NHL playoffs Round 1 recap: Jets move on after Game 7 OT thriller, bizarre error almost costs Leafs in Game 6, Rantanen torches Avs with epic heater

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs did not disappoint, with plenty of wild happenings on and off the ice. Two of five Canadian teams advanced to their respective conference semifinals, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers and punching their tickets to Round 2, while the Winnipeg Jets, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators will have to wait until next year to give it another go.

There were plenty of viral happenings around the league over the past couple weeks, including the Winnipeg Jets moving on after the most dramatic Game 7 you’ll ever see, the return of the Battle of Ontario, Mikko Rantanen getting his revenge against the team that traded him, the Oilers ousting the Kings once again, some major coaching moves, the Canadiens and Capitals punching it out, Marc-Andre Fleury calling it a career and more.

Here are the top sights, sounds and news you might have missed in the opening round of the NHL playoffs.

Jets conquer Blues in Game 7 double-overtime thriller

It was logical to think we wouldn’t see a crazier Game 7 in Round 1 than the one the Stars and Avs put up on Saturday night, but the St. Louis Blues and Jets had something to say about that as the two squads put on an absolute thriller on Sunday to cap the first round of the NHL playoffs in style.

In just the 14th Game 7 ever to require multiple overtimes, the Jets came back from down two goals, twice — including two tallies in the final two minutes of regulation — to beat the Blues in one of the wildest playoff games you’ll ever see.

Fittingly, it was Jets captain Adam Lowry tipping home the series-winner with less than five minutes remaining in the second overtime.

Lowry’s goal came off the stick of defenceman Neal Pionk, who had a monster of a night, to put it mildly. The Jets blueliner set a franchise record for most minutes played in a single game by a Winnipeg defenceman, logging over 45 minutes while posting three assist, three shots, six hits and a plus-2 rating.

Needless to say, Jets fans we’re loving his effort.

It looked as though the Blues had locked it up and were poised to end the Jets’ season until, with less than two minutes remaining with the goalie pulled, Winnipeg found life thanks to Vlad Namestnikov.

Then, with the goalie pulled once more for the extra attacker, Cole Perfetti, who had the game of his life — scoring twice including the Jets’ first tally of the night — tipped one home with 1.6 seconds remaining in regulation to send Canada Life Centre into a frenzy.

Absolute theatre.

Star Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck entered Game 7 with an immense amount of pressure on his shoulders after being pulled three times over the first six games of the series. His postseason stats are jarringly bad compared to his regular-season career numbers.

One of the wilder stats of these playoffs is Hellebuyck allowing goals on the first shot of the contest in three of the seven games in the series. The Jets star goaltender also became just the third netminder in Stanley Cup playoff history to allow four or more goals in seven consecutive road games after getting shelled in St. Louis in Game 6.

On this night, however, Hellebuyck exorcised some demons and got the job down, posting a blank sheet for the final 56 minutes of Game 7 while making some big saves — and finding his all-world swagger — when his team needed him most, especially in overtime.

It was a big bounce-back for the 2025 Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist after he looked pretty shaky once again to begin the do-or-die game.

Another key storyline, aside from the Hellebuyck’s bounce-back, of this series was the Schenn brothers — Luke of the Jets and Brayden of the Blues — facing off against each other in a playoff for the first time in their careers. It was also the first time two siblings faced each other in the NHL postseason since the Niedermayers went at it in the 2003 Cup final.

The brothers were born less than two years apart in Saskatoon, Sask., and both reached the milestone of 1,000 career games this season, making them the eighth pair of brothers in NHL history to receive the prestigious silver stick award and the first set of brothers to do so in the same season.

Luke and Brayden provided one of the best moments of Round 1, when the siblings verbally went at it during the third period of the Blues’ convincing Game 6 win.

The Jets move on to face the Stars in the second round after each squad’s dramatic Game 7 victory.

Battle of Ontario returns with plenty of drama

It looked like it was going to be a quick one after Toronto jumped out to a 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators as the “Battle of Ontario” made its return after a 20-year hiatus.

The pesky Sens battled back, however, putting a scare into Leafs fans after Ottawa won Games 4 and 5, which dropped Toronto’s record in playoff elimination games to a putrid 1-13. The Leafs were able to close it out, but not before a potentially devastating clerical error almost prevented one of Toronto’s Game 6 heroes from suiting up for the critical contest.

