In what could probably be considered a critical game Friday night, the Carolina Hurricanes came up with one of their worst efforts of the season against one of the worst teams in the NHL. The Canes were listless in a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at PNC Arena.
Warren Foegele scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes (22-20-5). Newly-acquired forward Nino Niederreiter made his Canes debut. The team was thoroughly outplayed against the 27th-place Senators (19-24-5), struggling to get anything going in the offensive zone and allowing Ottawa numerous grade-A chances.
The Canes struggled to simply clear the defensive zone on multiple occasions and routinely hung goalie Petr Mrazek out to dry. Friday marked the second game in a row the Canes lost by three or more goals.
“We were so bad I almost dressed and got out there,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I might have been as good as what we were throwing out there. We just didn’t want to play the way we’re supposed to. I didn’t know what I was watching. That’s the first time all year I can say that. You’re going to lose games, but that was obvious we were going to lose that one just by the way we were playing.”
The Senators took a 1-0 lead with about four minutes left in an uninspired first period for the Canes; forward Magnus Paajarvi batted a rebound past Mrazek.
With about one minute left in the opening frame, Canes forward Micheal Ferland dropped the gloves and fought Senators forward Mark Borowiecki in an effort to provide his team with a jolt of energy.
“I give them the credit,” Brind’Amour said. “We fought to get to our game and never did. It was an easy game for them.”
Ottawa nearly doubled its lead early in the second period, but Mrazek flashed the pad to deny Sens forward Brady Tkachuk on the doorstep.
The Senators scored two goals to make it 3-0 in a span of 13 seconds seven minutes and change into the middle frame. Forward Bobby Ryan cashed in an extended sequence where the Canes failed to clear the puck multiple times and forward Mark Stone fired a shot over Mrazek’s glove off a faceoff.
“I think as a group you can see the games that we played well in and the way we played,” forward Jordan Martinook said. “It’s hard to watch and be part of it when we know how we can play. We can beat good teams and then we come off it and then we don’t look like a very good team. Obviously tonight we didn’t look very good for the most of that game. We deserved to lose and they were the better team.”
The Canes got on the board with about eight and a half minutes left in the second; Foegele poked a puck off Borowiecki’s stick and into the net to make it 3-1.
The Senators restored a three-goal lead with about three and a half minutes left in the period; defenseman Christian Wolanin tapped in a cross-crease feed from Tkachuk to make it 4-1.
“We seem to have a tough time chasing games,” forward and team captain Justin Williams said. “Maybe the last comeback was against Boston [Dec. 23] and that was a while ago. That attitude needs to change. Whatever it is when we’re down, the belief needs to be there a little bit better when teams try and lock us down.”
Mrazek came up with a breakaway stop on Senators forward Ryan Dzingel in the third period to keep the game from getting further out of hand.
“Sometimes you score one in front of him, sometimes you score five,” Williams said. “He made some saves to give us an opportunity but we never took advantage of it.”
Carolina has now lost two in a row after winning seven of eight and is nine points back of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.The Canes will be back in action Sunday, starting a three-game road trip in Edmonton against the Oilers.
Carolina Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter fights to gain control of the puck against the Ottawa Senators on Friday, Jan. 18 in PNC Arena. The matchup against the Senators was Niederreiter's first game with the Carolina Hurricanes after being traded from the Minnesota Wild. The Hurricanes lost to the Senators 4-1.
