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

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.