Pascal Leclaire told reporters "it should be fun" to get back in net after sitting out six weeks with a concussion.
His fun Thursday night lasted about five minutes before the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Ottawa goaltender twice in 65 seconds in the first period.
The two goals is all the Hurricanes would need in a 4-1 victory over the visiting Senators for their second victory in as many games out of the Olympic break to extend their winning streak to seven.
More important, Carolina kept pace in the NHL Eastern Conference playoff hunt. The 26-30-7 Hurricanes entered play Thursday eight points behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Bruins edged Toronto 3-2 in a shootout on Thursday.
"Maybe it was better for the team, a spark or something, but it's unfortunate," said Leclaire, who was pulled by Senators head coach Cory Clouston at 6:23 of the first period. "I was hoping for a longer start, but I respect the decision."
Tom Kostopoulos, Rod Brind'Amour, Chad LaRose and Brandon Sutter, into an empty net, scored for Carolina, which dealt five players before Wednesday's NHL trade deadline and two just prior to the Olympic break.
Carolina has won 11 of its past 13, despite all the changes in its lineup. The team worked in defenceman Alexandre Picard before the Olympics and added Brian Pothier against Ottawa on Thursday.
'Haven't missed a beat'
"They stepped in and haven't missed a beat," said Hurricanes goalie Manny Legace. "It's like they've been here three months. We're going to miss our [traded] guys, but the new guys handled it very well."
Zach Boychuk collected two assists while Legace posted his fourth straight win in the absence of starting netminder Cam Ward.
Legace turned aside 25 of 26 shots and made breakaway stops against Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza in the third period.
"Oh, was that tonight? That's pretty cool," Legace, 37, said when told he has now defeated each of the 30 NHL teams at least once. "I didn't realize I've beat everybody. It's something I can tell my grandkids."
Kostopoulous opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season and first in five contests. He buried his own rebound at 5:18 after Leclaire's clearing attempt along the boards was intercepted.
Brind'Amour made it 2-0. The veteran centre took advantage of a Chris Kelly turnover in front of the Senators net and tucked the puck through Leclaire's legs at 6:23.
"We needed a kick in the pants and a little bit of a shakeup and trying to get the momentum back on our side," Clouston said. "We had our chances, but it came down to goaltending."
Elliott stellar in relief
Leclaire stopped all nine third-period shots he faced in relief of Brian Elliott in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers.
Elliott redeemed himself on Thursday stopping 14 of 15 shots, including stellar saves against Sergei Samsonov and Jussi Jokinen in the second period.
But it wasn't enough as the Senators looked sloppy in their own end and paid for numerous giveaways, which also plagued Ottawa versus New York.
One of the few bright spots for Ottawa was Matt Cullen's first goal as a Senator after being traded from Carolina on Feb. 12.
With Ottawa trailing 3-0, Cullen skated out from behind the Hurricanes' net and fought off Ray Whitney before slipping a shot along the ice to the far side past Legace midway through the third period.
The Senators, who have lost five in a row in Raleigh, N.C., dating to 2007, dropped back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 12 and saw their record fall to 36-25-4 for 76 points, one ahead of the second-place Buffalo Sabres in the Northeast Division.
Ottawa went 0-for-2 on the power play after converting four of 12 chances in its previous five outings. The Senators will host the Maple Leafs on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).
With files from The Associated Press
