On the heels of an extraordinary victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday, the Carolina Hurricanes concluded their pre-Christmas road trip by visiting the Nashville Predators. The Canes scored twice in the second period to steal control from the Rangers while Pyotr Kochetkov closed the door all afternoon. Nashville has been one of the most disappointing teams to start the year, though they're beginning to find their rhythm.
For the second half of the back-to-back, the Canes turned to Dustin Tokarski between the pipes. Tokarski was incredible in his Hurricanes debut against Columbus, making 27 stops in a 4-1 victory. Nashville sent out Juuse Saros to make his league-leading 28th start. If the Predators are on the ice, you can bet Saros will be in the net.
From the jump, it was clear that Nashville was the fresher team. The Canes had a mini-push to start the game, but it felt like the bulk of the play was in front of Tokarski. To his credit, Tokarski was sharp. Nashville was getting shots through, many of which were tipped and stopped by the Canes netminder.
The only sliver of daylight Tokarski allowed in the first period would be exposed by Steven Stamkos on the opening goal. It was a very weird play. Stamkos' stick was just faster than Dmitry Orlov's, sneaking a shot over the line with the smallest bit of an opening. The Canes would earn a late power play, but Martin Necas was denied twice and that would be all she wrote for the first period.
The second verse was the same as the first for the Hurricanes. Tokarski found himself under siege, while Saros was enjoying a stress-free life on the other end. The best stop of the night was Tokarski's robbery of Ryan O'Reilly on a 2-on-0 chance. Unfortunately, Tokarski couldn't stop a tip-in from Jonathan Marchessault at the side of the net, allowing the Predators to extend their lead.
After the 2-0 goal, the Canes started to show signs of life. Saros made a great glove stop on Seth Jarvis' rebound chance right after the goal. Shayne Gostisbehere rang the left post as his screened shot did everything but find the back of the net. Despite their best efforts, the Canes couldn't shrink their deficit.
The strong end to the second period makes the start of the third sting even more. The perfect month on the penalty kill came to an end 30 seconds into the period after O'Reilly finished a sensational passing sequence. Mark Jankowski added a fourth goal less than three minutes in, digging the Canes into an even deeper hole.
While they're never truly out of any game, it was starting to feel like the rout was on. Instead, the Staal line stepped up and gave the team life. William Carrier won a battle below the goal line before Jordan Martinook set up the captain at the side of the net to break Saros' shutout bid. This trio has been the team's sparkplug for the better part of two weeks, coming up with another timely goal.
The Canes weren't finished. Seth Jarvis found Sebastian Aho 40 seconds later to cut the initial deficit in half. Jarvis' saucer pass landed at Aho's skate, which forced Saros to overcommit before Aho went skate to stick and snapped the shot past his fellow countryman. The goal extended Aho's point streak to five games.
This was as close as the Hurricanes would get. They would have plenty more chances, but Saros was there to keep them in check. With Tokarski on the bench, Marchessault scored into the empty net to put the game away, sending the Canes into the break with a 5-2 loss.
Obviously, this was not the effort the team hoped to follow up their win against the Rangers with. The Predators beat them at their own game for 43 minutes and put them in a position they couldn't get out of, despite their best efforts in the third period. I felt coming into this game that Nashville's record was not indicative of their skill. They are a good team that hasn't meshed well after a big offseason.
Dustin Tokarski did what he could to keep his group in the game, but they didn't give him much to work with while he was doing his best work. I thought Tokarski was excellent through 40 minutes, while the rest of the group was too busy being stifled at every turn. Maybe you'd like him to stop the first goal, but I can't give him much flack for the other three. He put the Canes in a spot to do something, similar to Igor Shesterkin on Sunday for the Rangers.
In the absence of Martin Necas' production, Sebastian Aho has started to find a groove over the last two weeks. He has points in five straight, but what's more important is that he has goals in four of those five games, including the second goal on Monday. It has come after a stretch when he didn't score a goal for almost three weeks. If we can get Necas and Svechnikov scoring consistently again, the Canes might be in for a big turnaround after Christmas.
Up Next: There are three games left in 2024 for the Carolina Hurricanes. They'll return from the Christmas break with a home-and-home with the New Jersey Devils on Friday and Saturday. They'll be at The Rock for Friday's game before playing at the Lenovo Center on Saturday. To conclude the year, they'll face the Columbus Blue Jackets in Columbus on New Year's Eve.