Hurricanes return home after 3-2 OT loss to Bruins

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

BOSTON, MASS. – The Carolina Hurricanes return home to host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.

In playing their second game in three days on the road, the Hurricanes (8-10-5) will try to ride the momentum gained from earning a tie in regulation against the Bruins when playing the second half of their back-to-back set against the Senators (9-10-4) at PNC Arena.

“I think that’s a huge point for us,” Muller said of the tie with Boston.

“Not many teams are gonna’ walk in here and get points. They’re a good hockey team. We stuck with it, we battled through a little adversity early on, but I thought the guys played hard overall. That’s a big point that we can kinda’ turn the corner on and build on tomorrow hopefully.”

Trailing 2-1 in the third period, forward Patrick Dwyer scored his second goal of the season, a shorthanded backhander that allowed Carolina to earn a point by the end of the third period.

“It was important,” Muller said of Dwyer’s shorthanded goal.

“I think the urgency was just a little higher with the guys on it. It’s simple – you shoot the puck, it goes in the net – not rocket science. At the end of the day it made a difference and kept us in the game.”

Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward turned in a solid 35-save performance in making only his second start since coming back from a groin injury.

“He was huge,” Dwyer said.

“He played well and we’ve gotta’ give him a better first and second out there. You know, kind of get stuff goin’ so it’s not in our end the whole time and give him some support.”

In facing the Senators for the first of three meetings this season, Carolina hopes to supplement captain Eric Staal’s current five-game point streak with offense from other players, particularly on the power play.

With their current struggles in scoring goals, the Hurricanes and Muller hope that the return of forward Jeff Skinner, who was activated from injured reserve (IR) and played in the Hurricanes’ 4-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, will alleviate some of those problems.

Though he didn’t record a point against the Red Wings, Skinner tallied an assist on defenseman Andrej Sekera’s power play goal that opened Carolina’s scoring in the losing effort against the Bruins.

While Skinner returned to action during the week, the Hurricanes lost forward Alexander Semin, who was placed him on the IR due to a concussion injury that he sustained during a game against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 16.

Carolina subsequently recalled forward Elias Lindholm from the team’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte and returned forward Chris Terry to the Checkers, ending his seven-game scoreless stint with the Hurricanes.

In facing the Senators who won in Detroit (4-2) on Saturday, the Hurricanes will face a team that they trail by only a point in the Eastern Conference race, but is scoring on average, a full goal more per game (2.91).

Puck possession will be a critical battle that will take place between both teams as they possess identical faceoff winning percentages (50.6%) coming into the game.

However, Carolina will have to improve upon its 24-of-65 (37%) performance over the faceoff dot against Boston, if it expects to stop Ottawa’s Jason Spezza from continuing his exceptional personal performance (37 points in 31 games) against the Hurricanes.