Hurricanes take fight to Senators in physical Game 1 win to open NHL playoffs
The puck went down, the gloves came off and the Stanley Cup playoffs began with a bang Saturday.
It took only seconds for the Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal and Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators to face off after the opening draw and start throwing punches. It was captain versus captain, and Staal got the better of it, getting off three right-hand strikes before the two players fell to the ice, Staal on top.
The Canes got the better of the Senators in Game 1 of the opening-round playoff series, too. With goaltender Frederik Andersen turning back every Ottawa shot and the Hurricanes tight checking and winning the physical battle — from the Staal fight and throughout the game — Carolina came away with a 2-0 victory at Lenovo Center.
“It was an intense game, obviously,” Staal said.
To which Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour added: “There was not a lot of room and everybody fighting for everything.”
Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall each had a goal and assist for the Canes, but Andersen had the towel-waving crowd on its feet and chanting “Fred-die! Fred-die!’ several times in the game. Those chants were never louder than in the closing minutes, with the Senators on the power play and pulling goalie Linus Ullmark for a sixth attacker.
The Senators got off three shots on goal and the Canes blocked another five Sens shots in the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds of the game — two of the blocks by Canes winger Seth Jarvis.
The biggest of Andersen’s 22 stops came at 3:54 of the third period, Carolina ahead 1-0 and the Senators on a power play. The goalie gloved a shot by Drake Batherson during a scramble in front of the net, but the initial ruling was a good goal as the Sens celebrated.
Not for long.
With Canes fans howling after seeing replays on the board, the play was reviewed, and the goal disallowed as it was ruled the puck did not cross the goal line.
“That’s a game-changer,” Brind’Amour said.
Andersen said he had a “pretty good idea” he had stopped the puck but also added, “You never know.”
Many Canes fans were guessing which goalie Brind’Amour would start in Game 1 — Andersen or Brandon Bussi, who beat the Senators twice in his sensational first year in the NHL.
Brind’Amour gave Andersen the nod because of his 85 games of playoff experience, and Andersen responded by becoming the first goalie in franchise history to have a shutout in the team’s postseason opener.
Staal-Tkachuk fight opens the game
No one expected the game to begin with the two guys wearing a “C” to go at it. Staal said it was a first for him in the NHL — gloves off after the opening draw. But Tkachuk wanted to go, he said, and the two went at it.
“That’s two big dudes,” Hall said of the forwards, both 6-foot-4 and more than 220 pounds.
Or as Brind’Amour put it, “Two grown men going at it.”
Stankoven said he sensed before the opening faceoff that something was afoot. He also liked what he saw after the puck went down.
“I thought it was great,” Stankoven said. “It was a great way to get the crowd into it, and I thought ‘Jordo’ did a great job.”
‘Kids and the Hall’ strike again — twice
After a scoreless first period not lacking hard-hitting action, Stankoven’s line gave the Canes the lead early in the second period. After defenseman Alexander Nikishin made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone, Hall made a touch pass to Jackson Blake, who dropped off a pass to Stankoven in the slot for the shot.
Stankoven didn’t get all of the puck, but got enough to beat Ullmark to the glove side for the 1-0 lead. The center, at 5-8 the shortest player on the ice, scored twice a year ago in the Canes’ playoff opener against New Jersey, and appeared to have a second one Saturday in the third period.
Ullmark got a piece of a Nikishin shot, the puck falling near the post as Stankoven, Hall and Blake all converged, all whacking at it. Stankoven was initially credited with the goal, but it was later ruled the puck glanced off Hall’s skate -- the assists to Stankoven and Blake, who had two.
“I didn’t even know I had scored until I was named the third star of the game,” Hall said, smiling.
Finding the power
One shortcoming for the Canes was the inability to take advantage of their power plays against a team that struggled on the penalty kill in the regular season. Carolina twice had a 5-on-3 advantage, but the Senators battled to clear the puck and Ullmark did his job.
“Both goalies played great,” Brind’Amour said. “Both rose to the occasion and kept their team in it.”
The two teams were credited with 96 hits. The Canes had 57, getting a game-high eight from power forward Andrei Svechnikov, seven from Jordan Martinook and six from Stankoven.
“It’s playoff hockey,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s the first round, and everybody has all the energy in the world.”
The Canes and Senators will go at it in Game 2 on Monday before the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series shifts to Ottawa for two games. Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub left Saturday’s game with an injury after a collision with Jarvis, and Sens coach Travis Green did not have an update on Zub’s status or availability.
“Carolina does a real good job of playing their game,” Green said. “I don’t think the series is ever going to look like there’s a ton of space out there. It’s going to look very similar every night. They’re going to forecheck hard and we’re going to forecheck hard. There’s going to be a lot of hits.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 8:03 PM.
