3 Things to Watch: Hurricanes at Senators, Game 3 of Eastern Conference 1st Round

(2WC) Senators at (1M) Hurricanes

Eastern Conference First Round, Game 3

Carolina leads best-of-7 series 2-0

7:30 p.m. ET; (CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, FDSNSO, HBO MAX)

KANATA, Ont. -- Tyler Kleven will return for the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference First Round series against the Carolina Hurricanes at Canadian Tire Center on Thursday, providing reinforcement to a blue line that has been overtaxed in the first two games.

Kleven, out since April 2 after sustaining a broken jaw, is excited to join the fray, even if it comes with his team down two games in the best-of-7 series. 

"I feel good, I'm rested, got plenty of skates in," Kleven said, "I'm ready to go."

Defenseman Jake Sanderson played 43:06 in a 3-2 loss in double overtime in Game 2 on Monday. Thomas Chabot played 40:50. Each is averaging more than 30 minutes per game these playoffs because of a Game 1 injury sustained to first-pair defensemen Artem Zub.

"They are warriors; I see it all season," Kleven said. "They go out and compete. They have a lot of heart. I want to go to battle with them every day." 

Kleven, who has been wearing a protective shield during practices, had 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) and a plus-2 rating while playing an average of 17:21 in 70 regular-season games. 

The 24-year-old says he plans to play the same, simple, straight-forward game that has become his calling card in his two full seasons with the Senators. 

"I think I just go out there and keep it simple," he said. "I think I can help the team out that way. Keep it simple and play hard." 

Cameron Crotty is also being inserted into the lineup and will make his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut. Lassi Thomson and Dennis Gilbert will be scratched.

Crotty spent the season in Belleville in the American Hockey League and was called up late in the season. He made his Ottawa debut on April 2 and played six games down the stretch, including a 6-3 win against the Hurricanes on April 5. 

"We didn't take it lightly," Green said. "We just liked the games that he gave us."

Here are three things to watch in Game 3:

1. Home cooking

The maxim is a team is not in trouble in a playoff series until they lose at home.

That's what the Senators face now, trailing 2-0 in the series. They need to win.

Four teams of 213 have erased a 3-0 deficit and gone on to win a best-of-7 series in the playoffs.

The Senators are counting on a raucous crowd and the built-in advantages of being at home, including last line change, to make all the difference.

"We need the energy and the atmosphere to be rocking tonight because they have been great for us all year," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. "It'll be nice to be home, in front of this home crowd. I expect the energy to be absolutely rocking and that will give us an extra bit of juice. The belief has never wavered. We have faced plenty of adversity."

The Senators ended a long playoff drought last season, dropping a first-round series to the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games. But the atmosphere in the home games has stayed with the players. They are hungry to experience it again.

"That's the energy you kind of feed off," first-line forward Tim Stutzle said. "That's what you dream about as a kid when you play on the PlayStation or whatever and the towels are going. It's unbelievable. I missed it for a long time; I'm excited to get it back."

Ottawa was 23-12-6 at home during the regular season.

2. Match game

As mentioned, Ottawa is afforded the opportunity to have the last change, which is vital in a series where each coach likes to hard match.

Now, Green can match his top players against what he believes to be more favorable matchups. Neither Tkachuk nor Stutzle has a goal in this series. They are a combined minus-3. 

He can also try new ways to shut down Carolina's wrecking-ball line of Logan Stankoven, Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake, which has three goals, six assists and 24 shots in the first two games. 

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour is not worried about ceding control of the matchups. 

Carolina won 24 games on the road during the regular season (24-12-5), a total topped only by the Colorado Avalanche (29), who won the Presidents' Trophy for having the best record in the NHL. 

"We have a pretty balanced group," Brind'Amour said. "Clearly, we have top players and what not. But I think everybody is able to play."

3. Power Surge

The Senators were eighth-best on the power play in the regular season, scoring 24 percent of the time. But they have yet to score in seven tries against an aggressive, elite penalty-kill unit from Carolina, that had an 80.5 success rate in the regular season (11th in NHL). 

The Hurricanes are more high-risk in their kill than many teams, putting the puck holder under duress whenever possible and playing further out toward the blue line.

The Senators, who only have two goals in this series, need a boost from their power play.

"The key thing for our power play to understand is (Carolina) is going to have success too," Green said. "I don't know the numbers exactly against them, but 1-of-5 is probably pretty good. We've had seven. We are due. We should get a power-play goal here soon."

Hurricanes projected lineup

Andrei Svechnikov -- Sebastian Aho -- Seth Jarvis

Taylor Hall -- Logan Stankoven -- Jackson Blake

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Jordan Staal -- Jordan Martinook

William Carrier -- Mark Jankowski -- Eric Robinson

Jaccob Slavin -- Jalen Chatfield

K'Andre Miller -- Sean Walker

Shayne Gostisbehere -- Alexander Nikishin

Frederik Andersen

Brandon Bussi

Scratched: Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nicolas Deslauriers, Mike Reilly, Pyotr Kochetkov

Injured: None

Senators projected lineup 

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Drake Batherson

Ridly Greig -- Dylan Cozens -- Claude Giroux

Warren Foegele -- Shane Pinto -- Mike Amadio

Nick Cousins -- Lars Eller -- Fabian Zetterlund

Jake Sanderson -- Nikolas Matinpalo

Thomas Chabot -- Jordan Spence

Tyler Kleven -- Cameron Crotty

Linus Ullmark

James Reimer

Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Stephen Halliday, Hayden Hodgson, Graeme Clarke, Arthur Kaliyev, Xavier Bourgeault, Oskar Pettersson, Tyler Boucher, Carter Yakemchuk, Leevi Marilainen, Dennis Gilbert, Lassi Thomson

Injured: Artem Zub (undisclosed)

Status report

The Hurricanes, who held an optional skate, will dress the same lineup from Game 2 on Monday. ... There was no further update on Zub, who left in the second period of a 2-0 loss in Game 1 on Saturday; the defenseman did not take part in the Senators morning skate. ... Kleven will return after missing the first two games of the series and the final seven games of the regular season because of a broken jaw; he will be on a pair with Crotty, who was a healthy scratch for Games 1 and 2. ... Defensemen Gilbert and Thomson each will be a healthy scratch.