Staal breaks tie late, Hurricanes edge Senators to push point streak to 9

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jordan Staal scored the go-ahead goal with 5:07 left in the third period, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

After an Ottawa turnover in the neutral zone, Staal took a pass from Nikolaj Ehlers, skated over the blue line and scored with a snap shot under the crossbar.

“It was a tight game, and it just takes one little mistake, which we capitalized on,” Staal said. “[Ehlers] obviously made a great pass, a quick up. I saw them changing and I got a good angle. I closed my eyes and it went in.”

Seth Jarvis scored two goals, Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists, and Brandon Bussi made 22 saves for the Hurricanes (35-15-6), who extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-2).

"That's not typically how that game goes for us," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "You've got to give Ottawa a lot of credit, they were on their game. They were able to cash in on a couple real nice plays, and obviously we had some big saves."

Jake Sanderson had a goal and an assist, and Dylan Cozens had two assists for the Senators (27-22-7), whose four-game winning streak ended. James Reimer made 14 saves.

“I liked our game a lot tonight,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “It’s not very often you come into Carolina and you keep them under 20 shots. I think we outchanced them two to one tonight. Their goalie played well, and we just came up short.”

Ottawa took a 1-0 lead at 2:46 of the first period. Stephen Halliday screened Bussi and scored on a net-front tip off Jordan Spence's one-timer from inside the blue line.

Aho tied it 1-1 at 17:49. Reimer stopped Aho’s shot in close, but the rebound deflected off the left skate of Sanderson in the crease and into the net.

“We were able to get a win, so that’s what matters,” Aho said. “Solid game. Ottawa played well and so did we. Good win.”

Jarvis gave Carolina a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 12:39 of the second period, scoring on a snap shot from the right circle off a pass from Andrei Svechnikov.

Jarvis then extended the lead to 3-1 at 15:41. He took a pass from Aho in the neutral zone and drove the net on his backhand before chipping the puck over Reimer’s blocker on his forehand for his 25th goal of the season.

The goal came eight seconds after Bussi made a strong save on Drake Batherson, who cut to the right hash marks for a snap shot.

“He came up huge with plays like that,” Jarvis said. “They’re kind of all in on that rush, so to be able to flip it on them, score and take advantage is huge. You don’t get a lot of rush opportunities in the NHL, so if you can capitalize, it’s massive.”

The Senators scored on the power play to cut the lead to 3-2 at 16:21 of the second. Tim Stutzle buried a one-timer five-hole from the right circle off a pass from Sanderson.

Ottawa tied it 3-3 with another power-play goal at 4:57 of the third period when Sanderson beat Bussi with a one-timer from above the circles.

“Hard-fought game. I thought we played really hard, and we had plenty of chances to win that game,” Sanderson said. “Credit to their goalie, he played a really good game and stood on his head.”

NOTES: Aho recorded his 10th straight 20-goal season, tying Ron Francis (10 from 1981-82 to 1990-91) for the longest run in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history. His 10 career 20-goal seasons also passed Jordan Staal (nine) for the second-most in franchise history behind Francis (16). … With 14 goals in 53 games, Staal surpassed his total from last season (75 games). He has four goals in his past six games, including two game-winners.