Hurricanes rally to beat Senators 3-2 in OT

OTTAWA -- Jay Harrison helped the Carolina Hurricanes turn Cam Ward's brilliance in goal into two points.

Ward made 45 saves before Harrison scored 2:19 into overtime as the Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Thursday night at Scotiabank Place.

Chad LaRose and Alexander Semin also scored for the Hurricanes, who've won five of their last seven. Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson scored for Ottawa, which has lost four in a row to the Hurricanes.

Ward was all smiles while describing the chaos of overtime.

"It was a little crazy out there, but you've got to rise to the challenge," he said. "When the game's on the line, you've got to be able to make those big saves."

Harrison crashed the net and lifted the rebound of Jordan Staal's shot past Craig Anderson to give Carolina its second win in three tries on a six-game road trip. It was the defenseman's second game-winning goal this season.

Anderson was much less busy than Ward, facing only 26 shots. He appeared crestfallen as he described Harrison's winning goal.

"I picked the puck up clean from the shot off my blocker," Anderson said. "It must have hit someone and ended up on my glove side. It ended up on [Harrison's] tape. Just one of those lucky bounces where who knows what it hit. It's disappointing. We deserved a better fate."

Games between these teams typically been tight. Thursday marked the seventh in a row that was decided by one goal, including the Hurricanes' 1-0 win in Raleigh last week.

Carolina tied the game 2-2 with 7:34 remaining in regulation after Daniel Alfredsson was called for delay of game at 11:18. A tic-tac-toe play along the blue line saw Eric Staal pass the puck to Semin in the slot for a shot past Anderson. It was only the second power-play goal that Ottawa has given up at home this season. With the assist, Staal now has 11 points in seven games.

Carolina had several quality chances in the first period, but couldn't beat Anderson. At 8:37, Eric Staal drove through the slot and fired on Anderson, who blocked the first shot. When the puck bobbled to the ice, Staal managed to get off a quick shot right in front of the net. Anderson, caught out of position, made a spectacular dive across the goalmouth and swatted the puck away with his stick.

Ottawa also got some help from the crossbar on the penalty kill halfway through the period. Kyle Turris turned over the puck to Semin, and the Hurricanes' forward rang a point shot off the iron.

The Senators opened the scoring late in the period. Erik Karlsson tipped home a loose puck at 18:02 after Ward denied Jakob Silfverberg but couldn't control the rebound.

Ward was also busy in the second period, when Ottawa outshot Carolina 17-3. His best sequence came midway through the period when he denied Silfverberg twice with quick pad saves.

Carolina tied the 1-1 at 12:59 when Drayson Bowman's long lead pass landed on the stick of LaRose, who sent a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Anderson for his first goal of the season.

Alfredsson put Ottawa back on top at 16:04. A falling Turris at the blue line managed to get the puck to the Senators' captain, who skated up the right wing and went top shelf on Ward.

The Senators had been 4-0-1 at Scotiabank Place before Thursday.

"We just couldn't bury our chances," Karlsson said. "We probably could have had a couple more goals. [Ward] did some great stuff. He got them the two points tonight."