thehockeynews.comWill Bad Blood Carry Over?: Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals Set For Second Round SeriesThe Carolina Hurricanes will be facing the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a rematch of the 2019 series and another chance for two teams with not a lot of love once again battle it out.The Hurricanes made it to the second round by defeating the New Jersey Devils in five games, while the Capitals took down the Montreal Canadiens in five games as well.Washington, who finished top in the East and second in the league, presents a big challenge for Carolina, who will be starting the series on the road.Not only are the Caps a deep team, with four good lines, six solid defensemen and one of the league's top goaltenders this season in Logan Thompson, but they're also one of the most physically imposing teams as well."I don't see any weaknesses really and really, they did it all year," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Good goaltending, it starts with that and their defense is strong and you have scorers. They kind of have everything covered and they're very, very balanced and they come at you with every line."Washington has an average lineup size of 6-foot-2 and 203-pounds, both in the top-3 in the league, and they have a couple of guys that really aren't afraid to throw their weight around and stir the pot."I've watched enough of them too to know that there's a reason they're a good team and one of the best this year," Brind'Amour said. "They don't give you games. You have to earn them. So I don't envision that they're going to be taking extra penalties. That's just not how you win. Yes, it's going to be a physical series, we understand that. It's playoffs so we expect that. But I don't expect a lot of unnecessary penalties."But the Hurricanes are no pushovers either, with an average size of 6-foot-1 and 199-pounds, including quite a few bigger boys of their own."Washington is a physical team, but we're not just going to be sitting here," said Andrei Svechnikov. "We're going to be physical as well. Obviously they have some big boys, but we just need to put the pressure on them and keep hitting their defense and everyone else."In terms of scoring, Sebastian Aho currently leads the team in playoff points with eight and Andrei Svechnikov leads the team in goals with five.Dylan Strome is the Capitals leading scorer with nine points and Alex Ovechkin leads the team in goals with four.In goal, Frederik Andersen will be the Canes' starter while Thompson will be the Caps'.Andersen went 3-1-0 in the first round and currently leads all netminders in save percentage (0.936) and Thompson, who went 4-1-0, is second (0.923).On special teams, Carolina had a perfect penalty kill (15-for-15) and converted on 31.6% of their power plays (6-for-19).Washington on the other hand had a tougher time, killing just 66.7% of their penalties (10-for-15) and only scoring at a 23.1% success rate (3-for-13) on the man advantage against Montreal.
Apr 2, 2025; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd (26) and Carolina Hurricanes left wing Eric Robinson (50) battle over the puck during the second period at Lenovo Center. (James Guillory-Imagn Images)