Power Play: Hurricanes snap Preds' 4-game streak with a 2-1 home win
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes (8-13-13) edged the Nashville Predators (16-6-2) by a 2-1 final, fending off a power play in the final seconds to emerge victorious. The Predators saw a four-game winning streak snapped, while the Hurricanes won just their second game in the last six, all of which have been decided by one goal (five of those were on the road).
1. The Hurricanes got an early lead and played well with it.
It took awhile -- the first goal wasn't scored until the first period was nearly over -- but nothing came easily in this game for either team, and finally getting out to that 1-0 lead enabled the Hurricanes to play the kind of hockey they wanted to play.
"We were able to play with a lead for a long time there, and it's comfortable, right? Your young guys are a little more relaxed and you're not pressing quite as much and you don't feel the need that you have to score on each opportunity, and you definitely don't have to cheat," Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said. "You never have to cheat, but young guys tend to stray a little bit when you're down or when they feel they have to push. You've got to keep doing it the right way."
Captain Eric Staal, who finished with no points but won seven of his 12 faceoffs, was happy with the way the team played with the lead, and said it was an improvement from the way they played with a lead during some of these one-goal losses.
"I like the way that we played with it. I thought that we continued to play the same way regardless, and I think that we did that in Pittsburgh (in a win) as well," Staal said. "It's something we did not do in Colorado (in a loss) and we obviously talked about it and tonight, we were playing the same way. We continued to get aggressive on the forecheck an attack. It was pretty tight but our game felt the same regardless of if we were up one or two."
2. Pekka Rinne was very good in goal, but it wasn't enough.
The Hurricanes probably could have made their lead a bit more comfortable. But the reason they didn't was the play of Rinne, one of the NHL's best goaltenders -- and one of the hottest, having allowed no even-strength goals in his last two games.
He allowed two goals, but both were a bit of a bad bounce, and he stopped all 13 Hurricanes' shots he saw in the second period.
"I thought in the second, we controlled pretty well, had some really good looks to get a gap on them and didn't cash in, but they've got a good goalie," Staal said.
Hurricanes' goalie Cam Ward, who's pretty hot himself, knows all about those bad bounces. He appreciated and respected what he saw out of Rinne.
"They've got an elite goaltender on the other end of the ice in Pekka Rinne. Sometimes that's what it takes -- it takes deflections to beat goalies like that," Ward said. "Even on (Victor Rask's third-period) goal, I don't know if it hit a stick on the way but great pass by (Andrej Nestrasil) to (Jeff Skinner)."
3. Where do both teams go from here?
Obviously, the Predators are one of the best teams in the NHL and will be fine. They're in great position, leading the Central Division even after the loss. But the loss did snap a four-game winning streak, and it was to one of the NHL's worst teams in Carolina.
"We always look for things we can take out of the game, that we can do better, but so far our team has had a pretty good response," Laviolette said. "We haven't played as consistently as we'd like."
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, were seeing any chance they might have at a playoff berth slip away slowly as they couldn't quite gain traction in late November after a hot start to the month. That November was necessary after a winless October, though, and the Hurricanes are still trying to dig their way out of a hole.
They'll take it any way they can get it, though.
"It's important. I think we've talked about it before, being solid at home, being tough to play against at home. The beginning of this month is a good opportunity for us to sort of establish that and build off that," Skinner said. "This is a good first step and we've got to try and keep building from there."
The Hurricanes have been close recently against some of the league's best teams, and now they're going to play their next three games at home (they're 1-1 in the first two of this five-game homestand). But they have to be consistent.
"It should send a message to our team. We're playing some really good hockey teams. Pittsburgh is one of the top teams, Nashville is one of the top teams and not only are we hanging with them, but we've had a real chance to win hockey games," Ward said. "So it's a confidence-booster. You realize that you've always got a play like that. Its' a consistency thing. But we can feel really happy about tonight."
--Jeff Skinner: The forward has been great in the last 2 1/2 weeks against everyone, according to Peters, but in six career games against Nashville, he now has 10 points (five goals and five assists). He finished this game with a goal and an assist.
--Cam Ward: The Hurricanes' goalie finished with 32 saves on 32 shots, and he had to fend off a furious Predators' rally on a power play in the waning seconds. He got some help from his teammates, but ultimately he did just that, and continues his resurgent season.
--Victor Rask: The rookie has been a steadying influence at center all year, surprisingly filling in very capably for Jordan Staal (or helping). He finished this game with a goal in the third to bring him to eight points in his last 14 games (he didn't have a point in his first nine career games).
