History beckons as Hurricanes meet Senators for the first time in playoffs. Key offensive talent clashes, but goaltending struggles loom large for both.
The Carolina Hurricanes finally know their opponent for the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as the team is set to face the Ottawa Senators.
The Hurricanes locked up the top spot in the Eastern Conference on Monday and with the Boston Bruins' win on Tuesday, it locked the Senators into WC2.
Carolina has never faced Ottawa in the playoffs before, but the two clubs have met 122 times in the regular season.
Over that span, the Hurricanes have a 67-42-13 edge. This year, they went 2-1-0.
Carolina outscored the Senators 11-10 across those three games and had quite a bit of power play success too (37.5%).
In terms of league standings, the Canes have a 53-22-7 record, the fifth ranked power play (25%) and the 11th ranked penalty kill (80.3%)
Ottawa has a 43-27-11 record with the eighth best power play (23.5%) and the 29th best penalty kill (75.5%).
Both teams also rank in the top-10 for goals per game, shots per game and shots against per game.
The Hurricanes are led offensively by Sebastian Aho (80pts) and have three 70+ points scorers and seven different 20-goal scorers on their roster.
For their careers, Sebastian Aho (9g, 26pts in 25gp) and Nikolaj Ehlers (12g, 30pts in 26gp) are point-per-game players against the Senators.
Ottawa is led of offense by Tim Stutzle (83pts). They have two players who have eclipsed 70 points and five 20+ goal scorers.
Claude Giroux is just below a point-per-game for his career against Carolina, notching 17 goals and 54 points in 60 games.
While both teams are great at 5v5 play, where both struggle is in net.
The Hurricanes have the 26th ranked team save percentage (0.879), while the Senators have the 30th (0877).
In goal, Frederik Andersen has a career record of 11-9-4 against Ottawa with a 0.886 save percentage, Brandon Bussi is 2-0-0 (0.937) and Pyotr Kochetkov is 1-1-0 (0.943).
On the flipside, Linus Ullmark is 3-4-1 against Carolina with a 0.892 save percentage.
Ullmark has faced Carolina in the postseason before, starting two games for the Bruins in 2022. He went 0-2-0 in those games, giving up eight goals on 57 shots (0.860).
If not for league worst goaltending in the middle of the year, the Senators wouldn't be anywhere close to WC2, so it's a bit unfortunate that this is who the Canes wound up matched with now that they've started to stabilize a bit more.
Carolina has the edge in experience though, as this is their eighth straight postseason appearance, while this will be just Ottawa's second consecutive year in the playoffs.
Overall, it looks to be a pretty even matchup between two solid teams and should be a fun series.
Stay tuned for a more detailed breakdown of the first round matchup.
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