Youth was on display for the Carolina Hurricanes Monday night in PNC Arena, as the Canes beat the Ottawa Senators 4-1 behind two goals from players that have spent the majority of the season in the American Hockey League.
Forward Warren Foegele, who was making his NHL debut for the Hurricanes (34-31-11), opened up the scoring in the first period with his first NHL goal. Forward Valentin Zykov, who was called up from the Charlotte Checkers last week, scored the Canes’ second goal of the evening against the Senators (26-38-11) on an assist from Foegele.
“It’s exciting. You’re happy for them,” head coach Bill Peters said. “They’ve worked hard all their life, and all of a sudden they’ve realized their dream. The dream is to make the National Hockey League, and they score. They gave us good energy here tonight. A real good play by Warren on his goal. He beat a guy out of the corner off the wall and went hard to the net hard. Then [Zykov] gets the game winner. Huge contribution from all those young guys.”
Forward Brock McGinn added the Canes’ third goal and forward Sebastian Aho tallied an empty-netter to extend his point streak to nine games, as Carolina topped Ottawa for the second game in a row after winning 5-2 on the road Saturday night.
Cam Ward was in net for the Hurricanes and put together a strong performance, stopping 19 of 20 Ottawa shots, which included a few denials of clear goal-scoring opportunities.
Craig Anderson took the loss for the Senators, stopping 26 of 29 shots faced. For the Canes, none of the goal scorers were over the age of 24.
Carolina came out firing, controlling the puck and the scoring chances for all of the opening period. That pressure payed off with 1:08 left before the first intermission, as Foegele powered his first career goal past Anderson with his family in the crowd cheering him on.
“A pretty surreal moment for myself and something I’ll remember forever,” Foegele said. “[My family] has been through so much just supporting me. Everything they’ve done through the years. My brother too. It was just great that they were here to be here for the journey.”
Foegele collected the puck behind the net, and fought through both the skates of a referee and sticks of defenders to fire a shot from beside the goal. The puck slid between Anderson’s arm and body, crossing the line as Foegele celebrated his debut tally.
“I was a little nervous out there,” Foegele said. “I thought I’d just do a tight turn on him and shoot it on net. I was fortunate enough for it to go in. I just heard the crowd make the noise and then looked into the back of the net.”
Ottawa jumped back into the game midway through the second, as forward Bobby Ryan collected the puck in front of net thanks to a sloppy giveaway from Carolina. Ryan, with a defenseman draped on him, quickly spun and fired a shot that beat Ward down low to make it 1-1.
Foegele grabbed his second NHL point to put the Canes up 2-1, as Zykov put away a rebound that came off a hard shot from Foegele. It was Zykov’s third goal in just his fourth game this season.
“I’m learning,” Zykov said. “Both of us like to go the net. That’s where we get our goals mostly.”
McGinn made it 3-1 Canes shortly after the Zykov goal, as he found the puck all alone in the slot and ripped a shot past Anderson. Aho added a full-ice empty-netter in the third period to seal the win.
While the youth movement payed off Monday night, and has the Canes on a three-game winning streak, it may be too little too late for Carolina. The Hurricanes sit seven points off of a playoff spot with only six games remaining, and will likely see their NHL-leading playoff drought extend to nine years when the season comes to a close in a couple of weeks.
Carolina will be back in action Tuesday night in New Jersey for its final matchup against the Devils this season, as Zykov and Foegele will be in action against much better competition than they were tonight.
“I thought they did some good things,” Peters said. “Stiffer test tomorrow with the Devils, so we’ll get a better read on these guys. That’s what you do. You continue to play them. Put them out there and see what they’re all about.”
