"Bring Out the Brooms": 2025-26 Postseason Round 1, Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes at Ottawa Senators

The Carolina Hurricanes had the opportunity to finish the job on Saturday afternoon in the Senators' barn. All they needed to do was win one more game to send them to the next round. The Canes were dealt their first bit of adversity in the series, with the news that Nikolaj Ehlers wouldn't be able to play today. That didn't change the objective. One more win, and it would be the toughest of them all to get. The Senators have dealt with adversity this entire series. They lost one defenseman in Game 1. Then, they lost another in Game 3. Neither would be available today. It made their job that much harder as they tried to begin their climb out of this three-game hole.

Scoring Summary

1st Period

None

2nd Period

CAR (15:15)- Taylor Hall (2) (Mark Jankowski (1) & Eric Robinson (2))

OTT (17:08-PP)- Drake Batherson (3) (Tim Stutzle (1) & Carter Yakemchuk (1))

3rd Period

CAR (9:10-PP)- Logan Stankoven (4) (K'Andre Miller (3) & Taylor Hall (5))

CAR (17:38-EN)- Sebastian Aho (2) (Seth Jarvis (1) & Sean Walker (1))

OTT (18:11)- Dylan Cozens (2) (Drake Batherson (1) & Carter Yakemchuk (2))

CAR (18:45-EN)- Sebastian Aho (3) (Seth Jarvis (2) & Jalen Chatfield (1))

My Thoughts

I'll start by saying that I had no problem with the mechanics behind Tyler Kleven's hit on Alexander Nikishin. The way he made contact with Nikishin was clean. He didn't deserve to be penalized for the hit itself. However, it's about as clear a case of interference as there could be. The puck isn't in the vicinity. Kleven isn't trying to play the puck. He lined up his target, and he finished him. Andrei Svechnikov managed to get two penalties for his response, which led to a long line of incredibly dumb decisions from the officials during the second period. The Canes were on the wrong side of numerous scrums throughout the frame, leading to Ottawa getting several 5-on-3 chances, none of which they converted on. Meanwhile, Ridly Greig is allowed to sucker punch Sean Walker without repercussions. Make it make sense.

Now that we've gotten the bad stuff out of the way, let's talk about the second-round-bound Carolina Hurricanes. It took approximately 171 hours for the Hurricanes to dispatch the Senators in this round, doing so in a quartet of tight contests. You could use the old "it both was and wasn't a sweep" adage that Rod Brind'Amour used in 2023 after being eliminated by the Panthers in the Eastern Conference Finals. At the forefront of the fight today were the usual suspects. Taylor Hall scored the opening goal and added an assist. Logan Stankoven scored another goal on the power play. Frederik Andersen played out of his mind again. The penalty kill went 8-for-9, including three well-defended 5-on-3 sequences. They carried the Canes through this round, finishing the job today.

This felt like the top line's best performance of the series, too, and that's before Sebastian Aho scored twice into the empty net. Aho and Seth Jarvis are just as big a part of the penalty kill as the first guys over the boards, so they deserve as many of the accolades for how well they played. Svechnikov was throwing everything he could at the net all series long. Today, he finished with three shots and six hits. At the end, it's what you put on the scoresheet, and Aho and Jarvis delivered that to finish the series. Aho recorded the empty-net goals, helping him finish second in the series with three goals. Jarvis provided the primary helper on both goals by his linemate, helping him remove the goose egg from next to his name. I'd like to see them carry this into the next round and have a big series against whichever division foe they'll meet.

If I were Linus Ullmark, I'd be pissed at the group in front of me, but he doesn't strike me as that type of person. He was, without question, Ottawa's best player throughout this series. He gave his team legitimate chances to win all four games. The rest of his team didn't back him up. Drake Batherson did his part by scoring three goals, and Dylan Cozens added two. They accounted for the only five goals that the Senators scored in the series. Otherwise, Tim Stutzle was quiet, outside of the assist on Batherson's power-play goal. Brady Tkachuk didn't record a point, writing a few checks that his ass couldn't cash during the series. Claude Giroux was nowhere to be found. They got the goaltending that they needed. Their offense dried up. It all ends with the Canes skating into the next round.

First Star of the Game: The penalty kill

I can't choose one player, so I'm choosing an entire group of players. Having to kill nine power plays in one game is absurd. Killing eight of them is even crazier, especially when three of them were 5-on-3. The Flyers had over 13 minutes of power-play time. Jaccob Slavin was on the ice for over 10 of those minutes. The Sens had only nine total shots on those chances. The penalty kill deserves the next week off.

Around the League

Pittsburgh-Philadelphia: The Flyers are one win away from meeting the Hurricanes in the second round, needing a win on Saturday to sweep the Penguins. (PHI 3-0)

Buffalo-Boston: The Sabres put the series back in their favor with a win in Game 3, with Noah Ostlund playing a big part in that during his playoff debut (BUF 2-1)

Tampa Bay-Montreal: All three games in the series have gone to overtime, with their most recent encounter on Friday being ended by Lane Hutson to put the Canadiens up by a game. (MTL 2-1)

Next Up: As is the nature of winning a series early, there are many unknowns surrounding when the Hurricanes will play next. What's important is that there will be a next time. I'm thinking it'll be on Sunday or early next week before we see the Canes play another game.