Recap: Hurricanes earn 4-1 win over Predators

The Carolina Hurricanes have lacked balanced scoring of late. On Tuesday night, they got it, and with it, a much-needed road win that delighted the players’ moms who were along for the ride.

The Hurricanes defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1, improved to 34-21-4 overall, and 5-2-1 in February.

Andrei Svechnikov snapped home a power play goal early in the second period. It was the 19-year-old Russian’s 24th of the season and extended his current point streak to eight games.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Aho recorded his team-leading 34th goal this season, extending his current point streak to ten games.

Justin Williams had two assists, Jordan Staal scored his eighth goal of the season, and Nino Niederreiter scored for the second time in the last three games.

Petr Mrazek made 27 saves, won his first road start since mid-December, and improved to 20-15-2 on the season. Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros made 26 saves and fell to 11-10-4.

Jordan Staal got the Canes on the board first. He smacked home a centering pass from Justin Williams at 3:23 of the first period. Warren Foegele earned the secondary assist.

At 0:48 of the second period, Ryan Johansen pulled the Predators even when he swatted a puck from mid-air past Petr Mrazek. The Canes challenged the play for goalie interference, arguing that Viktor Arvidsson had prevented Mrazek from establishing position, but the call on the ice stood.

After killing off the Nashville power play that followed the challenge, Svechnikov scored on a Canes’ power play at 3:45. He snapped a wrister past Saros from the faceoff dot off another centering feed from Williams.

Niederreiter extended the Canes’ lead to two when he slipped a backhand shot past Juros at 8:02. Martin Necas and Erik Haula got the assists on the goal. Sebastian Aho put an exclamation point on the game with an insurance goal at 4:33 of the third.

Late in the game, Teuvo Teravainen injured his leg, although he walked off the injury and returned to the game without missing a shift, and Haydn Fleury went down in an awkward twist after his skate got caught following a check from the Predators’ Austin Watson. Fleury left the ice and went to the locker room, and did not return to the ice for the rest of the game.

Up Next

The Canes return home to face the New York Rangers on Friday night.