Logan Stankoven scored for the third straight game and the visiting Carolina Hurricanes put the Ottawa Senators on the brink of elimination with a 2-1 win in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series on Thursday.
Carolina leads the best-of-seven series 3-0, and Game 4 is set for Saturday afternoon.
Only four teams in NHL history have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. The last team to do it was the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in 2014.
Jackson Blake also scored for the Hurricanes. Taylor Hall had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves.
Blake said of Hall, “Yeah, he’s one of the guys driving the bus right now. A huge piece for our group. For me and ‘Stanks’ to play with a guy like that who’s been around for a while and has had so much success in this league, it’s great to have him there.”
Drake Batherson scored his second goal of the series for the Senators, who have yet to have the lead at any point through three games. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves in the loss.
Carolina went 0-for-4 on the power play. Ottawa was 0-for-5 and is 0-for-12 for the series.
“Power play cost us the game,” Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk said. “… It was pretty frustrating, but we’ve got to find a way. We’ve never quit all season. Just got to step up to the occasion.”
Stankoven opened the scoring, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 5:13 of the first period. Hall got his own rebound after a shot on the rush, circled behind the net and then passed across to Stankoven, who scored on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Brady Tkachuk got in alone against Andersen early in the second period, but his backhand attempt was stopped.
The Senators had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:28 midway through the second period but did not convert.
Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson left the game at 10:07 of the second period with an apparent injury after taking a shot off his left hand. He had earlier taken a hit to the head from Hall.
Senators coach Travis Green said, “It’s pretty obvious why he left the game. I just don’t understand how there’s not a five-minute major called on a hit to the head. It’s a blatant hit to the head, the kind of hit you don’t want to see. It’s ridiculous there wasn’t a review,”
Batherson tied it 1-1 at 16:06 when he received Nick Cousins’ pass in the slot, went to his backhand and lifted it in over Andersen’s pad.
Blake put the Hurricanes back on top 2-1 at 17:29. K’Andre Miller received a pass at the point, skated down to the top of the left circle and passed down across to Blake, who scored past the diving Ullmark from the far post.
“They scored one, the building erupted a little bit there and then just to get that one quick, answer right away, I think that was really big for us as a group,” Blake said. “We had so many (penalty) kills tonight that were really big on the momentum side, and that goal was definitely one of them, too.”
–Field Level Media
