Hurricanes' stifling defense and unstoppable second line push them to the brink of sweeping the Senators. Unwavering penalty kill seals another victory.
The Carolina Hurricanes have moved within one game of advancing to the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to a 2-1 win in Game 3 of the their first round series against the Ottawa Senators.
Carolina once again suffocated Ottawa, preventing them from generating much of anything and the second line once again were the offensive heros.
Here are 10 observations from the win:
1. A Demoralizing Penalty Kill
Not only have the Canes limited the Senators' offense at even strength, but they've also pretty much nullified it even when down a man.
Carolina has killed off all 12 of the penalties they have taken in this series, including five straight in the second period alone on Thursday and 1:28 of 5v3 at that.
Even with all that time on the power play, Ottawa only managed four total chances while up a man and had zero high-danger chances in total (I mean, come on. Even Carolina had one while shorthanded).
The work that assistant coach Tim Gleason and the penalty kill personnel have done in this series is nothing of incredible and is a key reason why the team has a 3-0 series lead.
2.Locking It Down
The Hurricanes have been a brick wall in this series, conceding only three goals across the three games.
In fact, they've led for 121:22 of the 213:53 of total time that the series has gone on, or around 57% of it.
On the flipside, they've trailed for 0:00, or 0% of it.
The Canes have done a tremendous job at limiting the Senators' ability to generate offense and they've matched up well at 5v5.
That's a testament to both the defense and the forward group.
But when they have given up chances...
3. Frederik Andersen, Calm and Composed
Another day, another vintage Frederik Andersen performance.
With 21 saves on the evening, the veteran netminder again did his part to position his team toward a win.
Andersen faced just five high-danger chances on the night and saved 0.67 goals above expected, but you need your netminder to make the saves he's expected to and Freddie did just that.
Carolina doesn't always need him to be the hero of the game (much like he was in Games 1 and 2), but he's been as steady and reliable as anyone in the postseason.
Funny enough, Andersen actually saw his series save percentage fall from this game (from 0.967 to 0.964).
4. The HSB Line Is Unstoppable
Is it controversial to say that the Hurricanes have a new top line?
The trio of Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake have been one of the best lines in hockey for a few months now and they've carried that over into the postseason.
In three games, the line has combined for five of the Hurricanes' seven goals (four at even strength) and they've controlled 66% of the scoring chances and 78% of the high-danger chances in their 5v5 minutes.
In Game 3, both Stankoven (for the third straight game) and Blake scored, while Hall picked up another two assists to move into a tie for the league lead in scoring (five points).
They've been an unstoppable force and one that's been dragging the Canes through this series.
5. Top Line Concerns?
It hasn't been a prolific series for the Hurricanes' top three.
Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov haven't scored at 5v5 yet this series and they're actually the only one of Carolina's four lines to have been outchanced across the three games.
They're getting buried in the defensive zone (they've surrendered 11 high-danger chances and have just a 30.43% expected goals for percentage) and haven't really managed to generate much offensively outside of a few individual efforts.
Game 3 was a slightly better showing for the three overall, but they still didn't have the better of chances overall.
To be fair, they are getting the hardest matchup against the Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson and Brady Tkachuk, so they're being asked to do a lot defensively and perhaps there's an aversion to risk because of that, but the team really needs those three to start producing.
6. Power Play Struggles
It's gotten to the point where I feel those three's struggles to produce are bleeding into the power play, which went 0 for 4 on Thursday, moving their series success rate to just 1 for 10.
After finishing the regular season as the fourth best power play, with the best conversion rate since the start of the new year, the man advantage has simply not been good to start the postseason.
It went 0 for 5 in Game 1, squandering two 5v3 chances, and again 0 for 4 in Game 3.
The only time it came through was in Game 2, where the second power play unit converted thanks to Stankoven, Hall and Blake (go figure).
The power play hasn't needed to be good thanks to Ottawa being worse, but it's a worrying trend if it continues to struggle, being that's been one the team's Achilles' heels for years now.
7. Ottawa's Defensive Losses
On top of being in a 3-0 hole, the Senators could be dealing with perhaps another significant loss on the blueline.
Ottawa's number one defenseman, Jake Sanderson (who has two assists in the series), left midway through the second period after absorbing a hit to the head from Taylor Hall as well as blocking two shots off of his hand.
He would not return to the game.
The Senators are already dealing with the loss of their other top pairing defenseman in Artem Zub, who was injured in Game 1, and so losing Sanderson would be a significant blow to a team that has already used nine different blueliners in this series.
8. Hit King
Despite only getting sparing minutes, Will Carrier continues to deal out punishment to any Senator who gets in his way.
The physical winger added another five hits Thursday night in just 7:47 of ice time, bringing his series total up to 20, which is the most in the entire league so far these playoffs.
That's all while averaging just 10:05 per game.
Carrier hasn't just been empty calorie hits either as his line with Mark Jankowski and Eric Robinson have provided solid shifts, where they've led in scoring chances and high-danger chances in their minutes.
9. Shutting Down Ottawa's Top Options
Heading into the series, there were two players the Hurricanes had to be weary of: Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk.
The Senators' top centerman and top winger were two of their best offensive weapons, who had combined for over 50 goals and 140 points.
However, trough three games, the pair has combined for zero points.
They've had some shots (14 in total) and some decent looks, but they've been basically invisible overall, with Tkachuk also only having six hits and yet nine penalty minutes.
If Carolina continues to shut them down, this series may be done as early as Saturday.
10. 3-0 Leads
The Hurricanes taking a 3-0 series lead isn't technically a death sentence for Ottawa, but it pretty much is one statistically.
All-time, teams that go up 3-0 in a best-of-7 series have series record of 209-4 or 98.1%.
That means in all of NHL history, only four teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit, the most recent being the 2014 LA Kings.
The Hurricanes last went up 3-0 in a series in 2024 (they ended up beating the New York Islanders 4-1 in the first round that year).
So, again, not a done deal, but you have to be feeling pretty good right now if you're a Hurricanes fan.
Bonus!
One more takeaway I need to add:
The Canes won 54.1% of their draws tonight.
They had been dominated in the dot so far this series: (43.6% in Game 1, 36.2% in Game 2), but the centers really flipped the script in Game 3.
Staal - 17/32
Aho - 7/11
Stankoven - 3/7
Jankowski - 5/6
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