The Nashville Predators head into Christmas with a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. They were led by Jonathan Marchessault’s second multi-goal effort of the season and Filip Forsberg’s three helpers.
According to NHL Stats & Info Marchessault has matched a career-high seven-game point streak – a feat he’s achieved twice before: March 18-30, 2018, and Dec. 17, 2017 – Jan. 2, 2018.
“They’ve been searching for chemistry all season. We’ve tried different things and this stuck a little bit and I think they’ve felt good about it,” head coach Andrew Brunette said of his first line.
“You can see they enjoy playing with each other and there hasn’t been a whole lot of joy this year so far. They’ve grabbed it and gotten better each game.”
Nashville ends the home stand with a 3-0-1 record outscoring their opponents 14-9 in the process.
“I liked our focus state for three hours tonight and that was what you asked of your group and needed,” head coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought there was a seven-minute stretch there where we kind of got running around. We’re still trying to build that part of our game. We’ve been chasing a lot of games, we haven’t led names up until this stretch so we have to get better at that.”
Both sides of the ice were busy in the opening frame. First, it was Carolina who came out with a scoring chance early as Jordan Martinook won a corner battle and found Jordan Staal in the slot for a shot on goalie Juuse Saros.
Then Nashville found an early chance as Luke Schenn fired a shot from the top of the blue line with Mark Jankowski in front. He knocked the puck down and Carolina goalie Dustin Tokarski made the close-up save.
Jeremy Lauzon drew the first powerplay of the game as Jackson Blake was called for hooking. Then Carolina’s Brent Burns picked off a pass and rushed down the ice with Staal for a 2-on-1, but Saros made the big shorthanded save to keep it locked at zero.
Before the first period came to a close the Predators found the back of the net to kick off the scoring. Steven Stamkos finished what Filip Forsberg started after his backhanded shot didn’t make it on net.
Stamkos was cutting around the net as he picked up the loose puck and sped around Tokarski to attempt a wrap-around. His shot hit off Dmitry Orlov’s stick then Stamkos’ attempt was enough to get it in the net to take a 1-0 lead.
“Once it came back to me I knew he was cheating off the post,” Stamkos said. “I tried to bank one in off of him and it rattled around in there and it went in. They’re not all pretty.”
Five minutes into the second stanza Zach L’Heureux had a Grade A chance in front with Ryan O’Reilly to his right. The rookie passed him the puck but Tokarski made an unbelievable save to keep it a one-goal deficit.
Nashville continued their relentless effort to create more opportunities on offense and Tommy Novak found Jonathan Marchessault for his 11th goal of the season. With the goal, he extended his point streak to seven contests.
“Just helping my team win hockey games. That’s my mindset every night and I was just trying to work,” Marchessault said. “Right now it’s going better than it was at the start, so it’s good. Excited for the break and come back full of energy on the 27th.”
The offense continued to roll 30 seconds into the third period as Orlov was called for holding L’Heureux’s stick along the wall.
O’Reilly was in the slot alone and Forsberg fed him a pass from the left circle to take a 3-0 lead over Carolina. With his assist, Forsberg became the first player in Predators history to record multiple points in at least four straight home games (9 assists) with three helpers on Monday evening.
“I mentioned that both the five-on-five [and powerplay] needed to be better,” Stamkos said. “When you can get both clicking that’s when you know you can go on runs. Sometimes when your five-on-five game isn’t there that can bail you out.”
Just when the Hurricanes thought they’d catch a break it was Mark Jankowski who scored his second goal of the season to claim a 4-0 lead with 17:08 to play.
When the Predators thought they’d buried Carolina they broke the shutout with back-to-back goals in 40 seconds. One from Staal and the other from Sebastian Aho to cut down the Hurricanes deficit to 4-2 with 14:43 to play.
“For the push they had I thought they didn’t force [Saros] to make too many huge saves,” Brunette said. “I thought defensively they looked a little more dangerous than what it was but we were able to manage it and get out of it. Hopefully, we grow on it and build off that.”
Up Next
The Predators kick off a six-game roadtrip in St. Louis on Friday night. Max Herz and Hal Gill will have you covered while Nashville is out on their longest trip of the season.
Nashville will also have stops in Winnipeg, Minnesota, Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg once more.
Forward Cole Smith was placed on the injured reserve before playing Carolina. He’s set to miss the next 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury. The Predators will likely call a player or two up from Milwaukee with two open roster spots.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of the Nashville Predators
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