Hurricanes recover for OT win against Senators, keep pace in Metro

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Martin Necas scored with 41 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes recovered for a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

After Seth Jarvis skated through the neutral zone, he dropped the puck inside Ottawa's blue line to Necas for a wrist shot from between the face-off circles.
"Once [Jarvis] entered the zone and went one against two, I knew he was going to kind of wait for me, delay the play," Necas said. "He made a great drop pass and I just had to hit the net."
It was Necas' fourth overtime goal this season and seventh in 280 NHL games.
"I think his skill set is uniquely crafted for open ice," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "He's got a lot of speed and a good shot. You give him all the room, he can wind it up. You look at most of the goals he's scored, it's kind of that way, where he comes flying in.
"He's got a flair for the dramatic, that's for sure."

Brady Skjei and Jesperi Kotkaniemi each had a goal and an assist, Stefan Noesen had two assists, and Antti Raanta made 26 saves for the Hurricanes (50-18-9), who have won three in a row.
Carolina remained three points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for first place in the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Tuesday.
"It's a good thing to get a win and help the team get two points," Raanta said. "That's obviously the main goal for the rest of the way."
Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk scored, and Alex DeBrincat had two assists for the Senators (37-34-7), who have lost three straight and 10 of 14. Leevi Merilainen made 34 saves in his NHL debut.
Ottawa is six points behind the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders, who are tied for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Florida defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 on Tuesday.
"I thought we stayed with it. We checked right with these guys," Senators coach D.J. Smith said. "You don't like the result in overtime, but to a man, those [defenseman] back there, especially those young kids, did a really nice job."
Kotkaniemi gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 1:50 of the first period, tipping in a one-timer by Skjei from the left point.
Skjei then pushed it to 2-0 at 15:58, scoring glove side when his wrist shot from between the circles deflected off the glove of Shane Pinto on a power play.
Skjei has an NHL career-high 18 goals this season, tying Dougie Hamilton (2018-19) for the most by a defenseman since the Hurricanes moved to Carolina for the 1997-98 season.
"I think I got pretty lucky on that one, I was shooting for the left side," Skjei said. "I feel like I have a pretty good shot, a pretty hard shot, but I think my accuracy this year has been up."

Giroux cut it to 2-1 at 10:39 of the second period. DeBrincat curled along the left side wall before sending a pass that deflected off the stick of Ridly Greig to Giroux at the right post for a tap-in.
Tkachuk tied it 2-2 at 2:52 of the third period when he scored at the right post off a pass from DeBrincat on a power play.
"You can never be disappointed when everybody leaves it all out there on the ice," Tkachuk said. "Merilainen] deserved a better outcome as well. That's a [heck
played 7:12 in his season debut after being recalled from Belleville earlier Tuesday.