This year's first-round matchups feature some key rematches from last season, including the defending champion Florida Panthers facing in-state rival Tampa Bay Lighting and last year's runner-up Edmonton Oilers facing the Los Angeles Kings for the fourth year in a row.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have secured their first win of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. At first, the Florida Panthers looked on track for a third straight dominant win when Matthew Tkachuk opened scoring less than three minutes into the first period. The Lightning answered late in the first thanks to a slick setup from Nikita Kucherov.

Sixteen teams in total make the NBA playoffs, eight teams from both the Eastern and Western Conferences. The top six seeds in each conference advance based on the regular season record. The final two seeds in each conference are wild-card spots based on the best remaining records in each conference.