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On You Can Play Night, Hockey Is For Everyone team ambassador Eddie Lack showed that he, indeed, can play.
The Carolina Hurricanes got back into the win column on Friday night in Raleigh with a solid 3-0 win against the Ottawa Senators. Lack made his first start since February 7th and played arguably his best game as a Hurricane, stopping all 34 shots he faced. It was his third shutout as a Hurricane and first this season.
The Hurricanes blasted Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson with 44 shots in a game in which they played well in all three zones of the ice.
Jordan Staal got the Hurricanes off to a great start with a beautiful wraparound goal just 1:19 into the first period. The Hurricanes remained active throughout the rest of the first period, out-shooting the Senators 19-7. Anderson stood tall in net and kept the score at 1-0 when the Canes felt they could have put even more of a cush
The flood gates burst open in the second period. Elias Lindholm scored his sixth goal of the season on a cross-crease backhand pass by Phil Di Giuseppe. Di Giuseppe had a multi-point night with two assists, also picking up a helper on Staal’s goal that opened the scoring.
With under a minute to go in the second period, Viktor Stalberg scored his 9th goal of the season off of a rebound generated by a backhand shot by Sebastian Aho. Victor Rask was credited with an assist on Stalberg’s goal. The assist was Rask’s first point since January 13th.
The Hurricanes turned to their special teams in the third period. Carolina was able to generate offense on a power play after Marc Methot was penalized for interference. Despite putting a few shots on net, the score remained 3-0. The Hurricanes then turned to their league-leading penalty kill - minus the traded Ron Hainsey, a stalwart on the league’s best PK unit - to seal the win after Jay McClement was sent to the penalty box with seven minutes to go.
This was the third of three games between the two teams this season. Ottawa won the previous two games by scores of 2-1, but the Canes maintained their home mastery of the Senators, with a 14-0-2 mark at PNC dating back to December of 2007. The Hurricanes will wrap up their five-game homestand with a game against the Calgary Flames at PNC Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m. on Military Appreciation Day.
Rank The Performances
Here’s your chance to weigh in on how you think the team performed tonight. Upvote the players you think played well and downvote the ones who didn’t.