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William Nylander - Toronto Maple Leafs - In Play! magazine
William Nylander helped the Maple Leafs leapfrog the idle Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division, meaning that the 2025 First Round would feature the “Battle of Ontario” and “Battle of the Sunshine State” if the playoffs started today. File photo: Joe Mastromatteo - In Play! magazine
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Mar

NHL RECAP MARCH 25, 2025 – MAPLE LEAFS PASS PANTHERS FOR ATLANTIC DIVISION LEAD; LIGHTNING KEEP PACE

The Maple Leafs (43-25-3, 89 points) mustered seven goals to leapfrog the idle Panthers (43-25-3, 89 points) for first place in the Atlantic Division by virtue of the ROW tiebreaker (TOR: 42; FLA: 38), while the Lightning (41-25-5, 87 points) also logged a high-scoring win to remain two points back.

  • William Nylander (2-2—4) and John Tavares (2-2—4) both posted multi-point games, with the former becoming the second Swedish skater in NHL history with three consecutive 40-goal seasons and the fourth Maple Leafs player. Toronto would face Ottawa, which fell to Buffalo on Tuesday, in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs if they started today, which would mark the first postseason edition of the “Battle of Ontario” in over 20 years.
  • Nikita Kucherov collected a game-high 1-2—3 to reach the 100-point mark for a third straight season and fifth time in his career. Tampa Bay would face Florida in the 2025 First Round if the Stanley Cup Playoffs started today, which would mark the NHL’s fourth postseason edition of the “Battle of the Sunshine State” following the 2024 First Round, 2022 Second Round and 2021 First Round.

“WINNIPEG WHITEOUT” SET TO RETURN AS JETS CLINCH BERTH IN 2025 PLAYOFFS
Nikolaj Ehlers scored the overtime winner to lift the Jets (49-19-4, 102 points) past the League-leading Capitals (47-15-9, 103 points) and cap a night where the Jets became the first Western Conference team to clinch a berth in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

  • The 2024-25 season marked the first time that the Jets/Thrashers were the first team from their conference to clinch a postseason spot and the third time where they were the first from their division to do so (also 2018-19 as WPG & 2006-07 as ATL). Winnipeg (72 GP) required its fewest games in franchise history to secure a playoff spot during an 82-game season, eclipsing its previous best of 75 contests set in 2017-18 and matched in 2018-19.
  • Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey, Mark Scheifele and Brandon Tanev helped the Jets reach the Conference Finals seven years ago and aim for another lengthy playoff run in front of the “Winnipeg Whiteout” capped by the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

OVECHKIN PULLS CAPITALS EVEN LATE IN THIRD PERIOD TO REACH 889 CAREER GOALS
Alex Ovechkin tallied a tying marker with 4:00 remaining in regulation to reach 889 career goals and move within six of passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the most in NHL history. Ovechkin owns a goals-per-game rate of 0.66 this season, which puts him on pace to complete The Gr8 Chase against the Islanders at UBS Arena on April 15 (8 p.m. ET) – Ovechkin’s career average of 0.60 also has him tracking to break the record on April 15.

  • Ovechkin scored his 57th career goal against the Jets/Thrashers and seventh versus Connor Hellebuyck, who plays under assistant coach Wade Flaherty. Flaherty has his own connection to the NHL goals record – he dressed for the Sharks when Gretzky got his 801st tally to tie Gordie Howe on March 20, 1994, and then manned the Islanders’ crease when he yielded the 894th and final marker of Gretzky’s career on March 29, 1999.
  • While creating a legacy on the ice, Ovechkin also is dedicated to leaving a lasting impact on childhood cancer research. From March 5, 2025, through the remainder of his career, Ovechkin will personally donate to pediatric cancer research for each goal he scores and his donations will be matched by Monumental Sports & Entertainment!

WINNING WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS

Tuesday included victories by several other Western Conference teams vying to join the Jets in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

