In another world, it’d be easy to talk about this game as two teams testing each other before their respective playoff pushes. Carolina currently sits in first place in the East with 104 points – two up on Tampa Bay – while the shorthanded Senators are currently in WC2, but have four teams breathing down their necks.

A favourable out-of-town scoreboard means that the Senators continue to control their fate. The Red Wings, Bruins, Flyers, and Capitals are all also in action again today. For the Sens, it’s simple: continue to focus on their game, and ideally, their pattern of playing well on the second half of back-to-backs.

Sens lines

The Sens welcomed the return of Jake Sanderson yesterday, and has Jorian Donovan on backup in case they don’t want to pressure their star defender to play two games back-to-back. Otherwise, we expect a similar lineup, with James Reimer in net.

Sens lines from the warmup.

Zetterlund-Stützle-Batherson
Tkachuk-Cozens-Greig
Amadio-Pinto-Giroux
Foegele-Eller-Cousins

Sanderson-Zub
Matinpalo-Spence
Thomson-Crotty
Donovan

Ullmark
Reimer

— TSN 1200 Ottawa (@TSN1200) April 4, 2026
Canes lines

Here’s how Carolina lined up last night against the Isles. With Pyotr Kochetkov now returning from injury and Brandon Bussi in net yesterday, I imagine Frederik Andersen will get the start this evening. Carolina’s only other injury is Charles-Alexis Legault.

Canes vs. Isles line rushes:

Svechnikov-Aho-Jarvis
Hall-Stankoven-Blake
Ehlers-Staal-Martinook
Carrier-Jankowski-Robinson

Slavin-Chatfield
Miller-Walker
Gostisbehere-Nikishin

Bussi

— Ryan Henkel (@RyanHenkel_) April 4, 2026
Game notesOne look at the team statistics table highlights how similar these two teams are. They’re two of the top defensive teams in the league, but with Ottawa shorthanded in that department, tonight will be a tough test. If you thought the Wild did a good job preventing scoring chances against, Carolina are the masters of it. If Ottawa was looking for a game to get Stephen Halliday in, this might be it. A back-to-back and needing some offensive spark.. if any of the forwards are nursing an injury, this is the time to ask for a rest. While I know Green loves Tkachuk – Cozens – Greig, and the trio continues to play well, the other lines might need some shuffling. I wonder if tonight is a good opportunity to try the former Cane, Warren Foegele, on Stützle’s wing. Carolina has scored shorthanded goals in three consecutive games. A lackadaisical Sens powerplay has to be on its toes to not give up a fourth, especially with the speed and pressure of the Canes F1 as an ongoing threat.

It’s a 5:00pm EDT start on TSN5 and RDS2 in Canada. If you’re attending in person, the plaza outside of the Canadian Tire Centre will be open at 2:30pm and will feature a performance from country band Rainwater Whiskey, inflatables, face paint, food stalls, and more.

Statistics

Game 77SenatorsHurricanes
Category#Rank#Rank
Goals/GP3.2810th3.514th
Goals against/GP3.0820th2.887th
Shots/GP28.99th32.52nd
Shots against/GP24.32nd23.81st
Powerplay %2213th24.55th
Penalty Kill %74.930th80.812th
Corsi % (5v5 SVA)53.574th60.941st
xGF% (5v5 SVA)54.973rd56.782nd

SenatorsHurricanes
CategoryPlayer#Player#
GoalsStützle32Jarvis32
AssistsStützle45Aho52
PointsStützle77Aho78
ShotsTkachuk211Jarvis218
TOI/GPSanderson24:49K’Andre Miller22:25