Welcome to the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Ottawa Senators visiting the Carolina Hurricanes for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. This is NHL Predictions with us here at Last Word On Hockey. This is where we break down key storylines, statistics, and analysis to try to decipher how the games will play out. Who takes Game 2 after a tight-checking first contest? Will the Senators even up the series at one game apiece, going back to Ottawa, or will the Hurricanes hold serve on home ice? Find out our thoughts next.
NHL Predictions with Senators and Hurricanes
Season Series: Carolina won the season series 2-1-0, but only outscored Ottawa 11-10 in those three meetings of strong teams.
Puck Drop: 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) || 4:30 p.m. Pacific
How to Watch: Sportsnet, TVAS, FanDuel Sports Network South, ESPN
Location: From the raucous Lenovo Center, live from Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Senators were right up there with the Hurricanes in terms of defensive prowess all season long. Despite that, it was the Hurricanes who emerged victorious by a score of 2-0, which was more lopsided than the score suggested. They essentially outplayed the Senators at their own game.
Credit Image: © Daniel Lea/Cal Sport Media
The Hurricanes allowed next to nothing in 43 five-on-five minutes with just 30 shot attempts and 13 shots directed towards their goal in that time. They were able to swarm the Senators in the offensive zone, clog up the middle of the ice and prevented them from getting their transition game going.
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Logan Stankoven between Taylor Hall and Jackson Blake were the Hurricanes’ best line. They’ve been fantastic all season. Their chemistry was on full display as they forechecked the Senators defenceman hard all game and made life tough on them.
Andersen Choice Pays Off for Brind’Amour
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour went with Frederik Andersen in net for Game 1 and the move definitely paid off. He stopped all 22 shots he faced and came up with multiple huge stops. For example, the robbery of Drake Batherson with his glove early in the third period.
The decision to go with Andersen certainly raises some eyebrows. He struggled mightily this season, ranking 55th out of 59 qualified goalies with an .874 save percentage. Nobody would’ve batted an eye if Brandon Bussi got the call but Brind’Amour elected to go with the veteran. Andersen’s calm nature in the net all throughout the game allowed to excel and proved that it was the right move to go with him.
NHL Predictions
It will be a tough task but the Senators must do a better job getting to the middle of the ice and making things more difficult for Andersen. In the playoffs, your best players have to be your best players so you look to the likes of Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson to generate more offence. That being said, another low-scoring affair is to be expected.
Prediction: Ottawa 3 – Carolina 1
Prop Bets
For our classic anytime goal scorers, we like Andrei Svechnikov for the Hurricanes. He was all around the action in Game 1, firing six shots on net to go along with eight in 15 and a half minutes of ice time. For the Senators, we like the captain, Brady Tkachuk, who fought Jordan Staal off the opening draw and is clearly eager to help lift his team to go on a long run.
Main Photo Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
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