The Carolina Hurricanes are moving on to the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs after sweeping the Ottawa Senators.
The Canes finished off the series with a 4-2 win at the Canadian Tire Centre, a highly emotional and physical game.
While Logan Stankoven will get a lot of the headlines for his four-goal performance in the series, to me, Taylor Hall was the one stirring the glass for that dominant second line.
Hall led all skaters in the series in points with seven (that's also tied for the most in the entire league this postseason) and he was just a constant presence on the ice.
He got the scoring started for Carolina in Game 4 and also assisted on Stankoven's go-ahead goal that essentially won the game.
Throughout the series, Hall hasn't been afraid to take contact, which led to multiple scoring opportunities, and his dynamic playmaking abilities allowed him to create tons of chances even in the midst of partial line changes.
In Game 4 alone, the veteran led all forwards in chance share and also had the highest expected goals for percentage.
"I couldn't imagine being in a better spot teamwise," Hall said. "Just the mix of guys that we have and having Rod as a coach has been awesome for me personally. I think the way he pushes buttons, it's not really pushing buttons, but he gets the most out of his players and I think as the year has gone on, I just felt more comfortable and more comfortable to the point where I don't really have to think much out there and when I get to that point, I feel pretty good as a hockey player."
"He's been great," Staal said of Hall. "He gives us another dynamic there and he skates obviously so well. He's just been making solid plays with the puck and creating offense in a great way. With that line, there's no question that they were the best line in that series and they helped us win all four of those games. That line was huge for us."
It was a parade to the penalty box for the Canes in Game 4, as they spent a total of 13:21 shorthanded.
Granted they really shouldn't have been shorthanded that often, but regardless, they put their heads down and got to work, killing off nearly every penalty that was assessed to them.
They were shorthanded on nine different instances, with three of those being 5v3 scenarios.
They killed off every one of those and were only beat on a single PK on a Drake Batherson drive-by deflection.
All-in-all, the penalty kill was outstanding all series, but especially so in closing out the game.
"Tim Gleason, who runs our D, just did a great job with the little adjustments, I thought," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Then you have to give credit to our penalty kill, the guys that went out there. You don't want to be in the box that much, but if you are, it certainly gives us confidence that we can handle it."
"I think that was the biggest reason why we won that series," Aho said on the PK. "We killed so many penalties in crucial moments. That was a big one for us. I loved how we battled. Just kept pushing."
Oh and of those 13-plus minutes shorthanded, Jaccob Slavin was on the ice for 10:14 of them.
Slavin told us that this was the most rested he's ever felt heading into the playoffs (missing over half the regular season due to injuries will do that) and we're seeing firsthand the Hurricanes' willingness to use him as much as they can because of that.
Slavin was also the main guy to see his minutes ramped up after Alexander Nikishin left the game due to injury.
The veteran blueliner logged 26:22 in total, nearly three minutes more than the next best defenseman.