The Carolina Hurricanes had been struggling to find goals and wins. Facing the Ottawa Senators for the second time in three days solved both problems.
Warren Foegele, Ryan Dzingel and Martin Necas each had a goal and an assist, and Haydn Fleury and Dougie Hamilton also scored to help the Hurricanes win for only the second time this month (2-4-0) after matching a franchise record with eight wins in October. Andre Svechnikov and Brett Pesce each added two assists, and Petr Mrazek stopped 26 shots for his eighth win of the season.
The Hurricanes lost 4-1 at Ottawa on Saturday and were eager to get another chance at the Senators.
“We needed to bounce back and play well,” said Hamilton, who is tied for the team lead with eight goals this season.
WATCH | Hurricanes score 5 unanswered goals in rout of Sens:
Colin White and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa, which had won three of its previous four games. Anders Nilsson gave up four goals on 19 shots before being pulled in the second period, and Craig Anderson stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced.
The Hurricanes had scored a total of seven goals during the four-game losing streak.
“It was nice to see the puck go in,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “The last couple of weeks, it has just been tough sledding to find the back of the net. We really capitalized on our chances.”
Carolina sets the tone early
Foegele put the Hurricanes up just 44 seconds into the game, and Necas’ power-play goal with 2:05 left in the period made it 2-0.
“We didn’t like our first period in Ottawa,” Aho said. “This was us setting the bar for ourselves. That’s the work we have to do every game.”
Hamilton fired in a shot from the slot, off of a feed from Teuvo Terravainen, to beat Anderson with 3:35 remaining.
“We haven’t been scoring a lot of goals,” Hamilton said. “It was good for everyone to get a good feeling.”
White got the Senators on the scoreboard with 1:35 to go in the middle period after Mrazek misplayed the puck from behind his own net.
Aho pushed the lead back to five on a deflection at 1:07 of the third.
Sens coach likes effort
Tkachuk scored for the second straight game against Carolina at 9:54 to pull Ottawa to 6-2. Dzingel and Edmundson scored 4:01 apart later in the period to cap the scoring for the Hurricanes.
Senators coach D.J. Smith thought his team’s effort was better than the final margin.
“I think we’ve worked really hard,” Smith said. “Every mistake we made kind of compounded and that happens sometimes. They’re a real good team at home. We’re just going to move on.”
Edmundson’s outburst, his first goal and three points after the defenceman went without a point in the first 17 games, summed up the Hurricanes’ effort.
“I don’t really focus on the points but after 15 or how many games it has been, it does creep into your mind,” Edmundson said. “I was just happy to help out.”