2025 Stanley Cup playoffs: Early Round 1 takeaways - ESPN

The first 13 games of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs are in the books — thanks for finally joining the party, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning — so each team has had a chance to show the new postseason version of itself.

Which teams and players made the best early impression? Who has room for improvement? How will all of it matter when it comes to the rest of Round 1 and the entire postseason?

ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identified their top takeaways off of the first set of games, covering all eight series.

Read more:
Full schedule
Intel on all 16 teams
Top 50 players
Wyshynski's bracket
Contender flaws

One of them earns just slightly more than $1 million this season while the other has at least three games remaining on his one-year contract worth $775,000. Yet what they've done has been instrumental in why the much-anticipated first-round series between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars is tied at 1-1.

Logan O'Connor is a point away from being tied for the postseason lead in scoring, while Colin Blackwell's second-ever playoff goal prevented the Avs from having a 2-0 series advantage before heading back to Denver.

It's not that premier talents such as Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Jake Oettinger and Mikko Rantanen won't play a role in the series. But for either team to keep advancing, they're going to need help from the supporting cast. That's something the Avs know all too well, as a lack of supporting cast has hindered them the past two years, whereas the Stars ran into that problem during last year's Western Conference finals.

O'Connor is part of the Avs' fourth line featuring Jack Drury and Parker Kelly that has already accounted for two goals and seven points; the