A meaningless, yet rather entertaining, game saw the Ottawa Senators (45-30-7) turn a three-goal lead into a two-goal deficit before ultimately clawing back to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes (47-30-5) 7-5 in the final game for both teams in the 2024-25 NHL regular season. The result of Thursday’s regular-season finale at Canadian Tire Centre wasn’t the main concern for the Senators and Hurricanes as both teams are headed for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Multi-goal efforts from Adam Gaudette and Drake Batherson, who scored the game-tying and game-winning goals, helped the Sens give their home fans some excitement to end the regular season. Both squads managed to escape fully healthy as Sens captain Brady Tkachuk returned to action after missing the previous eight games with an upper-body injury. Tkachuk recorded three shots on goal and played just 10:37 after he was held out of the third period for precautionary reasons. Thursday’s game was also the 900th of Travis Hamonic’s career.
Ottawa starter Linus Ullmark made 28 saves on 33 shots for his 25th win of the season, and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen made 25 saves on 32 shots in Thursday’s loss.
Game Recap
After a scoreless first 10 minutes, the second half of the opening period saw plenty of action. Gaudette snapped a shot past Andersen’s blocker at 11:55 for his 18th of the season. The Sens struck again less than five minutes later on the power play when Dylan Cozens finished off a centering pass from Drake Batherson for his 16th of the year.
Less than a minute later, Shane Pinto put home a breakaway chance at 17:22 for his 21st of the season off a great feed through the Hurricane defence from Michael Amadio. The Hurricanes responded just 11 seconds later when Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s quick release beat Ullmark’s glove to make it 3-1 Sens. The Canes then cut the deficit to one when Skyler Brind’Amour, son of Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour, batted home a rebound at 19:18 for his first career NHL goal.
The Sens went one-for-three on the power play, and the Hurricanes outshot Ottawa 14-12 as they trailed 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Just 50 seconds into the 2nd period, Carolina evened the score on the power play when Andrei Svechnikov blasted a slap shot past Ullmark for his 20th of the season. Carolina then scored the game’s fourth-straight goal when Jack Roslovic tucked a shot just under the crossbar for his 22nd of the season to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead at 4:05 of the second. Carolina’s second-period onslaught continued less than two minutes later as Tyson Jost intercepted a Hamonic clearing attempt and put it past Ullmark for his fourth of the season.
Ottawa failed to capitalize on a late-period 5-on-3 opportunity and was scoreless in the second as Carolina outshot them 13-9.
The Sens completed a multi-goal comeback of their own in the third that started with Gaudette scoring his second goal of the night with a shot right off an offensive zone faceoff that beat Andersen’s short side at 4:17 of the third to make it a one-goal game. Batherson tied the game at 10:01 of the third with a top-corner backhander for his 25th of the season and the game’s 10th goal.
Ottawa would take the lead on the power play when Tim Stützle found Batherson in front of the net where he beat Andersen for his second on the night at 13:38. Stützle would also score on the man advantage with a great end-to-end rush for his 24th of the season and the Sens’ fourth goal of the final period.
Both teams will begin postseason action on Sunday (April 17) as the Hurricanes will host the New Jersey Devils, and the Senators will travel to Toronto for the first Battle of Ontario since 2004.
