Hurricanes take Game One Fight against Senators 2-0
· Yahoo Sports
Jordan Staal got the crowd going with a fight, Frederik Andersen was outstanding, and the Carolina Hurricanes took down the Ottawa Senators in a dominant 2-0 performance that saw the team take a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
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Any hopes of a sleepy start by either team, but especially the Canes who have basically been allowed to coast for the last couple of weeks were dashed from the start when Brady Tkachuk and Jordan Staal dropped the gloves for a fight that didn’t last long. It seemed as if Tkachuk was trying to tell everyone he was fine after a scary incident earlier in week on Long Island when he stumbled off the ice, so that was accomplished. That said, Tkachuk easily lost as he took several punches from the Canes Captain before ripping him down onto the ice.
CAPTAIN FIGHT AT PUCK DROP!!! THIS IS THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!!🍿 pic.twitter.com/yrTOMuOH6t
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) April 18, 2026
The rest of the period was as expected—a contest between two teams playing the same style. It took the Hurricanes several minutes to register a shot on goal, yet they basically dominated play to the first TV timeout. Both teams were in passing lines, diving to the ice, and clogging things up trying to prevent a score. Linus Ullmark and Frederik Andersen both faced a few tough chances, and both made easy stops. The Senators did get one Power Play in the period, but they spent more of it in the Hurricanes end than their own. The one best chance they had was intercepted by Sebastian Aho and led to a scoring chance for Carolina.
When the second period started Carolina was able to get the opening goal they were hoping for, and do it in a way that reignited fears fans would have had about Linus Ullmark. The play started with a great keep in by Alexander Nikishin, who fed it over to Taylor Hall, getting it over to Jackson Blake. Blake left the puck for Logan Stankoven to put it on net, and he found the five hole under Ullmark as it bounced off his skate and in. It was a tough goal for Ullmark to give up as he had a clear view of the puck.
View LinkThe Canes though did waste a chance to put a hammer lock on the game as they would get their first Power Play on a too many men, and that would turn into a 5-on-3 as a slash was called. Unfortunately the Canes came up empty, but the Penalty Kill for the Canes still came up big later to keep it at a 1-0 game heading into the third. Carolina outshot the Senators 8-4, but as expected the four for Ottawa were high quality chances that Andersen was able to save.
The third period was an intense show of playoff hockey, going back and forth and hinged on what ended up being an amazing save by Andersen. Ottawa was on the power play, and managed a Drake Batherson shot on Andersen. Andersen made the save but the puck rattled around in his glove a bit. The referee made a definitive motion that the puck crossed the line. To their credit, the officials immediately went to the video review where Toronto confirmed the puck did not fully cross the line. As explained on the ESPN broadcast, for it to be a goal—even if it’s called one on the ice—on a review they have to see it completely cross the line. The Canes would use that as a rest, Andersen made another great save and a few minutes later the Hurricanes would crash the net on the other end. In the chaos the puck ended up in the net—the goal was credited to Taylor Hall—and Carolina had the important 2-0 lead.
View LinkCarolina had a chance to get it to 3-0 with yet another 5 on 3 advantage, but it again fell short—though it did at least look better. Ottawa would get another great chance with the Power Play near the end of the third as Jalen Chatfield would get called for Carolina’s second Puck Over The Glass violation, but again the team stood strong and Andersen made a key save with about ten seconds left in the penalty to effectively shut the door on the game.
Carolina ended the game with the full compliment of players, while Ottawa—already missing two key players—played two periods without Artem Zub who left after putting a hit on Seth Jarvis. Travis Green didn’t have any update after the game on his status, but a long term injury to a first pair defenseman could be a huge fork in the road moment for the Senators.
The two teams go back at it on Monday night at 7:30 in the Lenovo Center