‘It’s heartbreaking’: Hurricanes down Senators 4-2 to complete four-game sweep

OTTAWA — Brady Tkachuk waited for the cameras and microphones to gather around his locker.

The Senators captain had tears in his eyes as he processed a gut-wrenching finale to a campaign filled with adversity.

“I didn’t want our season to be over,” Tkachuk said. “It’s just really tough.”

The club will now pick up the pieces and eventually turn the page after being swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Logan Stankoven scored the go-ahead goal in the third period as Carolina defeated Ottawa 4-2 to win the teams’ first-round series 4-0 in a physical contest that featured plenty of nasty moments Saturday.

The battle-tested Hurricanes, who made the Eastern Conference final in both 2023 and 2025, took the first two contests at home in the best-of-seven matchup — 2-0 and 3-2 in double-overtime — before grinding out a 2-1 victory in Game 3 and then securing the all-important fourth win against an opponent ravaged by blue-line injuries.

The Senators were without shutdown defenceman Artem Zub (undisclosed) for most of the series before losing No. 1 option Jake Sanderson to concussion Thursday off a hit from Taylor Hall.

“Probably a lot of ‘What ifs?'” Ottawa head coach Travis Green said of how he will remember the series. “We had lots of chances to win (Game 2). Having Sandy and Zub would have been a world of difference.”

Taylor Hall added a goal and an assist Saturday before Sebastian Aho buried two pucks into the empty net for the East’s top seed. Frederik Andersen made 25 saves. Seth Jarvis chipped in two assists.

“Whatever way the game goes, our group can handle it,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I love just the compete level of our group from Game 1 (and) all the way through. Pretty impressive.”

Drake Batherson, with a goal and an assist, and Dylan Cozens replied for the Senators, who scored just five times in four games and never led against the Hurricanes. Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots. Rookie defenceman Carter Yakemchuk added two assists in his playoff debut.

“We battled against a good team,” said Batherson, who finished with three of his team’s five goals. “On paper it’s 4-0, but it felt like it was a lot closer.”

Ottawa also trailed last spring’s first-round matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 after seven years outside the post-season tournament before eventually falling in six games.

When the Senators look back at their elimination this time around, the power play will be circled in red ink. Batherson’s second-period breakthrough was the only time the club connected on the man advantage in 21 opportunities against an ultra-aggressive penalty kill.

“Really tight series,” said Tkachuk, who finished without a point against the Hurricanes. “They’re a great team, play hard, don’t give you much.”

Stankoven scored his fourth goal in as many contests at 9:10 of the final period on a power play after K’Andre Miller’s initial shot went well wide and bounced to the centre off the end boards.

Batherson came close to equalizing again with six minutes left in regulation at the side of Andersen’s net. Carolina was then whistled for too many men, but that anemic power play again couldn’t generate quality looks.

Aho scored into the empty net before Cozens made it 3-2 with 1:51 left on the clock. Aho sealed the series for good with another empty netter.

“It’s the character, it’s the friendship, the tightness of the group,” Ottawa defenceman Thomas Chabot, who broke his arm toward the end of the regular season before returning well ahead of schedule, said of what he will take from a club that made a post-Olympic surge to qualify for the playoffs.

“This group wanted it bad for this city, for these fans, for the support we’ve had all year and through all the doubts,” Chabot said. “I know how bad guys wanted it … it stings.”

Green said a season that included off-ice distractions was the “most fun” he’s had coaching.

“It would have been easy to get off the rails,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure, and you hear it, you feel it. Give them credit, they stuck with it.”

Carolina opened Saturday’s scoring in a spicy second when Hall beat Ullmark five-hole at 15:15.

Ottawa’s power play finally broke through at 17:08 when Batherson tipped a Tim Stutzle one-timer past Andersen inside the towel-waving Canadian Tire Centre after Ullmark, who finished with a .932 save percentage, denied Jordan Staal in alone short-handed.

Emotions boiled over earlier in the period when Senators defenceman Tyler Kleven crushed Hurricanes counterpart Alexander Nikishin with a huge hit that left the Russian dazed and needing help off the ice.

“Part of my game is being physical,” said the six-foot-five Kleven, who was jumped by Carolina winger Andrei Svechnikov in the ensuing melee. “(Sanderson) got caught up high (in Game 3) and sometimes that needs to be addressed. I saw a play where he had possession of the puck, and I just tried to take the puck away from him.”

Stutzle nearly scored on a short-handed breakaway before Tkachuk started throwing his weight around on Hall and Jalen Chatfield. A massive scrum ensued at centre after the whistle, with Carolina tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers seeking retribution and Senators forward Ridly Greig delivering a sucker punch on Hurricanes defenceman Sean Walker.

“I kind of liked it,” Green said of the shenanigans. “We like to play on the edge … we weren’t going to quit, we weren’t going to go away quietly.”

The Senators failed to connect on a 5-on-3 power play — shades of a disastrous two-man advantage in Game 3 — before the teams traded those late-period goals to set the stage for what would be Ottawa’s final act of 2025-26.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Tkachuk said. “Everybody in this room gave absolutely everything they had to try to extend the series. It’s tough.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2026.