Game 2 of the Second-Round series between the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes will be hosted at Capital One Arena tonight. Carolina took home ice advantage away from the Capitals with a 2-1 overtime win in the series opener. There are several adjustments Washington must make before Game 2 if they hope to avoid a weekend road trip down two games.
Capitals Must Chip More Pucks into the Neutral Zone
In Game 1, Carolina executed its puck-possession game flawlessly before Jaccob Slavin scored the winner in overtime. In these playoffs, the Hurricanes have spent an impressive 46.6% in the offensive zone, led by defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere’s 53.8% mark. This means they’ve spent less time defending their end of the ice, with a league-low 34.3% in the defensive zone.
“We’ll talk about all the things that have to change for Game 2,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said. “There’s a lot of X’s and O’s, a lot of physicality stuff, a lot of puck battle stuff. We’ll narrow it down. But we’ll give ‘em a concrete plan.”
The new blueprint should be to push the play into the neutral zone. Carolina has played a postseason-low 19.2% of its games in the middle of the ice in the 2025 Playoffs. This change will allow the Capitals to avoid being under siege from wave after wave of Hurricanes attackers.
Capitals Must Bring More Physicality
Despite rostering a heavier lineup, the Capitals lost the physical battle in Game 1. The Hurricanes were credited with 44 hits, more than 13 hits over their competitor. Capitals forward Brandon Duhaime, who tied for the team lead in hits in Game 1 with four, understands that physicality is a significant part of Washington’s game plan: “Playing physical, I think that’s been our identity all year, playing that hard, physical game, so we’ve just got to adjust to that.”
For their part, Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said they have to match Washington’s aggressiveness. “We play a lot in the [offensive] zone, and that’s obviously the strength of our team is you’re trying to (play) in the offensive zone, and usually when you have the puck, you’re not throwing as many hits… But as you get into the playoffs, (and) every team’s thinking you can wear guys down or just make people second-guess a decision. It’s not like we’re going out trying to make huge hits every shift. It’s just try, and take a piece here, take a piece there, and that’s playoff hockey.”
Significantly Reduce the Hurricanes’ Shot Attempts
Washington allowed too many offensive opportunities in Game 1. Carolina fired over 90 shot attempts towards the Capitals’ net, including 33 shots on goal, 25 missed shots, and 32 blocked by Washington defenders. In contrast, the Capitals had 34 offensive chances, including 14 shots on goal, 11 missed shots, and required only nine blocked shots from Carolina’s defenders.
“We can’t defend for that amount of time we defended last night, be under attack for as long as we were, and expect to have success in this series,” Carbery said after an optional practice yesterday. “But we understand that Carolina, and what they do, they’re going to control play for significant portions of the game. Ninety-(four) shot attempts is a little high. So, we’re going to need to bring that down.”
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Carbery is not concerned about his team at this point in the series, working to keep his team focused on the present moment. “We’re very, very short-term focused, so I don’t even look at it as a series at this point right now,” Carbery said. “Our focus is: What do we need to adjust? What do we need to do tomorrow to have success on home ice and have our game look as close to possible what our game needs to look like this year and the level it has to be at – extremely high – to compete with a team like the Carolina Hurricanes?”
Washington’s adjustments in Game 2 can erase the mistakes from Game 1. However, if the Capitals allow the Hurricanes to skate into Capital One Arena and dominate from the drop of the puck like they did on Tuesday night, they could face a steep climb up the comeback mountain this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina.
