RALEIGH, N.C. — It’s a balancing act at this point in the regular season for the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Canes want to win the Metropolitan Division again. But they’ve qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for a fifth straight year, there are just a few games left and it can be easy to let up, if only a little.
“We’ve asked the guys to be real dedicated, disciplined, focused all year to give us a chance to play in the next round, and we’ve done that,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday before facing the Ottawa Senators. ”So now it’s, OK, we’ve still got work to do and we want to finish as high as we can. It’s about keeping our eye on today and not looking too far ahead.”
The Hurricanes had a hard time beating the Senators, being forced to overtime before Martin Necas won it 3-2 with a goal with 40.1 seconds remaining at PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes (50-18-9) couldn’t hold a two-goal lead and failed to score with a 5-on-3 advantage, but found a way to win and maintain their three-point Metro lead over the New Devils, who beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1.
The game matched two Finnish goalies — Antti Raanta, playing his 251st NHL game at age 33 and Leevi Merilainein, 20, starting his first. Raanta, who had 25 saves, is 15-0-2 in his last 17 decisions, his 17-game point streak the longest in franchise history.
The Canes had a 2-0 lead after goals from Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Brady Skjei in the first period, but the Senators clawed their way back in it.
Ottawa (37-34-7) got a goal from Claude Giroux in the second, killed off the 5-on-3 power play by the Canes, then tied it 2-2 after Brady Tkachuk’s power-play goal in the third.
Skjei scored his 18th goal of the season, tying former Canes teammate Dougie Hamilton for most goals by a D-man in Carolina franchise history.
Skjei also assisted on the Canes’ first goal as Jesperi Kotkaniemi redirected a shot by Skjei from the point in the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Skjei’s goal came at the end of a four-minute power play after another former Cane, Patrick Brown, high-sticked and bloodied defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere for a double-minor.
With the puck loose between the circles, Skjei jumped on it and fired a shot past Merilainen to make it 2-0.
The Sens’ D.J. Smith used his coach’s challenge, claiming the puck was touched with a high stick by the Canes 40 seconds before the Skjei goal. But the ruling was that Kotkaniemi did not touch it — good goal for Skjei.
Giroux scored in the second period, getting open on the back door for his 30th of the season. That came not long after the Sens’ Ridly Greig collided with Raanta in net, falling on the goalie.
The Senators built up zone time in the Carolina end in the second period, giving Raanta a lot of work. But penalties against Giroux for hooking and then a delay-of-game penalty for a puck over the glass gave the Canes a 5-on-3 power play late in the second.
Not that the Canes did anything with the two-man advantage. Carolina got four shots on net and had two attempts miss the net, leaving the score 2-1.
After a holding penalty on the Canes’ Jesper Fast, Tkachuk tied it on the power play with his 35th — Ottawa’s 70th power-play score of the season.
