{"id":613798,"date":"2026-04-19T04:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613798\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T04:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T04:57:07","slug":"senators-fail-to-generate-any-offence-in-tight-checking-game-1-vs-hurricanes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/613798\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators fail to generate any offence in tight-checking Game 1 vs. Hurricanes"},"content":{"rendered":"

RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 The margins are thin in playoff hockey, as the Ottawa Senators<\/a> and Carolina Hurricanes discovered in this year’s post-season opener.<\/p>\n

If Game 1 is any indication, good scoring chances will be few and far between.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the end of every game, both teams are going to feel like there wasn’t space on the ice. And I don’t see that changing,\u201d said Senators head coach Travis Green after Ottawa\u2019s 2-0 loss on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.”<\/p>\n

The players feel much the same way<\/p>\n

If it wasn\u2019t for a save from Frederik Andersen<\/a> in the third period that was initially called a goal but disallowed, maybe the Senators post a come-from-behind victory We should have goal-line technology by now: a topic for another day.<\/p>\n

Maybe, if a puck underneath Linus Ullmark<\/a>\u2019s leg slips past the net, not in front of the goal on Carolina\u2019s second goal, we have a different story.<\/p>\n

Both Ottawa and Carolina have elite special teams, and both penalty kills were perfect.<\/p>\n

It was close, but the Hurricanes got the job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo lucky goals for them,\u201d said Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson<\/a>. \u201cWe’re going to get our chances, too. So just making sure we’re staying sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n

It likely will a low-scoring series. But the fact the Senators struggled to create offence is a worrying sign.<\/p>\n

“We didn\u2019t find a way to generate enough but their team also does that to you as well \u2026 we didn\u2019t give up too many Grade A\u2019s,” said Green.<\/p>\n

When two of the three or four best defensive teams analytically speaking play each other, goals might be as plentiful as fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust want to show it’s going to be a long series,” said Tkachuk.<\/p>\n

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said he had no idea that Tkachuk and Staal were going to fight. Green loved it.<\/p>\n

It was the third time in the last month that Tkachuk has fought a fellow captain to open a big game; the last two were with the New York Islanders\u2019 Anders Lee.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo better way to start off the playoffs for us,\u201d said Sanderson about his captain’s fight.<\/p>\n

A better way would have been with a win.<\/p>\n

Physicality of the non-punching variety wasn\u2019t expected from the Hurricanes. <\/p>\n

Carolina averaged 20 hits a game in the season. But expect the unexpected in the playoffs. They had 33 in the first period.<\/p>\n

The two teams totalled a whopping 96 hits.<\/p>\n

As the series progresses and the physicality ratchets up, in theory that should benefit the bigger Senators.<\/p>\n

But the battle of attrition already has started, and the Senators are losing that on top of the series itself. Defenceman Artem Zub left the game in the second period after delivering a hit on Seth Jarvis. <\/p>\n

Green provided no update afterward.<\/p>\n

The Senators also are missing Nick Jensen and Tyler Kleven<\/a>, which means the team is playing without three of its top six D-men.<\/p>\n

In his first career NHL playoff game, Dennis Gilbert<\/a> struggled. If Kleven isn\u2019t back in Game 2, it might be better to try Lassi Thomson. Gilbert and Nikolas Matinpalo were on the ice for one shot attempt for and nine against.<\/p>\n

It’s uncertain when Kleven will return but he recently practised in a non-contact jersey.<\/p>\n

The Senators\u2019 season has been filled with adversity. It\u2019s unlikely going down 1-0 will faze them. What should worry them is that historically, and again on Saturday, Carolina has edged the Senators in every category.<\/p>\n

“They didn’t finish first for nothing,” said Green about Carolina.<\/p>\n

Ullmark gave up two goals he probably wants back, while Andersen was perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlucky a little bit, but that’s playoffs,\u201d said Ullmark about allowing the first goal to Logan Stankoven<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ullmark played well and made a ton of good saves, but the Hurricanes had the edge between the pipes. Andersen was spectacular in a shutout, despite an awful regular season . If that continues, the Senators need to worry.<\/p>\n

In the end, Ullmark gave the Senators a chance to win and was stellar on two five-on-three power plays, which is promising considering his playoff foibles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked our goaltender\u2019s game tonight,\u201d said Green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RALEIGH, N.C. \u2014 The margins are thin in playoff hockey, as the Ottawa Senators and Carolina Hurricanes discovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-613798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}