Hurricanes-Senators series Preview.

 1M Carolina vs Ottawa 2WC

We are back with another Playoff preview here on the ETEH Blog in 2026, so today we are looking at the 3rd Series that was locked in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, as we're going to be looking at the Metro and East leaders in Carolina taking on the 2nd wildcard team in the East in Ottawa as Carolina who has been the class of the East all season long and wins the Metro decisively gets a date with a team who sneaks into the playoffs, nearly hit triple digits and is heating up at the right time and that is the Ottawa Senators, so a very interesting series here between a wildcard team and the best in  the East in the regular season.

History of Rivalry Between teams in playoffs:

Now if you look at the history of these two teams playing in the playoffs, they have never actually met in the postseason so there isn't much history between these two teams, this is the 13th eastern conference team the Hurricanes are facing (haven't faced Philly, Columbus), and this is the 12th eastern team the Senators are facing (haven't faced Columbus, Detroit or Florida), so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this first ever meeting between the Canes and Sen's.

Season Series Record: 

Carolina 2-1-0 11-10+1

Ottawa 1-2-0 10-11-1

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Each teams X-Factors: B.Tkachuk vs Bussi

Next we go over to the two teams X-Factors in my opinion for this series and the two X-Factors in my eyes are breakout Senators Captain Brady Tkachuk and most likely Canes starting goalie Brandon Bussi. Now for the Senators they have had some really good offensive stats this year and have a whole bunch of game changers but I feel the X-Factor for them going into this series has to be Tkachuk, he has missed some time this year with injuries and there was quite a lot of noise that Tkachuk was still nursing a injury and didn't look quite right but he ramped up his play to the end of the regular season and looked better, now if Tkachuk is he usually self, laying the body, putting up points and being a pest to play against then I think the Senators have a good chance of winning but if he still looks off then I don't know, while when it comes to the Canes they have a few game changers on their roster but I feel the X-Factor for this series for the Canes has to be Bussi, the rookie stormed on to the scene early in the year and has run with the starting job having a insane record and putting up some pretty decent numbers but he hasn't played in the postseason yet, so I feel if the Canes want to win this series and go far then Bussi will have to be as good as he was in the regular season, but those are my thoughts on the team X-Factors. 

Which teams are best at 3 Positions:

Offense: now when it comes to which of these two teams has the better offense, they both have pretty solid forward groups bas I think these two teams stack up so similarly that it is extremely hard to pick a team to give the advantage too because both have solid top and bottom sixes and some really solid depth, but because I have to give someone the advantage I will give Ottawa the minuscule advantage up front and I think their top end guys are slight better and they have a bit more depth so I will give Ottawa the offensive advantage. 

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Defence: on the defensive side of the puck I feel there isn't much separating these two teams either as they both have fantastic bluelines when healthy and can roll with any team but in this series I am giving the defensive advantage to the Hurricanes, because in my opinion the Senators are still pretty banged up defensively and Carolina is rather healthy, so if the Senators were a bit more healthy I would say this would be harder to pick but I am going to give the defensive advantage to Carolina. 

Goaltending: while in net I feel the clear advantage at least to me is for Ottawa with Ullmark, now I know Ullmark hasn't been his best this year and could definitely be better but he is heating up at the right time and is a Vezina winner so if he goes on a run he can be dangerous, while for Carolina they have rode Bussi all year long as their starter but he isn't playoff tested and has been a bit more up and down later into the year, so I just think with all the experience he has, the advantage in net goes to Ottawa with Ullmark.

Biggest on Ice Matchup: Ullmark vs Canes Offense

So when it comes to the biggest matchup in my eyes in this series for the Senators vs Hurricanes, I would have to say that the biggest matchup in this series is the Ullmark vs the Canes offense matchup, now the first half/two thirds of the year the Senators were not getting good goaltending as Ullmark had a very shaky start and then took a personal leave of absence which handicapped the Senators in net as they couldn't get a save but after Ullmark came back in late January he has been lights out and the sort of goalie you want to have on a playoff run, so if Ullmark keeps up his play from the last few months I think the Senators have a chance but Ullmark has a tall task facing a very potent and dangerous Hurricanes offense that has weapons that can score from anywhere and was the 2nd best goal scoring team in the NHL, so I find this to be the best on ice matchup in this series because if Ullmark steals a game or two then I like the Sen's chances but if Carolina keep on lighting him up then I think Carolina would be likely to win this series but definitely a intriguing matchup to say the least.

Predictions:

Now when it comes to my predictions for this series, I feel this one is going to be quite hard to pick as even though it is the best team in the East against the WC2 team I feel this may be one of if not the closest series in terms of predictions as I could see this one go either way, the Canes did win the regular season series but only barely and Ottawa won the most recent contest, so I do think there are a few factors that could tip this series either way but my prediction (and you can say I am  biased on the Senators if you want), but I am taking Ottawa in 7, I think this will be a long gruelling series that could go either way but just the fact the Senators are getting healthier, have a slight bit better offense and I have worries about the Canes goaltending all lead me to believe the Senators will upset the Canes and win their first ever series against Carolina.