Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin celebrates with teammates after scoring the game winning goal against the Washington Capitals in overtime in game one of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs at Capital One Arena. Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Watch: Hurricanes wear down Capitals, rally late for OT win

By Adam Gretz | Last updated May 6, 2025 11:51 PM ET

For 52 minutes, the Carolina Hurricanes looked like they were on their way to another tough-luck playoff loss where they dominated the shot attempts and scoring chances, but were unable to deliver on the scoreboard. But thanks to a late Logan Stankoven goal to tie the game, and then a Jaccob Slavin goal in overtime to win it, they were able to take Game 1 of their second-round series against the Washington Capitals by a 2-1 margin.

Here is a look at Slavin's game-winning goal as he shot it from the point, sneaking it through traffic to beat Capitals goalie Logan Thompson.

SLAVIN SCORES THE WINNER

Jaccob Slavin is the hero in @Energizer overtime as the @Canes take Game 1 on the road! #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/GQTmaEKrfh
— NHL (@NHL) May 7, 2025

Even though the Hurricanes trailed most of the game, they dominated from a territorial standpoint, outshooting the Capitals by a 33-14 margin. The total shot attempts, including blocked shots and missed shots, was 94-34 in favor of the Hurricanes.

That means 74% of the total shot attempts belonged to the Hurricanes. That is the most lopsided number of any game in the playoffs this season.

The Hurricanes' issue in the playoffs is never their defensive game (which was great on Tuesday) or their ability to win the possession battle (which they did by a huge margin). It is usually their inability to finish and score. They still struggled with that on Tuesday, but did just enough to get the win.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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