Hurricanes end road trip with 4-2 victory over Nashville Predators

Chip Alexander
·3 min read

Steven Lorentz is one of those guys who always seems to be smiling, and his smile got a little wider Tuesday.

The rookie center scored the first goal of his NHL career as the Carolina Hurricanes held on in the third period to edge the Nashville Predators 4-2 at Bridgestone Arena and close out their road trip with three straight wins.

Sebastian Aho scored twice — the Canes’ first and last — but the Lorentz goal would prove to be his first NHL game-winner after the Predators made a hard third-period push and scored twice.

Lorentz, playing his 12th NHL game, said Canes goalie James Reimer jokingly told him that he “let in a couple” in the third so that his goal would be the winner.

“That’s just the kind of guy he is,” Lorentz said. “He played a great game. He’s been such a rock for us.”

Lorentz’s goal came in the second period as the Canes’ fourth line supplied both energy and offense. After a Jordan Martinook pass glanced off Nashville defenseman Ben Harpur, bounced up in the air and fell into the slot, Lorentz jumped on tbhe loose puck and fired a rising shot to beat Pekka Rinne.

“I really don’t know what I did after it but the boys said I celebrated big,” Lorentz said.

For a former seventh-round draft pick who paid his hockey dues in the ECHL and American Hockey League, it was a memorable moment and his on-ice celebration oozed with excitement and satisfaction.

“He’s a great kid,” Aho said. “I’m sure he’ll play many, many years in this league just because of his attitude and work mentality. You’re really, really happy for the guy.”

But Lorentz and the Canes (15-6-1) had a lot of work to do in the third. The Preds (10-12-0), in the words of Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour, threw a “full-court press” at Reimer, who faced 17 shots in the third and finished with 36 saves in earning his 10th win of the season.

The Preds’ Filip Forsberg had eight shots in the game, including two in the final few minutes before Aho’s empty-net goal sealed the win with 14 seconds remaining.

Carolina Hurricanes center Vincent Trocheck, left, celebrates after scoring a goal against the Nashville Predators in the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Carolina Hurricanes center Vincent Trocheck, left, celebrates after scoring a goal against the Nashville Predators in the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Aho and Vincent Trocheck scored in the first period, Trocheck getting his 12th on a power play, and the Lorentz goal made it 3-0. The Predators (10-12-0) seemingly had little life with a few key players, including Ryan Ellis, out of the lineup with injuries or on the NHL COVID protocol list.

But Calle Jarnkrok scored a power-play goal six minutes into the third, and when Mattias Ekholm knocked a shot past Reimer a little more than two minutes later, Nashville had made it a one-goal deficit with 12 minutes left in regulation.

“We bent but we didn’t break,” Reimer said.

The Canes lost third-period leads against the Panthers before regrouping to win in a shootout and then overtime Monday. But Brind’Amour said he had no complaints Tuesday.

“None,” he said. “I’m happy we won. We dominated for two periods, again. The other team gets paid a ton of money and they’re going to come out and play hard in the third period.

“I’ll take this all day long. Three (games) in four nights, travel, getting in at 3 in the morning. There’s absolutely zero to be negative about on my part.”