Guentzel scores 1st for Hurricanes, who pull away from Senators

OTTAWA -- Jake Guentzel scored his first goal for the Carolina Hurricanes, who pulled away from the Ottawa Senators for a 7-2 win at Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday.

Guentzel, who also had an assist, has five points (one goal, four assists) in four games with the Hurricanes since being acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 7. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who also had a goal and an assist, has four points (two goals, two assists) in six games since he was acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on March 8.

“We all know they’re good players, but they want to contribute,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “And that’s what they’ve done stepping into the lineup. ‘Kuzy’ got another goal tonight, and ‘Guentz’ getting a nice one there. That’s the way you fit in and that’s the way you feel good about coming to a new team.”

Dmitry Orlov had two goals and two assists, and Brendan Lemieux and Jalen Chatfield each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (42-20-6), who were coming off a 5-4 shootout win at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and are 6-1-0 in their past seven games. Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Frederik Andersen made 30 saves.

“Today, you could see in the locker room everybody was tired, but we had to come up and play strong and leave everything out there,” Orlov said. “And I think we did. Good [penalty kills] today, ‘Freddie’ made some good saves, and I think we had good possession, good offensive zone time. We created a lot of chances, and obviously we scored a lot of goals.”

Thomas Chabot had a goal and an assist in his return from a lower-body injury for the Senators (28-34-4), who had won three in a row, including 4-3 in overtime at the New York Islanders on Saturday. Anton Forsberg made 31 saves.

“The first two periods, actually, we had a couple more chances than they did,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “I thought we played really well. We competed hard. I thought we did a really good job, and they're one of the better teams in the League. I think we self-destructed. Can't feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up.”

Seth Jarvis gave Carolina a 3-2 lead at 19:38 of the second period, finishing a backdoor pass from Aho at the right post.

“Our line can’t give that last goal up before the [third period],” Senators forward Tim Stützle said. “I think we played two good periods against a really good team, and then one thing followed the other.”

Chatfield pushed it to 4-2 at 4:41 of the third period, beating Forsberg glove side from the right circle off a give-and-go with Aho.

“I think we have really, really good skaters, to start,” Andersen said of Carolina's defensemen. “And obviously that creates a lot of space and a lot of confusion in their zone if you can kind of be moving a lot up top and be a threat, as well. Obviously, they’re using their skating ability to defend, as well, and making it hard on the opponent to kind of make plays because we’re right on them.”

Orlov scored his second of the game on a slap shot from the point to make it 5-2 at 7:14.

“We didn’t make a lot of mistakes in the third,” Orlov said. “We just put the puck deep and tried to forecheck. That’s our strength as a team. When you’ve got the puck, you just need to open up for each other. If you have a chance to shoot, you shoot it, and somebody should be at the front of the net. And I think today we did a much better job in front of the net.”

Guentzel extended the lead to 6-2 at 8:52. He got a step on Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub and beat Forsberg over his glove from the left circle.

Lemieux tipped in Brent Burns' point shot at 13:07 for the 7-2 final.

“It took until the third to really set us apart, but I thought we played really well and played hard throughout the game,” Andersen said. “We stuck with it and got rewarded.”

Orlov gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:19 of the first period. He took a lead pass from Lemieux and picked the top right corner on a breakaway.

“He’s been playing really well,” Brind’Amour said of Orlov. “He’s got a pretty heavy shot, and tonight we were able to see that. He’s been coming along. He hasn’t really gotten any breaks, right? Like, he’s had a lot of good opportunities and I think, maybe, hopefully, this kind of springboards him because he has been playing really well.”

Chabot, who had missed the past five games, tied it 1-1 at 13:50 with a wrist shot over Andersen’s glove from the bottom of the right circle.

“I think it's just on us maturing and just being better with the puck at certain times,” Chabot said. “And we had some chances putting it behind them and forechecking them, which worked for us. And we didn't do that [enough]. And obviously, when you play a team like them that has a chance of winning the Stanley Cup, I mean, that's going to come back and haunt you. And it’s exactly what happened in the third there.”

Kuznetsov put Carolina back in front 2-1 at 2:03 of the second period, scoring with a snap shot from the left face-off dot shortly after a 5-on-3 power play expired.

Stutzle tied it 2-2 at 4:51. He gathered the puck along the right boards, made a move around Chatfield in the high slot and beat Andersen glove side with a wrist shot.

“I think at some point you've got to learn about game management,” Martin said. “I think it's part of being a good pro. It's part of being a good team.”

NOTES: Andersen is 4-0-0 with a 1.26 goals-against average and .949 save percentage since returning from a blood clotting issue that caused him to miss 50 games. … Jarvis has scored in three straight games. ... Orlov was a game-high plus-4. … Zub was a game-worst minus-4.