What a series.
Scratch that – what a whole heck of a bunch of series.
Have to admit that when the post-season launched last weekend the only set-to I had my eyes on initially was Ottawa-Carolina. Could the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference pin down No. 8 . . . as expected? Could Ottawa continue to slay dragons the way the club had been doing since the post-Olympic break? Could Ottawa finally get some steady goaltending? Could Carolina continue its streak of pushing on through the opening round? (More accurately – could I explain to the Ottawa readership why I was writing more on the rest the league than the locals? A-hah, bingo!).
So, we will appropriately begin right there.
Game 1 was about as perfect a display of perfection by the Carolina Hurricanes as you’ll see. Defensively, they were sounder than a group of meditating monks. As far as on-the-attack, the Canes swarmed the Senators at nearly every turn: Quicker to the puck and harder on the forecheck. As far as physicality, Carolina resembled a fresh and rested Florida Panther team from 2024 or 2025.
It was dominant, and without number of heart-grabbing stops from the afore-mentioned goaltending (good afternoon there, Linus Ullmark), the 2-0 final score could easily be up to six or seven.
On the entertainment, high-end-compete scale, I’d be giving the Canes about a 10-out-of-10 while the Senators struggled to rise above a two or three.
Game 2 started in similar fashion with Logan Stankoven and Sebastian Aho putting the home side up 2-zilch through the first 30 minutes.
A clearly frustrated Senators team had nothing to show but about half a dozen posts and crossbars and missed open nets.
As you know, Ottawa rebounded with two goals to finally break the Freddie Andersen curse and take the match to OT where the Canes eventually won it to capture a 2-0 series lead.
Detailing the scoring summary doesn’t do justice to what was one of the better playoff games in recent memory. Ullmark was again remarkable; more so than in Game 1. The pace of play was electric and the overall energy elicited oohs and ahs from the crowd on hand and likely from the crowd gathered in your living room.
But in the end – despite the captivating and rousing play – the loss by Ottawa was a boot in the gut.
“At the moment, you never feel good about much when you lose a game like that, but as the hours go by, you realize that you did a lot of good things, and it could have gone either way. It was a hell of a hockey game. I’ve had a lot of people tell me what a great game it was,” offered up a thoughtful Travis Green, Ottawa’s head coach.
“It doesn’t feel like a great game when you’re on the other end of it — it feels like a (hard) game. It was a really good game by both teams. Both goalies were phenomenal. Someone has to lose and, unfortunately, we lost it.”
Thankfully for both, who clearly emptied the tank in the double-overtime, the teams landed an extra day off between Game 2 and 3. Next up for the clash is Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre with Game 4 set for Saturday afternoon.
To sum up – we’d be surprised if the intensity and entertainment do not get even further ramped up for these two home dates.
. . . And now onto the rest of the story.
This corner of your page made it a priority to have visitation with the rest of the playoff combatants following the Ottawa-Carolina frolicking.
Priority accomplished and thankfully so.
First to Tampa-Montreal.
Two games in?
Check.
Two overtime grippers?
Double check.
Physical, top-skilled and just downright mean play has dominated here which is a win for the viewers, but not necessarily the skaters who are putting their collective bodies through hell.
Same kind of hell between Buffalo and Boston who hammer-and-tonged it through a wild second game. No fighting in the playoffs? Not quite.
Philly and Pitt in the battle of Pennsylvania’s been a hoot, especially if you’re a Flyers fan (howdy, Porter Martone!).
Edmonton-Anaheim’s opener was surprisingly close with the Oil capturing a one goal win.
Upstart Utah shocked Vegas in Game 2 and that Western Conference set stands at another ‘surprising’ 1-1 logjam.
Ditto for Minnesota (who clobbered their opponent in Game 1) and Dallas.
The only series that seems targeted for an early exit is Colorado and Los Angeles with the Avs capturing the opening pair.
We’re just two games in (in most cases), but what a ride.
Pundits tend to claim that the first round of the post-season is always the most engaging.
In the case of 2025-26, they’re not wrong.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: Courtesy CTV News
