The Carolina Hurricanes dropped more points north of the border on Tuesday, Feb. 8, suffering a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators. The Canes struggled to get going in the first two periods and a three-goal third was not enough to pull even late.
The Hurricanes (31-10-3) got sucker punched early by the Senators (16-22-4) when Brady Tkachuk beat goaltender Antti Raanta just 1:11 into the game. From there the Sens doubled their advantage by the end of the first period, then doubled up again for a 4-0 lead heading into the second intermission. With Ottawa so quick to the punch, Carolina was playing catch-up for the entire game.
“I know it’s cliche, but everybody talks about playing 60,” said defenseman Brendan Smith. “But that’s literally what you have to do to be the best team in the world.”
The slow start was a microcosm of the Canes’ overall play coming out of the All-Star break. Just a day removed from a hard-fought 4-3 loss to Toronto, Carolina put up a pitiful showing in the first 40 minutes. Despite a trio of third-period goals, the Hurricanes couldn’t find a way to get level again.
The nature of these one-goal losses gives the impression that Carolina exhausted itself against the Maple Leafs just to run out of gas against the Senators. But at the end of day, in a tight race for playoff seeding in the Eastern Conference, the Canes can’t afford to be dropping points to cellar-dwellers like Ottawa.
To be fair, if one team has been the Carolina Hurricanes’ boogeyman this season, it’s the Ottawa Senators. Despite their overall poor season, the Sens beat the Canes 3-2 in regulation on Dec. 2 and then took the Hurricanes to their first shootout of the season on Jan. 27. Still, the Canes have dropped four out of six points to an Ottawa team well outside the playoff picture.
Carolina even had a chance to make this game closer at the very end of the first period. Center Sebastian Aho fired a shot that beat Senators netminder Anton Forsberg through the five-hole, but the first-period buzzer went off just before the puck crossed the goal line, denying the Canes a goal before the first intermission.
Although the Hurricanes couldn’t come away with points, one third-period goal carried some extra significance outside of the game. On his 33rd birthday, Smith fired a shot from distance that found its way into the net, cutting the Senators’ lead to 4-2 with just over six minutes left.
Even though the Canes could not force overtime, their strong third period bodes well for them as they exit the Canadian leg of a four-game road trip.
“Down 4-0 going into the third, it’d be easy just to roll over,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “That’s not how these guys operate. So really, a pretty good second half of the game. We gave them too much obviously at the start… but I love the fact that we kept digging in.”
The Hurricanes will travel to Boston for a road showdown with the Bruins on Thursday, Feb. 10. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