William Nylander’s brother, Alex — who currently plays for Toronto’s AHL affiliate and wears No. 92 — originally had his name written on the official game sheet instead of the Leafs star, while William, who wears No. 88, was listed as a scratch. If the error hadn’t been identified before puck drop by one of the officials, William would have been ineligible and removed from Game 6 immediately, according to Rule 5.1 of the NHL rulebook.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman broke down the ridiculous situation during the first intermission of Game 6:

Since the error was luckily caught in time, William was able to play and, in fitting fashion, ended up scoring two crucial goals, including a big second-period tally and the game-sealing empty netter, to help lift Toronto to a series-clinching victory in Game 6 — heroics that never would have happened had the egregious game-sheet gaffe not been discovered.

After hopping out to a 2-0 lead in Game 6, the Senators put yet another scare into Toronto’s fanbase, scoring the next two goals to tie the game with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation.

However, Max Pacioretty — fittingly wearing No. 67 for Toronto, who hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967 — played hero just moments later, beating Sens goalie Linus Ullmark from the high-slot just a couple moments after Ottawa tied it up. Nylander would then go on and clinch the win with an empty-netter.

Last week, Game 2 produced a very special moment for Leafs fans, as Max Domi — son of Maple Leafs legend Tie Domi — scored a massive overtime goal to seal a Game 2 victory for Toronto in front of his father, who was on Cloud 9 in the Scotiabank Arena bleachers after the goal.

The Senators are now 0-5 in the Battle of Ontario since 2000, with Toronto ousting Ottawa from the postseason in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2025.

The Maple Leafs now face an immense challenge in Round 2. Toronto will square off against the Florida Panthers after the defending Stanley Cup champs made relatively easy work of the Tampa Bay Lightning, ousting their state rivals 4-1 in the first round.

The highly-anticipated series begins Monday night in Toronto.

Rantanen roasts former team as shocking trade comes back to haunt Avalanche

Mikko Rantanen became the first player in NHL history to record a third-period hat-trick in a playoff Game 7 when he went off for four points in the final frame of Saturday night’s series finale between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche.

Rantanen, who was dealt mid-season by the Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes in one of the more shocking trades in recent memory, was flipped back to the Western Conference at the trade deadline when he was acquired by Colorado’s divisional rival in Dallas.

Adding to the drama, the two squads drew each other in the first round and, as fate would have it, Rantanen found a new gear in the final three games of the series to help his new team eliminate his old one in heartbreaking fashion.

Rantanen’s Game 7 performance will go down as one of the best ever — especially when taking the “revenge-series” angle into consideration — but the dude was a total beast in each of Games 5, 6 and 7.

After posting three points in Game 5, Rantanen went for back-to-back four-point efforts in the final two games of the series, absolutely torching his former team when it mattered most. The former Avalanche star grabbed some serious NHL milestones in the process:

Rantanen, who must have been feeling like the king of the world after Game 7, was as humble as they come following his epic performance, lauding his former teammates and good friends.

Rantanen won the Cup with the Avs in 2022.

Rantanen sure collected a bunch of individual milestones in Game 7, but the Stars and Avalanche also posted some pretty big ones of their own.

With the win, Dallas became the first team in Stanley Cup playoff history to win a Game 7 in regulation after trailing by two or more goals in the third period. Colorado, meanwhile, became the first team in major North American sports (including MLB, the NBA and NHL) to lose seven straight Game 7s.

Stars coach Peter DeBoer also set a North American major sports record for most Game 7 wins by a head coach or manager, posting an undefeated 9-0 record in said contests.

Dallas will now face Winnipeg in Round 2.

Oilers survive slow start to oust Kings in Round 1 yet again

It didn’t look pretty for the Oilers early on but, after falling behind 2-0 in the series, Edmonton reeled off four straight victories to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fourth straight year.

The Kings must be sick of this Oilers group, man.

It was a rocky start to say the least for the Oilers, who gave up 12 goals in the opening two games to go down 2-0 in the series heading back to Edmonton.

Edmonton made a change in net for Game 3 — going with backup Calvin Pickard over the struggling Stuart Skinner.

With a fresh starter between the pipes and their big guns hitting on all cylinders, the Oilers railed off four straight victories after dropping those first two contests in Los Angeles. Pickard’s .893 save percentage and minus-0.9 goals saved above expected numbers were not super by any means, but stepped up and made the big saves when Edmonton needed it most over those final four games of the series.

