Martin gets 1st NHL shutout for Hurricanes in win against Senators 

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Spencer Martin made 24 saves for his first NHL shutout, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-0 at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

“It’s pretty cool,” Martin said. “I’m more focused on winning games; I don’t go in there looking for a shutout, but it’s fun.”

Martin is starting with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov out with injuries.

“I don’t look at it as a tough situation,” said the 29-year-old goalie who is in his second season with the Hurricanes. “Tougher would be me not being where I want to be. I really feel like it’s meant to be that I got the chance. I’m enjoying it, and I’m going to try to do my best with it.”

Jordan Martinook had a goal and an assist, and Martin Necas extended his point streak to 12 games (eight goals, 15 assists) for the Hurricanes (12-4-0), who have won two of their past three games. Jordan Staal and Shayne Gostisbehere each had two assists.

Anton Forsberg made 24 saves for the Senators (8-8-1), who have lost two in a row.

"I thought we weathered a couple moments," Ottawa coach Travis Green said. "I really liked our second period. Our teams play a lot alike. I thought we started to apply a little bit of pressure. Obviously, we don’t like to give up two power-play goals on the road."

Carolina took a 1-0 lead at 8:00 of the first period. Martinook’s shot from behind the goal line handcuffed Forsberg and went into the net off his pads.

Sebastian Aho's power-play goal made it 2-0 at 19:18 of the second. He took a cross-ice pass from Necas and scored on a one-timer from the right face-off circle.

“Kind of a different set-up 5-on-3, there’s a little more time,” Aho said. “It was a good pass, and I’m glad I got some good wood on it and it went in.”

Jackson Blake gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal just 43 seconds into the third. Forsberg stopped Gostisbehere’s wrist shot from inside the blue line, but Blake put in the rebound.

“If you’re not hunting pucks, what are you doing out there, right?” Blake said. “I feel like I really established that this year to kind of set the tone for me as a player. Hunting and winning those is a good thing for me.”

The Senators were 10-for-10 on the penalty kill in their previous four games.

“At the end of the day, our special teams have got to be better,” Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson said. “And we’ve got to get more traffic in front of their goalie.”

William Carrier scored an empty-net goal for the 4-0 final at 15:04.

Martin made 11 saves in the third period to preserve the shutout. He stopped Nick Cousins in close on a 2-on-1 before making a pad save on Tim Stutzle cutting to the net. His best save came on a point-blank chance from Brady Tkachuk with 33 seconds left.

“I thought they had a couple too many looks there at the end,” Aho said. “The game is kind of over, but you want to make sure he’s getting his shutout after that performance. He had to do it kind of himself at the end there too. Just an awesome game from him.”

NOTES: Forward David Perron had two shots on goal in 12:01 of ice time in his return for the Senators after missing 11 games to tend to family matters. … Tkachuk had seven shots and seven hits. … Martinook has eight points (six goals, two assists) in the past six games. … Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi was 9-for-10 in face-offs. …The shutout was Carolina’s first of the season.