12 days after suffering a 6-5 overtime loss to the Predators at home, the Hurricanes traveled to the Music City and won in their third and final matchup against the Nashville Predators. Led by center Sebastian Aho, who recorded his 500th, 501st, 502nd and 503rd NHL points, the Canes put up five goals in their first game back from Christmas break to beat the Predators 5-2.

In a game that saw plenty of special teams action, the Canes (18-13-4) went 3-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill while Nashville struggled (19-16-0). In a rare occurrence where the Canes got out-shot, their defense and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov held strong. 

Before the halfway mark of the first period, the two teams combined for three penalties. Turns out the third time’s the charm and 9:50 into the game, Aho got the Canes on the board first. 

Working to the right of Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros, center Seth Jarvis, defenseman Brent Burns and Aho passed the puck back and forth, eventually freeing up a shot from Aho that went in off a deflection. With an early power-play goal, Aho recorded his 500th career NHL point and became the fourth member of the 2015 NHL draft class to do so. 

After recording an assist on Aho’s power-play goal, Burns got one of his own just over five minutes later. Receiving the puck at the blue line, Burns skated up and snapped the puck bar-down to double the Canes’ lead. 

Despite a slow start this season, Burns looked much better tonight in a performance that gives him momentum going forward. Burns now has 20 goals since Jan. 1, 2023, which leads all NHL defensemen in that time frame. He was on the ice for all three power-play goals and has been a big reason why the Canes have the seventh-best powerplay percentage in the league.

Despite a two-goal deficit heading into the second period, the Predators knew they had to stay in the game as they are currently battling for a wild card spot in a tough Central Division. Slightly over one minute into the period, Nashville cut Carolina’s lead down to one courtesy of center Gustav Nyquist. Off a rebound from Kochetkov, Nyquist located a bouncing puck and swiftly backhanded it into the top shelf. 

Not long after, the Canes scored the game-winning goal in transition. After intercepting a pass, Aho, with eyes in the back of his head, found right wing Andrei Svechnikov streaking towards the net. Svechnikov dragged the puck through his legs and went out wide, putting a tidy shot past Saros.

Each team had no trouble finding the net to start the second frame, and the Predators weren’t done yet. On their second power play opportunity of the night, center Ryan O’Reilly stuffed home a loose puck that Kochetkov couldn’t locate for his 14th goal of the season, bringing Nashville back within one.

The Hurricanes were running some new forward lines for this game after their 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders just before Christmas break. With these new lines, center Jack Drury and right wing Stefan Noesen, who had lit the lamp many times when paired together, were joined by right wing Jesper Fast. 

These new line combinations proved to work out well as all three earned a point on the Canes’ fourth goal of the night. After winning an offensive-zone draw, Drury found the puck amidst a net-front scramble and backhanded it through Saros’ five-hole. The puck found itself in the net and the Canes were taking goals any way they could get them in the second period.

On the last power play attempt from either team, towards the end of the second period, center Seth Jarvis received credit for the final goal of the game. A shot from left wing Michael Bunting deflected off a Nashville defender then bounced off Jarvis and into the back of the net.

After giving up five goals in just two periods and with two more games in the next three days, Nashville pulled Saros from the net and sent in netminder Yaroslav Askarov, who made his home regular season debut against Carolina.

Despite a chippy third period between the most and least-hitting team in the league, no goals were scored by either side as the two goaltenders were doing everything to keep the puck in front of them.

Kochetkov had another huge game, stopping 35 of Nashville’s 37 shots. Although he had a hard time defending rebound opportunities, Kochetkov didn’t let the game get too close.

The Canes will play their second game in two days against the Montreal Canadiens at home on Thursday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m.