After losing winger Jordan Martinook in the second period, the Carolina Hurricanes had to lean on its depth, and the response helped them power to a 4-1 win.
The Canes (22-9-2) took the ice against the Nashville Predators (13-16-4), holding possession for the majority of the game and coming out on top with the win. Though Carolina left chances on the table, its limited conversions still were enough to seal the result.
Early in the third period on the man advantage, the puck was passed deep in the zone to winger Jackson Blake, who found center Sebastian Aho waiting in the front of the net. Aho, with plenty of space, flicked the puck into the back of the net past goaltender Juuse Saros, scoring the goal that secured them the win and tallying his first point in five games.
Scoring against the Predators yet again, Blake broke the ice and netted the opening goal. Center Logan Stankoven sent in a shot on goal that Saros denied, but with Blake creating traffic at the net, he couldn’t get a glove on it. Blake found the scraps and buried the puck in the back of the net, putting the Canes up by one.
“It was a good start by our team,” said winger Mark Jankowski. “We wanted to keep it simple, get a lot of pucks and bodies to the net, and that was just our goal there, getting pucks in front of the net. [Blake] had a good finish there to put it home.”
Keeping his team from getting shut out, winger Filip Forsberg located a loose puck off the shot of center Ryan O’Reilly that goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov couldn’t get a glove on. With Kochetkov out of position, Forsberg turned and slid the puck across the goal line to get his team on the board.
Another early goal in the third from center Seth Jarvis extended the Canes’ lead to three. A slow counterattack from Carolina gave winger Nikolaj Ehlers the chance to skate the puck into the offensive zone and leave it for Aho. Aho found Jarvis across the ice, who had a quick release that Saros couldn’t locate, giving the Canes their third goal.
In the second period, winger Jordan Martinook left the ice due to a lower-body injury and headed straight to the locker room. With the severity of the injury unknown and Martinook not returning to the ice, the Canes stepped up and played with only 11 offensive players for the final period.
“[Martinook] is a big piece,” winger Eric Robinson said. “It hurts whenever you’re missing a guy, especially one as important as him. The rest of us will have to step up in his absence.”
The Hurricanes continue their three-game road trip and play the Florida Panthers on Friday, Dec. 19, with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
