The Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators are both looking ahead to the playoffs, but first there is the business of the regular-season finale for both teams in the Canadian capital on Thursday night.
The Hurricanes (47-29-5, 99 points) will play the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, while the Senators (44-30-7, 95 points) will face their Ontario provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in the postseason’s opening round.
Carolina lost 4-2 to the host Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night as the Hurricanes sat seven regulars. Forwards Jordan Staal, Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho, Jordan Martinook and Jackson Blake along with defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield did not dress.
“We were short-handed for sure, but I think just the compete level was pretty high,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “And that’s what allowed us to at least hang in there and make it an even game. It could have gone either way, but their skill got us at the end of the day.”
Taylor Hall and Tyson Jost scored for the Hurricanes, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 17 saves.
Brind’Amour’s son Skyler, 25, made his NHL debut in the game for Carolina, as did defenseman Domenick Fensore, 23. The younger Brind’Amour was minus-2 and 8-for-10 on faceoffs in 15:28 of ice time. Fensore had five shots on goal in 17:13.
“I was happy for him because he earned it,” Rod Brind’Amour said of his son. “He’s played solid. He’s not going to score three, four goals a night, but I think he was good on the faceoffs. … It’s kind of the little things that he does like kill penalties, that kind of role. I think he did a good job.”
Ottawa, coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, might have its captain back on Thursday.
Brady Tkachuk missed eight games with an upper-body injury he sustained on March 30, and coach Travis Green has said he expects Tkachuk to be ready for the playoffs. However, it is possible that Tkachuk could shake off the cobwebs in the last game of the regular season.
“We’ll see on Thursday,” Green said, smirking.
“We weigh every decision on who’s going to play and who’s not going to play, and Brady is no different,” Green added after some prodding. “We’ll see on Thursday if he plays or not.”
When asked if he thought Tkachuk needed to get a game in before the playoffs, Green answered, “No, I don’t, I think Brady is fine the way he is. And he’ll be fine to start the playoffs.”
Thomas Chabot and Drake Batherson each netted a goal in the loss against Chicago to extend their point streaks to six games. Nick Cousins also scored, Dylan Cozens had two assists and Anton Forsberg made 12 saves.
“I think we outplayed them for most of the game,” Batherson said of the Blackhawks. “It would’ve been nice to score a few more. We had our looks. But it’s tough, I mean, right now we’re just trying to play as well as we can going into the playoffs, and unfortunately we didn’t come out with two points tonight.”
–Field Level Media
