In Raleigh, Antti Raanta made 32 saves, and the Hurricanes scored twice in the first and seconds periods for a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night. 
“‘Rants’ made a couple of huge saves. He was, in my opinion, the best player on the ice tonight,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
The Hurricanes improved to 39-10-8.
“We’re going through a stretch where we’re getting our chances and they’re going in,” Brind’Amour said. “I don’t know that we’ve done anything differently.”
Brent Burns and Seth Jarvis scored in the first period to give the Canes a 2-0 lead.
“I put one on net and before it would probably kick the other way, but it kicked right back to me and I was able to score on the rebound,” Jarvis said. “My game as a whole, and forechecking-wise especially, has really [improved], and that’s what is resulting in me scoring.”
The Senators dropped to 27-26-4.
“In the second and third period, we pushed and played as well as I thought we could,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “But we [lost] the game in the first period. Take nothing away from them. They’re a good team.”
Martin Necas scored at 12:34 of the third period to extend the Canes lead to 3-0.
“I think everybody is frustrated,” Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “At this point, we want to win games, we want to get in the mix. But you’ve still got to take some positive. The last 40 minutes were the way we play and that’s the way we have success. Obviously, we couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Brady Skjei added an empty-net goal with 3:30 left in the third for the 4-0 final.
“When it’s 2-0, you don’t want to let any goals in because then it’s going to get even tighter,” Raanta said. “Obviously, the last couple minutes you start yelling a little bit more to take the guys out. You try to focus on the next shot and hope the clock runs out really quickly.”
Cam Talbot made 26 saves in the Ottawa loss.
You must be logged in to post a comment.