Senators must rely on 'mental fortitude' to climb back into East 1st Round

Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. "The Hockey Maven" shares his humor and insight with readers each Wednesday. With the Stanley Cup Playoffs in full swing, this week focuses on the fascinating Eastern Conference First Round between the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators.

Though the Carolina Hurricanes entered as a heavy favorite against the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference First Round, history has shown that the most unlikely underdogs can surprise. 

Though the "Caniacs," those rabid hockey fans in the Carolinas, are enjoying that sweet smell of success with the Hurricanes leading the best-of-7 series 2-0, the Senators could take back momentum in Game 3 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, FDSNSO, HBO MAX). They stood toe-to-toe with the Hurricanes through 33:53 of overtime in Game 2 before losing 3-2. With Ottawa goalie Linus Ullmark partially screened, Carolina left wing Jordan Martinook scored at 13:53 of the second overtime. 

"(Heck) of a game," Senators forward Drake Batherson said. "Quite the turn of events there with the no goal and the penalty shot. I think both teams played great and it was a great game."

Travis Green, the Senators imperturbable coach, entered the series seeing a silver lining behind the clouds. Ottawa went 16-5-4 after the break for the 2026 Winter Olympics to finish 44-27-11 and clinch the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East.

"Mental fortitude has been huge for this group," Green told NHL.com before Game 1. "Based on the kind of season we've had, my job has been to keep them on the racetrack, keeping them at a high level."

Nobody had to tell Green why Carolina has been listed as a potential Cup favorite along with the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, among others.

"Of course the Canes are tough," he said. "To win this series we've got to play our aggressive 200-foot game, hunt and check, physical fast hockey and raise our game."

TNT analyst Eddie Olczyk predicted that the Hurricanes will reach the Stanley Cup Final. They had the best record in the East (53-22-7) and were second in the NHL with 113 points behind the Avalanche (121) thanks to a core of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis, K'Andre Miller, Nikolaj Ehlers and Jaccob Slavin, just to name a few.

"The time is now for Carolina," Olczyk said. "It's right there for them, there are no excuses. In Rod Brind'Amour, they have one of the best coaches. They've got checking lines, scorers, defensive defensemen."

Green and the Senators should be encouraged by a rare feat pulled off by the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1938 Stanley Cup Final, when an under-.500 team overcame defeated the favored Toronto Maple Leafs for a landmark upset. 

"When the playoffs began in April 1938, the other clubs wondered why we were even there," Black Hawks executive Bill Tobin said. "Few teams in major league sport could have entered 
with fewer credentials."

For starters, they were the only one of the six qualifying teams to have less than a .500 record (14-25 with nine ties). Their first-round opponent were the Montreal Canadiens (18-17 with 13 ties) with two games of the best-of-3 series at the Montreal Forum.

No problem. Although the Canadiens won 6-4 in Game 1, the Black Hawks took the next two 4-0 and 3-2 in overtime. And if that wasn't amazing enough, they were being coached by a National League baseball umpire, Bill Stewart.

"And for the first time in history, Chicago's lineup was sprinkled with American-born players," wrote former NHL referee Paul Stewart -- Bill's grandson -- in his autobiography "Do You Wanna Go?" 

Until that time it was rare to have a single United States-born skater on a roster.

Next up were the New York Americans after they eliminated the New York Rangers. The Amerks also had the advantage with two out of the three games at Madison Square Garden. Once again, Chicago dropped the opener but rallied to capture the next two and reach the Final against the Maple Leafs.

Once again, it appeared as if the Black Hawks were out of their league. The Maple Leafs (24-15 with nine ties) won the Canadian Division with 57 points. Chicago was third in the American Division, 20 points behind Toronto.

To everyone's astonishment, the Black Hawks won the best-of-5 series 3-1. When the ecstatic Chicago players sought out the Stanley Cup, they finally realized what an upset they had pulled off.

"NHL president Frank Calder had earlier caused the trophy to be shipped to Toronto," wrote Edward Burns in the Chicago Tribune, "reportedly on the assurance that a hockey team which harbored eight American-born players, as did the Hawks, couldn't possibly win the Stanley Cup!"

With that in mind, Olczyk offered an asterisk regarding the unpredictable Senators.

"I won't be surprised if Ottawa wins because I've liked the Senators for a while, but for the Senators to beat (the Hurricanes) would be an upset, 100 percent."

After losing Game 2, Green said, "Playoffs are hard sometimes. When you lose, they sting sometimes." 

Then a pause:

"This one is going to sting."