The Ottawa Senators may be running out of time as they run into one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

The Senators do have a plan for Sunday’s game against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.

“Simplify and try to work a little harder,” Ottawa forward Shane Pinto said. “Yeah, (Sunday) is a big game. Everybody knows the magnitude of these games.”

The Senators (39-27-10, 88 points) have lost four of their last five games as they compete with a few other teams for one of the last playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. They dropped a 4-1 decision to the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.

There’s little room for error on the part of Ottawa.

“With some of our injuries, we’ve got to be spot-on,” Senators coach Travis Green said.

The Hurricanes have played several desperate teams recently and they find benefits in that.

“When you play teams that are kind of on that bubble, it’s good for you to prep for the playoffs,” Carolina forward Seth Jarvis said.

The Hurricanes (49-21-6, 104 points) already have secured a playoff spot and are one point away from clinching the Metropolitan Division title.

“We all know that the prize is still out there,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the postseason ahead. “This basically qualifies you to go after it.”

They’ve won four of their last five games, including Saturday night’s 4-3 home victory against the New York Islanders. In their last two games combined, the Hurricanes have allowed opponents to put only 26 shots on goal.

“That was pretty impressive,” Brind’Amour said. “I think our guys played the way we want them to.”

Green said there were uncharacteristic defensive lapses from the Senators in Saturday’s game against Minnesota.

“That’s easy to say, ‘Play with urgency,'” Green said. “Our guys are trying. Our guys want to win. They want to win bad.”

A clunky power play didn’t help matters for the Senators.

“Their execution can probably be better,” Green said. “We’ve got to learn from the game, and we’ve got another game (Sunday). That’s the great part of this season, a lot of games coming, a lot of games that matter and we’ve got to respond (Sunday).”

The Hurricanes have been strong on special teams. They’ve notched a league-high 12 short-handed goals this season, including one in each of the past three contests.

Jarvis had two goals Saturday, pushing his team-leading total to 32.

“I’ve had a lot of chances, but to see it go in is huge,” Jarvis said after ending his three-game goal drought.

Ottawa had defenseman Jake Sanderson back in the lineup for the first time in nearly a month. He said he was a little rusty but is determined to make an impact.

“I think this time of the year everybody is playing with some sort of injuries,” Sanderson said.

Carolina will have goalie Frederik Andersen back in net after Brandon Bussi worked Saturday night.

Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho is riding a five-game point streak (one goal, five assists).

Carolina’s visit marks the third game in Ottawa’s five-game homestand.

–Field Level Media

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell is known for his power bat but put on a show for the ages with his glove in the middle game of the three-game series with the visiting Seattle Mariners.

Adell performed three home run robberies in a single game on Saturday and will look to help the Angels win the series when they close the set against the Mariners on Sunday at Anaheim, Calif.

Zach Neto hit his 10th career leadoff homer for the game’s lone run. The 1-0 victory came one night after neither team scored in the first nine innings before Seattle notched a 3-1 win in 10 innings.

But Saturday night was the “Jo Show,” where a right fielder sometimes chided for his defensive shortcomings put on one of the best outfielder performances of all time.

Adell robbed Cal Raleigh in the first inning, Josh Naylor in the eighth and J.P. Crawford in the ninth with stellar grabs as the Angels collected just their second victory in the past seven games.

“After the first one, the second one was kind of similar, I didn’t know if I was having deja vu,” Adell said. “Sometimes you have to help on the other side of the ball and I’m glad I did my part.”

The third robbery prevented Seattle from tying the game in the ninth. Crawford hit a shot off Jordan Romano that was destined to land in the right-field seats.

Instead, Adell landed in the seats as he spectacularly leaped to catch the ball and fell over the short wall. His glove emerged and he stood up in the stands and displayed he had caught the ball.

“He disappears and he comes up with his glove up,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “… This guy works as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around.”

