Canes Tame Predators in 4-2 Win

Cary, NC — The Carolina Hurricanes have wrapped up a 5 game road trip with 3 straight wins, the latest being last night’s win over the surging Nashville Predators.

After arriving at 3 AM from Florida, the Canes had a surprising amount of energy to start the game. With Rod Brind’Amour as head coach and Bill Burniston in charge of workouts, the big issue is getting enough sleep while also getting in game-day skates and being mentally ready.

Led by Sebastian Aho with 2 goals, the big news of the game was rookie Steve Lorentz (Lorie), got his first NHL game and no matter when you’re reading this, Lorie is still smiling about his first goal.

Aho, Trocheck Give Canes 2-0 Lead

The Canes just finished a swing through Florida playing 4 tough games against 2 very good opponents with the last 2 games going into overtime, then traveled like it was a regular season with a late flight to Nashville.

The Preds started out the season floundering but has found their groove lately winning 4 of their previous 5 games. This game was also a make-up game for one that was postponed due to the Canes Covid issues. As an interesting point, the NHL is at a season-low number of just 3 players sidelined with Covid protocol, one of which is Sydney Crosby.

While the Canes lost the initial faceoff, the Canes gained possession and started attacking in the Preds end with the defense, centered by Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton all getting shots off with just Slavin forcing Juuse Saros to make a huge save. Nashville and Carolina are about the same size teams so it was a fun matchup to watch.

Former Hurricane, Erik Haula registered the first hit of the game when he banged Martin Necas along the far boards, which may have been a ‘game on’ notice as Haula and Necas were linemates at times last season. The Canes defense was very strong in the first, blocking shots and doling out a few hits of their own.

Overall the Canes out hit the Preds 17-12, which is a gift for the Canes as teams like Tampa Bay with huge defensemen are smashing out 30 hits in a game, so they’ll gladly be on the receiving end of just 12 from players around the same size. The Canes broke the scoreless tie at 12:36 of the first on a play that was a mirror image of the overtime goal the night before.

The Preds had just entered the Canes zone when Pesch swatted at the puck sending it diagonally down to the Preds zone. Dante Fabbro picked up the puck along the near boards attempting to make a clearing pass to the neutral zone but Necas placed his stick to his side to widen the forecheck. In doing so the puck hit the shaft of the stick allowing Marty to gain possession and get a lay of the land.

Marty saw Fishy streaking down on the right making a lead pass behind the defense that Aho slammed top shelf for a pretty goal in doing what all coaches preach- never give up on a play. The Canes got their first powerplay of the game when after losing the puck on a faceoff deep in the Preds end, with pressure from Vincent Trocheck, Fabbro sent the puck over the glass on a clear.

Jordan Staal won the faceoff, drawing in back to Hamilton who backed up to the high slot saw the traffic in front and let go a bomb that Tro tipped the puck down to get past Saros putting the Canes up by 2 with just 6 seconds gone on the man advantage.

Lorentz Gets First NHL Goal

The second period saw play still tilted in the Canes’ favor but the Preds were clawing back with their forwards doing most of the hitting along the boards and really improved their forechecking. Surprisingly the Preds defense was credited with only one hit for the entire game.

Some of the Preds forwards were singling out a few Canes such as Andrei Svechnikov and Lorentz who both were laid out on open ice hits. The hit on Svech may have been borderline while the hit on Lorie was taking advantage of a player with his head down. With 4:48 left in the second, the next event made watching the game all worthwhile.

Steve Lorentz had a long and somewhat typical, journey to the NHL. He was a 7th round draft pick, #186 overall, of which there are only 4 other players from that 7th round that have played in an NHL game. He had a great season with the Charlotte Checkers last season and was one of the few Checkers invited to the limited preseason practices.

Originally pegged to be on the taxi squad, Lorie has continued to work hard and have the best attitude towards being a professional hockey player and life in general. Like the old Jeff Skinner, he has a smile that makes you smile. Cedric Paquette carried the puck from the Canes ends along the far boards into the Preds zone.

Just as he crossed the blue line, he attempted a pass to Jordan Martinook on the left-wing. The Preds defense blocked the pass but Marty took possession in the far circle. With Paquette crashing the net, Marty sent a centering pass that was knocked 15’ into the air by Pekka Rinne now in goal for the Preds.

Lorie was on the corner of the crease, saw the puck land then muscled his way to the dirty area, lowered his hands on his stick twisting the puck over Rinne’s shoulder for his first NHL goal putting a smile on his face that was priceless and would have even impressed Skinner. After the game, he said he didn’t even know how he celebrated as he was in another world.

Predators Make Final Push, Aho Gets Empty Netter

The third period hasn’t been friendly for the Canes of late and this was the case in this game. The Preds are a no-quit team and came out in the third with grit and determination to turn things around. At the 4:46 mark, Pesch got called for hooking which is a double downer as he’s such a critical penalty killer.

The man-down defense was doing well but on their last rush, they had a great-looking powerplay with excellent passing on the perimeter keeping the Canes heads spinning with Calle Jarnkrok sneaking in behind the Canes defense to punch in a goal to cut the lead 3-1. Just 2:17 later the Preds struck again.

With the Canes 4th line out against the 2nd line for the Preds, taking advantage of the home team’s last change, the Preds made a charge with speed into the Canes zone. The Canes kept the Preds passing along the boards, Mattias Ekholm wristed a hard shot from the left point that hit Jake Bean’s skate ricocheting in behind James Reimer to give the Preds life and make it a new game.

The Canes dug in deep to play better the rest of the last half of the period as the Preds were getting off a game-high 17 shots. Late in the game, Svech was trying to exit the Canes zone when Norris Trophy winner Roman Jodi tackled Svech which Josi and several other Preds took exception to but replays confirmed the call.

The Canes kept the puck in the Preds zone long enough that Rinne could only leave the ice with just under 90 seconds left which just evened up the skaters. Staal saw Fishy open in the neutral zone who wasted no time sending the puck into the empty net to end the scoring.

The next game is Thursday with 2700 fans expected to be in the stands and hopefully, if all goes as planned, the first time the Svechnikov brothers will play against each other. Should be a great match.


Story by Bob Fennel. Photos courtesy of the Canes public Facebook page and Predators public Facebook page. See more Canes coverage on CaryCitizen.

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