The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to start Saturday with a pair of Western Convention first-round openers, together with one which options the stunning St. Louis Blues visiting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. The Blues recorded a 12-game profitable streak and earned factors in 14 of their closing 16 regular-season contests (13-2-1) to overhaul a number of groups and earn the second wild-card spot within the West.

The Dallas Stars host the Colorado Avalanche in Saturday’s different contest. These Central Division rivals met within the second spherical final postseason, with the Stars eliminating the Avalanche in six video games.

Three different first-round collection begin Sunday and two extra get underway on Monday earlier than the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers start the protection of their first title in opposition to the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. This marks the second consecutive postseason during which the “Battle of Florida” takes place within the opening spherical, because the Panthers defeated the Lightning in 5 video games final yr.

One other acquainted matchup is the one within the West between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers. The Pacific Division golf equipment, who begin their collection in Los Angeles on Monday, really are squaring off within the opening spherical for the fourth straight postseason. Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals host the Montreal Canadiens in Recreation 1 of their collection.

The opposite Western Convention collection pits the Minnesota Wild in opposition to the Vegas Golden Knights and begins Sunday in “Sin Metropolis.” Additionally on Sunday, the New Jersey Devils go to the Carolina Hurricanes for his or her opener, whereas the “Battle of Ontario” commences in Toronto because the Maple Leafs host the Ottawa Senators.

Winnipeg and Vegas are heavy favorites from the West to win their collection, because the Jets have odds round -210 and the Golden Knights are -235 or greater at most sportsbooks. Oddsmakers additionally consider three of the 4 Japanese Convention matchups are lopsided, with Carolina, Washington and Toronto closely favored to win. Some sportsbooks checklist the Hurricanes at -300 or greater, whereas odds on the Capitals are round -275.

Listed below are some groups with worth to contemplate when making prop bets for first-round collection victories.

Greatest bets

Dallas Stars (+140, Caesars)

The Stars have misplaced 4 of their six postseason conferences with the Avalanche and went simply 1-1-1 within the 2024-25 season collection. Nonetheless, Dallas has the superior goaltender in Jake Oettinger, who was third within the NHL with 36 wins and may very well be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. It additionally has former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen, a 28-year-old proper wing who reached the 30-goal plateau for the fifth straight season regardless of splitting the marketing campaign between three completely different groups. Jason Robertson, Dallas’ prime scorer this marketing campaign with 35 targets, left Bridgestone Area in Nashville on Wednesday with a brace on his knee after being injured within the regular-season finale in opposition to the Predators and probably might miss the collection. However the Stars nonetheless have Wyatt Johnston (career-high 33 targets) and Matt Duchene (30), who spent his first eight-plus NHL seasons with Colorado. Roope Hintz (28), Mason Marchment (22), Mikael Granlund (22) and Evgenii Dadonov (20) are also able to getting the puck previous Avalanche netminder Mackenzie Blackwood and serving to Dallas advance to the second spherical. 

Los Angeles Kings (+115, DraftKings)

The Kings have not had a lot success in opposition to the Oilers within the playoffs, shedding eight of their 10 earlier collection and every of the final six. Within the final three postseasons, Los Angeles was defeated by Edmonton in seven, six and 5 video games. Nonetheless, the Kings have home-ice benefit this time round and have been the perfect residence crew within the NHL in 2024-25, going 31-5-4 at Crypto.com Area this season. Los Angeles additionally has a major edge within the crease with Darcy Kuemper, who helped information Colorado to the championship in 2022 and completed within the prime 5 in goals-against common (2.02, second place), save proportion (.922, third) and shutouts (5) this marketing campaign. Though the Oilers have the harmful duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and got here inside one win of hoisting the Stanley Cup final yr, this may very well be the postseason during which the Kings finish their drought in opposition to their division rivals.

Tampa Bay Lightning (-102, FanDuel)

Sergei Bobrovsky outplayed 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy and two-time Stanley Cup winnerAndrei Vasilevskiy of their matchup final postseason, it is tough to wager in opposition to a Tampa Bay crew that incorporates a pair of 40-goal scorers in Brayden Level (42) and Jake Guentzel (career-high 41). The Lightning even have Nikita Kucherov (121 factors), who received his second straight and third general Artwork Ross Trophy this season and led the NHL in playoff scoring in each 2020 (34 factors) and 2021 (32). In the meantime, Brandon Hagel (35) and Anthony Cirelli (27) additionally set profession highs in targets in 2024-25. Sure, the Panthers are the defending champs and count on Matthew Tkachuk to return to the lineup for this collection, however the star energy ahead has been sidelined struggling a lower-body harm within the 4 Nations Face-Off again in February and won’t have the ability to shake off the rust in time to assist Florida advance previous the high-powered Lightning.

Try the SportsLine Projection Mannequin’s predictions for each recreation of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, together with professional picks, solely at SportsLine!