“[Pickard’s] a guy who’s just been a battler his whole career,” Connor McDavid told Sportsnet after Game 6. “Couldn’t be a better guy. We love playing for him. We love battling for him. Does a great job, giving us a chance.”

Edmonton’s big-name stars — Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and McDavid — led the charge offensively for the Oilers, absolutely shredding the Kings while combining for 9 goals and 19 assists (28 points) over the six-game set vs. the Kings.

Draisaitl scored the overtime winner for the Oilers in a pivotal Game 4 that turned the tide in Edmonton’s favour.

As they usually do, the Oilers’ big guns led the way, but the team also got plenty of contributions outside of the Big 3, with 13 of the team’s 20 skaters who dressed in the series finding the back of the net at least once.

The Oilers will need all that depth and more when they face the Vegas Golden Knights — who ousted the Minnesota Wild in six games to advance — in the second round. Vegas finished first place in the Pacific Division with an immaculate 50-22-10 record, while the Oilers finished third.

The rest of Round 1: Canadiens fall to Caps; Panthers, Hurricanes and Golden Knights advance

The upstart Montreal Canadiens were the first Canadian team eliminated from this year’s Stanley Cup playoff’s, losing to the Eastern Conference-champion Washington Capitals in the opening round as was expected.

Alex Ovechkin fittingly played hero in Game 1 after his Gretzky-record-breaking regular season, potting two goals, including the overtime winner to give the Caps a 1-0 series lead.

The highlight for Montreal was an epic Game 3 win to get back into the series — one that featured a ruckus playoff atmosphere inside Montreal’s Bell Centre, two goalie injuries, and plenty of fist-related shenanigans.

The series turned to Washington’s favour for good on the heels of this massive Tom Wilson hit in Game 4, which led to the game-tying goal just seconds later. The Capitals would score three more goals after that to clinch Game 4 before winning the series in Game 5.

As far as the rest of series go, the Carolina Hurricanes ousted the New Jersey Devils in five games, and will face the Capitals in Round 2.

The Panthers dropped the Lightning in five and will face Toronto in the second round, while the Golden Knights ousted Minnesota in six games and will square off vs. the Oilers next round.

The next round looks like this:

Eastern Conference Semifinals

(1) Maple Leafs vs. (3) Panthers

(1) Capitals vs. (2) Hurricanes

Western Conference Semifinals

(2) Stars vs. (WC) Blues

(1) Golden Knights vs. (3) Oilers

Mike Sullivan lands lucrative deal with Rangers, days after parting ways with Penguins

Off the ice, the NHL’s crazy coaching carousel continued spinning ’round, as the Pittsburgh Penguins — led by former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas — parted ways with long-time head coach Mike Sullivan.

Sullivan, who was the Penguins coach for almost 10 years, was scooped up just days later by the New York Rangers, who parted ways with their head coach, Peter Laviolette on April 19 after the Blueshirts missed the playoffs just one season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team.

Numbers have yet to be disclosed, but Sullivan’s new contract with New York is expected to be one of the richest for a coach in NHL history, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.

Another big name coach also left his post during Round 1 of the playoffs, as 2024 NHL Coach of the Year Rick Tocchet and the Vancouver Canucks officially parted ways after failing to reach a deal on a new contract.

Canucks president of hockey operations, Jim Rutherford, detailed what went wrong in the negotiations with Tocchet on the 100% Hockey with Millard & Shannon Podcast last week:

Tocchet is expected to have plenty of head coaching options available to him, and is also reportedly considering returning back to the broadcast booth.

There is a large number of teams looking for a new bench boss as of this writing, with the Boston Bruins, Penguins, Anaheim Ducks, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken and Canucks all in need of a new head coach.

Heartwarming moment of the week: Fleury cals it a career

Minnesota’s Game 6 loss to Vegas marked the final game of Marc-Andre Fleury’s illustrious career.

The three-time Cup champ, former No. 1 pick and Vezina winner took a bit of time to soak it all in as he left an NHL ice surface for the final time.

Fan of the week: Bednar clone

Colorado head coach Jared Bednar’s “clone” made big waves during the Avalanche-Stars series, making several appearances behind the Avs bench throughout the seven-game set.

Hockey fans rule.

Quote of the Week: Paul Maurice

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice feels coaches and management shouldn’t get the camera time at the end of a long-fought playoff series. Here’s why:

“They’re the guys that win, lose, suffer, go through pain, fight for their teammates, take hits. They do the work. We just drink coffee and swear.”

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