The Carolina Hurricanes travelled to face the Ottawa Senators in their last matchup of the season. With both teams having to play back-to-back games near the end of the season, rest was an important key to success.
The Hurricanes (49-22-6) got the short side of the stick in terms of rest. The Canes had to travel to Ottawa and prepare for a game in one day, while the Senators (40-27-10) had back-to-back games at home. Senseless mistakes put the Canes’ lack of recovery on display, while the Senators looked more rested in comparison.
The Senators also had more on the line than just being swept during the regular-season series. While the Hurricanes have already clinched their playoff spot, the Senators have not. The Senators are in the race, trying to compete for one of the two wildcard spots.
Since all three Atlantic playoff spots have been clinched, the only way for the Senators to make the postseason is to be one of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference that did not get a playoff spot for their division. With the home crowd behind the Senators, left winger Brady Tkachuk delivered for the fans with a two-goal performance that moved Ottawa into the second wild card position.
Center Logan Stankoven opened up the game during a Canes power play with a putback goal. Left winger Nikolaj Ehlers’ had a shot blocked and Stankoven was in the right place to put it in the net.
The first error for the Canes came from right winger Andrei Svechnikov in the first period, where he was called for a slashing penalty, leading to the Senators scoring the power-play goal to tie the game up. The second goal for Ottawa came after left-winger Eric Robinson missed the puck on an attempted shot, leading him to have to pass the puck back, which was then intercepted by center Tim Stutzle, who outpaced the rest of the Canes and slotted it in to take the lead.
With just seconds left remaining in the first period, Carolina had heavy pressure on Ottawa’s net. With 18 seconds left in the period, Svechnikov found the puck in the middle of the crowd and lit the lamp to put the game back to 2-2.
After a goal-frenzy in the first period, the second period only saw one goal, a redirect from Tkachuk to put Ottawa up by one heading into the final period.
Going into the third period, the Canes needed to play their best to complete a comeback against a hungry Ottawa team, but they couldn’t make it happen. Svechnikov was called for another slashing penalty, which led to another power-play goal for the Senators just three minutes into the period. The Senators then capped off the last of three unanswered goals just a few minutes later with Tkachuk’s second of the night. With Ottawa up 5-2, the goal effectively put the game out of the Carolina’s reach.
The last two goals of the night came in the last three minutes, where right winger Taylor Hall finished off a deflected shot. After this goal, Carolina pulled netminder Frederik Andersen and the Senators scored an empty-net goal to end the game 6-3.
Next up, the Hurricanes will head back to Raleigh to face the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m, April 7.