  • Jack Eichel scored his third hat trick with Vegas – and the club’s third in the past four games – as he led the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights (43-20-8, 94 points) to victory. Eichel is now tied for the second-most hat tricks in Vegas history and helped the club achieve a new benchmark for most three-goal games in a season (5). With every hat trick this season, AstraZeneca will donate $3,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation up to $300,000.
  • Anze Kopitar (0-1—1) factored on the first of three straight Kings goals during their comeback win over the Rangers and passed Henrik Sedin (830) for the fourth-most assists by a player born outside of North America and now trails only Jaromir Jagr (1,155), Stan Mikita (926) and Nicklas Lidstrom (878). With the victory, Los Angeles (40-21-9, 89 points) extended its franchise-record home point streak to 15 games (12-0-3) and took a two-point lead over idle Edmonton (41-24-5, 87 points) for second in the Pacific Division.
  • Devon Toews (1-2—3) had a game-high three points while Mackenzie Blackwood (31 GP) made 21 saves and became the second-fastest Avalanche/Nordiques goaltender to 20 wins with the franchise (Darcy Kuemper: 29 GP in 2021-22) as Colorado (44-25-3, 91 points) extended its home winning streak to 10 games and matched the second-longest stretch in franchise history.
  • Philip Broberg (1-3—4) and Robert Thomas (1-3—4) both factored on four of St. Louis’ six goals as the Blues (38-28-7, 83 points) gained ground on the Wild (40-27-55, 85 points) for the Western Conference’s first Wild Card spot and improved to 13-2-1 (27 points) since Feb. 23 – the most wins among all teams since the 4 Nations Face-Off Break. Broberg became the second Blues defenseman in the past 35 years to record a four-point game at age 23 or younger, following Vince Dunn (1-3—4 on March 18, 2018).
  • Nazem Kadri (2-0—2) scored his second straight overtime winner (also March 22) as the Flames (34-25-11, 79 points) quelled a late comeback attempt by the Kraken and kept pace with the Blues. Kadri has scored at least one goal in each contest during Calgary’s four-game winning streak, which have all been come-from-behind victories.

WILD CARD RACES, CONFERENCE FINALS REMATCH TAKE FOCUS

A Sportsnet showdown between the Canucks and Islanders will draw the attention of teams competing in both Wild Card races, while a doubleheader culminates with a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Final when the Stars and Oilers meet in Edmonton.

  • Bo Horvat and the Islanders will put a pair of streaks on the line when they host Quinn Hughes and the Canucks. Horvat leads the Islanders in goals (5) and points (7) during their seven-game home point streak (4-0-3 since March 1) and ranks second behind Noah Dobson (2-5—7 in 6 GP) in team scoring during their six-game overall point streak (3-0-3 since March 14). Hughes, meanwhile, has averaged 30:07 of time on ice per game so far on the club’s five-game road trip (1-1-1 in 3 GP) – nearly five minutes more than the next closest Canucks skater – including a career high 31:38 Monday (at NJD) and an NHL season-high max skating speed of 24.56 mph Saturday (at NYR).
  • Nineteen-year-old Blackhawks sophomore Connor Bedard is riding a four-game home goal streak, the longest of his career and longest by a Chicago player since 2022-23 (Jonathan Toews: 5 home GP). New Jersey, meanwhile, have won five in a row versus Chicago, tied for its longest active winning streak against one opponent (also 5-0-0 vs. SEA) and one shy of its longest ever in the head-to-head between the clubs (6-0-0 from Dec. 9, 1999 to Nov. 2, 2002).
  • Stars forward Jason Robertson needs one goal for his third career 30-goal season, while Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse needs one to move into sole possession of second place for career goals among Edmonton defensemen. Edmonton is expected to be without both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the fourth time since the tandem first teamed up in 2015-16 (2-1-0 in 3 GP; April 29, 2022, April 18, 2024 and March 22, 2025; 8 GF, 11 GA, 29.3 SOG/GP, 38.0% on PP, 66.7% on PK).

RED WINGS RECALL SEBASTIAN COSSA FROM GRAND RAPIDS UNDER EMERGENCY CONDITIONS

The Detroit Red Wings have recalled goaltender Sebastian Cossa from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions.

Cossa, 22, won his NHL debut on Dec. 9 against the Buffalo Sabres, stopping 12-of-14 shots in relief before turning away 2-of-3 shootout attempts. The 6-foot-6, 222-pound netminder became the first goalie in NHL history to win his debut via shootout in a relief effort. Cossa has also posted a 19-11-5 record with a 2.38 goals-against average, a 0.913 save percentage and one shutout in 35 appearances with the Griffins during the 2024-25 season. He represented the Griffins at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic in Palm Desert, Calif., along with forward Austin Watson. Cossa spent the entire 2023-24 campaign with the Griffins, logging a 22-9-9 record with a 2.41 goals-against average, a 0.913 save percentage and two shutouts in 40 regular-season appearances. He also finished 5-4 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a 0.900 save percentage in nine Calder Cup Playoff games, helping the Griffins reach the Central Division Finals. Selected by the Red Wings in the first round (15th overall) of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Cossa has compiled a 42-21-14 record with a 2.49 goals-against average, a 0.909 save percentage and three shutouts in 78 AHL games with the Griffins. Cossa also showed a 26-16-4 record with a 2.56 goals-against average, a 0.913 save percentage and four shutouts in 46 regular-season appearances with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in 2022-23, representing the Western Conference at the 2023 ECHL All-Star Game.

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Guest Writer