The Ottawa Senators’ big guns stepped up against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, a 6-3 win at Canadian Tire Centre.

Brady Tkachuk scored two gritty goals, Tim Stutzle scored a highlight-reel goal, and Linus Ullmark took the crease for the second straight day.

No time to waste. Let’s get to grading.

ForwardsTim Stutzle: A+

Stutzle read the play with elite hockey IQ, attacking vulnerable puck carriers at the perfect moment, gloving down Carolina clearing attempts at the top of the offensive zone, and intercepting passes. He darted off the bench to steal Eric Robinson’s pass back to the point in the defensive zone, and immediately took off up ice, splitting the defence pairing of K’Andre Miller and Sean Walker before beating Frederik Andersen with a nasty deke on a breakaway. Stutzle created a ton of offence with his vision and legs. He fed Drake Batherson for a chance all alone late in the first, and his slot shot on the first power play was cleaned up by Dylan Cozens for the 1-1 goal. He once dumped the puck in from the red line in the third and beat both Hurricanes defenders to it.

Brady Tkachuk: A+

The Senators wanted nothing to do with the front of the net against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, and by Sunday, their approach had completely flipped. Tkachuk tipped an Artem Zub point shot in front to give Ottawa a 3-2 lead, and he crashed the net on a Ridly Greig rebound in the third to make it 5-2, beating Logan Stankoven to the loose puck in the crease. It was yet another puck protection clinic from Tkachuk, tiring out Canes defenders down low and allowing his linemates to find open space. Tkachuk was nearly impossible to contain, getting off a team-high five shots, and he was mean as ever, throwing five hits.

Drake Batherson: A-

Batherson’s slick feed to Stutzle in the slot on the first power play led to the 1-1 goal. He was first in on the forecheck many times, once in the first giving a Carolina defender no option other than to rim it to Jordan Spence at the half wall, leading to a scoring chance. Batherson had ample opportunities to score and missed high three times.

Claude Giroux: B+

Giroux drew a slashing penalty in the third, and was later denied by Andersen’s right shoulder on a hard slot shot. He scored the empty-net 6-3 goal, and was 6-for-8 in face-offs.

Dylan Cozens: A

Cozens was the best player on that first man advantage that got Ottawa going. He made a sweet move around noted defensive stalwart down low to take it to the crease on the opening sequence, then jumped on Stutzle’s rebound the next play to tie it 1-1. If Stutzle was the quickest skater out there, Cozens was a close second. He forced numerous mistakes by Carolina defenders with a dogged forecheck, and sprinted end to end to beat out an icing late in the third.

Ridly Greig: A+

The second line was dominant, and Greig had a lot to do with that. He raced up the middle to get a breakaway and draw a slashing penalty, but passed up the scoring chance trying to feed Cozens behind him. Greig made a nice cross-ice backhand pass to Zub ahead of the 3-2 goal, and had two key blocks in the third. If Stutzle hadn’t scored his highlight-reel goal, Greig would’ve had the prettiest play of the night. He deked Miller 1-on-1 and then purposefully shovelled it far side on Andersen to create a rebound for the trailer, Tkachuk, to bury.

Shane Pinto: A

The shutdown line got its mojo back on Sunday. All three guys were incredibly difficult to knock off the puck. Pinto navigated through clogged neutral zones and played keep away in the offensive zone with Nick Cousins and Michael Amadio. He scored his first non-empty net goal in seven games, finishing on a feed from Fabian Zetterlund on the power play. Pinto made confident moves with the puck all evening, and led the forward corps with three blocks.

Michael Amadio: B

Amadio was mostly to blame for the 1-0 goal, failing to tie up Stankoven on the rebound in the slot. However, offensively, he was certainly on his game. The third line played off of each other so well in the cycle, and partly because of Amadios decisions with the puck. He bided time for his linemates to get open, helped win a ton of board battles, and was difficult to contain in 1-on-1 matchups, once juking Jalen Chatfield along the half wall in the first and driving it to the net where Pinto and Nick Cousins were battling away.

Nick Cousins: A-

Cousins had an endless supply of energy this weekend. He led the team in hits in both games, recording five against Minnesota and six against Carolina. He took a beating in the corners at times, but always kept heading back for more. He got multiple shots off on a jam play in the first. Really, the only blemish on his game was a high-sticking penalty in the second while everyone in the building expected the next power play would be going Ottawa’s way following several missed calls from the officials.

Warren Foegele: C+

At the end of a long shift in the D zone in the first, Foegele’s decision to slide the puck back into the crease for Ullmark to freeze ended up costing the Senators. Foegele had more time and space than he anticipated, and could’ve either chipped it into the corner or turned to flip a backhand out of the zone, but instead passed it back to a goaltender who was already down and out, and the Hurricanes pounced to tie it 2-2.

Lars Eller: C

The fourth line got absolutely caved in. It didn’t help that they were sent out with the team’s bottom defence pairing a ton, but the numbers don’t lie: three shot attempts for at 5-on-5, and 19 against. Eller made some quality plays with the puck at the other end, but there wasn’t enough fight to break free in the D zone.

Fabian Zetterlund: C+

Zetterlund was a bit of a ghost until he set up Pinto for the 4-2 goal. It was a nice pass, threading it through Chatfield’s triangle. Zetterlund threw four hits in 12:43 of ice time.

DefencemenJake Sanderson: A

Sanderson played well against Minnesota in his first game back from his shoulder injury, but he was his dominant self from the drop of the puck against Carolina. He was a one-man breakout machine, and used all the tricks in his bag to open up shooting lanes at the point, toying with pressing forwards. He had a team-high 26:47 of ice time.

Artem Zub: A

Tkachuk screamed “great shot!” multiple times after he tipped Zub’s wrister from the point for the 3-2 goal. Like many of his shots from the blue line, that one was tailor-made for a redirection. Zub broke up a 2-on-1 in the second and then bolted up ice on the ensuing rush to get off a dangerous slot shot as the trailer.

Jordan Spence: C+

Spence had a game-high four giveaways, and some of them were simply unforced errors, like when his spinning backhand up the left wall in the first was easily picked off for a Hurricanes scoring chance. He took a holding penalty in the first, albeit a weak one, and fed Giroux with a seam pass for a slot shot in the third.

Nikolas Matinpalo: C

Matinpalo had three giveaways himself, and, like Spence, really fought the easy play, turning time and space into dicey situations due to indecision.

Lassi Thomson: A-

Thomson kept the third pairing afloat all game. He was engaged and on top of his assignments, once saving a sure goal during the middle frame by boxing out Nicolas Deslauriers in front. Thomson dashed up ice in the second to join the rush and got a good shot off down Main Street as the trailer.

Cameron Crotty: D

You can’t blame him — he had played two NHL games before this stint with Ottawa — but Crotty was entirely out of his element on Sunday. He couldn’t handle the Hurricanes’ forecheck, getting stick-lifted and thrown around for turnovers. Jesperi Kotkaniemi burned him with an inside-out move in the first. He was beaten to many pucks and outmuscled in the corners most of the game.

GoalieLinus Ullmark: A-

Ullmark handled the heavy workload well this weekend. He wasn’t the reason they lost on Saturday, and he gave his team true stability on Sunday.

Now it’s time for your take; tell us in the comment section which Senators impressed you and who needs to improve their game.