Early first period barrage lifts Canes past Predators 4-1

The Carolina Hurricanes defeated one of the NHL’s best teams in the Nashville Predators, behind four early first period goals.

On a night where the Carolina Hurricanes desperately needed a victory, that’s exactly what they got. On Dec. 21, the Canes took on the Nashville Predators, on the road at Bridgestone Arena, in the second leg of a two-game road trip. Coming off an 8-1 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canes needed this one for the sake of their confidence.

Meanwhile, Nashville was coming off a tough loss of their own, 6-4, against the Winnipeg Jets. Pekka Rinne got the nod for the Preds, while Cam Ward got the start for the Canes. Ward’s stint between the pipes would last a lot longer than that of Rinne, though.

Carolina got off to a fast start, with three goals on their first three shots on goal. The first goal came from Derek Ryan, his seventh of the season. Ryan’s goal was assisted by Noah Hanifin and Jeff Skinner. The point parade did not end there for Ryan, Skinner, or Hanifin.

Elias Lindholm notched his 10th of the season, with assists from Skinner and Justin Faulk. That assist from Faulk gave him his 200th career point. Two other first period goals were scored by Hanifin and Victor Rask.

The goal from Rask was enough to chase Rinne from the cage. It was the worst goal that Rinne has allowed this season, and was his fourth allowed in less than seven minutes in the first period. Moreover, Rinne only had two saves on six shots before Juuse Saros made a relief appearance.

The Preds would pull within three goals, with a tip in goal from Kevin Fiala. Saaros was great through the rest of the game as well.

Here’s the takeaways from the Carolina Hurricanes win over the Nashville Predators on Dec. 21.

Bridgestone Arena is one of the best atmospheres in the NHL

Even when the Preds were down by four goals in the first period, and Rinne had the worst start to the game of any for him this season, the fans were still loud. The Nashville faithful were loud in support for Saros when he took over also, and that likely helped his confidence.

Bridgestone became famous in the 2017 NHL Playoffs, and the fans are still out in full force this season. It was not only the saves that Saros made that excited the crowd all night. They never quieted down, no matter what odds their team was facing.

It’s a huge boost when your fans create as loud of an atmosphere as the Preds faithful do. With the Canes struggling in attendance yet again, this is something that they can learn from. PNC Arena should be loud on Dec. 23, when Carolina returns to Raleigh.

But, through each of Nashville’s four power plays, the noise could be heard even from a television set. “Smashville” continues to provide one of the coolest atmospheres to see of any arena in the league.