Hurricanes to play Senators in Eastern Conference 1st Round

The Carolina Hurricanes will play the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Senators (43-27-11) will finish as the second wild card in the East after the Boston Bruins clinched the first wild card by defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-0 on Tuesday.

The Hurricanes (53-22-7), who will finish first in the Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference, will have home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 series.

"That's a tough matchup," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "They all are at this time of year moving forward here, but that's one of the better teams, in my opinion, in the NHL. They had a kind of tough start to their season and some interesting things going on, but they got it covered top to bottom. So, it's going to be a huge challenge.”

Carolina has been led this season by forward Sebastian Aho, who had 80 points (27 goals, 53 assists) in 79  games. Forward Nikolaj Ehlers was second with an NHL career-high 71 points (26 goals, 45 assists) in 82 games, and Andrei Svechnikov also set an NHL career high with 70 points (31 goals, 39 assists) in 79 games. Forward Seth Jarvis led the team with 32 goals, and Shayne Gostisbehere led their defensemen with 50 points (13 goals, 37 assists) in 55 games.

Brandon Bussi went 31-6-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average, .894 save percentage and two shutouts in 39 games (all starts) this season, his first in the NHL. Frederik Andersen went 16-14-5 with a 3.05 GAA and .874 save percentage in 35 games (all starts), and Pyotr Kochetkov, who has not played since Dec. 20 because of a lower-body injury but will be available for the playoffs, was 6-2-0 with a 2.33 GAA, .899 save percentage and one shutout in nine games (eight starts).

The Senators have been led by forward Tim Stutzle, who has 83 points (34 goals, 49 assists) in 80 games. Forward Drake Batherson is second with an NHL career-high 70 points (32 goals, 38 assists) in 78 games, and captain Brady Tkachuk is third with 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists) in 60 games. Jake Sanderson leads their defensemen with 54 points (14 goals, 40 assists) in 67 games.

Linus Ullmark is 28-12-8 with a 2.73 GAA, .891 save percentage and three shutouts in 49 games (all starts). James Reimer, who signed a one-year contract with Ottawa on Jan. 12, is 6-4-2 with a 2.53 GAA, .881 save percentage and one shutout in 13 games (12 starts).

The Hurricanes went 2-1-0 against the Senators this season.

Jarvis led Carolina with four points (three goals, one assist) in those three games, and Svechnikov (two goals, one assist), Aho (one goal, two assists), Ehlers (three assists) and forward Jackson Blake (three assists) each had three points.

Bussi went 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .938 save percentage in two starts. Andersen allowed five goals on 30 shots in his only start, a 6-3 loss on April 5.

Stutzle (three goals, one assist), Sanderson (one goal, three assists) and forward Dylan Cozens (one goal, three assists) led Ottawa with four points each in the three games against Carolina.

Reimer was 0-2-0 with a 4.18 GAA and .789 save percentage in two starts. Ullmark made 25 saves on 28 shots in the 6-3 win.

This is the first time the teams will meet in the playoffs.

Carolina has qualified for the postseason in each of Rod Brind'Amour's eight seasons as coach. During that span, the Hurricanes have advanced to the Eastern Conference Final three times, including last season, when it lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in five games.

Ottawa qualified for the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016-17, losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games in the first round.