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Good morning to everyone except linesmen who wonât just drop the puck already. James Mirtle usually handles Thursday morning newsletter duties, but he was busy covering last nightâs Leafs game. So youâve got Sean McIndoe again, which means the newsletter will be pretty much the same, just shorter and more handsome.
While You Were Sleeping
Mikko Rantanen wasnât sleeping. Mikko Rantanen never sleeps.
(Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)
Stars take the opener
In combat sports, itâs traditional that a fight card will start with the less impressive matchups and build toward the big one â the main event. Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs apparently borrowed that concept, allowing all the series to get a game or two in before finally unveiling the one we all want to see.
And for the most part, the Stars and Jets lived up to their billing. It was yet another Mikko Rantanen show, featuring another hat trick from the leagueâs hottest player. The final was 3-2, although that score probably flattered a Jets team that was chasing the game for most of the night. The good news for Winnipeg is that Connor Hellebuyck was fine â not great, necessarily, but good enough that we can put the narrative about him collapsing in the postseason on hold for one more game.
(Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
Leafs up 2-0 ⊠again?
For the second straight series, the Maple Leafs have won the first two at home to take a 2-0 series lead, this time over defending champ Florida. As CJ points out, itâs the first time theyâve done that twice in the same postseason since 1963. They won the Cup that year, but letâs not get ahead of ourselves, especially since the Panthers arenât worried. For now, weâll simply mention that six wins in the same postseason means this is already the most successful postseason Toronto has had in the Auston Matthews era. Can a stat be impressive and sad at the same time? Apparently so.
The story of this one was the goaltending battle. The Leafsâ young backup Joseph Woll, pressed into action after Anthony Stolarz was sidelined by The Incident, wasnât fantastic but was good enough. Meanwhile, Sergei Bobrovsky hasnât looked sharp at all, which either means the Panthers are screwed or heâs getting a 43-save shutout tomorrow that you will blame on me.
Also, while it certainly didnât decide the game: Good lord, this call last night had to be one of the worst calls in recent memory.
Evan Rodrigues heads to the dressing room following a hit from Scott Laughton
Rodrigues received a two-minute for embellishment while Laughton received a four-minute for roughing pic.twitter.com/dwUajG7dkG
â Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 8, 2025
That was a penalty ⊠on Evan Rodrigues, the guy getting drilled into the boards. He got two minutes for embellishment. Yeah, I hate it when guys embellish having their spines telescoped on hits from behind.
- đĄTrivia time đĄÂ On last nightâs broadcast, Sportsnet mentioned that Brad Marchandâs two assists in Game 1 gave him 10 multipoint playoff games against the Leafs. I wondered if that was the record, so I looked it up â itâs actually second all time, trailing only Gordie Howeâs 15. But can you name the only player in NHL history to have five multipoint games against the Leafs in the same playoff series? Hint: You absolutely canât.Scroll to the end for the answer. (Seriously, itâs one of my favorite players ever, but I never would have guessed this one.)
Coast to Coast
đšÂ Oh right, the non-playoff teams. In Pierre LeBrunâs latest Rumblings column, he has updates on the various coach and GM vacancies around the league. Lots of Isles talk.
đ Ever wanted to change the NHL rulebook? Head over to Rules Court, the feature where you send in your suggestions and we vote on them. This time around, readers wanted our take on one-way offsides, free-range faceoffs, a first-round do-over for the top seed and lots more. Find out which new rules got the stamp of approval.
đ„  Did you like the draft lotteryâs new live format? I thought it worked well. Now that we know the official order, Scott Wheeler has an updated mock draft. And Iâm just trying to make you sad.
đ„ Dom has a 16 Stats column that covers all the postseasonâs biggest stars, like Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, Aleksander Barkov and ⊠Cam Fowler?
Mammoth News đŠŁ
Finally, the NHLâs newest team has a real name, and the Utah Hockey Club is back to just being the Utah hockey club. Yesterday, they made it official: Going forward, the club is the Utah Mammoth. We also got a look at the new logo and uniforms. Chris Johnston has all the details here.
The fellas are loving the new threads đȘĄđŠŁ pic.twitter.com/stKW1UJ5nM
â Utah Mammoth (@utahhockeyclub) May 7, 2025
My instant evaluation:
Pro:Â Wooly mammoths are cool and always have been.
Con:Â Singular names for sports teams were cool, like, 20 years ago.
Pro:Â Logo is pretty neat with some fun details, like the outline of Utah on the back of the mammothâs head.
Con: Logo is way too complicated to pass the Pencil Case Test.
Pro:Â Theyâre keeping last yearâs colors, meaning fans who bought an original jersey can still wear it without looking out of place.
Con:Â Away jerseys that just say âUtahâ on the front are kind of plain.
Pro:Â âTusks Upâ? Honestly, it kind of works.
Con:Â They apparently expect us to say ârock blackâ and âsalt whiteâ instead of just black and white, which we will not.
Pro:Â This.
Con:Â I think we can all agree that Utah Yeti would have been cooler.
Pro:Â Still roughly 1,000 percent better than Utah Wasatch.
But thatâs just my opinion. Now we want to hear from you. Use this link to fill out our quick survey about the new name, and weâll publish the results in the next newsletter.
What to Watch
đș Hurricanes @ Capitals
7 p.m. ET on ESPN / Sportsnet
Can a 2-1 overtime game be considered a blowout? No, but it can be a source of serious concern for the losing team. In this case, the Capitals nearly stole Game 1 despite the Hurricanesâ domination. Key word: Nearly. Now Washington trails the series 1-0 and needs a win tonight â or at least to show it can handle being in the same rink as the suddenly terrifying Hurricanes.
đș Oilers @ Golden Knights
9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN / Sportsnet
The Oilers are up 1-0 and have an opportunity to take a commanding lead back to Edmonton. We know that they can score, and we know that depth production comes and goes. The biggest question is still whether the Oilersâ goaltending is good enough â Mark Lazerus thinks it might be. Meanwhile, the Knights only lost consecutive games at home twice all year, so they wonât make this easy on Connor McDavid and friends.
Full NHL schedule here. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo.Â
Your Trivia Answer
(Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Oh, were you going to try to stop him?
Six players have had four multipoint games against the Leafs in the same playoff series, including Hall of Famers Adam Oates and Doug Gilmour, plus Bruins star David Pastrnak. But only one player has done it five times: legendary Red Wings tough guy Bob Probert, who had two points in five straight games against Toronto in 1988.
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(Top photo of Mikko Rantanen: Terrence Lee / Imagn Images)