Hurricanes at Ottawa: Preview, How to Watch, Game Thread
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - APRIL 04: Seth Jarvis #24 and Andrei Svechnikov #37 of the Carolina Hurricanes are seen during warm ups ahead of a game against the New York Islanders at Lenovo Center on April 4, 2026 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images There’s no rest for the weary Hurricanes as they have to take a quick trip North of the Border for the last time in the regular season to face off against an Ottawa team that’s—stop me if you heard this one before—fighting for its spot in the playoffs. In the last two weeks—starting with the 5-1 win against the Penguins in Pittsburgh—the Canes have played seven games and six have been against opponents fighting for their playoff lives.
The only team to catch them has been Montreal. The latest victim was the New York Islanders on Saturday who currently sit in third in the Metropolitan Division, and next up is an Ottawa team that would be Carolina’s opponent if the playoffs started today. Which they don’t.
What’s helped Carolina is that they have something to play for, and honestly may continue to have something up until the last day of the season thanks to a ridiculously close Atlantic Division. Entering Sunday, they lead Pittsburgh by 10 points for first place in the Metro. As Pittsburgh has only five games left—including a 3 PM tilt against Florida (that is not a typo, somehow the NHL scheduled Florida and Pittsburgh to play in Pittsburgh on back-to-back days)—the best they can hope for is a tie.
Should that happen because Pittsburgh won every game in regulation and the Hurricanes lost all six of their remaining games in regulation, then Pittsburgh would actually be the Metro champs because they’d have 37 regulation wins to the Canes’ 36. What that means for Carolina is that if Pittsburgh once again wins in regulation—and now that Florida is officially eliminated it’s tough to see them really fighting that hard even after being killed 9-4 on Saturday—the Canes will need to get their game at least to Overtime. That will provide them with at least a point, and officially clinch the division.
If somehow Pittsburgh fails to win in regulation, however, then that also clinches the division for Carolina. Why? Well, the best Pittsburgh can do then would be to tie the Canes in regulation wins at 36, the next tiebreaker is regulation plus overtimes wins (ROW) and the Canes have an eight game lead on Pittsburgh there.
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