Senators finally bury Hurricanes in shootout
It was a one shot away from being a very painful night, a lot of work for nothing but a long flight back to Ottawa.
RALEIGH, North Carolina — It was a one shot away from being a very painful night, a lot of work for nothing but a long flight back to Ottawa.
But Jason Spezza, who scored one of Ottawa’s two goals in regulation, mercifully salvaged it with the only goal in a shootout to lift the Senators to a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Senators were on their way to a win in regulation when the roof fell in.
Tuomo Ruutu and Jeff Skinner, with a power-play goal, scored in the final five minutes of the game to tie it at 2-2 and send it, eventually, to a shootout.
Zenon Konopka had Ottawa’s other goal. It was his first as a Senator and his first in 20 games, since March 8, 2011, against Toronto.
“We played a real good game, but there was an unfortunate play on the first goal, and then kind of a tip (on Skinner’s goal),” said Spezza.
“It was frustrating, because we probably should have won in regulation. But we didn’t let it get us down. We had a decent overtime and found a way to win in a shootout.
“At the end of the day, it’s about getting results and we’re happy to come out of here with a win.”
The win was Ottawa’s third straight and its second in a shootout this season.
Cam Ward faced 28 shots in regulation for the Hurricanes while Craig Anderson faced 33.
Spezza said he didn’t have a plan for the shootout. He just wanted to see what Ward gave him.
“I was thinking top glove but he took it away pretty good,” he said.
“So I just tried to freeze him. He’s a good goaltender. I’ve played with him before in world championships and he’s real good on breakaways. So I just wanted to go in with an open mind.”
Most of the action in the first period came during two Ottawa penalties, one to Nick Foligno (holding), one to Jared Cowen (interference).
Killing penalties has been an adventure for the Senators so far this season, mainly because they’ve been so poor at it. They came into the game with the second-worst penalty kill in the league at 69.2 per cent.
Fortunately, the Hurricanes haven’t exactly been lighting it up on the power play, despite having had 46 chances, near the top of the league. They came into the game sitting 20th, at 14.3 per cent.
They held to form by missing both chances.
After playing a patient, rope-a-dope first period, during which they got only five shots, the Senators were a veritable offensive machine in the second, getting 12 shots and two goals.
The first came from Konopka at 6:30 after a fine pass from the much maligned Sergei Gonchar. From the left circle, Konopka beat Ward with a wrist shot.
The second, from Spezza, was a killer, coming as it did with just 1:24 to go in the period. From a scramble in front generated by Gonchar and Colin Greening, the puck popped loose for Spezza at the left post.
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WHY SENATORS WON: Because they didn’t collapse when they blew their lead and Jason Spezza was able to salvage the night with the only shootout goal.
STUD: Jason Spezza. Two goals, including the shootout winner (which doesn’t count in his totals). He is on a four-game scoring streak (four goals and four assists).
DUD: Sergei Gonchar. Spoiled an admirable two-assist night with a miscue that led to Ruutu’s goal at 15:08, giving the Hurricanes the life they were looking for.
TURNING POINT: A holding penalty to David Rundblad leads to the tying goal by Skinner at 17:29 of the third.
FUNNY POINT: David Rundblad sitting on the bench knowing full well he was penalized, however making a point “That was a penalty?”
Low Point: Both Craig Anderson goals were preventable and the second one especially was an easy one.
Re: Low Point:
Let’s be fair, the first ‘Canes goal is a 3-way screw-up, which is gonna happen with such complete roster turnovers, and most of them rookies, especially at the season’s start.
At that point, I’d like to see Anderson just make the safe play, forget icing and freeze it – his team is playing a perfect period in front of him. His defense obviously expected him to play safe, so they were looking to protect HIM, not the puck. But both Gonchar and Cowen have to know it’s an icing play and be ready to touch it up if Anderson doesn’t. Ruutu’s quick back-hand was perfectly placed. Difficult play to watch for Sens fans, but you can’t hang it on one guy! It happens!
Second goal was just a great deflection by Skinner – there are TWO teams playing the game, remember?
Overtime: Remind me who made great saves in O/T and stopped 3 straight high percentage shooters (including the all-time league leader!) in the shootout for the extra point, and made ‘em look like peewees?
Okay, Spezza played great. But Anderson got ‘em thru a slow start and a tough end; Gonchar, Michalek and Greening did all the work on Jason’s PP goal; Gonchar set up Konopka’s goal on a great pass (and Konopka’s A1 shot); and Anderson atoned for his bad decision on the icing by stoning Canes in O/T and S/O. Not to mention, the whole team (including Daugavins) chipped in for this win! Minus one moment’s indecision and a soft call which let Canes back in, this is an almost perfect road win by a very young team…
My Prediction? It will take awhile, but when Ottawa finally does next win the cup somewhere down the road, some Sensfans won’t like HOW they do it…
To be fair, Cowen or Anderson also could have prevented that goal very easily. No need to scapegoat Gonchar even when he has a good game.
Agree with Brian’s comments above. Grossly unfair to call Gonchar a dud in last night’a performance – totally ignoring the rest of the game and the blame equally falls on Anderson and Cowen.
It’s not the goalies fault to ‘touch up’ the puck on an icing. Replay shows both Gonchar and Cowen casually skating past the puck without touching it.
Gonchar, Anderson AND Cowen were all horrible last night. Did you guys even watch the game?
This bodes ill for the Senators. They won, yes, but in a shootout. In fact half their meagre wins came in shootouts. Pity they don’t have shootouts in the playoffs.
NOT fair to single out Gonchar for that goal, Cowen and Anderson held more responsibility. He has played great the last couple of games and least you can do is recognize that without continuing to make him a whipping boy.