Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 18: Canes, Oilers come from behind for Game 1 wins

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop exciting action in the NHL as we witness history in another team looking to win a championship. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop of everything that happened in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.

Slavin’s OT winner decides series opener

If there’s one thing that the second round matchup between the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes boasted, it was strong goaltending. Logan Thompson and Frederik Andersen were two of the best goalies in the first round of the playoffs, so you just knew that they’d be shining in this series. While Andersen’s status for Game 1 was in doubt, it was announced that he’d be returning earlier on Tuesday, so we would in fact be getting this goalie matchup.

And in Game 1, neither goalie disappointed. Both were nearly perfect in regulation, with Anderson stopping 13 of 14 with his lone blemish being a mid-ranged shot on the rush from Aliaksei Protas, while Thompson stopped 30 of 31 with his only mistake being a slot shot from Logan Stankoven. The goalies were so good that overtime was needed, but it didn’t take long for this one to be decided, as Jaccob Slavin scored 3:06 in off of a point shot to win the game 2-1.

SLAVIN WINS GAME 1 IN OT #RaiseUp

🎥ESPN pic.twitter.com/h0jDrlx61a

— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) May 7, 2025

Hyman’s late winner completes two-goal comeback for Oilers

The Vegas Golden Knights got off to a strong start in Game 1 despite the fact that Alex Pietrangelo was a last-minute absence from the game. After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins high-sticked Tomas Hertl for a four-minute penalty, a double deflection gave Vegas the 1-0 lead, with Mark Stone getting the final touch. Then midway through the first, Stone scored again on a chance off the rush to give Vegas the 2-0 lead.

But after that, it was all Edmonton Oilers. Corey Perry responded later in the first to make it 2-1, and after that, the pressure was on. The Oilers actually outshot the Golden Knights 12-1 in the second, but they weren’t able to get the tying goal then. But the dam broke in the third, and quite quickly, as a funny bounce led to Leon Draisaitl banking the puck off of Adin Hill to finally draw the score even just a minute in.

The game remained tied after that, and we looked set for another overtime game, but Zach Hyman spoiled the fun with the game winning goal with just 3:02 left to pull ahead. Connor Brown scored on a breakaway a bit over a minute later to put the game away, and the Oilers would win 4-2 to take a 1-0 series lead.

ZACH HYMAN!!! OILERS LEAD LATE IN THE THIRD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/CsWtyu8PyD

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 7, 2025