In the last game before the winter break for the NHL, the Carolina Hurricanes traveled for the second game of a back-to-back against the Nashville Predators. They looked to build upon their 3-1 win over the New York Rangers the day before. However, the Predators were looking to play spoilers again to get their 11th win of the season. As the game concluded, it was the Predators who ended up on the winning side as they defeated the Hurricanes 5-2.
Game Recap
In their first meeting of the season, the game started with the Hurricanes putting pressure on the Predators. As the period continued, it seemed that the home team was pushing back on the visitors and putting them on their back skate. It was Steven Stamkos who broke the scoreless tie just under 14 minutes into the game as Dustin Tokarski was trying to find the puck after losing his glove. Stamkos’ goal was his 10th of the season and it was 1-0 Predators. Nashville ended the first period outshooting Carolina 11-8 in the period. It seemed the Hurricanes took their foot off the gas and didn’t pressure the Predators much as the period went on.
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The second period saw more of the Predators take control of the game as they outshot the Hurricanes again, 9-6. Furthermore, they added their second goal of the game as Jonathan Marchessault made it 2-0 as he was on the backdoor of Tokarski for his 11 of the season. Just under 12 minutes into the middle frame, the 10-17-7 home team was up 2-0 on the 21-11-1 visitors.
Going into the third period, while it wasn’t a huge hill to climb, the Hurricanes needed a better period if they wanted to get back in it and secure a win. However, that was not the case as the Predators scored two more goals. Just a few seconds into their second power play of the game, Ryan O’Reilly made it 3-0 just 30 seconds into the final period for his eighth of the season.
Over two minutes later, Mark Jankowski made it 4-0 with his second of the season. It seemed that the Hurricanes were going to get raced out of the building going into the winter break. If anyone knows these Hurricanes, they somehow find a way to make games interesting.
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In 40 seconds, Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho were able to cut the game from 4-0 to a 4-2 lead for the home side. The Staal goal came as he was beside the net and Jordan Martinook got the puck over to the Hurricanes captain as he broke Juuse Saros’ shutout at the time. A little while later, Seth Jarvis fooled everyone to think he was going to shoot, but got a pass over to Aho who was able to slot the puck past Saros to make it a 4-2 game.
However, the comeback would fall short as Marchessault scored his second of the game on a Hurricanes empty net to ice the win for the home team. In the end, the Predators went on to win 5-2 for their 11th win of the season. The Hurricanes would fall to 21-12-1 going into the winter break.
Time to Celebrate the Holidays
The Hurricanes are off for the next three days as the NHL will be on the holiday break. Their next game will be on Friday, Dec. 27 in Newark, NJ against the New Jersey Devils. It’ll be game one of a home-and-home and back-to-back versus the Devils. Regarding the Predators, their next game will be on Friday as well with them going on the road versus the St. Louis Blues.
