Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen made 22 saves, Logan Stankhoven, Taylor Hall provided the scoring as Carolina blanked the Ottawa Senators 2-0.
The Hurricanes take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, while the Senators have now lost four consecutive playoff openers. Ottawa has gone on to win a series in only one of those four, 2017 versus the Boston Bruins.
How did the Senators lose?
Lack of puck possession
One has to look no further than simple analytics. The Hurricanes outshot Ottawa 29-22, total shot attempts 65-49 in favour of Carolina. A late push by the Senators in the third period brought that number closer. After 40 minutes, the Hurricanes had almost doubled Senators in attempts, 43-22. High danger chances were 11-5 Carolina at even-strength, 7-5 Senators combined on the power play and with Linus Ullmark pulled for a sixth attacker in the late stages.
Five high dangers 5-on-5, displays the lack of Senators traffic to the Canes net.
Per Natural Stat Trick only five Ottawa players were on the positive side of shot attempts, playing at even-strength.
Brady Tkachuk 13-9 59.09%
Drake Batherson 14-11 56%
Dylan Cozens 13-11 54.17%
Claude Giroux 14-13 51.85%
Jake Sanderson 19-18 51.35%
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the trio of Nick Cousins/Shane Pinto/Michael Amadio had one of if not likely their worst outing possession-wise this season.
Known for turning defense into offense, the Senators checking line was buried in the defensive zone for the majority of the day. The line were held without a shot on goal with the unit on the ice as a whole, and had no response to the Hurricanes second unit of Taylor Hall/Logan Stankhoven/Jason Blake.
Nick Cousins 2-14 12.5%
Shane Pinto 6-15 28.57%
Michael Amadio 3-18 14.29%
Responsible for each of Carolina’s two goals, the Hurricanes second line Corsi numbers at even strength are as follows; Hall, Stankoven 79.17%, Blake 77.27%.
https://hockeyhotstove.com/category/bloggers/murray-pam
Forecheck/Physicality
Senators head coach Travis Green said Friday, his team needs to play a physical style. The game which featured another captain’s fight with Senators Brady Tkachuk this time dropping the gloves with Hurricanes Jordan Staal.
While Ottawa was credited with 38 hits, it was Carolina rocking a total of 58, who utilized their physicality, keeping Senators d-men on a swivel all game.
Senators Zub injured
Dependable blueliner Artem Zub left the game 3:32 into the second period after initiating a check on Hurricanes Seth Jarvis. Zub headed down the tunnel after a tv timeout with what appeared to be a lower leg injury.
Paired with Jake Sanderson and a key cog on the Senators penalty kill, if Zub is out for any length of time, it makes defeating Carolina that much tougher.
Green said “We’ll know more tomorrow,” regarding Zub’s injury status during his postgame availability.
It’s hoped, Tyler Kleven is close returning to the Senators d-core sooner than later. Kleven has missed the past eight games after being hit in the facial area with a shot.
The d-man took part in Ottawa’s final practice Friday prior to traveling to Raleigh. However, he donned a non-contact jersey and facial protection. Kleven is with the team in Carolina.
Missed it by that much
Drake Batherson thought he scored to tie the game at one on an early third period power play. Batherson flicked a rebound towards Andersen where it initially appeared, the Hurricanes goaltender, had the puck in his glove beyond the goal line. However, upon further review the puck bounced out of Andersen’s glove catching the goal post and did not fully cross the red line.
Seconds later Tkachuk almost potted one, but again Andersen was up to the task. The pair of scoring chances were probably the Senators best opportunities of the day.
Special Teams
Possessing the league’s sixth-best penalty kill since January 24 when Senators assistant coach Mike Yeo took over the struggling unit. Ottawa killed off all five Hurricane power plays. The Senators PK successfully defended a pair of two-man disadvantages. However, Ottawa dodged bullets by taking a few unnecessary penalties.
The Senators had four power plays themselves, but did not record a shot during their first two attempts until Batherson almost beat Andersen on their third PP.
They are who we thought they are
The Carolina Hurricanes finished with a league second-best 113 points. They’re the Eastern Conference no. 1 seed for a reason. The Hurricanes are solid throughout their lineup with few weaknesses.
“We didn’t find a way to generate enough, but their team also does that to you as well, and I didn’t think we gave up too many grade “A’s” (shots). They were on their toes. For sure. they’ve got a real good team. They didn’t finish first for nothing,” noted Green.
“We’re going to watch the tape, try to make a few adjustments. Carolina does a real good job playing their game, and I don’t think the series is ever going to look like there’s a ton of space out there. It’s going to look very similar every night. They’re going to forecheck hard. We’re going to forecheck hard. It’s going to be a lot of hits. I think at the end of every game, both teams are going to feel like there wasn’t space on the ice. And I don’t see that changing.”
Brady Tkachuk adding, “I mean, they’re just always on top. They’re always in right spots, and you can see that they blocked a lot of shots there, especially at the end. But all game they’re sacrificing their bodies, they don’t give you much. No, they frustrate. They frustrated the whole league with the way they play. So for us, we probably did a good job limiting their chances too and maybe frustrating them a little bit. So it’s just going to be like this, all series It’s going to be a long series.”
Game 2 goes Monday in Carolina at 7:30 p.m..
https://www.nhl.com/senators/video/ott-at-car-recap-6393386588112
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