In Ottawa, the visiting Carolina Hurricanes put up a four spot on the Senators in a 4-1 win on Tuesday night to end a four-game schneid.
Sebastien Aho hit for a double in the Canes win.
“It’s been a tough road trip for us, so it’s nice to get back in the win column,” Aho said. “Obviously, our goalie played a hell of a game. Special teams were huge and with the goalie’s game, probably the reason we won.”
Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves in the win.
“Our goalie was great tonight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Third period aside, I mean, the game was kind of out of hand and we kind of gave up too much there, but you know, [Kochetkov] held us in. There were some good saves and then special teams were big. Penalty kill was huge, you know, bad penalties there, but then the power play was good, so all around that’s what we needed.”
The Carolina moved to 15-12-1.
Josh Norris was the lone striker for the Senators, his first period goal, at 7:27, gave them a 1-0 lead.
“We couldn’t really get in,” Norris said of the power play. “Once we were in their zone, they had good pressure on us and we didn’t really make many plays. Obviously, they pressured hard and credit to them, but we’re skilled players and we’ve got to be able to figure that out.”
Carolina tied it , 1-1, on a power play strike by Martin Necas at 18:49 of the first.
“I think we were just a little more dialed in,” Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, it’s such a fine line from winning and losing and doing the little things right, which I thought we did here tonight for the most part, and then you get pucks to go in.”
The middle frame spelled the difference for the Hurricanes as they took control.
“The second period was as bad as we’ve played, maybe this year,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “And that team came ready to do it right. Disappointing after what I thought was probably 15 of our best periods of the year. We had a real opportunity here and we were just no good.”
Ottawa dropped to 11-12-0.
Aho hit for his first of the period at 12:18 off a power play to give Carolina the lead, 2-1.
“I think our effort’s been there, but the execution hasn’t and there’s been a lot of inconsistencies,” Jarvis said. “But I think tonight everything kind of fell into place and clicked. Power play makes a huge difference. When you can score multiple times it really kills the momentum.”
Seth Jarvis struck at 13:39 to give the Canes a 3-1 lead, also off the power play.
“We’ve played some great hockey lately. Obviously, tonight wasn’t our best effort,” Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson said. “Like I said, we’ve got to put a better effort in for ‘Korpi.’ He’s sitting there, they had countless breakaways. Just frustrating for him when that’s coming down on you all the time.”
Aho picked up his double at 17:11 of the middle frame for the 4-1 lead.
“Just not hard enough, not desperate enough to keep the puck out of the net,” Smith said of his team’s defending. “If you’re not bang-on in the NHL, you won’t win. And that second period, that’s probably our worst period of the year, I thought, from a compete level, for the amount of chances. We gave up breakaways and what have you. You’re not going to win if you play like that.”
Joonas Korpisalo made 24 saves in the loss.
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