The Carolina Hurricanes dropped their last home game of the preseason in a 3-2 OT defeat to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, Oct. 5. In a game that served as more of a tuneup for the season than just giving the young guns some ice time, the Canes had quite a few observations to take away from the loss.
Overall, Carolina improved as the game went along, especially in the passing game. In the first period, several Canes passes were picked off in their own zone, oftentimes serving up an easy scoring opportunity for the opposition, but these mistakes were tightened after the first intermission. The Hurricanes also looked much quicker and more creative on the attack from the second period onward.
“I thought we did a pretty good job later in the game,” said head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “I think earlier, you know, we’re still knocking a little bit of rust off with our full unit. But as the game went on, we got stronger and stronger and that was certainly a good stepping stone going forward.”
The first period was mostly a low-quality performance on the part of the Hurricanes, who gave up the opening goal after just 27 seconds. Nashville mustered the opener when a pass into the slot and a resultant shot rebounded right to Predators center Ryan Johansen, who deposited the puck into the net to give his squad an early 1-0 lead.
Carolina managed to equalize in the first period with a gritty goal of their own. Center Steve Lorentz capitalized on a mad scramble for a contested puck in front of the net to pull the Canes even at 1-1.
“I put a lot of work in this summer,” Lorentz said. “Obviously coming off of last season, I don’t want to say I knew what to expect, but I knew what the battle level was gonna have to be every single time I stepped on the ice coming into this camp.”
The Canes cleaned up their overall act in the second period, looking much sharper in the passing game after the first intermission. Carolina outshot the Preds 18-6 in the second period, but failed to convert any of those chances into a go-ahead goal.
This scoring drought was just as much of a credit to the tenacity of the Predators’ defense as it was to the Canes’ lack of quality chances. Nashville blocked 16 shots over the course of the game compared to the Hurricanes’ seven.
As it turned out, it was Nashville that secured a 2-1 lead with a goal from center Matt Duchene late in the second period. After the Predators won a faceoff in the Canes’ zone, Duchene ripped a shot from the point that found its way past goalkeeper Antti Raanta.
Once right wing Jesper Fast netted a game-tying breakaway goal in the third period, Raanta stepped up through the end of regulation, saving all nine of Nashville’s third-period shots to force overtime.
Those efforts weren’t enough to secure the win, though. Two minutes and 49 seconds into the overtime period, Nashville center Philip Tomasino sealed the deal with a goal to give the Preds a 3-2 victory.
Despite the loss, another positive takeaway for the Canes was the play of 19-year-old center Seth Jarvis. The youngster didn’t make it onto the score sheet tonight, but the rapid development of the Hurricanes’ first-round selection in the 2020 NHL draft is a promising sign of things to come.
“I think he’s been great,” Brind’Amour said. “To be honest, I think that you can see the confidence that he plays with, which I think is one of the biggest determining factors, in my mind, of guys that are going to be able to kind of wade through and stay; continuing to grow and mature and get better.”
Carolina will travel to Nashville to take on the Predators once more in the Canes’ preseason finale on Saturday, Oct. 9. The game will be available on Bally Sports South at 4 p.m.
