The Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes drop the puck on Round 2 tonight with Game 1 at Capital One Arena. The Capitals and the Hurricanes split the season series with each team winning their home contests during the 2024-25 regular season, including a spicy game in early April that could provide instant fireworks to this series. Both squads won in five games against their Round 1 opponents during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs using a heavy, offensive-minded style designed to win games in the postseason.
Hurricanes’ Intimidating Possession Stats in Round 1
In their Round 1 series win against the New Jersey Devils, the Hurricanes used their speed and skill to create ample time in the offensive zone. According to NHL Edge Stats, Carolina led all teams in offensive zone possession time during Round 1 at 45.1%. That figure is only slightly down from their regular season average of 47.2%, which led the NHL this season.
Hurricanes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (51.8%) and forward Sebastian Aho (50.2%) are the only players in the postseason who have spent more than half their playoffs playing in their opponents’ end. Aho’s mates on the top line in Carolina, Jackson Blake (49.6%) and Andrei Svechnikov (49.2%), are ranked third and fifth, respectively.
Washington enters above league average in offensive zone possession time at 42.3% in Round 1 against the Montreal Canadiens. As expected, the makeshift Capitals top line of Alex Ovechkin (45%), Dylan Strome (43.9%), and Anthony Beauvillier (42.3%) was given the favorable offensive zone ice time over the first five games. As Aliaksei Protas works his way back from a foot injury, he could start taking some offensive zone shifts away from Beauvillier.
Capitals and Hurricanes Both Play a Physical Style
The Hurricanes’ star forwards can expect a heavy prescription of body checks from Washington’s wingers. Fourth-line winger Brandon Duhaime led the Capitals with 20 hits, or an average of four hits per game in Round 1. Top-six forward Tom Wilson is tied with Ovechkin for second place with 19 hits during the postseason, a slight dip to 3.8 hits per game.
A handful of Capitals forwards are in double figures. Beauvillier (16), Pierre-Luc Dubois (12), Nic Dowd (11), Lars Eller (11), and Ty Raddysh (10) all averaged at least two hits per game against Montreal. Capitals defenseman Matt Roy is the only blueliner credited with 10 hits in Round 1 for Washington.
Washington skaters must keep their heads on a swivel because Carolina can throw plenty of hits, too. Jordan Martinook finished with 25 hits, an average of five hits per game against the Devils. Eric Robinson (22), Aho (17), Seth Jarvis (17), William Carrier (17), Svechnikov (16), and Jordan Staal (15) all finished with double-digit hit totals in the battle as well. Dmitry Orlov finished Round 1 with 18 hits and was the only Hurricanes defender with more than 10 hits versus the Devils.
Expect Animosity from the Start of Game 1
These two clubs are no strangers. Whether it’s bad blood from years as Metropolitan Division foes or the 275-mile distance between Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, North Carolina, these teams always manage to have feisty encounters. The Capitals and Hurricanes combined for 142 penalty minutes a month ago, the second most of any NHL tilt in 2024-25. Ovechkin scored his 892nd-career goal that evening and was the only goal scorer for Washington in a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center.
Washington was booked for 18 penalties while Carolina received 15 infractions. Most of those whistles came after the midway point of the game and a lopsided 4-1 scoreboard in favor of the hometown Hurricanes. At 11:39, Strome received two minutes for slashing, plus two for roughing, while Jarvis skated to the box to serve his matching minor for roughing.
A minute later, Wilson and Logan Stankoven exchanged blows, leading to matching minors. Things were far from done, though. Ninety seconds later, Mark Jankowski received two minutes for a cross-check and a matching minor for roughing with Dowd at 14:26. Duhaime dropped the gloves with Tyson Jost, generating a five-minute major. All six men also received misconduct penalties to inflate the contest’s total penalty minutes.
The main event occurred twelve seconds later, at 14:38, when Jalen Chatfield and Connor McMichael scuffled. The fight ended with a violent leg-trip takedown from the Hurricanes defenseman, which stirred up some media controversy.
The play resulted in matching roughing minors, fighting majors, and misconducts to finish the entries on the box score. The Washington and Carolina participants will not have forgotten that Friday Night throwdown 35 days ago, when the puck meets ice tonight for Game 1 in Washington, D.C.
On April 11, the Capitals and Hurricanes met for the fourth and final time this season, a 5-4 shootout win for Washington that secured home-ice advantage in the Eastern Conference. Duhaime fought Chatfield at 6:08 of the first period, and those 10 minutes in penalties represented half of the unremarkable total in the contest. Washington led 4-2 after the second period before Carolina scored two third-period goals to send the game to overtime, including Jarvis’ game-tying goal with 1:45 remaining in regulation.
As Capitals and Hurricanes prepare to square off in Game 1 at Capital One Arena, the underlying tensions between these Metropolitan Division rivals will be a significant storyline to monitor in Round 2. Washington must manage their emotions against a long-standing division rival if the Capitals hope to skate away with a victory in the series opener.
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