Hurricanes at Ottawa: Preview, How to Watch, Game Thread
· Yahoo Sports
There’s no rest for the weary Hurricanes as they have to take a quick trip North of the Border for the last time in the regular season to face off against an Ottawa team that’s—stop me if you heard this one before—fighting for its spot in the playoffs.
In the last two weeks—starting with the 5-1 win against the Penguins in Pittsburgh—the Canes have played seven games and six have been against opponents fighting for their playoff lives. The only team to catch them has been Montreal. The latest victim was the New York Islanders on Saturday who currently sit in third in the Metropolitan Division, and next up is an Ottawa team that would be Carolina’s opponent if the playoffs started today. Which they don’t.
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What’s helped Carolina is that they have something to play for, and honestly may continue to have something up until the last day of the season thanks to a ridiculously close Atlantic Division. Entering Sunday, they lead Pittsburgh by 10 points for first place in the Metro. As Pittsburgh has only five games left—including a 3 PM tilt against Florida (that is not a typo, somehow the NHL scheduled Florida and Pittsburgh to play in Pittsburgh on back-to-back days)—the best they can hope for is a tie. Should that happen because Pittsburgh won every game in regulation and the Hurricanes lost all six of their remaining games in regulation, then Pittsburgh would actually be the Metro champs because they’d have 37 regulation wins to the Canes’ 36.
What that means for Carolina is that if Pittsburgh once again wins in regulation—and now that Florida is officially eliminated it’s tough to see them really fighting that hard even after being killed 9-4 on Saturday—the Canes will need to get their game at least to Overtime. That will provide them with at least a point, and officially clinch the division. If somehow Pittsburgh fails to win in regulation, however, then that also clinches the division for Carolina. Why? Well, the best Pittsburgh can do then would be to tie the Canes in regulation wins at 36, the next tiebreaker is regulation plus overtimes wins (ROW) and the Canes have an eight game lead on Pittsburgh there.
In short—it’s possible the Canes will have clinched the division officially before their game against the Senators finishes, and if not all they have to do is get their game to overtime. That will bring them their first division title since 2023. Of course then it’s a fight for the top seed in the East overall, and as Tampa proved by coming back to beat Boston they aren’t going to sit back since both Montreal and Buffalo are tied for second just two points behind them. The answer as to when you sit guys that aren’t 100% may be later than you’d think.
With the short turnaround of a 7 PM game at home and now a 5 PM game on the road, don’t expect a morning skate for Carolina, and it’s also likely that once again coach Rod Brind’Amour won’t be changing out the lines. Frederik Andersen should be between the pipes.
On the other side of the ice the Ottawa Senators are one of several teams in the East that…don’t seem to really want to claim a spot. The Boston Bruins have gotten points in seven of their last ten to build a six point cushion over the second wild card spot, so even with their loss to Tampa on Saturday they are playing solid hockey. The Islanders, Senators, Red Wings, and Blue Jackets have all stumbled as of late while the Flyers and Capitals have taken advantage to crawl back in the race. It’s created a log jam to where Ottawa is technically in the WC2 spot, but they are right now tied in points with Detroit, Philadelphia, and Columbus. The Islanders sit just one point ahead of this group but in third place in the Metro, while Washington is just one point back though with one fewer game remaining than most.
Ottawa is going to get the benefit of the same back-to-back at home that Carolina got last weekend. The Senators are already 0-1 in this pair having dropped a decision to a Minnesota Wild team still with an outside shot of catching Dallas for second in the Central and hosting round one. The loss was the fourth in five games for Ottawa, which feels like they’ve been dealing with one story after another off the ice this season. That includes this week when Captain Brady Tkachuk’s dad Keith had some comments on the Tkachuk Brothers’ podcast that seemed to disparage goalie Linus Ullmark.
Speaking of Ullmark, the question will be whether he does the same thing as Ilya Sorokin and start back-to-back games, or if Ottawa goes with James Reimer who hasn’t played since Tuesday night. The Senators are in an “every point matters” situation, and they may feel that their best chance is Ullmark instead of a rested Reimer. We’ll find out around game time.
Thus on one side we have a team possibly looking to clinch a division while keeping their play up against a potential playoff opponent again versus another that’s trying to claw and get every point and even qualify. It should be a good match. If you aren’t in Ottawa to see this in person, here’s how you can catch the action:
Time: 5 PM
TV: FanDuel Sports Network in the Carolinas. Mike Maniscalco will handle play-by-play alongside Tripp Tracy doing color. Hanna Yates and Shane Willis will provide off-ice reports.
Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network App for fans in the Carolinas. Outside the Carolinas, the game will be available on the ESPN app for any ESPN+/ESPN Unlimited subscribers.
Radio: The pregame on 99.9 The Fan starts at 4:30. At 5PM the Hurricanes Radio Network (consisting of 99.9, 730 The Game in Charlotte, ESPN New Bern 107.5/1490, and ESPN Greenville 107.5/1570) picks up the FDSN feed. You can also stream the call on the Hurricanes app.
Odds: Hurricanes -128 Moneyline, Puckline Hurricanes -1.5 at +194/Senators +106 Moneyline, Puckline +1.5 at -260, O/U 6.5 (+104 Over/-128 Under)