2025 NHL Playoff Preview: Eastern Conference Breakdown & Picks

Peter Klein

🎙️ Eastern Conference matchups are locked in! I break down every first-round series including Leafs vs Senators, Bolts vs Panthers, and Hurricanes vs Devils — plus picks and key matchups to watch.  C of Dead: https://www.cofdead403.ca/ Swift Energy: https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off Apple Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM Twitter: x.com/primetimeklein IG: instagram.com/primetimeklein Facebook: www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary Twitch: twitch.tv/primetimepk Email: couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com We Had No Idea: every Wednesday morning,  instagram.com/wehadnoideapodcast  #NHLPlayoffs #StanleyCup2025  #EasternConference #HockeyPicks #StanleyCup #CouchPotatoDiary

Transcript

00:00The Stanley Cup playoffs are here, and with that comes, I think, a lot of intrigue, as we have

00:12some pretty good series here in round number one. Let's start with the all-Canadian matchup

00:16in the Eastern Conference, as the Ottawa Senators, really good story, taking on the

00:22Toronto Maple Leafs. And honestly, Ottawa, while being a wildcard team, I do think is a team that

00:26needs to be taken seriously. Allmark can steal a game, and I do think Brady Kachuk just has it in

00:33him to just say, hey, you know what? Don't feel like losing today, so we're not going to lose.

00:37And we saw that at the Four Nations, what he can do. A lot of the secondary stats actually do point

00:43Ottawa's way. When you look at Corsi 4%, excuse me, expected goals 4%, both of those went to Ottawa

00:52this year, and they were 3-0 against the Maple Leafs. But really, when you look at kind of how

00:57these teams stack up, Toronto still should win this series. Toronto has, I think, with all due

01:02respect to Ottawa, because I like this Ottawa team quite a bit, but Toronto just has more talent than

01:07they do, and not by an insignificant margin, I don't believe. So when you look at how this can

01:12all stack up, that should win the day. The big key is going to be in goal. Stolarz has been really

01:17good for the Leafs in the back part of the season here, but we've seen that before, right? Like,

01:23we have seen the, oh yeah, no, everything's fine. Everything's going all right. He is locked in on

01:28this, and then it doesn't go well for them. So I think that that is obviously, like, if that happens,

01:35then they're screwed, sorry. I'm very choked up about it, apparently. But I do think that, overall,

01:44Toronto wins this series. I think that it will be, I think there will be a moment where it's like,

01:50oh no, like, this series is tied at two. Like, what, what's, what are we doing here? Ultimately,

01:54I think the Leafs prevail. I have Toronto in six, which you can get, by the way, at plus 415. Another

02:00little prop that I like on this one, I have Matthew Kachuk at over two and a half goals right

02:04now at plus 125. Moving to another inter, this one, instead of interprovincial, it's interstate,

02:10as it is the Tampa Bay Lightning as the two seed in the Atlantic getting home ice advantage against

02:16the Florida Panthers going into that matchup. Both of these teams, a ton of experience. Both of

02:22these teams have a bunch of game changers on their team, difference makers, if you will. And both

02:28teams have guys that can play at just a very, very, very high level. Again, the fancy stats do go the

02:34way of Tampa Bay, but the Florida Panthers dealing with injury issues and things like that this season,

02:41they're, they're secondary numbers I don't think really express how good this team will be as this

02:48series goes along. This series is going to be absolutely incredible. I can't wait. I do think

02:53that the difference is going to be Florida getting Matthew Kachuk and Aaron Ekblad back at some point

02:58in this series. So I just feel like, again, the, the, the talent on Florida just slightly outweighs

03:04that of the, the Tampa Bay Lightning, but this series is going to be great. I have it Panthers in

03:09seven, which you can get right now at plus 500. The Washington Capitals taking on the Montreal

03:14Canadians. Um, Washington, like, uh, if you go back to our preview episode, really liked Montreal and had

03:22them as a playoff team. So that, that took the scenic route to get there, but that ended up being a

03:27pretty good call on, uh, our end and a profitable one, if you will. But Washington, now that we're

03:33here, Washington's a better hockey team, right? Like the Capitals offense, obviously a lot focused

03:37on Ovechkin, but they have a few guys that can put the puck in the net. And just overall, um, I feel

03:42like the Habs are a step behind the Capitals in every way. Montreal has a lot that you can be excited

03:48about, but the, the Capitals have a lot of guys that are just quite good. So I think Washington ends up

03:54coming out on the winning side of this. I actually have the Caps sweeping. I have, um, Washington in

03:59four, which you can get right now at plus 600. Carolina taking on the New Jersey Devils. Um, I,

04:06I don't think the Canes get enough credit for how good they are. I, I, I didn't like how they handled

04:13the, I mean, the off season for one, although I do think they recovered pretty well. I didn't love how

04:17they handled the Rantanen situation for this time of year. I think that they could use a Rantanen still,

04:22um, but this is still a very good hockey team. They had the best Corsi 4 percentage in the National

04:27Hockey League this season, as well as the best expected goals 4 percentage. Uh, the Devils were top

04:3210 in both of those as well. They've been beaten up quite a bit as of late. The real key in this one

04:38is Carolina's goaltending is not a situation that you can trust, but I don't know if the Devils is

04:43either. They go out and acquire Jacob Markstrom in the off season. He got hurt in January. He comes back

04:48in March, and it has not been great. Results wise, um, I think it's 5-7-1, uh, but that save

04:55percentage was at 6, uh, sorry, 8-68. Um, so not ideal, especially going into a series against a,

05:02a Carolina team that has the amount of firepower that they do. So, if these two teams were healthy,

05:07I think this series would be really good, and I think that the Devils would be very competitive,

05:11but they're not. So, I don't think they will be. I, I think Carolina makes a bit of a statement,

05:16honestly, in this series with a, a victory in five games, which you can get at plus 300.

05:22So, that is the story from the Eastern Conference.

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