Hurricanes win Game 4, sweep Senators in Eastern 1st Round

OTTAWA -- Logan Stankoven scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes completed a sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

With Carolina on the power play, K'Andre Miller’s shot from the right point banked off the end boards and straight to Stankoven on the left side, where he put in the rebound from a sharp angle to make it 2-1 at 9:10.

“I think tonight was a good challenge for us,” Stankoven said. “Just trying to stick together and don't want to cross the line too much, but just be there for each other. And I thought we did a good job, for the most part, just handling our emotions.”

The forward scored four goals in the series, one in each game.

“It’s nice to contribute individually, and our line’s been good,” Stankoven said.

Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall said of Stankoven, “He’s been awesome. I think if you look back at how he played the last 10-15 games of the regular season, our line was clicking pretty well. I think we had so many chances all year long. And when you start to see some pucks go in, it just makes you feel better.”

Sebastian Aho scored an empty-net goal at 17:38 to make it 3-1. Dylan Cozens then pulled the Senators within 3-2 at 18:09, but Aho added another empty-net goal at 18:45 for the 4-2 final.

“We executed really well,” Aho said. “We played really well without the puck. I thought we gave them no room, we were blocking shots, we were checking bodies, you know, just, you can go and go on down the list.”

Carolina will play either the Philadelphia Flyers or the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. The Flyers lead that series 3-0 entering Game 4 in Philadelphia on Saturday.

“Same mindset,” Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker said of the second round. “No different. Stick to our game plan, play hard every night and keep going.”

Hall had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed in the Metropolitan Division. Seth Jarvis had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 25 saves.

“Can’t understate that,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of Andersen’s performance. “Especially when you want to consider how well the other guy was playing there in their end, it was a goalie matchup. They were going save for save, and we needed it. Otherwise, this thing could have gone a lot different. It’s probably the best hockey he’s played for us.” 

Drake Batherson had a goal and an assist, and Carter Yakemchuk had two assists for the Senators, the second wild card from the East, in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut. Linus Ullmark made 26 saves.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “Really tight series. Give credit to them. They’re a great team, play hard, don’t give you much. I think everybody in this room gave absolutely everything they had to try and extend this series and yeah, it’s tough.”

The Hurricanes were without forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who was scratched due to a lower-body injury. He played 17:06 in Carolina’s 2-1 win here on Thursday. 

Brind’Amour said Ehlers just “didn’t feel right.”

Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin left the game early in the second period with an upper-body injury, needing to be helped off the ice after taking a hit from Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven.

“That’s obviously a concussion there or something,” Brind’Amour said. “Certainly looked like one. I don’t have any definitive (update) there on that one.”

The Senators went 1-for-9 on the power play in Game 4, including three 5-on-3 opportunities on which they were unable to convert.

Ottawa ended the series 1-for-21 on the man-advantage.

“I think special teams was the difference,” Walker said. “The whole series we did a really great job on the penalty kill. And then today, the power play stepped up when we needed a goal.”

Hall put Carolina ahead 1-0 at 15:15 of the second period. He took a backhand, cross-ice feed from Mark Jankowski and snapped a shot past Ullmark from the left hash marks.

The Hurricanes scored first in every game of the series.

“Really proud of this group,” Brind’Amour said. “I mean, human nature is maybe not put the whole foot on the gas, but our first period was great. We came out like we want to finish this.”

Batherson’s third goal of the series tied the game 1-1 on the power play at 17:08. He tipped a shot from Tim Stutzle in front for Ottawa’s first goal of the series with the man-advantage. The Senators were 0-for-17 on the power play until Batherson’s goal. 

“This year, we probably played a lot better than last year,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said, referring to the six-game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. “I mean we lost four in a row. It was a different series. And I think we've taken a lot of steps this year to really having a lot of belief that we're a lot closer than we were (to) hopefully competing for a Stanley Cup.”

The Senators were without two of their top defensemen in Jake Sanderson (upper body) and Artem Zub (undisclosed).

“Having ‘Sandy’ and Zub would have been a world of difference,” Green said. “I think we were definitely the underdog going into this series. But I felt like we were healthy. You know, (there’s) a lot of ifs.”

NOTES: The Hurricanes became the third team in NHL history to earn at least one series win in eight consecutive playoff years, following the Montreal Canadiens (10 from 1984-93 and 10 from 1951-60) and Flyers (nine from 1973-81). … Carolina also became the 20th team in NHL history to never trail in a game during a best-of-7 series. … Forward Nicolas Deslauriers replaced Ehlers in the Hurricanes lineup and had four penalty minutes in 3:09 of ice time.