Spencer Martin posted his first career shutout to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the visiting Ottawa Senators 4-0 on Saturday in Raleigh.
The 29-year-old journeyman goaltender made his second start of the season and 54th of his career. He responded by making 24 saves.
Carolina needed just eight minutes to take the lead. Jordan Martinook’s shot from behind the goal line banked off Ottawa netminder Anton Forsberg and into the net. Jordan Staal assisted as the Hurricanes won a scrum near the corner.
Ottawa was called for too many men with 50 seconds left in the second period, giving Carolina a brief five-on-three advantage.
The Hurricanes pounced on the eight-second two-man advantage. Sebastian Aho’s one-timer beat Forsberg just before Shane Pinto, who was called for slashing to start the initial power play, left the penalty box. With Carolina still having a man advantage, Jackson Blake’s putback 43 seconds into the third period gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 cushion.
Shayne Gostisbehere assisted on both of those goals. Martin Necas extended his scoring streak to 12 games with his circle-to-circle pass to Aho, and Andrei Svechnikov earned an assist on Blake’s fifth goal of the season.
Though Martin did not need to make a lot of saves, he did deny the Senators on several quality chances. That included a sliding stop on Pinto’s breakaway attempt just before the second period ended and a glove save on Brady Tkachuk in the final minute of the game.
William Carrier finished the scoring with 4:54 left on an empty-netter set up by Staal and Martinook.
Martin got the start because the Hurricanes scratched Pyotr Kochetkov, who left the team’s last game Wednesday in Utah with an undisclosed injury. The team also called up Yaniv Perets from its Chicago AHL club to be the backup.
As the horn sounded to end the game, Martin held his stick up high before his teammates congratulated him. He could get the start again on Sunday when the Hurricanes host the St. Louis Blues.
Forsberg made 24 saves in the loss.
–Field Level Media
