NHL: Hurricanes slow their slide by beating the Senators 4 to 1

KANATA, ON — Sebastian Aho had three points during a strong second period for the Carolina Hurricanes, who defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Monday.

The Canes (15-12-1) avoided suffering their fifth straight loss heading into the end of their stay on opposite ice.

In the case of the Senators (11-12-0), that’s a return below the .500 mark, while DJ Smith’s troops fall short of their goal of a second straight victory.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 31 saves for Carolina. The rookie goaltender surrendered only to Josh Norris, who opened the scoring at 7:27 of the first period with his seventh goal of the season.

Kochetkov notably blocked a shot at the expense of Brady Tkachuk during a penalty kick, awarded after the Russian goaltender intentionally put his stick on the ice.

Displeased at seeing Kochetkov come out aggressively to make the save, Tkachuk fetishized his opponent and the officials, leading to his own misconduct in the process.

In front of the Ottawa cage, Jonas Korpisalo, who had nothing to complain about against the visitors, scored four times out of 27 shots.

Martin Necas responded with a numerical advantage at the end of the first third, before playing the second half without any errors, especially thanks to the brilliance of Aho.

In addition to his brace – his ninth and tenth goals – the number 20 for the Kings also prepared the tenth goal for Seth Jarvis when the duo took advantage of a bad change in the Saints’ defense to raise their score to two to zero.

Smith did not mince words, describing his players’ second commitment as “the worst time of the season.”

“You won’t win matches that way,” he stressed.

The 26-year-old Finn scored his first goal since December 2. He has not lit a red light in his last four games.

The Senators will leave home in the next few hours, as they play their next five matches away from home.