Welcome to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Where memories are made, legends are forged, and a whole lot can happen. The matchup has been known for weeks. It is time for the games to be played. Let’s go, New Jersey Devils.
The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
The Time: 3:00 PM ET
The Broadcast: National TV – ESPN; Canada – SN, SN360, TVAS; Local TV – MSGSN, FanDuel Sports Network South; Digital Audio – The Devils Radio Network
The Song of the Series: From the massive series preview:
Playoff hockey is inherently anxiety-inducing and nerve-wracking. Even when your favorite team has a commanding lead in the series, you just know nothing is actually over until the series is actually over. The Devils-Hurricanes series is likely going to be filled with forechecking pressure, worry over whether the Devils can handle that pressure, and concern if they can hit back. Evoking this kind of intense anxiety in music is tough, but the instrumental to Danny Brown’s “Ain’t It Funny?” from his 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition absolutely nails the feeling for this series and playoff hockey as a whole.
The Song of the Afternoon: Of course, this is the time to be hopeful as fans. Instead of worrying what could go wrong, ask about what could go right. Positivity may not be your cup of tea but there has been crews of youth who yell about it for decades. That will be the running theme for each Gamethread for this series.
For this first game, the Devils are going to have to handle the aggressive play of Carolina. The Devils must take it head on. Fittingly, the song is “Face The Pain” by The First Step from the excellent What We Know album.
The Rules: The rules remain the same as always. Please keep your language clean (no language masking, abbreviating, etc. I mean it: no swearing), respect your fellow Devils fan with no personal attacks (play nice or you will not play here), no illegal streams (this means no asking, no hints, no nothing about it), and please keep your comments relevant to this game. Go Devils!
