Flat Hurricanes Lose to Hungry Senators; Taylor Hall Hits Milestone
Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images The Carolina Hurricanes lead the Metropolitan Division by a large margin and have their spot already reserved for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and on Easter Sunday, they played like it. Loose offense and relaxed defense were prevalent as they faced the Ottawa Senators, who brought their strongest qualities as they battled for playoff contention. While the Hurricanes had more shot attempts than the Senators (64-59), the Senators put more shots on goal (32-28) and generated far more high-danger scoring chances than the Hurricanes (23-12); significantly more than the Hurricanes typically see.
To start the game, the Hurricanes’ bottom six was shaken up as both Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook did not play. Their absence remained undisclosed by the team, though it was likely for rest, as is common for postseason-bound teams . Jesperi Kotkaniemi returned to the lineup (his first appearance in 15 games), centering the bottom line while flanked by Eric Robinson and Nicolas Deslauriers.
Meanwhile, the third line was centered by Mark Jankowski, with Nikolaj Ehlers and William Carrier on the wings. Senators’ Desperation Drives Win Over Hurricanes, but High Points Remained for Carolina The first goal of the game came on the power play for Carolina, as Logan Stankoven found the back of the net with an excellent pass from Nikolaj Ehlers, who logged his 65th point of the season – the first time he has done so in his NHL career. Stankoven’s goal was soon followed up by a pair of goals from the Senators; one from Dylan Cozens on the power play , and another by Tim Stutzle after Ottawa took advantage of a fanned puck from Robinson.
In the final 20 seconds of the first period, Andrei Svechnikov tied things up. Refusing to give up on the play when Linus Ullmark seemingly covered the puck, he recognized that the puck remained loose and slipped it past the goal line . In doing so, he extended his point streak to five consecutive games – matching his season high.
"I'm playing with great players…trying to improve every single day and every single game and it's worked well so far" With his assist on Logan Stankoven's goal, Nikolaj Ehlers has a career-high points total this season He discussed it all in the first intermission interview… pic. twitter. com/9w0GkvNFvI — Queen of the Puck (@rbarkleyhockey) April 5, 2026 Hurricanes Outscored 4-1 in Second, Third Period However, the following 40 minutes were not in their favor.