Carolina swept Ottawa 4-0 in the Eastern Conference First Round Saturday at Canadian Tire Centre, winning Game 4 by 4-2 on Logan Stankoven's third-period power-play go-ahead goal and two Sebastian Aho empty-netters. [1] The series' load-bearing number is the one Ottawa cannot escape: 1-for-21 on the man advantage across four games, including three failed 5-on-3 opportunities in Game 4 alone. [2] The Senators went 0-for-17 before Drake Batherson's tip at 17:08 of the third period made it 1-1; Stankoven's goal made it 2-1 within the next two minutes. [1]

Saturday's paper kept the NHL playoff tape on a power-economy frame around the Mammoth's first home game. Carolina's sweep is the same frame at the other end of the conference. The Hurricanes did not outscore Ottawa on average even-strength volume; they outscored the Senators on the chances Ottawa created and could not convert. Carolina's penalty kill ran 20-for-21, a 95.2 percent rate, in a series that grew progressively chippier — the second period of Game 4 alone produced eight Carolina penalties, multiple scrums, and a hit on Alexander Nikishin from Ottawa's Tyler Kleven that put Nikishin in the league's concussion protocol. [3] Carolina's PK allowed only Batherson's tip in 11 second-period penalties.

The depth line carried the offense. Stankoven scored in all four games. Taylor Hall finished with seven points to lead the team. Jackson Blake had the Game 3 winner and three assists. The second line of Stankoven-Hall-Blake, in TSN's accounting, "more than made up for" a quiet top line and a series in which Carolina spent too much time in the box. [3] Frederik Andersen made 25 saves in Game 4 and produced a series the TSN account called "elite goaltending" — the third consecutive postseason in which Andersen has stabilized a Hurricanes run early in the bracket. [3]

The historical artifact: Carolina is the third team in NHL history to win at least one series in eight consecutive playoff years, after Montreal and Philadelphia, and the 20th team in league history to never trail in any game during a best-of-7 series. [1] Nikolaj Ehlers was a late scratch with a lower-body injury; Nicolas Deslauriers replaced him in Game 4. [1] The Hurricanes will face the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia winner in Round 2 with several days of rest as the league's first first-round-completed team.

The series' organizing reading by Sunday is exactly the one Ottawa could not change in time: a power play is not a privilege if it does not convert. The man-advantage in modern NHL playoff hockey is the playoff economy, not a tactical flourish — the series with three or four percent of total ice time and a disproportionate share of clean scoring chances. Going 0-for-17 across three games is not a slump. It is the chance economy refusing to clear. Ottawa scored five goals in four games against Carolina; one came on the power play after 21 chances. Carolina built a sweep on the chances the Senators created, walked away from, and could not get back.

-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos