04/18/26 06:18:00
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04/18 18:17 CDT Stankoven, Hall, Andersen help Carolina Hurricanes top the
Ottawa Senators 2-0 to open NHL playoffs
Stankoven, Hall, Andersen help Carolina Hurricanes top the Ottawa Senators 2-0
to open NHL playoffs
By AARON BEARD
AP Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) --- Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall scored, and Frederik
Andersen came through with a big third-period performance in net to help the
Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Saturday to open their
first-round playoff series.
Carolina can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series on Monday night in Raleigh.
Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour had gone with Andersen's veteran experience as
the starter over Brandon Bussi, and it paid off for the Eastern Conference's
top seed.
"We have good options and both guys have played well and we have confidence in
both guys," Brind'Amour said. "But clearly experience I think won out, and he
looked like he knew what he was doing."
Andersen finished with 22 saves, including back-to-back stops on a third-period
power play that had Ottawa buzzing with quality chances in a 1-0 game. One of
those was initially ruled a tying goal on Drake Batherson's rebound attempt at
the top of the crease, only for a replay review to overturn the call in showing
Andersen had gloved a loose puck as it bounced off his skate near the post.
Moments later, he had another when Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk had position at
the top of the crease, only for Andersen to fall backward and make the stop
with his legs in a sequence that had Hurricanes fans roaring "Freddie! Freddie!"
"It's pretty mind-blowing how loud it gets and how fun it is to play here,"
Andersen said.
By the final moments, Andersen and the Hurricanes were holding up against
Ottawa spending most of the last 2 1/2 minutes with a 6-on-4 advantage after
pulling Linus Ullmark for the extra attacker with the Senators on the power
play.
It was a physical game with hard hits, little open space and chippiness
throughout. It started with captains Tkachuk and Jordan Staal of Carolina
locking up in an immediate fight, jawing in the moments before the opening
faceoff before throwing punches, crashing into the ice and then heading to the
box just 3 seconds into the game.
"We didn't find a way to generate enough, but they're a team also that does
that to you as well," Senators coach Travis Green said. "And I didn't think we
gave up too many grade-As (scoring chances). They were on their toes. They've
got a real good team, they didn't finish first for nothing."
Stankoven got Carolina on the board early in the second period when he took a
tap feed from Jackson Blake as he skated into the slot to slip the puck under
Ullmark's left pad. That line struck again in the third, with Blake poking a
puck loose after an Ullmark stop and sending into the crease --- where
Stankoven skated in to clean it up and sent the puck off Hall's skate for the
2-0 lead.
The Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year, reaching the
Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three years and thrice in this
current run that began in 2019. The Senators are in the playoffs for the second
straight year after a seven-year postseason drought since a seven-game loss in
the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.
Ullmark finished with 27 saves for Ottawa, which had surged since late January
to secure the second wild-card spot in the East.
The Senators also had top-pair defenseman Artem Zub exit early with an
undisclosed injury after taking two second-period shifts; Green didn't have an
update when he spoke with reporters afterward and said the team would know more
Sunday.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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