Craig Anderson leads Ottawa Senators to third-straight victory
The Sens beat the Hurricanes 2-1 in Erik Karlsson’s 500th career game
It was yet another spectacular win for Craig Anderson. I could probably write that to open half the recaps of the season. The Senators were outshot 33-24, but somehow came out with a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Even the only goal he allowed was put in by his own defenceman, so it’s impossible to fault him for it.
It was Erik Karlsson’s 500th game, and he responded by struggling against the Rask-Teravainen-Lindholm line all night. Seriously, that Canes crew got more than 70% of the 5v5 shot attempts in the 10 minutes they played against Karlsson. But even the captain is allowed an off night, and hey, he assisted on the game-winner.
Sebastian Aho got credited with the first goal of the game. Anderson made the save, but Tom Pyatt accidentally deflected the rebound in. It was the 16th time this season the Sens allowed the first goal.
Dion Phaneuf tied it up in the second. After getting the puck from Ryan Dzingel at the point, he deked around Aho and fired a gorgeous shot past Cam Ward. It was a sweet set of moves from Phaneuf, one that was reminiscent of his highlight reels from early in his career.
The game-winner came with only three minutes left in the game. Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan had a sweet little give-and-go to enter the zone, with Turris putting the shot in past Ward, over a diving Jaccob Slavin. The Canes would challenge for offside, but Turris had just barely kept himself onside. These last two games have left me wondering why the Turris-Ryan combo that was so successful in Bobby’s first year in Ottawa never seemed to happen again. They seem to have beautiful scoring chemistry.
The Canes would pull their goalie and pile on the shots, but Andy was there when needed. Don’t look now, but Ottawa’s on a three-game winning streak!
Sens Hero: Craig Anderson
‘Nuff said.
Honourable Mention: Dion Phaneuf
That goal was a thing of beauty, something I never expected to see out of Phaneuf in a Sens uniform. Not to mention he was only behind Karlsson by 2:15 in time-on-ice tonight. That’ll be helpful for Ottawa’s success down the stretch if Karlsson doesn’t have to play 30 minutes every game.
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