Recap: Canes Bested by Senators

The Carolina Hurricanes had their five-game home winning streak snapped in a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
Warren Foegele scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes, who failed to earn a point against the Senators for the first time in their last 19 meetings at home (16-1-2).
Here are five takeaways from Star Wars Night at PNC Arena.

One
The Hurricanes have played better games, that's for sure.
Just ask the locker room and the head coach. Brutal honesty.
"It's hard to watch and be a part of it when we know how we can play. We can beat good teams, and then we come off it and we don't like a very good team," Jordan Martinook said. "Tonight, we didn't look very good for most of that game. We deserved to lose. They were the better team."

"We were so bad, I almost dressed and got out there. I might have been as good as what we were throwing out there. We just didn't want to play the way we were supposed to. I didn't know what I was watching. That's the first time all year I can say that," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "You're going to lose games, but that was obvious we were going to lose that one just by the way we were playing."
Two
Less than 30 hours after joining his new team, Nino Niederreiter made his debut for the Hurricanes and skated on a line with Justin Williams and Greg McKegg.
Niederreiter finished the night with eight shot attempts, a team forwards-high four shots on goal, a hit and a takeaway in 16:57 of ice time.
"Nino was great. He was strong, talkative and patient with the puck," Williams said. "I thought he was really good. He had a lot of opportunities and owned the front of the net pretty well."
"Good. I thought he was fine. He had a couple chances. I think the first shift he almost had a breakaway," Brind'Amour said. "I apologized to him for that effort. That's not our team, and that's his first game."
Three
Foegele scored the Canes' lone goal on a broken play. The 22-year-old rookie dangled his way through a collection of Senators' defenders but lost the puck. A turnover popped the puck back on his stick, and he whacked it in through an unsuspecting Anders Nilsson.

That goal ate into the Senators' three-goal lead, which was then restored five minutes later.
"We seem to have a tough time chasing games," Williams said. "Whatever it is, when we're down, the belief needs to be there a little bit better when teams try to lock us down."
Four
The Canes had two power play opportunities in the first half of the first period, one the result of strong forechecking from the Niederreiter-McKegg-Williams line and the second the result of some careless stick play by the Senators while hemming the Canes in the zone.
Though the Canes had some clean entries and some grade-A looks, they didn't convert on either power play. The Senators then took a 1-0 lead with less than five minutes left to play in the first period when Magnus Paajarvi skated untouched through the slot to smack in a rebound.

"They got to their game right away, and we fought it to get to our game and never did," Brind'Amour said. "It was an easy game for them."
Five
This game belongs in the rearview.
"Losing these last two strings," Williams said.
"I don't look back - win, lose, it's always about that next one," Brind'Amour said. "We needed this game, and we knew it. For whatever reason, we didn't want to play our game."
Though they've won seven of their last 10 games, the Canes are still on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
"That's tough this time of year to have that kind of game. That's the disappointing part for me," Brind'Amour said. "We're going to have to pick the pieces up tomorrow and get back to work."
Up Next
The Hurricanes will hit the road for three straight games in Western Canada prior to All-Star Weekend and the bye week.