Struggling Senators left winded by Hurricanes
Chance to catch Habs in Atlantic blown in ugly loss
There was no rally in Raleigh for the Senators on Friday night.
The Senators took one on the chin and this knockout punch from the Carolina Hurricanes was ugly.
With a chance to move into a first-place tie with the Montreal Canadiens with a victory, the Senators didn’t even give themselves a chance for two points with a horrible effort in a 3-0 loss at PNC Arena to the lowly Hurricanes, who are virtually eliminated from the playoffs.
Sure, the Senators were still without injured scoring threats Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan, but the club’s effort was disgraceful and Ottawa didn’t resemble a playoff contender as they pretty much gave goaltender Craig Anderson, who faced 44 shots, no support whatsoever.
While Carolina goalie Eddie Lack made 34 stops for the shutout, Viktor Stalberg, Elias Lindholm and Jordan Staal provided the goals as the Senators continued to struggle against Carolina. The Hurricanes have earned at least a point against Ottawa in 22 of their last 28 meetings.
“They came out really hard. We were expecting that, so there’s no excuse,” said Senators coach Guy Boucher. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be ready for a surge in the first and we’re just not there at all.
“We gave two freebies on faceoffs in our zone in the second period and we paid for it. When you come out like that and you waste an entire first period, you don’t deserve to win.”
With the NHL trade deadline set for Wednesday at 3 p.m., this effort may have given GM Pierre Dorion pause for thought about making a move. He’d like to add some depth and the way the Senators played will definitely give him something to think about.
“Right now, I don’t think we have the personnel to disrespect anybody. We just had an off day and we’ll be better next game,” said Boucher.
The Senators pushed back in the third but by that time, the issue had been settled and the Canes were quite satisfied to get away with the win.
“We couldn’t find our game,” said alternate captain Dion Phaneuf. “They came, they pushed ... the bottom line is we got beat and now we’ve just got to move forward. We’re not going to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. We didn’t play well enough, now we’ve got to move forward.
“You can’t use injuries as an excuse. Every team in this league has them and every team goes through them. We did a good job in New Jersey (on Tuesday). We just didn’t play well enough here.”
Well, the Senators didn’t do a lot to help themselves through 40 minutes.
They didn’t look like they were ready to play from the drop of the puck and, while they were better in the second period by outshooting the Hurricanes 18-14, they weren’t good enough and trailed 3-0.
While it’s true the Senators are without some of their top players, they didn’t do enough to make things difficult for Lack. Tom Pyatt had a good chance short-handed but missed the net. Chris Wideman created a good opportunity, but those were too few and far between for the Senators.
Stalberg, who will likely be dealt by Wednesday’s NHL trade deadline, gave his side a threegoal lead when Anderson kicked out a rebound and he fired it home with only 42 seconds left in the third. It was terrible; the Senators weren’t even giving themselves a chance to win.
The Hurricanes pulled out to a 2-0 lead when Lindholm was left untouched down low and took a cross-crease pass to beat Anderson stick side with 4:44 left in the period.
He didn’t have a chance and it came after the Senators lost control of the puck on a faceoff in their own zone.
Injuries aren’t supposed to be an excuse, so they can’t be used as one, but there’s no excuse for the way the Senators were outshot 19-7 by the Hurricanes in the first period. They were lucky to be down only 1-0 on the scoreboard on Staal’s goal at 1:19.
“We’ve got to throw this away. They played well tonight. We knew they played well in their barn, they showed it and give them credit,” said Anderson.
“I’ve played these guys enough in my career to know they come out flying and it’s tough building to come in and play.
“It’s another lesson for us, to make sure that we’re ready to go. It doesn’t matter if a team is at the bottom of the standings, top of the standings, .500, it doesn’t matter where they’re at. There are good players on every team and they can beat you any given night.”
The Senators continue their road trip on Sunday night, in Sunrise, Fla., against the Panthers. bgarrioch@postmedia.com Twitter: @sungarrioch
You can’t use injuries as an excuse. Every team in this league has them and every team goes through them.