Hurricanes’ offense flounders: Linus Ullmark, Senators shut down Carolina in Raleigh

Sometimes, it’s a game of patience

Not every hockey game involves dazzling rushes down the ice and beautiful goals mixed in with spectacular saves by the goalies that leaves the crowd rowdy and roaring.

Sometimes, it’s just shift-by-shift grind, staying focused, waiting for your chance, waiting for the other team to blink and make a mistake. Sometimes, a goalie decides the game.

That’s the way the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators played it Friday the Lenovo Center, the Senators taking a 3-0 victory as goalie Linus Ullmark was sharp in net and turned back 32 shots.

Senators forward Shane Pinto scored twice — early in the second period, then an empty-netter late in regulation — and defenseman Nick Jensen had a third-period goal for Ottawa (14-13-2).

Ullmark made it stand up with his second shutout of the season and the 10th of a career highlighted by his Vezina Trophy in 2023 with the Boston Bruins.

The Canes (18-10-1) could not find a way to get the puck past Ullmark, pinging the goalie in the helmet a few times and knocking the stick out of his hands, but not finding the net. Ullmark was clearly on his game, anticipating quickly, refusing to bend.

“It’s not always easy, not always going to go your way.” Canes center Sebastian Aho said. ”That’s the time you need to grind one out.

“Defensively, it was pretty solid overall. ... We’d like to create more and score goals, but that was a good team and they played really hard and have a similar style that we do. There wasn’t a lot of room out there.”

Ullmark, the winner Wednesday as the Sens beat Anaheim, 5-1, has found a groove and now is 5-0-1 in his past six games. The Sens have won four of their last five.

“In the last handful of games, I thought it was one of our better games,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “There were no odd-man rushes and I felt good about how we were defending. We created enough chances and we had some good looks but their goalie played really well.

“I liked the effort and I liked the process of how we went about the game.. ... The game easily could have gone our way.”

After a scoreless first period — the Canes going 0-for-2 on the power play, with two shots — the Sens got the game’s first goal early in the second. After the Canes failed two or three times to clear the puck from their zone, Pinto beat Pyotr Kochetkov on a shot from the slot.

“Early on, those power plays, we’ve got to create a little more momentum there,” Aho said.

The Canes made a push and quickly had chances to tie, but a Brent Burns shot glanced off winger Jordan Martinook and off Ullmark’s mask. Moments later, Ullmark warded off a shot by winger William Carrier.

Burns later ripped another sharp-angle shot off Ullmark’s mask. Then, Canes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere picked off a pass and knocked Ullmark’s stick out of his hands with a shot.

‘That’s hockey,” Brind’Amour said. “We didn’t get odd-man rushes either, so we had to grind to get our opportunities.. We had a couple ... one went off the knob. That’s an inch here or there.”

The Hurricanes’ D-men have been active of late, looking to provide some offense and scoring all three goals in the 3-2 home-ice win this week over the San Jose Sharks — Jalen Chatfield with the winning score. But they’ve gotten little from their top forwards five-on-five.

But Ullmark, moving sharply, found a way to stop shot after shot, whether those that threatened to tear up his mask or the deflections and tips that the Canes produced.

“We didn’t do a great job of getting in front of him on our point shots,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said. “When the goalie is playing well, you’ve got to send more there and create more and more. And we didn’t create enough.”

Kochetkov, making a fifth straight start, had his share of quality stops and got an assist in the third period from defenseman Jaccob Slavin, who sprawled in front of the crease to keep the puck out and the score 1-0.

Not for long. After the Canes killed off a penalty, Jensen beat Kochetkov low for a 2-0 lead.

DRURY SURGERY

The Canes announced that center Jack Drury underwent hand surgery Thursday and will be sidelined for “at least a few weeks.”

Drury was injured Tuesday in the game against the Sharks.