Canes Snap Skid With Win In Ottawa

OTTAWA, ON. - The Carolina Hurricanes earned their first win since December 2 on Tuesday, taking a 4-1 victory from the Ottawa Senators.

Svechnikov Sidelined...

After starting the day with the unfortunate news that Andrei Svechnikov will be out for the foreseeable future due to an upper-body injury, the news was the latest bit of difficulty for a Canes club that entered having lost four straight.

The 2023 All-Star had missed the previous two games, but after being unsuccessful in both Calgary and Vancouver, the team elected to take a different approach with their lineup this evening.

Brendan Lemieux, who played in the opening left by Svechnikov in those contests, was the odd man out this evening, as the team went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Opening the door for Tony DeAngelo, #77 drew in for the first time since November 18.

A Momentum-Turning Tally...

When the puck went down inside Canadian Tire Centre, the first 15 minutes or so made it look like Rod Brind'Amour's group could be on their way to a fifth consecutive loss.

The Senators claimed the game's first goal and if not for some quality stops from Pyotr Kochetkov, the team could have been down by several.

Instead, the netminder's work allowed his team to get to a late-period power play trailing by just one. Therein they found the equalizer via Martin Necas.

As a part of a newly modified unit on the man advantage, #88 was the recipient of some beautiful back-and-forth cross-ice work by Brady Skjei and Jack Drury.

There's Aho...

Necas' tally, which came with just 1:11 left in the first, seemingly gave the group some wind in their sails to start the second stanza.

If it wasn't #88's eighth goal of the season juicing up the bench, then perhaps it was the back-to-back penalty kills in the first nine minutes of the frame. Within a span of 2:41, the team took a too many men minor and Skjei had committed a delay of game penalty, but the shorthanded units and Kochetkov did a wonderful job in not allowing Ottawa to retake the lead.

As mentioned, the momentum really swung in Carolina's favor after that.

Under four minutes after the second infraction was killed off, the Senators took a penalty of their own, and the Canes did what their opposition couldn't.

Playing pitch-and-catch with DeAngelo, Sebastian Aho then used a great screen from Seth Jarvis to put their team in front. #20's first point of the now five-game road trip, it started an explosion for both him personally and the team.

1:21 later, Aho took his turn as the set-up man, dropping one off for Jarvis' 10th of the year.

Then, before the period could conclude, Aho picked up a third point in five minutes, flashing his foot speed and extending his team's lead to 4-1.

Shut The Door...

While the offense was the story of the second period, Kochetkov then put on a show to close out the contest.

Although the Canes held the Senators without a shot for the first 10:39 of the third period, Ottawa came alive in a frantic way after that. Outshooting the visitors 13-2 the rest of the way, the young netminder had to be good, and he was.

The best moment of the period came when Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was awarded an erroneous penalty shot inside the final five minutes.

Not only was the goaltender up to the task though, but he also had some words for the Ottawa star, ultimately resulting in a game misconduct for the failed shooter.  Albeit he's just 24 years of age, it was vintage, fiery Kochetkov.

When all was said and done, Carolina's backstop finished the night with a season-high 31 saves and his fifth win of the season.

They Said It...

Rod Brind'Amour giving his thoughts on the win...

"I think we were just a little more dialed in... Our goalie was great tonight.  In the third period, when the game was out of hand, we gave up too much, but he held us in there with some big saves.  And then special teams were big.  The penalty kill was huge.  We took some bad penalties there.  The power play was good too.  All around, it was what we needed."

Seth Jarvis laying out the differences between tonight's game in comparison to previous efforts...

"I think special teams were huge.  The power play was finally clicking.  It was nice to have Tony back, Tony does a great job up top.  He really helped us out there.  Our mentality [too].  We were really desperate.  We couldn't keep this losing streak going, so it was just nice to get one."

Sebastian Aho on moving forward from tonight...

"We just have to build off of this.  We have to keep the special teams going.  Obviously, we're not happy with how we've played lately and this was definitely a step in the right direction.  We've got to keep going."

What's Next?

The Canes team will fly to Detroit immediately post-game. They are scheduled to practice on Wednesday and will then complete their road trip on Thursday against the Red Wings.

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