After the Montreal Canadiens were able to lock up the second wild card spot, every Playoff matchup in the Eastern conference has now been set ahead of round one on April 19.
On April 16, the final postseason berth between both the Eastern conference and Western conference was decided, following a victory by the Montreal Canadiens over the Carolina Hurricanes that solidified Montreal’s entry into the Playoffs for the first time since 2021. The Original Six squad is set to take on the Washington Capitals, which finished as the best overall team in the Eastern conference this season, while Carolina will host the New Jersey Devils in its own opening Playoff series. Elsewhere in the East, the Toronto Maple Leafs are preparing to face-off with the Ottawa Senators, having clinched an Atlantic division victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning and reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The two Florida-based franchises will go head-to-head in yet another state battle, with the Panthers having bested the Lightning last postseason in five games. Florida will have to hope its roster has fully recovered from numerous injuries, including to the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling. Assuming each is able to make their expected return for the opening round series, it makes sense as to why DraftKings favors the reigning title holders over Tampa Bay at -115, although the Lightning remain close behind with odds of -105 to win the best-of-seven set. Tampa Bay will carry home-ice advantage throughout the series and has quite the pedigree of Stanley Cup-winning ability itself, having competed in three consecutive Finals while winning the first two as part of back-to-back championships.
Florida has appeared in each of the previous two NHL Finals, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games during 2022-2023 before claiming its own title by beating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games last season. With so many additional games creating more wear-and-tear on the Panthers than most teams across the NHL, it stands to reason that Florida may be experiencing the labor of its success, as multiple bodies continue to hit the injured list. Tampa Bay endured the same type of schedule, however, and was still able to reach a third consecutive Stanley Cup Finals before falling to the Colorado Avalanche in 2021-2022. With the odds placed so near by DraftKings, this series is the definition of a toss-up for bettors everywhere.
Unlike the Florida state rivalry, the remaining Eastern conference matchups carry stronger odds toward the favorite, including with the Maple Leafs and Senators, with Toronto sitting at -170 while the Senators are given odds of +145 to win its first postseason series since 2017. Ottawa put together a tremendous season to earn the first wild card berth, compiling a record of 44-30-7 (the franchise has one game remaining on April 17) behind talent such as Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, Jake Sanderson and Brady Tkachuk. Facing-off with Toronto will be no easy task for the young and relatively inexperienced Senators roster, as the Maple Leafs are consistent Playoff contenders, albeit with its own history of failing to meet expectations in the postseason.
Toronto has long been seen as a franchise that has no issue appearing like Stanley Cup favorites throughout the regular season, but then fails to carry over this type of play once the Playoffs roll around. Against a team such as Ottawa, however, which is more likely just happy to have earned a berth into the postseason, Toronto should be able to maintain its standing as one of the better teams in the entire Eastern conference and advance to the second round where either Tampa Bay or Florida will await. Despite the -170 odds from DraftKings, Toronto is still given just the second-highest level of confidence out of Eastern conference favorites at the time of writing, as both Carolina and Washington received more favorable odds.
Beginning with the Hurricanes, the squad from Carolina is preparing to take on the Devils in its second Playoff series with New Jersey in the past three seasons, having defeated the franchise in five games during a run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2022-2023. The Hurricanes had quite the polarizing season, having shipped off former franchise star Martin Necas in return for winger Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche, only to watch as Rantanen played less than 20 games for the team before being traded once again to the Dallas Stars. Similar to his situation in Colorado, the Hurricanes were unable to reach agreement on a contract extension with Rantanen, and the team decided recouping as much value as possible was the best route to take.
Carolina still has plenty of talent among its roster, though, and will be playing a Devils team that watched its best player, center Jack Hughes, suffer a season-ending injury against the Golden Knights earlier in 2025. The Devils were able to withstand pressure from franchises such as the New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Islanders to keep its third place standing in the Metropolitan division, but are listed as +200 underdogs by DraftKings for the series against Carolina. Without Hughes, it seems impossible for New Jersey to surpass Carolina even with the turmoil experiences on the Hurricanes side, as the -245 odds placed upon the Raleigh, North Carolina franchise display the same confidence bettors should have in the team as well.
The longest odds of any first round Eastern conference series belongs to the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens, with the Capitals holding odds of -330 to advance to the second round, while Montreal sits as a +260 underdog to pull off the massive upset. Washington was the second best team in all of hockey this season, but still features a roster that was swept by the New York Rangers as recently as the last Playoffs in 2023-2024. New York had won the President’s Trophy last season as the best team in hockey, but the Capitals still failed to win a single game in the postseason, limiting the amount of Playoff experience younger members of the team were able to receive.
Despite whatever inexperience the Capitals may feature, however, the Canadiens will have more, as the team has failed to reach the postseason since losing in the Finals to the Lightning during 2020-2021. The run to that Finals was quite improbable as well, showcased by Montreal not returning to the postseason until 2024-2025, now featuring a young, albeit very talented, roster of players under head coach Martin St. Louis. St. Louis could certainly impose some postseason wisdom upon his youthful group of players, but this Playoffs seems more like a growth opportunity for Montreal than a chance at upsetting the best team in the Western conference.
