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The Carolina Hurricanes dropped their second game in a row last night, falling 5-3 to the Nashville Predators.
The game marked Max Pacioretty’s first time suiting up with the Hurricanes following the offseason trade with the Vegas Golden Knights. With Stefan Noesen being injured last game, Pacioretty replaced him on Carolina’s fourth line, alongside Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Derek Stepan.
It also marked Nino Niederreiter’s first game back in Carolina, after signing with the Predators this offseason.
Carolina came out strong early, playing with a lot more intensity than we saw in the back half of the loss to the New York Rangers earlier this week. Then after Mikael Granlund took the first penalty of the game about six minutes in, the Hurricanes capitalized, with Brett Pesce’s point shot going in off Paul Stastny in front. Carolina nearly extended the lead a couple times after that off some great chances for Andrei Svechnikov and then Stastny again, but Juuse Saros came up with some huge saves. But as Predators ended up with a power play of their own only a few minutes later, Filip Forsberg managed to tie the game, roofing a shot over Pyotr Kochetkov. The Hurricanes did still put together a really strong period, outshooting Nashville by a 18-7 margin, but the game remained tied through 20 minutes.
Carolina managed to take the lead back in the first minute of the second period at 4-on-4 though, with Brady Skjei directing in a nice pass from Brett Pesce. Once again though, Nashville responded right away, with Mattias Ekholm firing a shot in from close range off a faceoff only minutes later to tie the game.
The Hurricanes did pull back ahead again midway through the frame, as Jordan Martinook forced a turnover in the neutral zone and Jordan Staal ended up going down ice on a rush to beat Saros with a great shot. Yet again though, Nashville tied it back up only a couple minutes after, as Cody Glass was left alone in front to score.
Jordan Martinook did have a great shorthanded rush chance to put Carolina back ahead with only about a minute remaining in the frame, but Saros came up with a big glove save. Despite Carolina outshooting Nashville by a massive 39-14 margin through 40 minutes, it was a 3-3 game.
Then only five minutes into the third period, Mark Jankowski tipped in a shot from Ryan Johansen, giving Nashville their first lead of the game. The Hurricanes continued to press afterwards, throwing a ridiculous 28 shots on goal in the frame. Carolina had some excellent chances to tie it with a late power play, but Andrei Svechnikov was absolutely robbed by Saros. Despite Carolina spending most of the last five minutes in Nashville’s end, they couldn’t manage to tie it, and the Predators added an empty netter from Colton Siissons to secure a 5-3 win.
We’ve seen this several times over the past couple years, but it was another situation where Carolina completely outchanced their opponent but still couldn’t get the win. Obviously, this one was a bit more of an extreme case, with the final shots ending at 67-25.
A lot of it can be summed up to the fact the Predators got the goaltending they needed and the Hurricanes just didn’t. Pyotr Kochetkov continues to look a bit off – he was very deep in his net on the first goal against and while the fourth goal was a tip, he didn’t necessarily seem to be square to the original shot to begin with.
As for Max Pacioretty returning on the fourth line, it made sense for now. Given Noesen was out anyways, the Hurricanes were basically able to just slot him in Noesen’s position, without having to mix up any of the other lines. We can expect to see Pacioretty move up the lineup soon and while he looked good for Carolina (registering six shots), using him in a limited role upon returning makes sense.
Some other notes: Of the four Hurricanes’ prospects who participated in the World Juniors this year, Jackson Blake is the one going home with a medal. Blake earned Bronze in the United States’ 8-7 win over Sweden yesterday, registering a goal and six points in seven tournament games.
Andrei Svechnikov was also named as Carolina’s representative for the NHL All-Star game next month. It was probably going to be down to Svechnikov, Martin Necas and maybe Sebastian Aho, but with 19 goals in 39 games, it would be difficult to select someone other than Svechnikov.
Obviously, it’s disappointing the Hurricanes dropped a second game in a row, following their massive streak. Again though, it’s not like the effort wasn’t there and it’s a very different kind of loss compared to what we saw against the Rangers.
Carolina will be back in action on Saturday, as they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM JANUARY
Canes win first game of 2023, beat Devils in shootout to extend streak
Hurricanes’ 11-game winning streak snapped in loss to Rangers 
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