Senators blank 'Canes
Published: Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 12:00 a.m.
OTTAWA — Dany Heatley scored his team-leading 38th goal and Ray Emery made 27 saves to give the Ottawa Senators a 2-0 victory over Carolina on Wednesday night and a home-and-home sweep of the Hurricanes.
Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist as Ottawa beat Carolina for a second straight night, extending its winning streak to three.
Emery dove to make a glove save against Justin Williams and held off two Hurricanes power-play opportunities late in the third to earn his fifth shutout this season and eighth in his NHL career.
The Senators won 4-2 at Carolina on Tuesday behind backup — and former Hurricanes goalie — Martin Gerber.
Ottawa, which has won eight of nine (8-0-1), became the third Eastern Conference team to reach 80 points. The Senators improved their hold on fourth place in the conference by moving five points ahead of Pittsburgh.
Cam Ward, who didn't start Tuesday, stopped 24 shots for the Hurricanes, ninth in the East with 71 points. Carolina, which won six of nine (6-3-0) before the sweep by Ottawa, is one point behind Montreal and the playoff cutoff.
Heatley used a nifty move off of Spezza's rebound to beat Ward 3:54 in.
Spezza chased down Chris Phillips' shot off the end boards and swatted the puck toward the net from behind the goal line. Heatley got the puck at the right side of the net, shifting it to his forehand before stuffing a shot along the ice inside the left post.
After stopping 11 shots in the first, Ward needed to make only one save during a lengthy two-man Senators advantage early in the second.
But his teammates couldn't solve Emery at the other end.
Spezza was the beneficiary of a fine defensive play by teammate Andrej Meszaros that led to the Senators' second goal 4:41 into the third.
Meszaros stripped the puck from Cory Stillman on a 4-on-4, and defense partner Wade Redden fed a breakaway pass to Spezza, who beat Ward with a wrist shot into the top right corner for his 27th goal.
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