Predators play their way into playoffs by beating Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes played like a team that wanted to win.
The Nashville Predators played like a team that desperately needed to win.
In this game, desperation was the difference. The Predators played their way into the Stanley Cup playoffs Saturday with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over the Canes at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators (30-23-2) will face the Hurricanes in the opening round of the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Central Division. The Canes (36-11-8) clinched the division and the No. 1 seed on Friday when the Dallas Stars beat the Tampa Bay Lightning.
While the Canes had a 13-game point streak end, a bigger concern was a lower-body injury to defenseman Jaccob Slavin in the first period. Slavin was pulled from the lineup during the first intermission and did not return to the game.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said it was a precautionary move but said Slavin “tweaked” something and said the situation was “a little bit alarming.”
“It’s exactly what you wouldn’t want to happen in these kinds of games,” Brind’Amour said. “We’ll know more (Sunday), but I’m hopeful it’s nothing too serious.”
Luke Kunin scored the first two goals for Nashville and workhorse goalie Juuse Saros made it stand up with 21 saves in besting the Canes’ Alex Nedeljkovic. Morgan Geekie scored his third goal of the season with 10:53 left in the third for the Canes off a Steven Lorentz pass, but that was all Saros allowed.
Kunin beat Nedeljkovic with a backhander with 7:33 left in the second, then with a forehand wrister at 7:41 of the third. Erik Haula had an empty-net goal with 1:03 left in regulation for the Predators.
For the Canes, it was the first loss to the Predators this season after six victories and Carolina’s first regulation loss since losing 3-1 to Detroit on April 12.
“I give my guys a ton of credit,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought we had a lull there in the second period. ... They got momentum and they poured it to us. But I thought we had a good bounceback in the third and played pretty hard considering everything that was going on.”
A preview of the playoffs? Maybe and maybe not. The Preds needed it more Saturday and was playing on home ice.
“They were playing for their playoff lives and they came out and they showed that,” Lorentz said. “We know they’re coming with a big push early on. We know we have to match their intensity. We’d be doing the same thing if we were in the same situation they were.”
The physical play increased in each period and was at a playoff level by the third period, when the hits and checks were frequent and hard.
The Canes pulled Nedeljkovic for a sixth attacker with two minutes left in regulation but Haula, a former Canes forward, sealed it at 18:57 with the empty-net score.
The Canes and Predators close out the regular season Monday at Bridgestone Arena.
Then, they’ll go at it again in bigger games.
News and notes
Nedeljkovic played his 23rd game and after 16th win of the season, which would have been a team high — both he and James Reimer have won 15.
Forward Jordan Martinook, who has missed the past eight games with a lower-body injury, was at Saturday’s morning skate alternating on the fourth line with forward Max McCormick.
Forwards Brock McGinn (upper-body injury) and Cedric Paquette (lower-body) continue to be sidelined — McGinn will miss his 18th straight game and Paquette his fifth.
McCormick, who was placed on NHL waivers Friday, cleared waivers Saturday.
This story was originally published May 8, 2021 at 7:41 PM.
