RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes appeared to be on the verge of a quick knockout Friday against the Ottawa Senators.
Brent Burns scored early. Seth Jarvis scored soon after. The Canes were buzzing all around Sens goalie Cam Talbot, looking for more.
But it would not be a runaway, after all. Canes penalties followed the goals and goalie Antti Raanta was forced to make some high-quality stops in a 4-0 victory, his third shutout of the season.
The Canes took the 2-0 lead into the third period. Soon after killing off a Calvin de Haan tripping penalty, a Martin Necas goal all but sealed it — the 23rd of the season for Necas. Brady Skjei’s empty-net goal finished off the scoring.
Raanta, who had 32 saves, picked up his 15th win as the Hurricanes (39-10-8) won their fifth straight game. Strong goaltending and penalty killing were the difference as the Senators (27-26-4), fourth in the NHL on the power play, were 0 for 5.
Burns scored 3:48 into the game, firing the puck from the slot over the head of Jarvis. Both the puck and Jarvis were in the net, Jarvis having been shoved into Talbot by the Sens’ Alex DeBrincat.
“Almost buzzed me,” Jarvis joked about the Burns bullet.
A few minutes later, Jarvis picked up a goal of his own, his fifth in the last four games and 13th of the season. After Andrei Svechnikov won a board battle against defenseman Jake Sanderson in the Sens zone, Sebastian Aho found Jarvis and Jarvis beat Talbot, playing his first game since Jan. 25.
Just like that, 2-0, Canes, not yet seven minutes into the game.
But a high-sticking penalty against Svechnikov with 43.7 seconds left in the first began to stall the Canes’ momentum. It was an offensive-zone penalty and it was undisciplined.
When the Canes’ Jordan Staal was called for a slash early in the second, the Senators had 42 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play. The Hurricanes outworked the league’s fourth-ranked power play, killing off both, but there would be more penalty-killing time to come for Carolina.
Svechnikov went to the box again, for tripping. Martin Necas was called for hooking, ending a Canes power play.
The game, fast-paced in the first, slowed to a crawl in the second. It became a slog — and more work for Raanta.
Raanta had made a sharp save on a Julien Gauthier breakaway in the first period, denying the former Hurricanes’ first-round draft pick. He was forced to make another in the second, against DeBrincat, getting a piece of the shot.
Play became more physical in the final two periods. The Sens’ Mathieu Joseph was wiped out by Burns behind the net in the second, and Svechnikov put a big hit on Joseph in the third.
The second period ended with Aho being sandwiched and double-teamed in the corner, but help was on the way and the skirmish ended quickly.
The Sens’ Claude Giroux came an inch or two from making it a 2-1 game midway through the third, the puck skidding through the crease and nicking the far post.
Ottawa had another power play in the third after the de Haan trip, but the Canes penalty killing again got the job done.