Mariners manager Dan Wilson played 14 seasons (1992-2005) in the majors and was stunned by what he witnessed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen three in one ballgame before,” Wilson said. “It’s frustrating when you feel like you put a good swing on a ball like that and you drive it like our guys did and you don’t end up with anything to show for it.”

Adell’s theft on Raleigh kept last season’s American League MVP runner-up homerless through nine games. He hit 60 last season.

“You just tip the cap,” Raleigh said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy rob two homers in a game, much less three. So it’s just one of those things where baseball can amaze you night in and night out. You can see something you’ve never seen before.”

The Mariners will send right-hander Luis Castillo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound Sunday for his second start of the season.

Castillo, 33, tossed six shutout innings against the visiting New York Yankees last Monday. He gave up three hits and two walks and struck out seven in a game Seattle eventually won 2-1.

Castillo is 5-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 11 career starts against the Angels. He is 1-2 with a 4.97 ERA in five outings at Angel Stadium.

Adell has two homers in seven at-bats against Castillo, while Mike Trout (2-for-14, seven strikeouts) and Logan O’Hoppe (0-for-11) have struggled.

Right-hander Ryan Johnson (0-1, 16.20) will be making his second career start for Los Angeles. He was torched in his first for six runs and seven hits over 3 1/3 innings by the Cubs on Monday. Chicago won 7-2.

Johnson, 23, made one relief appearance against Seattle last season and gave up one run and three hits in one inning.

Seattle third baseman Brendan Donovan (groin) sat out Saturday. He was hurt Friday and an MRI exam came back clean.

–Field Level Media

Suddenly the scoreboard is showing an abundance of favorable results for the Washington Capitals.

A late season surge is also helping their cause and the Capitals attempt to keep gaining ground in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race Sunday night when they visit the New York Rangers.

Washington (39-29-9, 87 points) trailed the Boston Bruins by six points for the final wild-card spot following a 3-1 loss in Boston on March 7. Since then, the Capitals are 8-3-2 in their past 13 games and are now one point behind the Ottawa Senators for the last wild-card spot with five games left.

The Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings also have 88 points but have a game in hand on Washington. Columbus also has 88 points and has played the same number of games as the Capitals.

The Capitals inched closer after earning a 6-2 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. They are taking the ice in New York after Detroit hosts the Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia hosts the Bruins in Sunday afternoon games.

Washington also will take the ice in New York two hours after Ottawa starts its home game with the Carolina Hurricanes.

“We can only control what we do out there for 60 minutes and we’re just trying to do everything we can to stay alive and get ourselves in,” Washington forward Ryan Leonard said.

On Saturday, the Capitals scored three goals in the opening period and Jakob Chychrun, Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael each finished with a goal and an assist.

The Rangers lost two of three meetings with the Capitals earlier this season and are playing better of late. Following a six-game losing streak (0-5-1), New York is 4-1-0 in the first five contests of a seven-game homestand.

New York has scored 19 goals over its last five games and aided the Capitals’ cause by cruising to a 4-1 win over Detroit on Saturday night.

Rookie Gabe Perreault recorded his first career hat trick while first-year forward Jaroslav Chmelar also scored. The Rangers played five rookies Saturday and since March 2, New York’s first-year players have 17 goals and 38 points.

“Means a lot,” said Perreault, who has 10 goals in 44 games this season after appearing in five games last season. “Teammates made some nice plays, so had a couple of easy ones tonight. But it definitely feels good to get the hat trick, but most importantly, get the win.”

Perreault became just the fourth Rangers rookie in the past 30 years to score a hat trick, joining Chris Kreider (2013), Derek Stepan (2010) and Jan Hlavac (2000).

“At the start, I was kind of fighting it the first couple of shifts, so I didn’t necessarily think I was going to finish like that, but once we started generating chances and I got that first one and that second, you’re obviously thinking about the third one,” Perreault said. “Lucky enough, I was able to get out there and get the third one.”

–Field Level Media