Fists were flying and blood was shed, but at the end of the day, the handshake line commenced as if the afternoon consisted of the most gentlemanly of matches – just as it always has, just as it always should be.
For the Carolina Hurricanes, they met the handshake line with smiles as they were the ones to come out on top with the 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. It was only the second time in franchise history that the Hurricanes swept a team in a four-game series, and the first time that they did not concede a lead in any of the games played.
Carolina Hurricanes🤝Ottawa SenatorsOne of the best traditions of hockeyNo matter how heated the series gets, you can almost always count on the sportsmanship of the handshake line at the end of the series#SoundTheSiren #GoSensGo #NHL #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/I8yzgc0uRm
— Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) April 25, 2026
As the game began, the Hurricanes were without one of their best playmakers in Nikolaj Ehlers, who was ruled out with a lower-body injury soon before the game began. With the open spot in the lineup, the Hurricanes elected to employ their grinder and bruiser, Nicolas Deslauriers. Due to his fourth-line placement and the frequent use of special teams, he only logged six shifts across 3:09 – but in the time he played, he was very noticeable. He was tied second in most hits throughout the game, with four total, and managed to block a shot and put a shot on goal in his short amount of ice time.
Nicolas Deslauriers was a bit of a menace in this shift earlier 🤣#SoundTheSiren #GoSensGo #NHL #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/rpihpfavlO
— Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) April 25, 2026
As the game remained scoreless in the early second period, Tyler Kleven landed a massive hit on Alexander Nikishin – a hit which served as the first domino of a long line of heated exchanges throughout the game, but sadly, marked the end of Nikishin’s own match.
The Hurricanes on the ice immediately stood up for their teammate, and by the time the puck would be dropped again, the Hurricanes were shorthanded. Kleven’s hit had been reviewed, but he did not receive a penalty.
Carolina would accumulate 22 total penalty minutes throughout the game, giving the Senators nine power plays, including three five-on-three opportunities.
Just over 15 minutes into the second period, the first goal of the game came from public enemy number one in Ottawa, Ontario, as Taylor Hall found the back of the net. Throughout the game, anytime he would touch the puck, he would be met with roaring boos from the crowd due to his controversial hit on Jake Sanderson in Game 3, which put the Senators’ top-pairing defenseman into concussion protocol and essentially ended his postseason.
Hall has factored into every one of the game-opening goals of the Hurricanes’ postseason thus far.
A couple of minutes later, Drake Batherson evened the score on the power play.
9:10 into the third period, the Hurricanes got help once again from Logan Stankoven, who put the puck into the back of the net on the power play, returning the lead to Carolina. In doing so, he became the first player in franchise history to start a postseason with a four-game goal streak.
The lead held throughout the rest of the game, with Sebastian Aho netting his first empty-net goal of the game (yes, his first), which was soon followed by a claw-back goal from Dylan Cozens to bring the game within one goal again, before Aho scored his second empty-netter thereafter, securing the 4-2 win.
The defense and penalty killers were elite throughout the series, and truly shined in the Hurricanes’ two games north of the border. Saturday was an even bigger story than Thursday was in this aspect, and representing it with great effort was Jaccob Slavin. Throughout 13:21 of time on the penalty kill, Slavin played an astounding 10:14 of it. In total, he played 26:22, leading all of the Hurricanes’ skaters in ice time.
The Hurricanes are the first team of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs to punch their ticket to the second round.
Throughout all four games, the Hurricanes never trailed the Senators. They were the first team to do so in a round one series since the Detroit Red Wings in 2009.
Despite having been tied first for most penalties taken in the postseason so far (26), the Hurricanes allowed only one power play goal throughout their series against the Senators. With a penalty kill percentage of 95.2, only the Boston Bruins have had a better penalty kill (100%) due to penalty volume (also 26).
With the conclusion of Carolina’s round one series, FanDuel Sports Network will no longer be the broadcasting home of the Hurricanes, as they will officially cease operations once all first-round games have been completed.