In Ottawa, Claude Giroux had the first and last goals of the game on Monday night for the Senators. His second goal came midway through the third period and snapped a 2-2 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes, sending the Senators to a 3-2 win.
“I had to juggle the lines, I had to change the power play because we had guys out there that were doing nothing, I mean, if we’re just being honest,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’re going to have to call it the way it is. And some of these guys that we count on, have to start being threats when they’re out there.”
Mads Sogaard made 27 saves in the Sens win.
Ottawa moved to 39-35-7 off their second straight win.
“At this point, we should be really dialed in, and I feel like we didn’t really play the way we want to play,” the Canes Martin Necas said. “We’ve still got two games to figure it out.”
Tim Stutzle scored at 17:26 of the first to give the Senators a 2-0 advantage.
Carolina dropped to 50-21-9 off their third straight loss.
The Canes are one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils, and two points clear of the New York Rangers for ten top spot in the Metro Division.
“Getting [Giroux] to 1,000 in the first [period], but then the fact that Carolina needs the points makes the game so much better,” Senators coach D.J. Smith said.
Carolina’s Brett Pesce scored with four and half minutes left in the second period to trim the deficit to 2-1.
“I don’t like thinking about it,” Giroux said of the milestone. “It kind of keeps you away from playing the right way. But at the start of the year, I did. But it’s not something I thought I was going to be able to do. But I’m happy I did.”
With 2:23 gone in the third, Brent Burns tied the game, 2-2, ahead of Giroux’s double.
“Those guys (on the penalty kill) did a great job,” Brind’Amour said. “If you’re looking for a positive, that’s one of the best power plays in the League and we were working really hard there. The rest of the game was pretty much trash, to be honest with you.”
Frederik Andersen made 29 saves in the Canes loss.
“We weren’t playing with a lot of speed, we weren’t playing with a lot of aggression,” Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “I mean, we’re a puck-pressuring team, and when we did have the puck we weren’t doing what we normally do. We get it in deep, we forecheck, we grind them down low and we didn’t really have any grind time in the [offensive] zone today like we normally do.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.