Andersen, Hurricanes rally for shootout win against Senators

OTTAWA -- Frederik Andersen made 37 saves for the Carolina Hurricanes, who rallied for a 3-2 shootout win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

"Andersen] was the difference in the game," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "He came up huge a lot and just allowed us to hang in there and finally get the tie and get a chance to win.
"They got two really fluky goals, so nothing got by him, in my opinion."
Andrei Svechnikov scored the only goal in the second round of the shootout. Andersen stopped Tyler Ennis,
[Tim Stutzle
and Brady Tkachuk.
"I try not to think too much. It's important to keep my reaction time and my instincts," Andersen said of shootouts. "My movements get slower if I start thinking too much. When guys are too skilled, they can make you look really silly. If you're expecting one thing, they can easily do something else."
Nino Niederreiter scored late in the third period for Carolina (29-9-2), which has won five of six and is 10-2-1 in its past 13.

Nicholas Paul and Alex Formenton scored, and Matt Murray made 27 saves for Ottawa (13-20-4), which is 2-0-2 in a four-game point streak.
"[Murray] has been awesome," Paul said. "He's been making great saves for us. You know, he's been the backbone right now. Tie games, big chances, sliding across making huge saves, just putting the wind in our sails. He's been playing awesome. It's huge for our team."
Derek Stepan gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 2:31 of the second period when he redirected Brady Skjei's shot from the left point.
"I feel like as the season goes on, it seems like that's how the goals are scored during the second half," Stepan said. "Tonight it was no different."

Paul tied it 1-1 at 4:31 of the second with a weak wrist shot from the right point that deflected off Tony DeAngelo and appeared to catch Andersen off guard.
Formenton redirected a point shot from Victor Mete to give the Senators a 2-1 lead at 5:50 of the third period, but Niederreiter jammed in a rebound in the crease to tie it 2-2 with 3:22 remaining.
"That was a huge goal by Nino," Andersen said. "Even though they scored early in the third, I thought we came out really well and pushed them and tried the whole period to tie it up and force overtime. It was a nice win, of course."
It was the first time the Hurricanes played in an empty arena this season. Ontario's current COVID-19 restrictions do not allow for fans at sporting events.
"You don't want to make excuses, but it's tough playing a game here," Brind'Amour said. "It feels like it's practice, the environment, especially when we're just now getting used to the electricity being back in the building. It's the same for both teams, but it was obvious that was a big factor in the game."
Senators forward Josh Norris left in the first period with an upper-body injury after awkwardly crashing into the boards on a hit by Svechnikov. He will be reevaluated Friday, but coach D.J. Smith said he is "hopeful" the forward won't be out long term.
Norris is the sixth forward currently injured for Ottawa, joining Colin White (shoulder), Shane Pinto (upper body), Connor Brown (broken jaw), Drake Batherson (ankle) and Dylan Gambrell (upper body). Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev also did not play because of a lower-body injury.
"I think you can see that everyone is stepping up for each other," Stutzle said. "We're working really hard. Everyone is hitting really hard and playing good defensively, and I think that helps a lot. With Drake and Josh [out], we're missing a lot, and we have Pinto and White out. We literally have all our top centers out right now, but I mean, everyone is stepping up."
NOTES: Svechnikov had his five-game multipoint streak end. … Stepan is two points shy of 500 in the NHL. … Formenton has scored five points (two goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.