Canes keep on cruising

RALEIGH -- The Olympic break didn't stop them.

Neither, it seems, did a mass exit of players.

The Carolina Hurricanes are still winning, still rolling. And still believing.

A day after trading away five players who helped put together a six-game winning streak, the Canes responded by thumping the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Thursday before a howling crowd of 17,048 at the RBC Center.

Make it seven straight wins for the Hurricanes. Make it 11 victories in the last 13 games. While still long shots to reach the playoffs with 19 games left in the regular season, the Canes are still clawing, still chasing, still alive.

And for Manny Legace, make it 30-for-30. Ottawa was the only team in the league the veteran goaltender had not beaten, but he had 25 stops as Carolina stayed unbeaten in the seven games since franchise goalie Cam Ward was sidelined with a back injury.

"Yesterday was a real strange day for the whole team, and everyone's heads were spinning," forward Tom Kostopoulos said of Wednesday and the NHL's trade deadline. "But I thought the guys did a good job of coming into this game with concentration, had a good first period and rolled from there."

Kostopoulos did his part, scoring the game's first goal. Rod Brind'Amour added another in the first period, chasing starting goaltender Pascal Leclaire barely 6:23 into the game.

Zach Boychuk, recalled Wednesday from Albany of the AHL, assisted on both goals as the fourth line pushed the Canes ahead 2-0. Chad LaRose scored against Brian Elliott late in the second, and Brandon Sutter added an empty-netter in the final two minutes for his 16th goal of the season.

The Hurricanes (26-30-7) were the busiest team in the league Wednesday, dealing away forwards Scott Walker and Stephane Yelle, and defensemen Joe Corvo, Andrew Alberts and Aaron Ward. But defenseman Brian Pothier, acquired in the trade with Washington that sent Corvo to the Capitals, hopped into the lineup and did a solid job on the back end as did Jay Harrison and Alexandre Picard.

Picard came to Carolina in the Feb. 12 trade for forward Matt Cullen, and Harrison was recalled Wednesday from the River Rats. Cullen did score his first goal for the Sens, beating Legace with 8:05 to play, but it came after the Canes had built a 3-0 lead.

"When we played Carolina, regardless of who was on the ice, you knew they're going to work and they're not going to turn the puck over," Pothier said. "That makes it so easy on defensemen. You can get up ice and join the rush and not worry about, oh, hit the brakes and fly back the other way.

"I think that hurt Ottawa - their turnovers. We took advantage of it, and we got the puck down low, and we worked hard getting to their net, and we created some hard situations for Ottawa."

LaRose was coming off a three-point game in Tuesday's 5-1 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canes' first game after the Olympic break. Against the Sens he was in the right spot at the right time during a partial line change.

Eric Staal jumped over the boards to replace Sutter, then put a shot on goal. LaRose flashed in front to clean up the rebound and beat Elliott at 15:50 of the second period.

The Hurricanes honored their four Olympians - Staal, Tuomo Ruutu, Tim Gleason and Joni Pitkanen - before and during the game. The four medals won at the Vancouver Games - gold by Staal, silver by Gleason and bronze by Ruutu and Pitkanen - were on display, and the four players drew big ovations during the game.

But the gritty grinders got the scoring started, with the help of a speedy, aggressive Boychuk. Kostopoulos scored after Boychuk harassed Leclaire behind the net. Corralling Leclaire's pass on the boards, Kostopoulos skated in, got off a backhander and then scored off his own rebound.

Brind'Amour converted after Boychuk won a battle for the puck on the boards, Brind'Amour whipping a backhander under Leclaire's pads.

The Sens (36-25-4) arguably were the hottest team in the league before the NHL break but now are 0-2 after it.

Jussi Jokinen's 10-game point streak, the longest of his career, came to an end. But Jokinen had his chances, and the Canes, in the end, didn't need it.

Pothier, for one, is convinced his new team can pull it off and make a run at the postseason.

"Stranger things have happened," he said.