The Carolina Hurricanes had one of their most disappointing outings in their most recent game.

The next game comes as a rematch with the Ottawa Senators on Monday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.

"We'll see what this group is made of," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's a soul search time for our group."

This game comes two nights after Ottawa's 4-1 home victory against the Hurricanes, who've lost a season-high four games in a row.

It's different for the Senators.

"It looks like the guys are having fun," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "We're starting to get that belief a little bit more that we can play with some of these teams. I think Carolina, on any given night, can outskate anyone in this league."

Ottawa has won two straight games, and the Senators might be becoming more comfortable in certain situations.

"We're starting to get good play with the lead," Smith said.

While the Hurricanes are expressing frustration, the Senators sound completely opposite.

"Everyone is hungry and everyone wants to win and it's really fun right now," left winger Filip Chlapik said.

The confidence for the Ottawa team probably in part stems from the way that Saturday night's game developed against Carolina.

The Senators were sharp at the beginning and that set the tone. A repeat of that won't come automatically.

"Now we have a tough task to go into their building where they get a zillion shots and stay on you," Smith said. "They're a team that gets a lot of shots."

Brind'Amour saw elements of Ottawa's performance that he would expect from the Hurricanes.

"They came ready to go," he said. "Our guys were not ready. We were not winning any battles, just playing carefree. That's the most disappointing part for me."

In many ways, Brind'Amour has issued a challenge to the Hurricanes.

"That's what you get in this league if you're not ready to a man," Brind'Amour said. "When you're in this situation, you can't afford that. We're having a tough time scoring. We just need to hunker down and not give them any opportunities. When you're not scoring many goals, everything is going to be magnified."

Andrei Svechnikov scored the only goal for Carolina. The second-year player has put together a solid recent stretch, with two goals and two assists in the past five games.

"Our young guys can't be our best guys every night," Brind'Amour said. "The guys who've been around have to lead the group a little better."

The Hurricanes are bound to turn to goalie Petr Mrazek for this rematch after he served as the backup Saturday.

Ottawa has won two games in a row but is 1-5-1 on the road. The Senators have scored more than two goals only twice in those games.

Carolina is without forward Erik Haula, who has a knee injury and his status has been described as day-to-day. However, he didn't make the trip to Ottawa so there's the possibility that his absence could turn into more of a long-term issue for the Hurricanes.

This will be the second of three meetings between the teams this season. Ottawa lost two of three matchups with Carolina last season.

--Field Level Media