After losing four games in a row, the Carolina Hurricanes got back into the win column, defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-1 and snapping the Senators’ win streak in the process.
The Canes (15-12-1) came into the matchup desperate for some offensive movement and improvement. In their previous four losses, the Hurricanes could not get over two goals in three of the games. Ottawa (11-12-0) came ready to keep its offensive momentum going after scoring three or more goals in its past three games. The Senators had a tough time getting past Carolina netminder Pyotr Kochetkov, who finished the night with a 0.969 save percentage.
Kocketkov was not the only hero on the Canes roster throughout the matchup. Center Sebastian Aho snapped a four-game point drought and tallied two goals and an assist alongside center Seth Jarvis who also snapped a point streak of the same duration.
Carolina was lethal on the power play, which came in handy early. When the puck dropped for the first 20 minutes of play, the Canes offense appeared to be in a new form, shooting 14 shots on goal. Ottawa got on the scorecard first — courtesy of center Josh Norris — but it wouldn’t take long for the buzzing Canes to tie the game.
On an interference call against the Senators, Carolina got its first power play of the night and used it well. Center Martin Necas was fed a cross-zone pass from defenseman Brady Skjei, which he hammered home past Senators’ netminder Joonas Korpisalo, bringing the score to 1-1.
It was in the second period where the Carolina offense really took off and Aho played more like a superstar. On another power play, Aho sniped a shot past Korpisalo to score his first points on the Canadian road trip. Going two-for-two on the power play definitely brought some momentum back into a struggling Canes lineup, but the job wasn’t finished there.
Only a few minutes after Aho brought the game to 2-1, Jarvis and Aho found themselves racing down the ice on a two-on-one play. Fed a close pass from his Finnish teammate, Jarvis quickly slid the puck into the net, giving the Canes a two-goal lead. Aho wasn’t done though. In a four-on-four matchup in the Senators’ zone, he took another snipe at the net to bring the final score to 4-1.
Carolina’s defense was in an offensive mindset tonight as well, with four defensemen scoring at least one assists. Defenseman Brady Skjei tallied two assists and 20 minutes of ice time alongside defenseman Jaccob Slavin who led the team with 22 minutes.
Despite neither offense scoring in the third period, the Ottawa offense and defense did not back down. Holding Carolina to only four shots throughout the period, the home team couldn’t get a puck past Kochetkov on 13 shots.
Carolina will stay on the road for one more game before returning to Raleigh. The Canes take on the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
