The Presidents' Trophy for best regular-season record has already been clinched by the Winnipeg Jets, who are hoping an excellent campaign carries on into the postseason. In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals — once Alex Ovechkin broke the all-time NHL goal-scoring record — have secured the No. 1 seed.

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.