Recap: Senators defeated by Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes put a halt to any hopes the Ottawa Senators had about extending their win streak to four games on Sunday night. The Hurricanes scored four unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Senators 7-2 at Canadian Tire Centre.

The scoring opened with Dmitry Orlov’s goal at 7:12 of the first period. Thomas Chabot answered back for the Senators with a shot from a tough angle before the end of the first period. Carolina scored first again in the second period with a power play goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov and once again Ottawa struck back, this time on a highlight reel goal from Tim Stützle.

The Senators held the Hurricanes in check and the game was tied until the final minute of the second period when Seth Jarvis scored the eventual game-winning goal. Anton Forsberg stopped 31 or the 38 shots he faced for the Senators while Frederik Andersen stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced for the win.

“I think in the first two periods we actually had more chances than they did,” said interim head coach Jacques Martin. “We competed hard and did a good job . . . they are one of the better teams in the league.”

The floodgates opened from there with four different Hurricanes adding to the scoresheet over nine minutes in the third period. The goals came from Jalen Chatfield, Orlov, Jake Guentzel and Brendan Lemieux. Orlov’s goal was his second of the game after he opened the scoring on Sunday evening. Guentzel’s goal was his first since being traded to Carolina from Pittsburgh earlier this month.

“I think at some point you need to learn about game management,” added Martin. “It’s a part of being a good pro and being a good team.”

“If you look at the third goal we had puck possession in the offensive zone, turnover and the puck ends up in own net.”

After two straight games that featured comebacks from the Senators they couldn’t find the magic on Sunday night.

“The effort wasn’t good enough there tonight and we gave their players too much time,” said Stützle following the game. “We gave them too many chances and they got pucks to the net and we didn’t.”

All the Senators players seemed to agree on the message that they needed to have better game management and increased resilience.

“I think we played two good periods, obviously allowing that late one hurts,” added Thomas Chabot. “As a team though you need to find a way to come back in the third and get back to playing our game.”

The Senators have played the three games in four nights and will travel to Boston tomorrow before taking on the Bruins Tuesday night. The Sens and Bruins battled once already this season with Boston coming out on top in overtime.