Hurricanes eliminate Senators with 4-2 win, advance to second round

TL;DR

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-2, completing a sweep in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This victory marks the Hurricanes' sixth consecutive advance to the second round.

Key points

Hurricanes complete a sweep of the Senators
Final score was 4-2 in Game Four
Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven scored for Carolina
Frederik Andersen allowed only five goals in the series
Carolina awaits the winner of Penguins vs Flyers

Carolina HurricanesOttawa SenatorsPittsburgh PenguinsPhiladelphia Flyers

OTTAWA, CANADA - APRIL 25: Taylor Hall #71 of the Carolina Hurricanes reacts after scoring his teams first goal during the second period of Game Four of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Ottawa Senators and the Carolina Hurricanes at Canadian Tire Centre on April 25, 2026 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images \Deep breath\ \Exhales\ \Cracks knuckles\ The Carolina Hurricanes are officially heading to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive year after completing a sweep of the Ottawa Senators with a 4-2 win in Kanata on Saturday afternoon. A vicious, violent game came to an end with a regulation win thanks to a valiant effort from a Carolina penalty kill that was asked to dig deep again and again as well as goals from Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven, who put an exclamation mark on their respective excellent efforts in the series. So too did Frederik Andersen, who surrendered just five goals in his four starts against a team that came into the postseason as one of the hottest in the NHL. The first period went by without any goals or much in the way of incident before the second period became an absolute circus. The shenanigans began when hit hard enough to knock Nikishin out of the game. was assessed four minutes worth of roughing penalties. received two, so Ottawa got a power play. I’ll spare the details on the remainder of the penalties in the second period, but one that was not called was a sucker punch from to while Walker was already engaged with . Hall got the scoring started with a nice shot along the ice to beat , and answered for Ottawa with his third of the series to tie the game at a goal apiece heading into the third. Carolina killed a partial 5-on-3 to start the third, and eventual the power play came through when Stankoven buried his fourth of the series to make it 2-1 and really put the pressure on Ottawa. got his second of the series with an empty-net goal with over two minutes to go. The Sens weren’t done just yet, though, as got them one back with his second of the series. With the game in question again, made one of the plays of the series when he stepped into a shot that might have been labeled for the net. That allowed Aho to score his second of the game on an open net, and Ottawa had no further push from there. Carolina will await the winner of the series between and to determine its second round opponent. The Flyers have a 3-0 lead and are going for a sweep of their own Saturday night.

Q&A

What was the final score of the Hurricanes vs Senators game?

The final score was 4-2 in favor of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Who scored the goals for the Hurricanes in the playoff game against the Senators?

Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven were among the goal scorers for the Hurricanes.

How many goals did Frederik Andersen allow in the series against the Senators?

Frederik Andersen allowed just five goals in his four starts against the Senators.

Who will the Hurricanes face in the second round of the playoffs?

The Hurricanes will face the winner of the series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers.