Games 7 Rule, Never Be Bad, And Other Life Lessons From The First Round
The first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs is done and dusted. The second round starts tonight, so let's reflect on the highs and lows that were before getting into the storylines to come.
Happy Monday, hockey fans. The first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs is officially behind us, and the Devils, Habs, Lightning, Kings, Wild, Senators, Avalanche, and Jets are cooked.
Considering Round Two is coming right up with Florida vs. Toronto in a few hours, let’s take a moment to officially eulogize the Avalanche and Jets Blues before the show must go on.
My editor, a tuxedo cat named Rangoon, just tapped me on the shoulder and made sure I wrote it was the Jets — not the Blues — who survived a Game 7 in which the Blues were up 3-1 with less than two minutes left in regulation.
Jets vs. Blues Game 7 reminded us how messy the playoffs can be, and how dangerous it is to let a series get to seven games in the first place. The Jets used two 6-on-5 goals in the last two minutes — one with 1.6 seconds left — to send this thing to overtime.
It was a brutal first period for their offense and for Connor Hellebuyck, who allowed two goals on the first four shots of the game. The comeback started with whatever was said in the locker room before the second, because the Jets came back that period looking completely different. After they decided to be good, it took the rest of regulation and almost two full overtime periods to complete the comeback.
Let that be a lesson to all playoff teams going forward: Never Be Bad