OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators talk about the need to mature, but can’t seem to find a way to do it.
The Senators surrendered four third-period goals to the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday as they absorbed a 7-2 whipping on home ice.
After the game Senators players talked about this being part of the maturing process, a common refrain since the start of the year. When asked why his team can’t seem to learn the hard lessons, interim head coach Jacques Martin was stumped.
“That’s a good question,” said Martin. “If I had the answer I probably wouldn't be here, but I don't have the answer. I think, you know, like you talk about it, you show situations and at some point I guess people have to learn.”
Both teams were playing the back half of a back-to-back, but the Hurricanes (42-20-6) showed their resilience late in the game.
With the game tied 2-2 Seth Jarvis gave the Hurricanes the lead scoring with 22 seconds remaining in the second period which proved to be the back-breaker.
Thomas Chabot, who returned to the lineup after missing the last five games, said the Senators need to do a much better job at bouncing back.
“Obviously allowing that late one always hurts,” said Chabot, who scored Ottawa’s opening goal. “But, I mean, as a team you’ve got to find a way to come back in the third and get back to playing the same way.
" … You guys saw we gave them chances, obviously found the way to get in the back of our net and I mean those are the games that you’ve just got to watch and just all of us just got to look at ourselves and just be better next game.”
Jalen Chatfield, Jake Guentzel, Brendan Lemieux and Dmitry Orlov, who also scored in the first, each scored in the third to take full control of the game.
“We didn’t make a lot of mistakes in the third,” said Orlov, who also had two assists. “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.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Seth Jarvis also scored for Carolina. Sebastian Aho chipped in with three assists. Frederik Anderson made 31 saves.
“We were able to capitalize,” said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour. “All of a sudden, we got those chances and then, in the net, in the net, and that’s deflating for the other team. And then we’re able to just kind of sit on top of it and finish out the game.”
Tim Stutzle also scored for Ottawa (28-34-4), who saw its three-game win streak halted. Anton Forsberg stopped 30 shots.
The Senators kept pace with Carolina for two periods, but it all fell apart in the third.
Some poor defensive coverage by the Senators allowed Chatfield to walk in and make it 4-2 early in the third. Just over three minutes later the Hurricanes controlled the play as if they were on the power play and it ended with Orlov firing a puck from just inside the blue line.
Carolina put the game out of reach when Guentzel beat Artem Zub and scored his first with the Hurricanes, since being acquired by Pittsburgh. Lemieux later tipped a Brent Burns shot for his third of the season.
“I think it's just us on maturing and just being better with the puck at certain times,” said Chabot. “And we had some chances of putting it behind them and forechecking them, which worked for us and we didn't do that and obviously when you play a team like them that have a chance of winning the Stanley Cup, that's gonna come back and haunt you and exactly what happened in the third there.”
Orlov opened the scoring on a breakaway in the first, but Chabot was able to tie it scoring from the bottom of the faceoff circle.
Carolina took a 2-1 lead early in the second with a power-play goal by Kuznetsov, but once again Ottawa tied it with an impressive effort by Stutzle who threaded a shot through traffic for his 17th of the season.
NOTES
Carolina’s Teuvo Teravainen missed his second straight game due to an upper-body injury. He’s expected to return sometime this week.
UP NEXT
Senators: Visit the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.
Hurricanes: Visit the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
