Veteran leadership and playoff savvy helped the Carolina Hurricanes complete a first-round sweep of the Ottawa Senators, finishing the series with a 4-2 victory in Saturday’s Game 4.
The Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team navigated through a physically demanding series marked by tight checking and limited scoring opportunities. While Carolina’s primary offensive line struggled to produce and the team accumulated excessive penalty minutes, they compensated with outstanding secondary scoring, exceptional penalty killing, and stellar goaltending from Frederik Andersen.
“Like we’ve kind of talked about all year, whatever way the game goes, our group can handle it,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour explained. The coach, who has captured at least one playoff series victory in each of his eight seasons, added: “I didn’t love all the penalties. There’s a fine line you’ve got to try to balance. I don’t know that we did a great job there. But I loved just the compete level of our group from Game 1 all the way through. Pretty impressive.”
Carolina’s playoff success under Brind’Amour began with a surprising Eastern Conference Final appearance in 2019, ending a nine-year postseason absence. Since then, the Hurricanes have become consistent playoff contenders, reaching the Eastern final twice in the last three campaigns, falling to Florida both times.
In 2023, they suffered four single-goal defeats to the Panthers in a series featuring a quadruple-overtime marathon. Brind’Amour noted he didn’t view that as a typical sweep due to how competitive each game remained.
Three years later, Carolina found themselves on the favorable end of a similar situation. They never held more than a two-goal advantage and survived double overtime in Game 2, but became the first team since Detroit’s 2009 victory over Columbus to complete a first-round series without ever trailing, according to ESPN Insights.
“For it to be this tight of a series and not go our way, every game, it’s really tough,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said following the series-clinching loss.
The Hurricanes’ playoff experience manifested in multiple ways as they improved to 11-5 in series-ending games under Brind’Amour, capturing six of their previous seven such contests.
Brind’Amour selected the 36-year-old Andersen over waiver claim Brandon Bussi for the veteran’s playoff presence. Andersen delivered with a Game 1 shutout and finished by stopping 105 of 110 shots for a .955 save percentage and 1.10 goals-against average, crucial numbers given Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark posted impressive statistics (.932 save percentage, 2.03 GAA) at the other end.
Carolina’s top trio of Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov produced what Brind’Amour described as “diddly squat” offensively. Regular season goal leaders Jarvis (32) and Svechnikov (31) failed to score, Svechnikov recorded no points, and Aho’s three goals included two empty-netters in the finale.
However, the second line of Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake more than compensated, showcasing Carolina’s offensive depth. Stankoven found the net in each game, including the decisive third-period power-play goal in Game 4. Blake contributed the Game 3 winner plus three assists, while Hall led all players with seven points.
“I couldn’t imagine being in a better spot teamwise,” said Hall, a former Hart Trophy recipient. “Just the mix of guys that we have and having Rod as a coach has been awesome for me personally, the way he pushes buttons — it’s not really pushing buttons, but he gets the most out of his players.”
Carolina’s penalty kill unit received extensive work throughout the increasingly physical series, converting 20 of 21 opportunities (95.2%). The chippy play escalated during Game 4’s second period, which featured multiple altercations.
Captain Jordan Staal acknowledged the Hurricanes “probably went a little cuckoo” responding to hard contact and getting swept up in the period’s intensity. Carolina accumulated eight of their 11 penalties during that middle frame, yet their penalty killers surrendered only Drake Batherson’s tying deflection. The team regained composure in the final period, focusing on controlling even-strength play and committing just one too-many-men penalty.
“It was a very mature third period from us,” Aho observed.
Regarding injuries, winger Nikolaj Ehlers was scratched from Game 4 due to a lower-body ailment, while defenseman Alexander Nikishin left the contest in the second period with a concussion following a heavy hit from Ottawa’s Tyler Kleven. As the first playoff team to advance, Carolina will have several days to prepare before meeting the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh series winner in the second round.
