Recap and Rank ‘Em: Jeff Skinner and the Carolina Hurricanes Down the Nashville Predators 4-2

The Carolina Hurricanes are far behind in the playoff hunt, but don’t tell them that.

The team is currently riding a six-game point streak and has played like a team in the thick of things, looking downright dominant in their last two wins over strong Western Conference opponents.

Saturday night saw them defeat the Nashville Predators, and the onslaught began early.

Jordan Staal got things started just 29 seconds into the game, earning his 14th goal of the year.

Jaccob Slavin wired a pass from the blue line and Staal managed to redirect it through Juuse Saros’ five-hole for a quick Canes lead.

The Hurricanes continued to pour on the pressure, with their second goal coming off of the stick of Jeff Skinner.

Lee Stempniak won a battle with Saros behind the net and found 53 waiting in the left circle before the Nashville netminder was able to get fully set, and Skinner made no mistake with a laser over the glove of Saros.

The first period ended without much more fanfare, but the second kicked things off with a bang as Joakim Nordstrom narrowly missed out on making it a 3-0 game just seconds into the frame.

From there, though, Nashville began dictating the pace of play, and eventually found their first goal of the game in the form of a tight-angle tally from Viktor Arvidsson.

The Predators continued to control the game, earning chances left and right in the Canes end, but it was Carolina scoring the next goal.

Skinner, with a couple whacks at a rebound, scored his second of the game and stretched the lead to 3-1 Carolina with five minutes to go in the second period.

This goal marked Skinner’s 14 point in just 11 games against the Predators.

The third period belonged to the goaltenders for the most part, until Filip Forsberg brought the Predators within one with 1:49 remaining in the game.

But Elias Lindholm ensured the victory for Carolina with a shorthanded empty net goal with 25 seconds remaining to make it a 4-2 final score.

Eddie Lack came up with his second consecutive strong performance, making 27 saves. On the other end, Juuse Saros stopped 34 pucks of his own.

Carolina will play the back end of this back-to-back in Philadelphia tomorrow night.

Rank the Performances

Here’s your chance to weigh in on how you think the team performed tonight. Upvote the players you think played well and downvote the ones who didn’t.