The second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs continued on Tuesday night with two Game 1s. Here are some takeaways from the action.
Quantity over quality works for Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes have a very simple mindset for generating offense: shots on goal. Lots of them — from everywhere.
It is a “quantity over quality” sort of approach, and it typically results in them out-shooting their opponents by a significant margin. Over the course of an 82-game season, it tends works out in their favor based on the percentages. You get enough shots through, you are going to get some rebounds, some deflections and goalies are simply going to whiff on some shots.
They win on bulk.
In a short, best-of-seven series, it does not always work out that way because sometimes the percentages aren’t going to be in your favor. It is one of the biggest reasons they have hit a ceiling that is just short of a championship.
On Tuesday, the process ended up working out for them in a 2-1 Game 1 win that was capped off with Jaccob Slavin’s overtime winner.
They attempted 94 total shots to only 34 for the Capitals, and finally managed to sneak two shots through in the third period and overtime to get the win.
They still have to prove they can make it work over an entire postseason run, but the process produced the result they wanted on Tuesday.
Tom Wilson: Always trolling
The Capitals may not have won the game, but Tom Wilson won the troll and agitator game by swiping Sebastian Aho’s mouthguard from him and then handing it to the referee.
