Things we learned: Senators can’t keep playing catch-up

The Ottawa Senators have undeniably made progress as a franchise the past two seasons. But the Sens will never take the next step until they stop constantly putting themselves behind the eight-ball.

Playing a must-have Game 3 on home ice Thursday night, Ottawa came up short, losing 2-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, for the second straight year, the Senators find themselves down 3-0 in a first-round playoff series.

The post-season appearances are great, but the Senators must find a way to grind out a win or two before their backs are completely against the wall. Even in the regular season, Ottawa dug itself a hole by being six points out of a playoff spot in early March. It’s all well and good that the club made a successful push to get in, but perhaps if the Senators had been accumulating points more consistently all year, they would have avoided drawing the top team in the East.

It’s easy to claim the Senators can hang with Carolina based on the fact all three games — especially a Game 2 overtime affair — have been tight contests. That said, how close is Ottawa, really, when you consider the club still has not held the lead for a single shift of this set? And what chance do you have when your power play is sitting at 0-for-12 in the series after an 0-for-5 showing in Game 3 that included a particularly uninspiring five-on-three?

Worse yet, the Sens watched their top defenceman, Jake Sanderson, exit this game in the second period, never to return. After the contest, Ottawa coach Travis Green said the injury was caused by the illegal check to the head Carolina winger Taylor Hall received a minor penalty for. (Green also made it clear he believed the penalty should have been a major, and it’s hard to argue with his position).

If Sanderson is out for any stretch of time, it’s hard to imagine Ottawa — which did rally with a couple wins last year after going down 0-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs — mustering the kind of push that could yet make this a series with the Hurricanes.

Losing an all-world defenceman is never a good thing, but it’s particularly damaging for a club that always seems to find itself with one foot in the grave.

Stankoven stars for Carolina

If he didn’t arrive via blockbuster trade, it would be easy to forget Logan Stankoven wasn’t actually drafted by Carolina because the small guy with the huge motor really does seem born to be a Cane.

As was the case in Games 1 and 2, Stankoven opened the scoring in Game 3. The guy who arrived in Carolina about 13 months ago now has goals in five of his past six playoff outings, dating back to the 2025 Eastern Conference Final. Keeping Mikko Rantanen may have been Plan A last year for the Canes, but Stankoven — acquired in the deal that sent Rantanen to Dallas — is proving to be an incredible Plan B.

The entire line of Stankoven between Hall and Jackson Blake is thriving, as Blake buried the game-winner for the Canes in Game 3.

For a team that’s always looking for another goal or two this time of year, a strong second unit — and Stankoven, in particular — could be a major game-changer.

In reality, it probably wasn’t that hard of a decision for Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff to turn to goalie Alex Lyon in Game 3. Starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was likely in need of a mental-health day after allowing a goal from the red line in Game 2, and Lyon played 36 games for the Sabres in the regular season while posting a very respectable .906 save percentage.

Full marks to Lyon for validating his coach’s call by making 24 stops in a 3-1 Sabres win in Game 3. Boston took the lead on a short-side goal by Tanner Jeannot that probably had Buffalo fans wondering if they had a goaltending crisis on their hands, but Lyon shut the door after that, including staring down Viktor Arvidsson — who sniped a pair of goals in Game 2 — on a penalty shot.

“It’s so special and rare to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and it’s so hard to make the playoffs, I’m just trying to soak up every moment,” Lyon told the TNT broadcast crew after his team took a 2-1 series lead. “The guys played great tonight.”

Lyon’s performance was just one example of the Sabres’ depth providing a boost, as Noah Ostlund also drew into the lineup for the injured Josh Norris and — in the first Stanley Cup Playoff contest of his career — came through with the primary assist on Buffalo’s first goal and the empty-netter that sealed the crucial win.

For the first time in the series, Buffalo got on the board before the third period thanks to Bowen Byram’s second tally of the set. If only the Sabres could get their sorry power play untracked — Buffalo has now failed to convert on its past 36 chances — the club would really be feeling good.

Artturi Lehkonen is the long-ago trade deadline pickup who just keeps on giving in Colorado.

Now in his fifth post-season with Colorado, the gritty Finn continues to be precisely the kind of support player who can make all the difference this time of year.

Cale Makar scored a dazzling goal in Colorado’s 4-2 Game 3 victory in L.A., dancing along the offensive blueline like he was in a Hollywood musical before whipping a puck to the top of the net.

Who was providing the perfect screen in front? That would be No. 62 in blue and maroon, the guy who also happened to steal the puck behind the Kings net a few moments earlier to start the entire goal-scoring sequence.

Then, in the final frame, Lehkonen scored a shorty when a misfire by Adrian Kempe created a two-on-one the other way.

Lehkonen — whose team now has the Kings in a 3-0 headlock — always seems to do the little things that lead to big moments for the Avs.