Stankoven, Hall, Andersen help Carolina Hurricanes top the Ottawa Senators 2-0 to open NHL playoffs

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall scored and Frederik Andersen came through with a big third-period performance in net to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 2-0 on Saturday to open their first-round playoff series.

Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour had gone with Andersen’s veteran experience as the starter over Brandon Bussi for this one, and it paid off for the Eastern Conference’s top seed.

Andersen finished with 22 saves, including back-to-back stops on a third-period power play that had Ottawa buzzing with quality chances. One of those was initially ruled a goal, only for a replay review to overturn the call in showing Andersen had gloved a loose puck as it bounced off his skate near the post.

By the end of the game, Andersen was holding up against Ottawa spending most of the last 2 1/2 minutes with a 6-on-4 advantage after pulling Linus Ullmark from the net with the Senators on the power play.

It was a physical game with hard hits and chippiness throughout, starting with captains Brady Tkachuk of Ottawa and Jordan Staal of Carolina locking up in an immediate fight on the opening faceoff and heading to the box just 3 seconds into the game.

Game 2 is Monday night in Raleigh.

The Hurricanes are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year, reaching the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three years and thrice overall in this current run that began in 2019.

The Senators are in the playoffs for the second straight year after a seven-year postseason drought since a seven-game loss in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final.

Ullmark finished with 27 saves for Ottawa, which had surged since late January to secure the second wild-card spot in the East.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Aaron Beard, The Associated Press