Sens host Canes to cap home-and-home

[Madferret]

Sens host Canes to cap home-and-home
The Sports Network

(Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes and the Senators will complete a home-and-home series tonight, when they get together at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place.

The Senators won the opener of this set in Raleigh on Tuesday evening, as Jason Spezza had a goal and two assists to give Ottawa the 4-2 victory.

Dany Heatley added a goal and an assist and Wade Redden and Anton Volchenkov each had a goal for the red-hot Senators, who have won seven of their last eight contests.

Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each have eight-game point streaks intact.

Martin Gerber made 23 saves for Ottawa, which has 78 points and currently sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Eric Staal and Josef Vasicek each scored a goal and John Grahame made 31 saves for the Hurricanes, who had won three of four coming into Tuesday's contest.

Carolina has 71 points and has dropped out of the playoff picture for the time being, as the 'Canes are now one point behind Montreal and the Islanders for the final two postseason spots in the East.

The Senators have won two of three meetings with Carolina this year and four of the last five encounters overall.

Ottawa is 20-11-2 as the host club this year, while the Hurricanes are 16-13-3 away from the RBC Center.

The Senators made a move to add some offense before Tuesday's trade deadline, when they acquired left wing Oleg Saprykin from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2008 draft. Along with Saprykin, the Senators also get a seventh-round selection in this year's draft.

Saprykin has career-highs in every major offensive category this season, notching 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points. He also left Phoenix as the team's leader in plus/minus this year with a plus-eight rating. The 26-year- old Russian is expected to make his debut with the Senators tonight.

Carolina's biggest move before the deadline came last Friday, when they nabbed veteran forward Anson Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2008 fifth- round draft pick. Carter has played in two games with the Hurricanes so far and has yet to manage a point.

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[Madferret]

Sens sweep home-and-home vs. Canes
Associated Press

OTTAWA (AP) -- Jason Spezza scored a late goal to give Ray Emery some room for error -- not that the Senators' goalie needed it.

Emery made 27 saves in his fifth shutout and the Ottawa Senators defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 on Wednesday night to complete and a home-and-home sweep of the Stanley Cup champions.

Jason Spezza put the Senators up by two 4:41 into the third, and assisted on Dany Heatley's team-leading 38th goal in the first.

"Any time you're holding onto a one-goal lead it's a little bit dangerous," Spezza said. "A bounce here or a bounce there and they can tie it up so it was good to get that second goal. It gave us a little bit of breathing room."

Emery dived to make a glove save against Justin Williams during the first of two Hurricanes power-play opportunities late in the third to earn his eighth career shutout.

"It's been a while since I've had a normal game," said Emery, who was ejected Thursday from the first of two feisty games against Buffalo after he returned from a three-game league suspension. "I felt a bit awkward, even tonight. I wasn't feeling totally confident but towards the end I started seeing the puck better and it was a great game for me to get my feet back under me as the team continues to improve while heading into the playoffs."

The Senators won 4-2 at Carolina on Tuesday behind backup -- and former Hurricanes goalie -- Martin Gerber after claiming three of a possible four points in consecutive games against East leaders Buffalo.

"Back-to-back is always tough, especially against the same team," Spezza said. "It was a pretty up-tempo game last game and both teams got in late but the intensity was there. They're not the most physical team so it wasn't as physical as maybe the Buffalo games, but they were still tough games and we were both tired teams, definitely."

Ottawa, which has won eight of nine (8-0-1), became the third Eastern Conference team to reach 80 points. The Senators improved their hold on fourth place in the conference by moving five points ahead of Pittsburgh.

"It's so tight," said Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, who rejoined Heatley and Spezza on Ottawa's top line. "We're looking at fourth place and home ice advantage but at the same time, we've got to make the playoffs, first and foremost. To do that we've got to keep winning and building up distance winning games like this."

Cam Ward, who didn't start Tuesday, stopped 24 shots for the Hurricanes, ninth in the East with 71 points. Carolina, which won six of nine (6-3-0) before the sweep by Ottawa, is one point behind Montreal and the playoff cutoff.

"We don't need anyone to tell us that. We can look at the standings ourselves and see where we're at and see where our desperation level needs to be," Williams said. "As of now, we're out of the playoffs and that's inexcusable for this team, this franchise."

Heatley used a nifty move off of Spezza's rebound to beat Ward 3:54 in.

Spezza chased down Chris Phillips' shot off the end boards and swatted the puck toward the net from behind the goal line. Heatley got the puck at the right side of the net, shifting it to his forehand before stuffing a shot along the ice inside the left post.

"I just caught him off guard," Heatley said. "The first shot went behind the net and when he turned around, I just beat him to the far post."

After stopping 11 shots in the first, Ward needed to make only one save during a lengthy two-man Senators advantage early in the second. But his teammates couldn't solve Emery at the other end.

Spezza was the beneficiary of a fine defensive play by teammate Andrej Meszaros that led to the Senators' second goal 4:41 into the third.

Meszaros stripped the puck from Cory Stillman on a 4-on-4, and defense partner Wade Redden fed a breakaway pass to Spezza, who beat Ward with a wrist shot into the top right corner for his 27th goal.

Notes: Carolina and Montreal have played 66 games, two more than 10th-place Toronto (69 points). . It was Phillips' 600th NHL game. He ranks fourth in franchise history behind Alfredsson (765), Redden (741) and Radek Bonk (689). . LW Oleg Saprykin made his Ottawa debut after being acquired from Phoenix on Tuesday.