Jaccob Slavin scores in OT as the
Hurricanes beat the Capitals in Game 1 of their 2nd-round series
[May 07, 2025]
By STEPHEN WHYNO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Very few people in the arena knew the puck was in
the net, including Jaccob Slavin, who shot it through traffic.
Goaltender Logan Thompson figured it out when he saw the red light
on behind him.
“I didn’t know it went in until I saw Jordan Staal, Staalsy, coming
with his arms up yelling at me,” Slavin said.
Seeing it to believe it, Slavin's overtime goal gave the Carolina
Hurricanes a 2-1 victory at the Washington Capitals in Game 1 of
their second-round series on Tuesday night. The winner came on their
94th attempt and 33rd that got on net, showing the shot volume
offense that has gotten them to this point.
“We were all over it, and we knew we had to just throw everything at
the net,” Slavin said. "That mentality paid off there at the end.”
Carolina allowed Washington to get just 14 shots on goal, the
second-fewest in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes history. Frederik
Andersen gave up just an early second-period goal to Aliaksei Protas
in his return from missing the end of the first round because of
injury.
“Just trying to take what comes my way and be in that moment all the
time and just stay with it,” Andersen said. "You don’t know when
that next big save’s going to happen.”
Thompson made 31 of them for the Capitals, who spent large swaths of
time defending in their own end. That sucked a lot of the energy out
of the top seed in the Eastern Conference, which is accustomed to
putting on the pressure rather than absorbing it.
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Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson (48) looks for the
puck against Carolina Hurricanes right wing Andrei Svechnikov (37)
and right wing Jackson Blake (53) in the third period of Game 1 of a
second-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
“We didn’t play our style of hockey,” Washington's
Dylan Strome said. “We let them dictate.”
The Capitals led from Protas' goal until nearly the midway point of
the third, when an errant pass from Protas banked off teammate Alex
Alexeyev's right skate and to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who fed Logan
Stankoven to tie it.
"I just thought I’d rip it," Stankoven said. "It was nice to see it
go in.”
Carolina remains the only team perfect on the penalty kill this
postseason, keeping Washington’s power play off the board twice to
improve to 17 of 17. That, along with Kotkaniemi and Stankoven
taking advantage of a mistake and Slavin scoring with Seth Jarvis
screening Thompson was the difference.
“We got some traffic,” coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Obviously, it
wasn’t the greatest of goals, but they all count.”
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