Tuesday night marked the fourth night of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and– well, I’m not going to keep track of the number of days that have passed. I WILL forget one of these days, so let’s just get ahead of it now.
Anyway, the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the New Jersey Devils in Game 2 of their series and took home a, 3-1, victory to go along with a 2-0 series lead heading to New Jersey for Games 3 and 4. Jordan Martinook scored the game-winning goal for the Hurricanes after they fell behind, 1-0, through 20 minutes of action.
The Toronto Maple Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators and had a, 2-0, lead in Game 2 from Scotiabank Arena before the Sens tied things up late and forced overtime. Max Domi was the hero for the Leafs early in the extra frame to give Toronto a, 3-2, victory.
The “Battle of Florida: Part IV” commenced as the Florida Panthers paid a visit to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Game 1 of their series. Florida upset the Bolts on the road, 6-2, at Amalie Arena with Nate Schmidt credited as the game-winning goal in the dominant effort from the Cats.
Finally, after an 11 p.m. start for the East Coast crowd, the Minnesota Wild jumped out to a huge lead and never looked back as they beat the Vegas Golden Knights on the road, 5-2, to even their First Round series 1-1. Mats Zuccarello had the game-winning goal, but Matt Boldy continued his hot start with a goal and an assist in the effort.
Hello Hurricanes
Two of their last three series meetings were quick five-game routs by Carolina and thus far in the 2025 First Round, there’s nothing to show that the Devils might make it past a Game 4.
Though closer on the scoreboard than Game 1’s, 4-1, win for the Hurricanes, Game 2’s, 3-1, victory by the Canes felt like a classic, defensively dominant game in the Rod Brind’Amour era.
Shots on goal were pretty even with Carolina holding the 28-26 advantage by the end of the night and Seth Jarvis’ first goal of the 2025 postseason occurring on an empty net to add the insurance marker to Carolina’s triumph.
Former Hurricane, Erik Haula, fired a shot off of Frederik Andersen early in the action that New Jersey’s regular season leading scorer, Jesper Bratt, pounced on to give the Devils a, 1-0, lead 3:51 into the first period.
That was it for the night for New Jersey, however.
Shayne Gostisbehere tied things up, 1-1, for the Hurricanes early in the middle frame after collecting his own rebound for a snap shot goal at 2:57.
Just a few minutes later, Martinook added a shorthanded goal to give the Hurricanes a, 2-1, lead at 5:54 of the second period after Dmitry Orlov fed Martinook a pass to breakout of Carolina’s own zone and skate up the ice without much pressure before unloading a snap shot past Jacob Markström.
Another display of a strong defensive zone effort resulted in the Canes winning the draw from their own end with New Jersey’s net empty in the last minute of regulation.
Martinook fed the puck up to Jarvis, who split the Devils defenders and skated through the uprights to guide a soft poke check empty net goal into the back of the twine for the, 3-1, win.
Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes did not appear in Game 2 after both Devils defenders exited Game 1 due to injury with the latter later returning late in the third period.
This series doesn’t look like it’s going to be an offensive dynamo only two games into it. Yet, if New Jersey wants to have any chance of defending their home ice for Games 3 and 4, they’re going to have to get pucks in the back of the net.
“Thanks Captain Obvious.”
“You’re welcome!”
One of the good things for the Devils heading home for Game 3 Friday night (8p ET on TBS, MAX, SN360, TVAS2, FDSNSO, MSGSN) is the fact that Carolina was only 16-21-4 on the road in the regular season, though New Jersey went 19-17-5 on home ice this season.
The Hurricanes had a .439 points percentage in away games, while the Devils had a .524 points percentage at Prudential Center.
Not your fathers’ Leafs?
Morgan Rielly and John Tavares each scored for the second time in as many games to give Toronto a, 2-0, lead less than halfway through the first period Tuesday night– 8:20 into the opening frame, to be exact.
The Maple Leafs recorded just seven shots on goal in the first 20 minutes and had scored on two of them.
Things weren’t looking like they were going to bounce back for Linus Ullmark from Game 1 to Game 2, but then the Leafs just… …didn’t score again for the next 40 minutes and only had 12 shots on goal in the remaining two periods of regulation.
Ottawa outshot Toronto 10-7 in the first period and 13-3(!) in the second period before the Maple Leafs held the advantage in shots on goal over the Senators 9-4 in the third period.
The Leafs also had two shots on goal in overtime to Ottawa’s one shot on Anthony Stolarz in the extra frame.
The final shot totals may have looked pretty close with the Sens holding a 28-21 advantage by the end of Game 2, but the Senators had fired far more rubber in the Leafs’ direction that didn’t end up hitting twine.
Instead, the Vulcanized rubber disk smattered against the end boards, glass and Ottawa’s opponents. Toronto finished Tuesday night with 32 blocked shots– a number that would make John Tortorella smile, even if Craig Berube is the actual head coach of the Maple Leafs.
At the other end, the Senators recorded six blocked shots themselves as the Leafs hit bodies with pucks few and far between by comparison.
Heading into Game 3, Ottawa is going to have their work cut out for them to open up the shooting lanes and focus on getting more quality shots on net to make Stolarz earn every save.
Power plays were few and far between with Toronto capitalizing on their only skater advantage of the night on Tavares’ goal. That’s something the Sens need to improve on too– their penalty kill.
That said, Brady Tkachuk notched his first goal of the postseason while on the power play for Ottawa on a backhand shot late in the second period.
Tkachuk’s goal planted a seed of doubt as Toronto’s lead was cut in half, 2-1, and the all too familiar comeback that Leafs fans have suffered through almost annually in the Stanley Cup Playoffs crept to the forefront of their minds.
