Ottawa Senators third period collapse halts three-game winning streak

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HURRICANES 7, SENATORS 2

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That loud thud you heard around the city on St. Patrick’s Day was the Ottawa Senators dropping the pot of gold.

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They also took one on the chin the process.

Trying to win four straight for only the second time this season, the Senators suffered a third period collapse and the result was an ugly 7-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in front of 16,273 Sunday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Only Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle and Thomas Chabot were able to beat Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen as the Hurricanes scored five unanswered goals to seal the victory and pick an important two points. Andersen moved his lifetime record to 11-7-4 against the Senators.

Coming off a 35-save effort in a 3-2 victory over Columbus Tuesday on the road, Anton Forsberg wasn’t at his best and neither was anybody in front of him. Defenceman Artem Zub had a minus-4 rating and you can’t have that from a guy who plays that many minutes.

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“We self-destruct. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve just got to pick ourselves up and get ready to play another top team Tuesday,” said interim coach Jacques Martin.

Goals by Carolina’s Jake Guentzel, his first since being dealt to the Canes by Pittsburgh at the deadline, Dmitry Orlov and Jalen Chatfield in a span of four minutes and 11 seconds in the third period put this one away.

“We were right with them for two periods, they got a quick one to start the third and then that was all she wrote,” said Ottawa winger Parker Kelly.

The Senators had a strong second period by outshooting the Hurricanes 14-9, but a late goal left a sour taste in the mouths of Ottawa fans.

Seth Jarvis took a pass and beat Forsberg with only 21.8 seconds left in the period to give the Hurricanes the lead heading to the third. That’s just backbreaker.

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“Our line can’t give up that last goal up before the end of the second. I thought we played two good periods against a really good team and then one thing followed the other,” Stutzle said. “It can’t happen, giving that goal up there.”

The Senators have a 4-25-3 record when trailing after two periods and though they had the intermission to regroup they looked like they ran out of gas. The victory allowed Carolina to sweep the season season with a 3-0-0 record.

OFF THE GLASS

Nice to see Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk and Carolina’s Brendan Lemieux exchanging pleasantries early in the second. Lemieux was suspended for biting Tkachuk while with the Kings in Nov. 2021. “It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do,” Tkachuk said that night. “He’s just a complete brickhead.” This was just shoving along the boards … Stutzle scored a beauty for No. 17 of the year. He did a toe drag in the slot and beat Andersen on the stick side to tie it up 2-2 at 4:51 of the second … Carolina started the second with a two-man advantage. That allowed them to pull out to a 2-1 lead only 2:03 in the middle frame. Evgeny Kuznetsov fired a blast from the left circle that beat Forsberg upstairs. That’s why the Hurricanes are ranked No. 5 in the NHL on the power play and No. 1 on the road.

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THIS N’ THAT

Chabot tied it up 1-1 by firing a blast by Andersen that he had no chance of stopping. He was able to knock down a pass, get a handle on the puck and then beat Anderson top shelf. It was No. 7 of the season for Chabot and came at 13:52 of the first … Erik Brannstrom was fortunate to get back to his feet after taking a massive hit along the boards from Carolina’s Martin Necas along the boards. Brannstrom had the puck, but his head was down he got caught … Andersen made a big stop on Shane Pinto and then the Canes opened the scoring. Orlov took a breakaway pass from Lemieux, he skated in alone and went bar down on Forsberg at 7:19. That was the seventh shot on net and that came with the club’s blueliners caught up ice … Nice to the Senators in their road “white” jerseys for this one. The Canes had to wear their home jerseys because the Maple Leafs wore special St. Patty’s Day white jerseys Saturday at home …. Arizona Cardinals linebacker Jesse Luketa was in the house. The Ottawa resident is a big fan who takes the chance to see the Senators anytime he can.

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THE FINAL BUZZER

Chabot made a surprise return to the lineup for this one.