NHL 25: How to Take One-Timers, Explained

One-timers are one of the most exciting plays in hockey. They’re often how games are ended, and it’s how players like Alex Ovechkin have made a living for themselves. While they’re an extremely common play in real-life hockey, trying to get your players to pull them off in NHL 25 is an entirely different story. Like winning face-offs, one-timers in NHL 25 are extremely difficult, especially if you don’t know the exact setup you need for them to work.

While the process for a one-timer will slightly differ depending on your control scheme, the setup is fairly similar regardless. Below, we’ll go into exactly what buttons you want to press for a one-timer, how to position your player correctly, and the timing for pulling off this shot in NHL 25.

What Are One-Timers In NHL 25?

A one-timer is where your player receives a pass and winds their stick up before the pass gets to them. Then, as the pass is arriving, your player brings their stick down and times a shot perfectly with the pass’s arrival. The goal of a one-timer is to get maximum speed on the puck without having to waste any time with the shot. A proper one-timer sees your player wind up, shoot, and score all in one fluid motion rather than having to accept the pass with their stick, wind up, and then shoot, which takes valuable time.

How To Shoot One-Timers In NHL 25

First and foremost, you need to ensure that your shooting player is directly facing the direction from which the initial pass is coming. If your player is even turned slightly the wrong way, they won’t be able to take the one-timer and will instead simply accept the pass, even if you press all of the right buttons at the correct time. So, before passing with the intention of firing off a one-timer, ensure that the player you’re passing to is ready and positioned correctly to receive the pass.

Once you have ensured that your shooting player is positioned right, you need to press the following buttons to properly shoot a one-timer:

• Hold L2/LT and then press “up” on the right joystick right before the pass arrives.
• It’s vital that you press “up” on the joystick after the pass is made, but not after it arrives at its target.
• If you press up too late, your shooting player will accept the pass and then shoot instead of firing a one-timer.
• Depending on your control scheme, you might have to hold R2/RT instead of L2/LT. However, you still need to ensure that you press up before the pass gets to its target; that’s the main element that separates a one-timer from a normal slapshot.

As the name of the shot suggests, timing is everything with a one-timer. You need to ensure that you’re pressing up at the exact right time, otherwise, your player won’t be able to fire off the shot in one motion.

The best way to get the timing down with a one-timer is to head into practice mode and set up passes between two players. One-timers are usually set up when the shooting player is standing near either face-off dot, and the passing player is near the blue line or on the other side of the goal. The easiest way to practice one-timers is to have the passing player send passes from one face-off dot to the other, where the shooting player is waiting for the pass.

Of course, in games, you can set up one-timers wherever you can get a free lane to shoot. You’ll get the most chances for one-timers on the powerplay, as defenders are more condensed in the center of the defending zone, leaving players open on the sides of the goal for free shots if you can get the pass there.

One-timers certainly take a lot of practice to master, but once you get the general idea of how to set them up and take the shots, they become much easier in NHL 25. As with anything, practice makes perfect, but taking the one-timer is somehow the easiest part of the whole process. The hardest part is getting the shot past the goalie.