Hurricanes’ Point Streak Snapped After 4-1 Loss to Predators

As the saying goes, “you win some, you lose some”. The Carolina Hurricanes’ winning and point streak snapped Tuesday night in a 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators. Despite outshooting the Predators 30-20, it was not their night as Juuse Saros once again goalied them. Instead of two stepping into a win, the Hurricanes are singing the Music City blues.

Singing the Music City Blues

The one bright spot in the game was Jackson Blake scoring his fourth goal of the season, the lone blemish on Saros’ night. His goal pushes his point streak to seven games, a career high for the Minnesota native. He has three goals and six assists during his current point streak. In 17 games, he has four goals and 17 points, putting him on pace for 84 points in his third NHL season. He’s had a remarkable start to the 2026-27 season. He is having an underrated season again and should be discussed nationally.

Despite the .842 save percentage (SV%) in the loss, Pyotr Kochetkov played well against the Predators. He made key saves all night, but the home side made their shots count. The Russian netminder saw his 10-game winning streak snap, saving 16 of 19 shots. He kept the Hurricanes in the game, but defensive struggles and not getting to Saros is what led to the team’s third regulation loss of the season.

Kochetkov is now 10-1-0 with a 1.64 goals-against average (GAA) and a .922 SV%. Funny enough, he’s still tied for first in wins, second in GAA, and fifth in SV% despite the loss. The loss won’t bother “The Nyetminder” because of how he’s been this season; he will get back in the win column in his next start.

Overall, it wasn’t the cleanest game in a while for head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s side. Since the shootout loss against the Edmonton Oilers, the Hurricanes looked like a well-oiled machine. After the loss, defenseman Jaccob Slavin shared his thoughts on the rare regulation loss this season: “We didn’t play our best game. We didn’t play the way that makes us successful. We weren’t managing the puck well. We were taking pucks back and trying to get cute through the neutral zone and breaking out of our zone. We’re a pretty north-south team, and when we start trying to go east-west when it’s not there, it puts the stress on us. It wasn’t our best effort tonight.”

The Hurricanes are usually the better five-on-five team, but that was not the case Tuesday night. Once they get away from their game, the system seems to struggle more than what people are used to. Instead of attacking the opponents with their relentless play, they got, as Slavin called it, “cute” with their zone entries and overall game.

Brind’Amour felt the same way about his team’s performance, “It’s not a work thing, it’s a smart thing. We didn’t do the things we needed to, to give ourselves a better chance, right? Too many turnovers. Taking pucks back. We’re down one, we’re in the game, but then we start doing things and trying to be too cute. That’s not a recipe for success.”

Despite the loss, the Hurricanes are still 12-3-2, 17 games into the 2026-27 season. They’re still at the top of the Metropolitan Division, the Eastern Conference, and the NHL. The defending Stanley Cup champions have already shown some great responses after a loss this season. This time will be no different as they take on the New York Islanders Thursday night at UBS Arena. As Slavin put it, the team prepares for their next game Thursday: “We’ve got a new day tomorrow. Fresh start. It’s a long season, but we don’t want to have build games on top of each other like that. We’ll just get back to how we play the game and what makes us successful. We know what works, so we just have to stick with that.”