Ottawa Senators In a Desperate Situation Going Into Game 4 Against Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes, the No. 2 seed going into the playoffs, are up 3-0 against the Ottawa Senators going into Game 4. Ottawa will be at home for Game 4 and will need to carry the energy of an enthusiastic home crowd as well as improve on a few fronts to avoid elimination from the playoffs.
Senators Kept It Close In Games 2 and 3
Game 1 went to the Hurricanes 2-0, with Ottawa unable to score. That did change in Game 2, when the teams had a tight regulation period, tying 2-2 to force overtime. In the first OT, the Hurricanes’ Mark Jankowski got a puck into the net, but the goal was overturned because of an offside call on the original rush to the goal that did not sit well with the home crowd or the home team. Jankowski would go on to score the game-winner in the second OT.
Game 3 was a lively affair that began with lots of fighting and three penalties in the first period for the home team, which they successfully killed. Logan Stankoven has been stellar for the Hurricanes and scored the lone goal of the first period.
Stankoven’s streak of three game-opening goals is currently second in NHL history. He is only the second man to ever do it. There’s plenty more room for him to extend that streak, with the way he and the Hurricanes have been playing.
Neither team was particularly good on power plays, with the Senators going 0-for-5 and the Hurricanes going 0-for-4. One of those penalties for Ottawa was a hit to Jake Sanderson by the Hurricanes’ Taylor Hall, where Hall made an illegal check onto Sanderson’s unhelmeted head and got a minor penalty for it. Sanderson played two more shifts and then didn’t return. That is a bad sign for his team’s hopes of staying alive in the playoffs.
Nick Batherson tied the game in the second period, but Jackson Blake’s goal in the third period sealed the win for the Hurricanes, 2-1.
The Senators aren’t playing badly, but they’re up against a formidable opponent in the Hurricanes and not coming quite up to the level they need to be. Scoring on power plays has been a weakness, and though goalie Linus Ullmark has been fantastic and kept the Hurricanes to 3 goals or less, he hasn’t been getting quite enough help on defense.
Defense Injuries are Hindering Ottawa
Defensively, the Senators have faced challenges due to injuries. Sanderson will not play in Game 4 on April 25 after he got a concussion from Hall’s hit, and another top Senators defenseman, Artem Zub, sustained an injury in Game 1 and is also out for the possible final game of the series. Ottawa has gone through 12 defensemen since the 2026 Winter Olympic break, as their defense injury issues go deeper than two players.
“I think we’re not playing at our best abilities right now,” said the Senators’ Claude Giroux, a veteran player who helped the Philadelphia Flyers come back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Boston Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference Second Round. “We know we can play better, and there’s not a lot of room out there for both teams. You know they’re [the Hurricanes] a good team.”
Sanderson’s fellow Defenseman Jordan Spence spoke on the matter as well. “Sandy’s such a big role in our team. He logs in a lot of minutes. He’s such a special player. And losing a guy like him, it [stinks], but we can’t dwell on it. We have to focus on the next game. It’s next man up mentality, like we did the second half of the season.”
Victory Or Elimination For the Senators
Even while facing adversity, the Senators are a strong team. However, the Hurricanes have been the better team this series, and Ottawa has to win on April 25 in order to stay alive in the playoffs. They will need to muster their best hockey and rebound from three losses, which won’t be an easy feat against the Hurricanes.
