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(Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes have done their best to potentially spoil the postseason hopes of a couple of Eastern Conference contenders in recent days. The club will now attempt to prevent the red-hot Ottawa Senators from securing a playoff berth when the two teams square off this evening at Scotiabank Place.

The Senators enter tonight's clash needing only one more point to ensure a return to the postseason after a one-year absence. Ottawa presently sits fifth in the East with 89 total points and owns a comfortable seven-point edge on Boston, Philadelphia and Montreal for that spot with only a handful of regular-season games to go.

Ottawa has solidified its standing with a well-timed five-game winning streak that was extended with Tuesday's road overtime triumph over Eastern Conference front-runner Washington. Alex Kovalev gave the Senators the 5-4 decision after scoring on the power play with only 18.9 seconds remaining in extra time.

With the Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom sent off for tripping, Ottawa's Erik Karlsson delivered a perfect slap-pass to Kovalev down low and the Russian veteran deftly re-directed the puck into the top portion of the net to give his team the two points.

It was Kovalev's first point since February 14, snapping a 12-game pointless streak in the process.

"For confidence-wise, it's nice to see [Kovalev] score. He played a good game," said Senators head coach Cory Clouston afterward. "He was strong on the puck, and it was nice to see him get that goal."

While Kovalev was the hero in Tuesday's triumph, teammate Jason Spezza earned first star honors after recording two goals and two assists. The standout center's second tally of the night came 5:13 into the third period and tied the contest at 4-4.

"In order for us to have any success in the playoffs, that line is going to have to be our best," said Clouston in reference to the pairing of Spezza and wings Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin.

Alfredsson also had a big night on Tuesday, earning an assist on four of Ottawa's five goals. The team captain brings an eight-game point streak into tonight's test and has racked up three goals and 10 helpers over that span.

Regin netted the Senators' first goal of the game and has now lit the lamp four times in his last five outings.

Although an extreme longshot to make the playoffs, the Hurricanes have proven to be a tough out over their past few games. Carolina has gone 3-1-0 over the past week and heads to Canada's capital city off back-to-back road victories over Atlanta and Montreal, two clubs still in the thick of the postseason race.

After handing the Thrashers a 4-1 defeat on Tuesday, the Hurricanes edged the Canadiens by a 2-1 count last night on Eric Staal's tie-breaking goal early in the third period.

Brandon Sutter also scored for Carolina, which overcame a slow start to prevail. The Hurricanes were outshot 12-2 in the first period and fell behind by a 1-0 score at the completion of the initial session, but got rolling later on and fired up 17 shots during a wide-open final 20 minutes.

"We were able to get things going in our direction and we turned things around," said Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward.

Ward has played a big part in Carolina's strong play as of late. In two games since coming back from a back injury that sidelined him for nearly two months, the 2006 Conn Smythe Trophy recipient has turned aside 60-of-62 shots and delivered a 34-save performance in Wednesday's victory over the Canadiens.

The inspired Hurricanes will take the Scotiabank Place ice tonight seeking to end a four-game losing streak as the visitor in this series. Although Carolina hasn't won in Ottawa since October 11, 2007, the club has come through with a pair of 4-1 home wins over the Senators in the last two matchups between the teams.