Chad LaRose leads Carolina Hurricanes to 4-3 win over Ottawa Senators
Chad LaRose scored twice and Cam Ward turned aside 36 shots as the Carolina Hurricanes held on for a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
Tuomo Ruutu and Cory Stillman each also posted a goal for Hurricanes. With this victory, the Hurricanes have 78 points and are in ninth-place in the Eastern Conference. They sit only three points behind eighth-place Buffalo Sabres and the final play-off
spot in the Eastern Conference.
Marek Svatos and Colin Greening both scored, while Erik Karlsson also tallied a final period goal for Senators, who have dropped seven straight games at the RBC Centre. Goalie Curtis McElhinney gave up all four goals on 24 shots for Ottawa, who had a two-game
winning streak snapped.
McElhinney was pleased with his side’s performance. He said. "Overall, I thought we played a pretty good game. Ward played great and they capitalized on some of the chances in the second and third periods."
Ottawa gained a two goal lead early in the opening period, but LaRose tallied late in the first and second frame to help Carolina recover from a 2-0 deficit.
The Senators got the scoring started in the eighth minute of the opening frame. The play was set up by Jason Spezza’s breakaway shot which was blocked by Ward. However, Greening picked up the rebound and put it into the open net for his third goal of the
season.
The Senators then doubled their advantage in the 14th minute of the first period when Svatos whacked in a rebound off a shot from Erik Condra. The Hurricanes reduce the deficit less than a minute later when Ruutu deflected Jussi Jokinen’s shot past McElhinney.
Carolina pulled even with less than six minutes to play in the first frame when Joni Pitkanen centred a pass to LaRose, who blasted a shot which beat McElhinney for his 14th goal of the season. LaRose gave Carolina their first lead of the game late in the
second period when he fired a wrist shot past the Senators net-minder for his 15th goal of the season.
In the seventh minute of the final frame, the Hurricanes extended their lead to 4-2 with Eric Staal’s Insurance goal. Cory Stillman grabbed the puck across the ice and made a feed to Staal, who one-timed it home.
Karlsson’s pulled Ottawa to within another goal to make it a one-point game with less than six minutes remaining. However, Carolina maintained their one goal lead the rest of the way. Ward had to stop only nine shots in the final period to preserve the victory.
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