Compuware NHL Premiere Series 2010: Carolina Hurricanes lose 2-3 to Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators were determined to win another game in the NHL regular season when they came up against Carolina Hurricanes, this Thursday. The game took place at the Scotiabank Place, home to Ottawa Senators.
This was Hurricanes' 3rd while Senators' 4th match of the campaign. The game was one of the toughest but Senators managed to win it in the end by 3-2.
1st Period:
Both teams came up with good plays during the starting few minutes of the period. Regular attempts on goals were seen with the occasional open chances that went wide.
In the period's middle, both teams took their feet off the gas and instead concentrated on maintaining a good tight defence. This phase saw the technical side of both teams as they tried to get past each other's jam-packed and non-porous defence.
But, as the period neared its end, they started attacking and thus the offence dominated the play. Both teams got their share of the chances but neither was converted into a goal.
However, Senators drew first blood as they scored in the 18th minute to take the lead. Their goal-scorer was Mike Fisher who scored from a fabulous 54 feet shot.
With this, the period ended as the home team led, scoring once out of their 16 goal attempts while Hurricanes couldn’t score despite making 9 attempts at the goal.
2nd Period:
In the 2nd period, the home team dominated although they couldn’t score many goals. Senators not only dominated the play while on the offence but also displayed some brilliant defensive skills.
Hurricanes also managed a few shots but the home team’s goal-keeper coped with the pressure. The defence that the home team formed didn’t see any dangerous attacks' build up. Hurricanes couldn’t score in the 2nd period and as the period ended,
they were trailing.
Meanwhile, Senators took the lead in the 11th minute when they scored through Milan Michalek from 13 feet. This goal came as a result of a splendid backhand that found the back of the net.
The period ended with 2-0 in favour of Senators. During the period, Senators made 13 goal attempts whereas Hurricanes made 4 such attempts.
3rd Period:
The 3rd period was the most productive one in terms of goals as well as attacking play. Both teams took the game on the offence rather than choosing to stay behind and waiting for mistakes by the opposing team.
Hurricanes pulled one goal in the 8th minute which was scored by Sergei Samsonov from a 14 feet snap off. Now, with the match score being 2-1, Hurricanes pressed on for another goal.
A little confusion in the Senators' defence resulted in Hurricanes scoring once again to level things in the 9th minute. This time, the goal was a splendid one, scored by Captain Eric Staal from close range tip in.
The Senators responded in the 15th minute to again take the lead as Mike Fisher scored his 2nd goal of the match from 38 feet through a slap off. The game finally ended with Ottawa Senators' 3-2 victory.
"The timing for it was perfect," Senators' coach, Cory Clouston later said of Fisher's winner.
Moreover, Hurricanes' coach, Paul Maurice commented on his side's defeat, saying, "Tonight, we just weren't moving. We didn't have any jump so we left it to our goaltender to bail us out of some of the strange decisions that we made and he did so. That's
how you get a chance to win games when you're not good and we weren't very good."
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