It wasn’t until late in the third period, too, that Adam Gaudette tipped a shot from the point by Tyler Kleven past Stolarz– tying the game, 2-2, in the process at 14:47 of the third period.
But Domi made it look easy in overtime as he skated past Dylan Cozens and avoided Drake Batherson’s last-ditch effort flyby to breakup Domi’s advance.
Domi wired a wrist shot from the slot just inside the outer edge of the faceoff circles through traffic past Ullmark to win the game, 3-2, at 3:09 of the overtime period.
Toronto is going to want more of the same effort from Games 1 and 2, but without the jitters towards the end of the latter as they head to Canadian Tire Centre Thursday for Game 3 (7p ET on ESPN2, SNE, SNO, SNP, CBC, TVAS).
Who wanted this exactly?
Ever since the Florida Panthers were introduced to the National Hockey League in 1993, we’ve been dreaming of the intensity of Stanley Cup Playoff games between the Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
But I have to ask– does the “Battle of Florida” actually just suck?
We were treated to the first edition of the “Battle of Florida” back in the 2021 First Round. Yep, it only took 28 years, but we rejoiced when it finally happened.
The first game was a thrilling back-and-forth, 5-4, victory for the Lightning on the road. The Bolts stole the Cats’ thunder in Game 2 with a, 3-1, victory and stole home ice advantage out from under the Panthers– despite both teams still playing in Florida, mind you.
Then the Panthers responded with a, 6-5, overtime win in Game 3– proving that home ice simply didn’t matter at all.
Well, until Tampa lit up Florida, 6-2, in Game 4 and took a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Then the Panthers responded with a lopsided, 4-1, win of their own in Game 5 to force a Game 6.
Despite the final scores, the Hockey Gods were setting the scene for what could have been a thrilling finish in a Game 7– except the Lightning shutout the Panthers on home ice in Game 6, 4-0.
Tampa outscored Florida, 24-17, in the series.
We didn’t have to wait another 28 years for the next rendition of the “Battle of Florida” as the sequel “Battle of Florida II: 2 Fast 2 Florida (Teams)” happened in the 2022 Second Round.
The Panthers were riding high after advancing from the previous round for the first time since 1996– the same year that Florida went to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The Lightning were looking to keep their younger brother (by a year) down and win their second series in as many years against the Panthers.
Game 1 was a, 4-1, win for the Lightning. Game 2 was a closer, 2-1, win for the Lightning as once again the Panthers dropped their first two games on home ice in the “Battle of Florida Part Deux.” Game 3? You guessed it, another win for Tampa– this time, 5-1.
The Bolts completed the sweep, 2-0, in Game 4 and outscored the Cats, 13-3, in the 2022 edition of the “Battle of Florida.”
Then we had a year off as the Everglades went fallow as the Toronto Maple Leafs pulled off the unthinkable and won a playoff series for the first time since 2004– knocking off the Lightning in six games in the process in 2023.
But in 2024, we witnessed the return of the “Battle of Florida” with the third edition: “The Battle of Florida III: Medium Sized Edition.”
Whereas their 2021 First Round meeting required six games and the 2022 Second Round meeting required four, the 2024 First Round matchup between the Panthers and Lightning required just five games. A happy medium of sorts.
Florida won Game 1, 3-2, then Game 2, 3-2, but this time in overtime.
The Panthers took a 3-0 series lead with a convincing, 5-3, victory in Game 3 and, well, everyone thought “oh, great, this one’s going to be another rollover isn’t it?”
But then Tampa rattled off a, 6-3, win on home ice in Game 4 just to play with us a little because Florida came back and stomped the Lightning to the curb, 6-1, in Game 5– clinching the series– their first series victory in the “Battle of Florida” on home ice.
The Panthers outscored the Lightning, 20-14, in the 2024 First Round series win.
And so far in 2025?
Game 1 was a, 6-2, blowout for Florida on the road in Tampa.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers had goals from Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Nate Schmidt (x2) and Matthew Tkachuk (x2). The Lightning had goals from Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 20 out of 22 shots faced for a quality start and a .909 save percentage in the win.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 11 saves on 17 shots against for a .647 SV% in the loss. Oof.
Let’s hope the rest of the series gives us the “battle” part in “Battle of Florida.”
Call of the Wild
Matt Boldy became the second player in Minnesota Wild history to score three consecutive team goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs joining Marián Gáborík in the process.
Gáborík did it on three consecutive goals in Games 3 and 4 of the 2003 Western Conference Semifinal.
Boldy, meanwhile, kicked off the scoring as the Wild went on a run of four goals– three in the first period, one early in the middle frame– to jump out to a, 4-0, lead in Game 2 of their series with Vegas.
For a moment, we all held our breath as the Golden Knights got on the board courtesy of Noah Hanifin to make it, 4-1, just past the midpoint of the second period.
If Monday night was any indication in Los Angeles, then Tuesday night might have been a rerun in Vegas (kind of).
Tomáš Hertl continues to be hot and made it a two-goal game at 2:26 of the third period, but the Golden Knights couldn’t muster anything else on the scoreboard.
Kirill Kaprizov tallied an empty-net goal to put it away, 5-2, for Minnesota in Game 2– evening the series at 1-1 in the process.
The Wild had five goals on 17 shots on net.
Adin Hill’s 12 saves on 16 shots faced yielded a .750 SV%, which was better than Vasilevskiy’s save percentage over in Tampa at least. But still, that’s… …not a good look for Vegas.
This series will be closer than you think and it could generate enough momentum to propel the winner on a deep run.
Down the Frozen River 
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