Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs kicked off on Monday, May 5, and only eight teams are left in the contest. NHL insiders and analysts have been speculating about which team is the favorite to lift the Stanley Cup this season. Some experts are claiming that last year’s finalists, the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, will repeat their success this season.
Hockey Analyst Backs Panthers, Gives Oilers Outside Chance
On Monday, May 5, hockey commentator and popular “Spittin’ Chiclets” co-host Ryan Whitney claimed that the $1.4 billion Panthers currently have the best chance of winning the championship.
“This is gonna get me in trouble,” Whitney said on the Barstool Sports podcast. “Florida one, OK. Dallas two. OK, Vegas three, Washington four, Edmonton five. Winnipeg six, Carolina seven, and who am I forgetting? Yeah, Leafs, perfect.”
“I can admit Edmonton’s an underdog here. And, yeah, they get through Vegas, and I come back on like, if they beat Vegas, they’re No. 1. They are,” Whitney said.
“There’s 8 teams left, rank em 1-8 chances to win the cup” –@BarstoolBigCat
“This is gonna get me in trouble” –@ryanwhitney6 pic.twitter.com/abEtR1YPkf
— Viva La Stool (@VivaLaStool) May 5, 2025
The Panthers face the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 2. The puck dropped for Game 1 of the series on May 5, with Florida falling short in the opener, losing 5-4 at Scotiabank Arena.
The Panthers, who finished third in the Atlantic Division this season, defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in Round 1. They have plenty of playoff experience as a team after having reached the Cup Finals in each of the past two seasons in 2023 and 2024.
“Experience is the one aspect of it — we have a lot of guys who went through those series and that year and last year and now this year,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said via NHL.com. “We have a lot more experience playing in the playoffs. But every year is different.”
In contrast, the Maple Leafs have won only two playoff series in the past 20 years and have not made it past Round 2 since 2002. They lost to Florida the last time the two teams met in Round 2 of the playoffs in 2023.
“It’s going to be another tough series,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said via NHL.com. “It’s the defending champs, back-to-back Cup Finals. It’s going to be hard. We’ve got to reset and do our homework and rest up, do what we can, go in there with confidence and go in there with pushback.”
Whitney also touted the Oilers as a dark horse if they beat the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 2. Edmonton lost to Florida in last year’s Cup Final. This season, they lost the first two games of their Round 1 series against the Los Angeles Kings before rallying to score four straight victories and clinch the series in six games.