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Stanley Cup playoffs takeaways: Hurricanes advance, panic time for Maple Leafs
The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs continued on Tuesday night and included the first team to advance and more pressure mounting on a Stanley Cup contender. There was also a big suspension that could impact the Tampa Bay-Florida series.
Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's action:
Carolina rallies to move on
The Carolina Hurricanes did not mess up their opportunity to advance on Tuesday, eliminating the New Jersey Devils with a 5-4 win in double overtime to get through to the second round.
They did not make it easy on themselves.
After falling behind 3-0 in the first period, Carolina rallied all the way back for the win that was capped off by a Sebastian Aho goal in double overtime.
SERIES WINNER IN DOUBLE OT ️
— NHL (@NHL) April 30, 2025
Sebastian Aho scores in @Energizer double overtime to send the @Canes to the Second Round! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/ouRWZaO8Gq
Dawson Mercer's double-minor for high-sticking ended up setting up that goal.
Carolina will now play the winner of the Washington Capitals-Montreal Canadiens series.
Maple Leafs lose another potential closeout game
There is no way the Toronto Maple Leafs can do this again, right?
There is no way they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and humiliate themselves in another first-round series, is there?
With their 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night, they missed another opportunity to clinch a series and fell to 1-12 in potential closeout games since the start of the 2018 playoffs.
That is astonishing. It almost defies all reason and logic. That is also how they have managed to win just a single series in that time. With Tuesday's loss they will get another chance in Game 6 on Thursday night in Ottawa, and the pressure is only going to keep building on them.
Because every game they lose, and every game they fail to clinch this series, the outside noise is going to keep getting louder and louder.
By the end of Tuesday's game you could sense the panic from the fans in Toronto. The arena was silent. Fans were not even reacting to fights or skirmishes that were breaking out as time expired. There was just a sense of doom in the air and absolutely zero energy. It was almost as if the Maple Leafs had already lost the series instead of still being up 3-2 with two more chances to close it out.
Aaron Ekblad gets suspended
The NHL got it wrong by not suspending Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk for his late hit on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel.
It had no choice but to suspend defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
After missing the boat with Tkachuk, the NHL corrected its mistake on Tuesday by suspending Ekblad for two games for delivering a forearm directly to the face of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel on Monday night. There was no penalty called on the play, but there was no way the NHL could ignore this.
From @NHLPlayerSafety, slow-mo view of Ekblad’s forearm to Hagel’s head.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 29, 2025
This is a reverse angle that we hadn’t seen - and shows the carnage. Very clear 2 game suspension. pic.twitter.com/8DoWbNcxKj
Ekblad is one of the Panthers' top players and defenseman, and his absence could open the door for the Lightning to get back in the series. Florida has a chance to win the series in Game 5 on Wednesday.
More must-reads:
- Hurricanes escape three-goal hole, eliminate Devils in 2OT
- Senators' Linus Ullmark posts shutout, staves off elimination vs. Maple Leafs
- The 'NFL stadium names' quiz
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TODAY'S BEST
Oilers to Acquire a Top-Tier Goalie. An Official Trade Offer Is on the Table in a Blockbuster Deal
Kraken Reportedly Eyeing Penguins All-Star Trade
As the Pittsburgh Penguins continue trade talks centered around wing Rickard Rakell, the veteran has drawn a lot of interest around the league. The Penguins may be able to net some strong assets for him in any deal, but there is also a high asking price to move the wing. Rakell could be a real game-changer for a team this late in the offseason, and there is some smoke around a trade happening. But where the veteran lands remains a major mystery around the NHL. NHL insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period linked the Seattle Kraken to a deal for Rakell. While it remains to be seen if a deal will come about, the Kraken could be a solid landing spot for the veteran. Rakell remains a valuable scoring option and could heavily impact any team that would land him. Last season for the Penguins, the veteran wing scored 35 goals and 35 assists, showing his strong productivity. The biggest obstacle for the Kraken in trading for Rakell is that he owns an eight-team no-trade list. It's unknown which teams are on this list, so Rakell would need to waive this if Seattle were part of it. We have seen players do this over the years, so it's possible that a deal could happen. But it has also been reported that Rakell would prefer to stay with Pittsburgh, despite all the trade rumors around him. If Seattle were able to pull a deal for Rakell off, it could help them get back to the postseason. Seattle has missed the playoffs in three of the four years that it has been a franchise in the league, and the front office has a lot of pressure to win moving forward.
