Eventually the Hurricanes were going to lose again.
One of the biggest truisms in the NHL is that good goaltending will beat just about anyone, especially on any given night. For the Hurricanes, Juuse Saros is on the list of players who just manage to elevate to a different level when they are across the ice. It happened again Tuesday Night as he made 29 saves in a 4-1 Nashville win over Carolina.
On the other side, Pyotr Kochetkov did what he could to keep Carolina into the game, but his 16 saves were not enough as frustration mounted and despite dominating the first period Carolina went into the locker room down 1-0.
Nick Perbix was the one who got the party started in Music City late in the first, as Nashville had one of their few sustained pressure sessions of the period. They didn't waste it as Filip Forsberg was able to jar the puck away from Sean Walker, and feed a perfect pass over to Perbix for the shot. Perbix used the traffic in front of the net to blast it by Kochetkov, and while Rod Brind'Amour called his timeout to try and see if the play were either offside or there should have been a high stick stoppage, he ultimately let it go.
Forsberg would figure into the second goal in the next period, this time on a rush Nashville was able to get it deep and Forsberg would keep the puck from going out at the blue line. He feathered a great pass over to an open Roman Josi to give Nashville a 2-0 lead.
Carolina would claw one back a few minutes later, though, as the white-hot Jackson Blake wouldn't be denied. Blake would pass ahead over to a rushing Shayne Gostisbehere, and as he went in on Saros he passed it back to Blake who took one shot and then immediately roofed the rebound to claw Carolina back to 2-1.
That unfortunately would be the high point of the night for Carolina as while they would win the third period on shots 12-8, they couldn't generate much of anything offensively. Kochetkov made several huge stops in the period to keep it close, but about five minutes in, he was unable to stop a great deflection by Adam Edstrom. Josi would peel back to the blue line and put on a shot that was about crest-level to Edstrom. Edstrom took his stick and deflected it back down to where Kochetkov couldn't recover. The league checked the height of the stick and Brind'Amour wouldn't challenge the call.
Carolina would get a few chances with the empty net, but ultimately Ross Colton would get in all alone—with Brady Skjei and Jack Drury each getting a point versus their old teammates for good measure.
The loss drops Carolina to 12-3-2 on the season, and Kochetkov to 10-1.
Carolina is heading up to Long Island next, practicing at the Islanders' facility on Wednesday before facing off against the Isles Thursday. That will be an ESPN+/Hulu exclusive game—and it will also be the first time Carolina faces a team that plays in their Hometown Remix Sweaters. Carolina will then host Chicago in a later faceoff Saturday before they fly out to Finland.
