The goal for each side in Game 4 was simple. After coming out of Game 3 with a 2-1 victory, a win for the Carolina Hurricanes meant a series win in four games, allowing them to rest and focus on their next opponent. For the Ottawa Senators, a win meant keeping their hopes alive and sending the teams back to Raleigh. Their season was on the line.
The Canes were dealt a surprising blow before the game when it was announced that Nikolaj Ehlers would miss the game with a lower-body injury. Nicolas Deslauriers drew into the lineup as a result. The Senators played with Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub, knocking out their top defensive pair. Once again, Frederik Andersen and Linus Ullmark took to the crease for their respective sides.
The ineptitude of both power plays was on display in the first period. The Canes had an early chance negated by a penalty, which turned into a 5-on-3 for the Senators. However, the Senators managed to squander it once more. The Canes' second power play looked better, but a timely block by Nicolas Matinpalo on Sebastian Aho kept us scoreless after the opening 20 minutes.
The second period was littered with massive hits, scrums aplenty, but also a few goals, both coming late in the frame. The most hated man in Ottawa opened it up, with Taylor Hall beating Ullmark through his five-hole to finally get a goal on the board. However, Ottawa scored on the power play less than two minutes later, with Drake Batherson redirecting a pass from Tim Stutzle. After 40, it was 1-1.
The Canes needed a power-play goal desperately. Logan Stankoven came to the rescue. K'Andre Miller's shot missed the net, but Stankoven was there to put home the rebound. With the clock winding down and the goalie on the bench, Sebastian Aho seemingly put it away into the empty net. Dylan Cozens scored a late one, but Aho got one more into the empty net to secure a 4-2 win.
Breaking down the bedlam that was the second period
There were a lot of ill feelings around Ottawa after Taylor Hall's hit on Jake Sanderson knocked him out of Game 3. There was tension during the first period, but the pot boiled over in the second. It all started with Tyler Kleven laying a thunderous hit on Alexander Nikishin. The Canes' defenseman needed help getting off the ice, and I don't think we'll see him for the remainder of the season.
What followed were 22 combined penalty minutes and an endless number of scrums after whistles. Andrei Svechnikov got two penalties for his response to the hit, giving Ottawa a power play. During the middle frame, the Canes found themselves on the wrong side of the heat more often than not. They gave up one goal during it all. At the end of the day, the Canes' kill went 8-for-9.
The Canes deserved the calls they got, but Ottawa was let off the hook too many times. Brady Tkachuk continually punched Mark Jankowski, among others, with his gloves on. Jackson Blake was cross-checked in the face by Nick Cousins. Ridly Greig sucker punched Sean Walker while he was in a headlock with Warren Foegele. None of these resulted in Ottawa penalties, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
We asked for the power play to strike in a big moment, and they did
After trading goals at the end of the second period, and with the disparity in penalties looking really bad, it was only a matter of time before the Canes would get their chance on the power play. Then, they got it. They didn't score. However, as fate would have it, they'd get another shot a few minutes later, and this time, they finally converted.
It almost had to be Logan Stankoven who got the goal. He failed to keep his game-opening goal streak going, so he was due. The bounce off the endboards was a juicy one, and Linus Ullmark was a step late to detect it. Stankoven didn't get much on the shot. It didn't matter. While they only went 1-for-5 today, that one proved to be the difference.
Additional Thoughts
There aren't enough positive adjectives in the English language to express just how excellent Frederik Andersen was in this series. He allowed two goals today, and neither of them was on him. Just like Thursday's win, this was a quiet performance from Andersen. The team made the right decision to go back to him today. The win cements that.
It shouldn't be overlooked that the empty-net goals came from the duo of Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis. Sometimes, you just need to see your name on the scoresheet. Aho scored both, his second and third goals of the series, and Jarvis had the primary helper on both for his first points of the playoffs. Hopefully, this leads to continued production during the second round.
Up Next: The Carolina Hurricanes await the winner of the series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers currently lead the series 3-0, and Game 4 is scheduled for tonight, so they'll possibly get their answer before midnight if the Flyers win. As for the start of the next round, it's anyone's guess. My gut instinct says it'll be early next week.
Add us as a preferred source on Google