Hakanpaa's goal lifts Hurricanes past Predators

RALEIGH, N.C. --Jani Hakanpää scored his first goal of the season to help the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena on Saturday.

Hakanpaa, a defenseman playing in his second game with Carolina after being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, scored on a wrist shot through the legs of Nashville forward Nick Cousins following a face-off win by Vincent Trocheck to make it 2-1 at 8:55 of the third period.
"I have to double check every time what we're about to do," Hakanpaa said. "[Trocheck] just told me, 'Hey, it's coming your way. Just shoot it.' He put it on a silver platter for me. Just trying to get it on net, and luckily it went in."

Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves for the Hurricanes (29-10-4), who swept the two-game set and are 6-0-0 against the Predators this season.
Carolina is one point ahead of the Florida Panthers for first place in the Discover Central Division. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Roman Josi scored, and Juuse Saros made 45 saves for the Predators (24-21-1), who are two points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks for fourth place in the division.
"I thought we got outplayed in the first two periods," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "A lot of it was they were on top of us. Our execution and pace of play wasn't as good as it needed to be."
Jaccob Slavin gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with 1:42 remaining in the first period when he took a pass from Morgan Geekie on a 3-on-2 and scored with a snap shot from the high slot.
The goal was Slavin's second of the season. His first was an empty-net goal in a 5-3 win against the Blackhawks on Feb. 19.
"Trust me, I've been trying really hard," said Slavin, who had a season-high seven shots on goal. "It was nice to see one go in the back of the net. I just try to keep throwing pucks at the net and see what happens."

Carolina outshot Nashville 24-7 in the first period.
"It's probably one of the best periods I've seen ever," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Probably should have had a few more, but it was nice to get one at least."
Josi tied it 1-1 at 11:36 of the second period. He intercepted a clearing attempt by Carolina defenseman Jake Bean and skated into the slot before scoring with a turnaround shot over the glove of Nedeljkovic.
"I thought we played better in the second and the third," Josi said. "Saros really kept us in there. He did an amazing job."
After Hakanpaa gave Carolina the lead, Andrei Svechnikov scored an empty-net goal with 1:51 remaining in the third period.
Predators forward Matt Duchene had two shots and three hits in 14:46 of ice time after missing 22 games with a lower-body injury.
"Fortunately, I was able to skate pretty hard, but I wasn't battle-ready for a while," Duchene said. "It was good to feel good out there, but it would feel a lot better with a win tonight."
NOTES:Predators defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on Monday, had one shot and three hits in 15:40 of ice time in his Nashville debut. … The Predators lost consecutive games for the first time since they lost three in a row from March 9-13. … Josi has scored four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games ... The Hurricanes, whose 48 shots were a season high, have outscored the Predators 23-9 this season. They finished their season-long eight-game homestand 5-2-1.