After a long stretch of frustrating performances, the Carolina Hurricanes finally broke through against the Ottawa Senators in PNC Arena Friday night. Backup goalie Eddie Lack got his first shutout of the season and the team found some goals as the Canes topped Ottawa 3-0 to end a five-game losing streak.
The Canes (25-24-8) outshot the Senators (32-21-6) 44-34. Lack earned his first shutout since he had two in a span of four games in January 2016. It’s been a tough go of it this season for the Swedish netminder, who’s been plagued bya lengthy absence due to a concussion and poor play throughout the year. Against Ottawa, he stopped every shot he faced, grabbing his first win since the Canes’ first victory of the season Oct. 20 against the Calgary Flames.
“It’s been a little rough for me here and there,” Lack said. “I got the concussion and everything and I didn’t play for a little while. It was a really important win for me, and I’m happy that the boys played so well in front of me.”
The Canes came out firing and got off to a quick start in this game. Forward Jordan Staal beat Sens goalie Craig Anderson with a wrap around 1:19 in for a 1-0 lead and the team’s first even-strength goal in nearly three games.
“It was nice to bury a couple,” Staal said. “It was nice to get the first one and play with the lead. I don’t think we’ve played with the lead in awhile. It kind of relaxed everyone a little bit, and we played some good hockey after that.”
The Canes continued to pour in the chances after Staal’s goal, showing some real energy in the opening period. The Canes held a 19-7 lead in shots on net after the first period, but some sharp stops by Anderson and near misses kept the lead at one.
“I thought the guys were aggressive attacking the net,” head coach Bill Peters said. “When you’re coming over the blue line, you’ve got a little bit of pace to you, take guys on, build a wall, go to the net and create some chaos there. I thought we were better at that.”
Carolina grabbed a two-goal lead late in the second on a nice play. Forward Phil Di Giuseppe picked up a loose puck after forward Jordan Staal’s shot was blocked, then zipped a backhand feed across the crease to forward Elias Lindholm, who buried a one-timer for a 2-0 lead with just under five minutes to play in the middle frame.
“I saw him [Lindholm] when I was coming down,” Di Giuseppe, who had two assists on the night said. “I think Jordo [Staal] was trying to throw it to him. I believe it went off [Senator defenseman Erik] Karlsson’s skate or stick maybe. I didn’t have a shot. I knew he was there; I didn’t know if he was going to get there. It was a good play by him to put it in; it was a tough puck to shoot.”
With under a minute to go in the second period, the Canes made it 3-0, as forward Viktor Stalberg knocked in the rebound off a backhand try from forward Sebastian Aho. Forward Victor Rask earned an assist on Stalberg’s goal to end a 14-game point drought.
The Senators got a few chances, including a couple shots off the post early in the third, but for the most part the Canes locked it down to help their goalie earn his first clean sheet of the season and second win of the year.
“It’s huge,” Peters said. “I think the guys bore down in the last ten minutes once we got through that penalty kill. Prior to the kill, I thought we were playing well, and then we had a big penalty kill. There’s a zero on the board. He’s a good teammate and the guys really like him, so we want to make sure the night ends with that zero on the board.”
The Canes will wrap up their five-game home stand Sunday against the Calgary Flames at PNC Arena with a chance go hockey .500 on that stretch.
Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack stops Senators center Ryan Dzingel during the Canes 3-0 victory in PNC Arena on Friday. Lack stopped 34 shots on net to earn his first shutout of the season.
