Turris scores 10th goal, Senators beat Hurricanes 2-1
OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - The Ottawa Senators found another way to win a close game - at the Carolina Hurricanes' expense.
Kyle Turris scored his team-leading 10th goal to help Ottawa beat Carolina 2-1 on Saturday night.
Turris broke a tie with 3:32 left, beating goalie Cam Ward high to the stick side. The Hurricanes challenged the goal, asserting that it was offside, but it stood after a review.
Dion Phaneuf also scored, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves. The Senators have won three straight to improve to 13-7-1. They are 9-1-1 in one-goal games.
"I think we believe in the way that we play," Phaneuf said. "When we play that way we don't give up a lot and when you don't give up a lot you're going to be in a lot of tight games. We found a way to stick around, found a way to come back and found a way to play tight games and the bottom line is we continue to stick with our game and again (Saturday) we come through with winning it late and they're big points. It might be early, but they're big points."
Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina, and Ward stopped 22 shots.
"The effort was good," Carolina coach Bill Peters said. "You can't fault the effort. It's not frustrating. It's reality. They won 2-1 so we have to find a way to score. You have to get to three in this league, typically. Three is the number. We didn't do that in either of our last two games. We have to find a way to score more."
Phaneuf tied it at 1 at 6:15 of the second with his second goal of the season. Ryan Dzingel did some great work, was patient and found Phaneuf who stepped into the slot and buried it past Ward.
For the 11th straight game Ottawa gave up the first goal. Carolina opened the scoring at 11:24 of the first. Aho put a shot on goal, Anderson made the stop and the rebound went in off Ottawa's Tom Pyatt.
"I don't know how many games it is that we've given up the first goal and it makes absolutely no difference to us," Senators coach Guy Boucher said. "We expect tight games, we're going to be good in tight games and I know it was an issue last year, but I wasn't here, but I know as a team there were things to change and that was one of them.
"It's a mental approach and players have really grown. There's no panic on the bench, there's no panic when the other team scores first, no panic if we take a penalty or we miss some chances."
NOTES: Carolina was 1-2 on its three-game trip. ... Erik Karlsson played his 500th NHL game, all with the Senators.
UP NEXT:
Hurricanes: Return home to face Florida on Sunday night.
Senators: At New York Rangers on Sunday night.