Carolina Captain Stays Hot: Hurricanes 4, Predators 3

Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal kept his scoring streak alive and then some as he led the home team to a hard fought, 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night in front of 13,595 at the RBC.

Staal was named first star and had a goal and two assists for the game. He now has a nine game point streak and has 16 points, (7G 9A), in those nine games.

The Predators, who had played the night before, jumped out to a quick, 1-0 lead just 2:42 into the game, but Jamie McBain tied things up 5:17 into the second period with a blast from the point.

Later in the period, Colin Wilson stole the puck from McBain, put a shot on Cam Ward, and then put in his own rebound to give the visitors the lead back. It was an unassisted goal.

But Staal would tie things up with a powerplay goal from in close just 35 seconds later. At 17:24 into the second, Tim Brent and Jeff Skinner would crash the net, with Brent getting another powerplay goal to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission.

The Canes were faced with a penalty kill to start the third, but as time ran out, Staal found Bryan Allen jumping out of the box alone and the defenseman beat Anders Lindback with a shot through the five-hole. The goal was not necessarily a thing of beauty, but it stood as the game winner and it was the first goal for Allen as a Hurricane.

The Preds would put on some more pressure and got within one goal after Gabriel Bourque scored from in close, but Cam Ward and the defense held firm the rest of the way to preserve the win for the home team.

The Canes continue their home stand with a match against the Rangers on Thursday night.

Game Notes:

• The Canes outshot the Preds 33-29 with McBain and Brent leading the way with six shots each. Justin Faulk had five shots and led the team with 24:01 of ice time.
• The team had 12 blocked shots led by Harrison and Spacek with three each.
• Jerome Samson was bumped off the first line midway through the second period and saw minimal time afterward. When asked about it after the game, Kirk Muller said he switched things up a bit for defense. Samson finished with 11:53 of ice time.
  
• Drayson Bowman had a team low 9:23 of ice time. Anthony Stewart was at 9:24.
• Nashville outhit the Canes 22-14. Jiri Tlusty had a team high three.
• Carolina won 52% of the game's faceoffs with Staal at 57% and Skinner at 64%.

Post Game interviews: