{"id":555815,"date":"2026-04-19T06:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555815\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T06:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:51:20","slug":"always-on-top-of-you-ottawa-senators-fall-to-stifling-carolina-hurricanes-in-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555815\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Always on top of you\u2019: Ottawa Senators fall to stifling Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH \u2014 Drake Batherson<\/a> redirected a pass that Frederik Andersen<\/a> stopped on the doorstep.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa Senators<\/a> winger followed up a split-second later with another effort in the crease that the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> goaltender flung his glove at in desperation.<\/p>\n

The underdog visitors appeared to have tied the NHL\u2019s post-season opener early in the third period down 1-0.<\/p>\n

Video review eventually chalked that one off the scoreboard as Hurricanes fans serenaded their netminder with chants of \u201cFreddie! Freddie!\u201d inside an electric Lenovo Center.<\/p>\n

The sequence would be as close as the Senators would come Saturday. Ottawa now heads back to the drawing board in search of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

Andersen finished with 22 saves after Logan Stankoven<\/a> and Taylor Hall<\/a> got pucks past Linus Ullmark<\/a> at the other end as the Hurricanes picked up a 2-0 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the teams\u2019 best-of-seven playoff series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a really solid game,\u201d said Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk<\/a>, who fought Carolina opposite Jordan Staal<\/a> three seconds after the opening faceoff in a tone-setting tilt. \u201cThere weren\u2019t many chances on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batherson wasn\u2019t sure in the moment if the puck had indeed crossed the line with Andersen, who picked up the first playoff-opening shutout in franchise history, in a desperate full stretch at his post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened so quick and the ref called it a goal,\u201d he said. \u201cYou never know nowadays until they come out of that penalty box and rule it a goal or not. I probably should have just put it in. Shouldn\u2019t have gotten to that point.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ottawa head coach Travis Green<\/a> hadn\u2019t watched the replay when he addressed the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably won\u2019t look again either,\u201d he said. \u201cDidn\u2019t count \u2026 it\u2019s not going to count tomorrow.\u201d <\/p>\n

A tumbling Andersen followed that up by robbing Tkachuk while on his backside shortly after the Batherson goal reversal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s best-of-seven for a reason,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a lot to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senators, who will look to even the series Monday before the teams travel north, had just nine shots through 40 minutes, and will need to generate more against the stifling Hurricanes to stay in this grinding fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways on top of you,\u201d Tkachuk said of Carolina\u2019s chokehold defensive structure. \u201cAlways in right spots. They blocked a lot of shots there, especially at the end, but all game they\u2019re sacrificing their bodies. They don\u2019t give you much. They frustrate the whole league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMan-on-man all over the ice,\u201d Batherson added. \u201cThey\u2019re in your face every second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stankoven opened the scoring on a fanned effort that fooled Ullmark in the second before Hall added Carolina\u2019s second on a dog pile in the crease after the initial attempt handcuffed Ottawa\u2019s netminder in the third.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelt like I got such a good piece of it that it was going to end up in front of me,\u201d Ullmark said of the 2-0 goal. \u201cAnd when it didn\u2019t, and all of a sudden you feel like people hit you from behind, you\u2019re thinking, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s there.\u2019 So, you\u2019re looking, unfortunately, the other way, and that\u2019s when they capitalize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson<\/a> said other than a few tweaks, his team doesn\u2019t need to change much following a contest that included 96 hits \u2014 with Carolina holding a 57-39 edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weathered the storm great in the first,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really hard barn to play in, never mind playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senators allowed the fifth-fewest goals against from Jan. 1 onward, while the Hurricanes ranked eighth.<\/p>\n

Green expects more of what was on display in Game 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the series is ever going to look like there\u2019s a ton of space,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to look very similar every night. They\u2019re gonna forecheck hard. We\u2019re gonna forecheck hard. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of every game, both teams are gonna feel like there wasn\u2019t space \u2026 I don\u2019t see that changing.\u201d <\/p>\n

INJURY CONCERN<\/p>\n

Already minus bruising defenceman Tyler Kleven<\/a>, the Senators lost top-pair stalwart and Sanderson foil Artem Zub<\/a> to an undisclosed injury in the first. Green did not have an update post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlays big minutes,\u201d Sanderson said of the shutdown blueliner. \u201cI rely on him a lot. Haven\u2019t seen him yet, but I hope he\u2019s OK.\u201d <\/p>\n

GLOVES OFF<\/p>\n

Tkachuk tangling with an opposing captain off the opening draw is nothing new. The gritty winger fought Anders Lee<\/a> of the New York Islanders<\/a> twice in the same situation over the last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot the energy going,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cGot playoffs started for the whole league.\u201d <\/p>\n

FIRING BLANKS<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s power play, which ranked eighth in 2025-26, generated just one shot over its first three chances before getting more rubber at Andersen in the third.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery aggressive,\u201d Batherson said of the league\u2019s 11th-best penalty kill. \u201c(We) got more comfortable the last one, had a few good looks. We were just getting our feet wet. Probably the nerves are there in the first couple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be better going forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH \u2014 Drake Batherson redirected a pass that Frederik Andersen stopped on the doorstep. The Ottawa Senators winger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[194,29,5176,5,195,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-555815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","10":"tag-carolinahurricanes","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-hurricanes","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116430051993003815","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}