Hurricanes drop back-to-back to desperate Senators 6-3.

OTTAWA, CANADA - APRIL 05: Tim Stützle #18 of the Ottawa Senators celebrates his first period goal against the Carolina Hurricanes with Fabian Zetterlund #20 at Canadian Tire Centre on April 05, 2026 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images) | Getty Images When the pregame hype reel was released on social media for Sunday’s game against Ottawa, the sight of Nicolas Deslauriers walking in and his jersey being hung ended up being a signal that Carolina was prepared to have at least one player sit out. It turns out two players didn’t make the trip to Ottawa—Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook—and the effort on the ice showed that the Canes had moved into preservation mode as Ottawa ran away with the game 5-2.

The loss means that Carolina failed to clinch the Metropolitan Division as Pittsburgh won in regulation for the second day in a row against a Florida team that has given up on the season. Ottawa meanwhile was looking to at least salvage some points to stem the bleeding from dropping four of their last five and take advantage of other results during the day to stay in the Wild Card 2 spot and inch closer to Boston in the first spot. The game started well for the Hurricanes, as Carolina reacted to losing their Power Play Goal games streak on Saturday by starting a new one.

The Canes earned the penalty when Seth Jarvis went down the ice on a breakway and was held by Jordan Spence to the point where he ended up in the goalie net, hitting the cross bar. Jarvis was OK, and on the ensuring power play a red hot Nikolaj Ehlers was able to get close to the net, thread a great pass over to Logan Stankoven who potted it to put the Hurricanes up 1-0. View Link Once that power play was finished, though, the Senators basically took control of the game.

There wasn’t a period where the Senators were outshot by the Canes, and less than two minutes after Stankoven gave Carolina the lead Ottawa tied it back up on a Power Play goal of their own by Dylan Cozens. Less than a minute later, Tim Stützle took advantage of a misplay on the puck, skated in on goalie Frederik Andersen, and made a great move at the crease to push the puck by the goalie to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. Carolina still had some fight, though, as the first period wound down.