Orlov's Big Night Leads Canes To Victory In Ottawa

OTTAWA - Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov had two goals and two assists on Sunday, a leading force in the team's 7-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Call And Response Start...

Getting right back into action after a thrilling come-from-behind effort in Toronto just 24 hours prior, Carolina was in search of a third win in four nights.

Going into a second consecutive game without Teuvo Teravainen, the Canes also began the evening with an adjusted alignment at forward. Making changes to the lines midway through the second period yesterday, Jake Guentzel notably remained on the top line alongside Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis.

Reuniting the consistent trio of Jordan Martinook, Jordan Staal, and Jesper Fast, Carolina's offense was then first to the scoreboard tonight.

Killing off an early infraction to Brendan Lemieux, the team flipped the momentum immediately following. #28 stepped out of the box and hit a streaking Dmitry Orlov, sending him in all alone for the game-opening goal.

Entering the night 27-7-3 when scoring first, the Canes were in a good spot to start the affair, but Ottawa pushed back.

As the period progressed the home team started to test Frederik Andersen more and more, tying the contest before the intermission. Thomas Chabot, returning to the lineup for the first time in 11 days, found twine to pull the game even.

A Game of Waves...

When the two teams returned for the second period, the stanza had a similar tune to the first.

Carolina started strong again, jumping back in front with a power play goal from Evgeny Kuznetsov.

But then Ottawa had a response, knotting things at 2-2 after a slick individual effort from Tim Stutzle.

Going to the final minute of the middle 20, it looked like we were headed for a tight finish and it was anyone's game going to the third. Instead, for a second consecutive evening, Jarvis chimed in with a late second period tally.

Receiving a seeing-eye feed from Aho, the 22-year-old beat former Hurricane Anton Forsberg with just 22 seconds on the clock, giving Carolina all the momentum as they went back to their locker room.

Blew It Open Late...

Ahead to start the final 20, the next goal was either going to give Carolina some valuable insurance, or for a third time in the contest it was going to be a tie game.

It took the team just 4:41 to answer which one of those options it would be, as Jalen Chatfield established a new career-high with his seventh goal of the season.

Depositing a give-and-go with Aho, the defenseman's 20th point of the season ignited what would go on to be a four-goal third period for Carolina.

In the next nine minutes, the group scored three times, beginning with Orlov's second of the night. A howitzer after a completely dominant shift, Ottawa had been completely deflated at that point, but the Canes weren't done.

Guentzel then earned his first goal with the team with a perfectly placed shot, and Lemieux tipped home a Brent Burns shot to close out the 7-2 score.

They Said It

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

"It was a pretty tight game.  It didn't feel like a 7-2 game, it was a lot tighter than that.  Freddie made some really good saves.  Our blue line really took over. They found ways to get pucks to the net and had some pretty good shots.  I don't want to say they took over the game, but that was the difference."

Dmitry Orlov following the victory...

"We overall had a very good game.  It wasn't easy.  We had a tough game yesterday.  Today you could see in the locker room that everybody was tired, but we knew we had to play strong and leave everything out there.  I think we did.  A lot of good PK's today and Freddie made some good saves.  We had good possession, and offensive zone time and created a lot of chances.  And obviously, we scored a lot of goals."

Frederik Andersen after improving to 8-1 on the season...

"It was two skilled teams going back and forth.  It took until the third to set us apart but I thought we played really well and played really hard throughout the game.  You started seeing it on the scoreboard in the third but I we had some good plays in the first two periods, both teams, to get the scoring going.  We stuck with it and got rewarded."

What's Next?

The Canes will fly to Long Island post-game and they're scheduled to be off on Monday. They'll get back to game action on Tuesday night against the Islanders.

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