Carolina Picks Up First Preseason Win: Hurricanes 3, Predators 1

After falling behind 1-0, the Carolina Hurricanes came back to score three straight goals, got some solid goaltending from Justin Peters, and went on to defeat the Nashville Predators in preseason action on Thursday night, 3-1.  Peters played the entire game for Carolina and made 27 saves on 28 shots.

About midway through the first period, J.P. Dumont started off the scoring with an unassisted goal as he cleaned up some loose change in the Carolina end.   But four minutes and change into the second period,  Patrick O`Sullivan took a pass from Zac Dalpe and tied things up. 

Later in the period, Sergei Samsonov banged home a rebound off of a heavy Eric Staal shot to give the Canes their first lead of the preseason.  The goal was a powerplay tally. 

Erik Cole would finish up the scoring with an empty netter in the final minute of action.  

These two teams will face each other again in Raleigh on Friday night, probably with revamped lineups.  The Canes will then travel to Atlanta on Saturday to compete in their third game in three nights.

We will have the lineups and a preview for Friday's game here around lunchtime.

Quick stats:

• Bobby Sanguinetti and Eric Staal each had two assists.
• Jamie McBain played a team high 23:15 and was also a team high +2. He was on the ice for each of Carolina's three goals.
  
• Staal led the Canes with 5 shots on goal, but won only 7 of 23 faceoff attempts, (30%).  Drayson Bowman had 4 shots on goal.
• Tuomo Ruutu had a team high 3 hits.
• Joe Corvo led both teams with 4 blocked shots.