Commanders reportedly hesitant about one issue with Terry McLaurin deal
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
Steelers reporter shares big claim about how Aaron Rodgers has looked in training camp
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers spent the bulk of the spring as an unsigned free agent and, thus, only began officially practicing with Pittsburgh Steelers teammates during the team's three-day mandatory minicamp in June. During a Monday appearance on Pittsburgh radio station 102.5 WDVE, Steelers reporter Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addressed how Rodgers looked during his first few training camp practices with the club. "His release is just astonishing to watch," Dulac said about Rodgers, as shared by Ross McCorkle of Steelers Depot. "Everybody knows about it, and when you see it in person, you see it every day in practice, you just marvel at it. To me, he's the greatest thrower of the football I have ever seen, even at 41 (years old). That flick of that wrist and that ball comes out, it's moving and it is something to see." Rodgers was with the New York Jets when he suffered a torn Achilles four offensive snaps into the 2023 regular-season opener. He was then slowed by a nagging hip issue, injuries to both his knees, a low ankle sprain and a serious hamstring problem as the 2024 Jets went 5-12. According to Pro Football Reference, Rodgers finished last season ranked 28th in the NFL among qualified players with a 48.0 adjusted QBR and 26th with a 43.9 percent passing success rate. That said, he was also eighth with 3,897 passing yards and tied for seventh with 28 passing touchdowns. Rodgers and Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson endured some struggles during training camp sessions last summer before the two allegedly "never saw eye-to-eye" during the season. It sounds like Pittsburgh fans should be encouraged by how Rodgers performed in recent practices. "That guy can get rid of the ball as quick as anybody," Dulac added. "He made three throws in seven-on-seven (drills) the other day that the cumulative total I bet couldn't have exceeded 2.1 seconds. And two of those were for touchdowns." Rodgers wants to finish his career "the right way" and help the Steelers notch at least their first playoff win since January 2017. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Pittsburgh at -150 betting odds to miss the playoffs for the upcoming season.
Luka Doncic Makes Lakers Warning Clear: ‘Win Now Or I’m Out’
Luka Doncic didn’t join the Los Angeles Lakers to wait around. According to a new report from The Athletic, the newly acquired superstar has made his expectations crystal clear behind the scenes: he’s here to win immediately. A source close to Doncic told the outlet that his mentality is firmly “win now,” and he’s applied championship pressure on the franchise from day one. “This isn’t signing away to the Lakers and saying, ‘OK, you have my commitment and I’ll have some patience here,’” said ESPN's Dave McMenamin on NBA Today. “It’s ‘I want to win this year, I want to win the subsequent year. So long as my name is signed to a piece of paper saying I am a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, I expect to be in a position to raise banners at the Crypto.com Arena.’” Coming from the Mavericks, Luka Doncic is feeling extra motivated to have a successful tenure in Los Angeles. In his first 28 games with the team last season, he got off to a pretty solid start with averages of 29.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game on 43.8% shooting. Few franchises face more constant pressure than the Lakers. Besides residing in one of the NBA's biggest market cities, the Lakers have a rich history of success that has raised their standards beyond any other team in the league. That's not to mention LeBron James, whose ripe age at 40 years old means that he's on the clock to win now. As he nears retirement, the Lakers are feeling the pressure to give him the kind of hero's exit he deserves. At the same time, Luka Doncic will have title expectations, and if the Lakers fail to stay in contention, it could jeopardize their relationship with the Slovenian superstar. Fortunately, Rob Pelinka has put his team in a good position to compete. After finishing third in the West last year, Pelinka revamped the roster with acquisitions like Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia. Plus, with young guys like Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, and Bronny James, the Lakers will also get better through internal development. Now 26, Luka is the unquestioned face of the Lakers—and he’s treating it like a mission. After being disrespected and disregarded by the Mavericks, he wants to prove them wrong as soon as possible and convince the NBA world that they made a huge mistake by letting him go. With just one NBA Finals appearance under his belt (2024), Doncic still has a long way to go before he feels any satisfaction, but he's feeling good about his chances for success next season. Thanks to a new training regimen and a commitment to proper conditioning, Doncic is setting himself up for the best stretch of his career. It's up to the Lakers to ensure it doesn't go to waste by giving him the support he needs to make a run in the West. Luka Doncic isn’t just bringing elite talent to L.A., he’s bringing urgency. With his prime years underway and a chip on his shoulder, Luka’s demand for excellence is exactly what this franchise needs to reclaim its identity. The message is clear: title contention is not optional. If the Lakers meet Doncic’s standard, they could be on the verge of another golden era. If they don’t, they risk losing one of the greatest talents of his generation before he ever gets a chance to plant his flag in purple and gold.
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