Winnipeg is led by Connor Hellebuyck, who won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie last season and is likely to win it again this season; he went 47-12-3 with a 2.00 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and eight shutouts in 63 games (62 starts).
The Blues (44-30-8), who won the Stanley Cup in 2019, clinched a playoff berth thanks in part to a 12-game winning streak in the final month of the season. Goalie Jordan Binnington went 13-3-1 with a 2.23 GAA and a .910 save percentage in 17 games (16 starts) after returning from the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, when he helped Canada win the best-on-best tournament.
Dallas (50-26-6), which finished second in the Central Division, will host the third-place Colorado Avalanche (49-29-4) in Game 1 at American Airlines Arena (8:30 p.m. ET; Victory+, MAX, truTV, TNT, ALT, SN360, SN, TVAS). The series will see Stars forward Mikko Rantanen face his former team in the Avalanche, who traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24. He was then traded by Carolina to Dallas on March 7.
The Avalanche are led by center Nathan MacKinnon, who is second in the NHL this season with 116 points (32 goals, 84 assists) in 79 games.
The NHL will announce the full first-round schedule on Thursday.
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