The Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators don’t have a lot in common in regard to the paths they’ve traveled this season.
But they share similar good feelings going into Sunday evening’s game in Ottawa.
Both teams played beyond regulation Saturday and came away with comeback victories.
The latter of those developed when the Hurricanes wiped out a three-goal deficit and posted a 5-4 shootout win in Toronto. Jake Guentzel, in just his third game with Carolina, converted in the shootout to provide the team the extra point.
“Not the best way to do it, but overall, you’ll take the points,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We obviously dug in and had a good kind of finish.”
Ottawa claimed a 4-3 overtime road victory against the New York Islanders in the afternoon on captain Brady Tkachuk’s goal. That goal completed a hat trick for Tkachuk and sealed a third consecutive victory for the Senators.
“It’s nice to win those games because it’s kind of rewarding to get that extra point,” Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said. “We’ve played much better defensively as far as chances against the last three games, and I think the results have shown.”
Such results tend to have the Senators looking at what they can accomplish next.
“It was a great comeback for our team; we’ll take it and build on it for (Sunday),” Tkachuk said.
Martin said he likes how the positive vibes have been growing since an 0-6-1 stretch prior to the past week.
“It shows you have to stick with it and be composed and go right to the end,” he said.
Martin made in-game line changes that seemed to spark the Senators on Saturday.
“I thought that our D gave us a strong game too,” Martin said. “I thought we played our gap much better against this team, and it made it a bit more difficult to enter our zone.”
For Carolina, Guentzel had various moments Saturday. He was charged with a slashing penalty in overtime, then ended up the shootout hero.
“He’s a great player and we know it,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s going to take some time for these guys to just kind of feel comfortable. … But I think it will only get better.”
The Hurricanes will have goalie Frederik Andersen in net on Sunday. He’s 3-0-0 since returning from an absence of more than four months due to blood-clotting issues, but this will be his first road assignment since Nov. 2.
As always with games on back-to-back days, there could be lineup adjustments.
The Hurricanes already had one lineup shift this weekend. They’ll play their second game in a row without forward Teuvo Teravainen, who has 21 goals in 66 games.
The Senators will check on defenseman Jake Sanderson, who was helped off the ice in the third period Saturday but returned to action. He has played in 62 of Ottawa’s 65 games.
Carolina has won both meetings with the Senators this season. Those results were 5-3 in the Hurricanes’ season opener at home on Oct. 11 and then 4-1 on Dec. 12 in Ottawa.
Only Sebastian Aho had more than one goal in those games combined for Carolina, scoring twice in the second matchup.
–Field Level Media