By Canadian Press

Kyle Turris scores overtime winner as Senators edge Hurricanes 2-1

Nov 1, 2016 | 8:45 PM

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Senators could overlook their sloppy start on Tuesday thanks to a strong finish.

Kyle Turris scored in overtime as the Senators defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1. Ottawa was coming off a nine-day, three-game road trip that culminated with an emotional 2-0 win in Edmonton on Sunday night after learning goaltender Craig Anderson’s wife, Nicholle, had been diagnosed with cancer.

To no surprise, the Senators (6-3-0) lacked energy and had a slow start on Tuesday night, but regrouped and thanks to Anderson hung on in the game despite some sloppy stretches. Anderson made 32 saves and was the difference in the first period when the Senators were outshot 16-5.

“It’s beyond words the way that he’s playing right now with the circumstances and what he’s going through with his wife,” said Dion Phaneuf, who also scored for the Senators. “It’s incredible. He’s an inspiration to all of us, I will tell you that. He’s just incredible to be doing what he’s doing for our team right now with what he’s going through.”

In his past three games Anderson has allowed one goal on 92 shots.

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Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher expected a slow start after the lengthy road trip and the emotional time his team went through supporting the Andersons, but was pleased with how his team responded after the first period.

“I was so impressed with how the players battled to get that emotion back and they did it in every possible way,” said Boucher referring to Matt Puempel fighting, blocking shots and being first on puck. “I thought we really played good in the second, third and the overtime and I believe we deserved it at that point.”

With the team playing its first of ten home games this month the Senators realized the importance of getting off to a good start.

“You’ve got to find ways to win games and we found a way and I think it’s a credit to the group to continue to stick with it and we won it in overtime,” said Phaneuf. “It’s a big win for us and we’ve got to take the points and you have to continue to get better and we found a way to get better. We didn’t start well, but we got better throughout the game.”

Jaccob Slavin scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes (2-4-3) as Cam Ward stopped 30 shots.

Tied 1-1 to start the third both teams had a couple of good chances, but Ward and Anderson could see most of the shots and made the stops.

“I liked the effort, I liked the execution,” said Hurricanes coach Bill Peters. “I thought both teams made a push at certain times. Penalty kill was good, could have executed a little better at some offensive situations, but I liked the effort (Tuesday).

A scoreless second period left little for the 13,049 on hand to get excited about.

The Senators struggled mightily in the first period, but thankfully Anderson was solid.

Carolina set the tone for the period, scoring on its first shot of the game after some poor defensive coverage from the Senators allowed Slavin easy entry from centre ice.

Despite being outplayed, Ottawa tied the game at the 13-minute mark of the first period as Phaneuf’s shot from the point beat Ward low glove side.

The Senators were without Mark Stone for the third period as the winger suffered an upper body injury. Boucher said after the game he doesn’t believe it’s anything serious.

Carolina’s Victor Rask’s eight-game point streak (four goals, six assists) came to an end, as did Jeff Skinner’s five-game point streak (four goals, five assists).

Notes: D Thomas Chabot and G Matt O’Connor were a healthy scratch for the Senators. Carolina’s Ryan Murphy played his first game after suffering a lower body injury in early October that kept him out of the lineup.

Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press