RALEIGH, N.C. _ Apparently there's something about a loss to the Ottawa Senators that shakes up and awakens the Carolina Hurricanes.
Two days after a listless defeat to the Sens in Ottawa, the Canes returned home Monday to PNC Arena and put together an 8-2 victory that checked all the boxes and ended a four-game losing streak.
Sebastian Aho scored shorthanded _ the first of two goals by the center _ and Martin Necas had a power-play score. Check off special-teams play.
Defenseman Joel Edmundson had a goal and two assists, and Haydn Fleury and Dougie Hamilton each scored while Brett Pesce had two assists. Check off offensive help from the defense.
A quick start? The Canes (10-7-1) had that, too, as forward Warren Foegele got off a shot from the right circle that nicked the skate of Sens forward Chris Tierney and trickled through goalie Anders Nilsson, whose night ended in the second period.
The Canes' Ryan Dzingel also scored against his former team as Carolina posted a season-high for goals and had 13 players pick up points.
Canes goalie Petr Mrazek was solid enough in picking up his eighth win of the season. Mrazek misplayed the puck behind the net late in the second period, allowing Colin White to score on a wraparound, and the Sens' Brady Tkachuk scored in the third after the Canes had taken a 6-1 lead.
But this was a night the Canes played well, earned some good bounces and made the most of them. They also showed some feistiness, Brock McGinn dropping the gloves and going after the Sens' Bobby Ryan after Ryan blasted the Canes' Brian Gibbons in a corner with a dangerous hit in the first.
The Canes played so poorly in a home-ice beating to the Sens last season that Rod Brind'Amour, in his first season as head coach, said, "I almost dressed and got out there." The Canes got the message, quickly rebounded and soon became one of the hottest teams in the NHL.
On Saturday, Brind'Amour again was disgusted after another 4-1 loss to the Sens. Ottawa had a big first period, the Canes didn't push back or play with much energy and Brind'Amour was left to call the loss "unacceptable."
"It's soul-searching time," Brind'Amour said after Saturday's game. "We'll see what this group is made of."
Brind'Amour said after Monday's morning skate that he needed his best players to play their best. Aho responded with a breakaway for the shorthanded goal and then knocked a hard carom off the end boards into the net early in the third for a 6-1 lead.
Brind'Amour changed up his lines after the game in Ottawa, moving winger Teuvo Teravainen on Aho's line with Andrei Svechnikov, reuniting the two Finns. Svechnikov had a pair of assists and Teravainen, so solid all over the ice, set up Hamilton for a shot in the slot to earn a primary assist.
Necas and Fleury both scored after opportune bounces. On Necas' power-play score, a Jake Gardiner shot from the top was blocked by a Sens player, the puck popping to Necas for a shot at an open net. Necas didn't miss.
Fleury had his shot go off the stick of defenseman Erik Brannstrom and sail high and past Nilsson for a 4-0 lead. Fleury had been a healthy scratch the past two games and six of the past seven, but was in the lineup Monday replacing Trevor van Riemsdyk in the third defensive pairing.
The Sens (6-10-1) made a goaltending change after the Fleury goal, with Craig Anderson replacing Nilsson, but the damage had been done and Canes continued to score.
The Canes, now 7-3-0 at home, will play the next three on the road _ against Buffalo, Minnesota and the Chicago Blackhawks.
