Barrasso shines as Hurricanes salvage tie with Senators

OTTAWA -- While he would love to play for the U.S. Olympic squad, Tom Barrasso is concentrating on doing the best he can for his current team.

Barrasso made 36 saves and Shane Willis scored 14:55 into the second to lift the Carolina Hurricanes to a 1-1 tie with the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Barrasso, the winningest American goalie in NHL history, has earned serious consideration for the U.S. team with a 1.94 goals-against-average in 10 games after not playing last season.

"It would be a great honor," Barrasso said. "After sitting out a year, to come back and even be mentioned is very flattering, but in all honesty, the things that need to happen for me to have a chance to do that are here, with the Hurricanes."

Barrasso made a diving stop midway through the third to rob Chris Herperger after scrambling back to the crease from behind the net.

"That's the finest display of goaltending I've seen this year," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. "I thought he made some outstanding saves. I was really impressed."

He also robbed Shawn McEachern with a pad save moments before Herperger's open-net chance in his first appearance against the Senators since leaving Ottawa after playing seven games there at the end of the 1999-2000 season.

"I play a technical game in goal," Barrasso said. "I'm not an acrobatic guy -- I don't sit in the crease. I try and play a technically sound game and if I'm playing well, things are going to hit me. That's just how I try and play. Some nights it works, some nights it doesn't. In the long run, hopefully I'll be more successful than not."

Martin Havlat, who has scored in five of the Senators' last six games, got his seventh goal early in the second as Ottawa failed to extend its team-best seven-game winning streak.

"We played well early, especially in the first period, but after that we didn't have the jump we had in the last four games," Havlat said.

The Senators remained undefeated in eight games, one game short of Chicago's league-best nine-game streak from Oct. 14 to Nov. 1.

Carolina was outshot 11-5 in the third, 5-4 in overtime, and 37-21 overall.

"Ottawa had good jump," Maurice said. "They played a good game. They were quick, I think they were well-rested -- they looked fresh and we were dragging. We're trying to hang around and our goaltending is giving us a chance to do that."

Senators goalie Patrick Lalime came up big in overtime, stopping four shots, including two by Ron Francis from the edge of the crease.

Barrasso made five stops in overtime, including a breakaway by McEachern with less than 1:00 remaining.

Havlat, who had one of the Senators' team-record 11 goals in Washington two nights earlier, opened the scoring with a power-play goal 7:10 into the second.

After hitting the post on a wraparound try earlier in the period, Havlat took Marian Hossa's pass from the right-wing boards at the left edge of the Hurricanes' crease and directed the puck into the open side to Barrasso's right.

"It was a great pass from Marian, and that made it easy to score," Havlat said.

With a chance to put Ottawa up by two later in the period, Havlat missed the net.

Carolina came down the ice on the same play and converted on a fine passing play to tie it, as Willis took Bates Battaglia's pass in the slot and fired a shot past Lalime.

Notes: Willis, who missed Carolina's last two games, played his first game since suffering a concussion after he was elbowed in the head by San Jose's Bryan Marchment on Nov. 9. . . . Barrasso went 3-4-0 with a 3.16 goals-against-average in seven regular-season games with Ottawa before going 2-4 with a 2.58 goals-against-average in six playoff games in 2000. . . . Carolina is 3-0-3-2 in eight overtime games this season. . . . The Senators' longest previous winning streak was five, which they accomplished four times, most recently from Jan. 18-26, 2001. . . . Ottawa won eight and tied three during a team-record 11-game unbeaten streak from Dec. 28, 1998, to Jan 16, 1999.