Hurricanes-Capitals
Both of these clubs had easy marks in the first round in two rookie playoff teams. The Hurricanes beat the Devils, who were back in the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Capitals, meanwhile, beat the Habs who made the playoffs for the first time in seemingly forever - first time since their Cinderella run to the Cup finals in 2021 IIRC. Both were 4-1 series defeats. Predictably both East wildcard teams were out in the first round.
The Hurricanes, like the Leafs and Jets, are playoff chokers. They haven't been past the third round since they defeated the Oilers in 2006. At least they seem to make it further than the Leafs and Jets, but for whatever reason that seems to be their ceiling.
Give the Hurricanes credit, though, they sure made out like gangbusters in the Mikko Rantanen trade at the deadline. After giving up not much more than a second round pick as the centerpiece to get him in the first place, they orchestrated a three way trade with Chicago and Dallas where they got Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven, both of whom are their second line wingers centered by Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Will the addition of these two to their offense be enough to move the needle for them? I don't think so. Washington is a good team with a lot of depth. The Capitals also hold the intangibles as Ovechkin recently broke Wayne Gretzky's career goal scoring record earlier on in the regular season, and he's only got one more year left on his contract which will likely precede his retirement. If I were Washington I'd be plenty motivated to go on one last Cup run and try to get Ovi a second cup before he retires.
One other interesting note about this series; the starting goalies for both teams - Logan Thompson and Freddie Anderson - are among the league's best from the first round in the playoffs. Both guys are top 10 among significant starters in both sv% and GAA. It may come down to which goalie outduels the other one.
Both of these teams are strong teams but given the Hurricanes penchant for underachieving in the playoffs I'm picking the Caps to move onto the third round.
My prediction - Capitals win 4-2