Just like one week ago, the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators open Saturday’s slate of Stanley Cup Playoff action with a 3:00 PM EST puck drop.
In the week since, the Hurricanes have earned three consecutive tight wins over the Senators, taking a 3-0 series lead and giving themselves the opportunity to advance to the second round with another win in Kanata today.
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The Game 3 victory came as a result of goals off of nice passing plays from Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake while Frederik Andersen largely shut the door against on Ottawa team that, frankly, looked nowhere near as dangerous offensively as they did in their two defeats in Raleigh.
When speaking with the media on Friday, Sens head coach Travis Green confirmed that his team would be without both of its top pairing defensemen today. Artem Zub will remain out after injuring himself in Game 1 when he hit Seth Jarvis, and Jake Sanderson is out with a concussion after he was on the receiving end of a hit from Taylor Hall that garnered a two-minute minor penalty for illegal contact to the head, but no supplemental discipline from the league.
That will mean an even heavier load for Ottawa’s stellar second pairing of Thomas Chabot and Jordan Spence, while we could see promising young defenseman Carter Yakemchuk make his playoff debut for Ottawa today.
On the Carolina side of things, it’s tough to see any lineup changes aside from possibly a switch in goal. It’s been less than 48 hours since Andersen’s last start, and with a 3-0 lead, it could be the time to get Brandon Bussi a look
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Andersen has been so good, though, and a win would mean so much for rest, that it would make complete sense for him to get the nod once again.
Brind’Amour told The Athletic’s Cory Lavalette Friday that the team has not yet decided who will be in net for Saturday’s game.
If Carolina is going to close out this series today, it would be great for it to occur in a fashion that features contributions from the top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, who have combined for just one point as the second line of Hall, Stankoven and Blake has carried the offense. Stankoven has scored the first goal in each of the three games to this point.
Here’s how to check out the action…
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Time: 3:00 PM
TV: TBS and TruTV have the national broadcast. For FanDuel Sports Net 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: HBO Max out-of-market, FanDuel Sports Network App for fans in the Carolinas. A very important note—the NHL Power Play feature isn’t available on ESPN during the playoffs, so the only way to hear Mike and Tripp on the TV will be through the FanDuel app.
Radio: The pregame on 99.9 The Fan starts at 6:30PM and runs for 60 minutes in the playoffs. At 7:30PM 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 (per Fanduel Saturday morning): Hurricanes -126 Moneyline, Puckline Hurricanes -1.5 at +194/Senators +105 Moneyline, Puckline +1.5 at -245, O/U 5.5 (-118 Over/+-104 Under)
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