Preds Conclude Stop in Carolina with Loss to Hurricanes

Nick Cousins scored the lone goal for the visitors, as the Nashville Predators finished their two-game set in Carolina with a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Thursday night at PNC Arena. The result sees Nashville's two-game point streak to start their eight-game road trip come to a close as their overall record 11-15-1 on the season.
"It's a good group we're playing against out there, and us having a little bit more of a younger lineup, it's important to get off to a good start," Preds defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. "Tonight, we didn't manage that, and that's something we have to learn from and try to do better here coming into the next game."

The Preds were without eight players on Thursday, including defensemen Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, Dante Fabbro, forwards Matt Duchene, Luke Kunin and goaltender Juuse Saros. Within the contest, defenseman Mark Borowiecki left early with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Ekholm explained following the loss that with so many rookies in the lineup, discipline and a strong start were even more important than normal. Despite OK play in the first, Nashville found themselves down 3-0 after 20 minutes.
"It's part of the job, to be honest with you," Ekholm said of missing key players in the lineup. "It is what it is. Obviously, we know we're missing some guys, but it's definitely not an excuse. We saw how hard we worked [on Tuesday] night against them and forced overtime and played the right way. That's more of how we need to play, regardless of if we're shorthanded or not. I liked our effort a lot better in that game, and obviously that's something that we have to learn from. and then we have to try to match that desperation we had back on Tuesday."

The Preds outshot Carolina by a 14-6 margin in the game's opening 20 minutes, but it was the Hurricanes that had a 3-0 advantage after one period. Morgan Geekie, Brock McGinn and Dougie Hamilton all tallied within a span of 2:21 midway through the first, and Geekie added another in the second stanza for a 4-0 Carolina lead.
"It was a couple of bad bounces," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said of Carolina's three quick goals. "Prior to the [first] penalty [we took], we had carried the play and had some really good scoring chances for us… On the goals they scored, they had one on the power play that was a tip shot that was going wide, the guy made a nice tip on that one and then…[quickly] it's 3-0 from there."
Martin Necas made it 5-0 Hurricanes early in the third, and goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo made his Predators debut as he came in for Pekka Rinne after that fifth and final Carolina goal. Cousins beat James Reimer late in regulation to spoil his shutout bid, but he stopped the other 32 Nashville shots on the night to give the Hurricanes their fourth win in as many tries over the Preds this season.

From here, Nashville's road trip will continue on to Tampa Bay where the Lightning will provide two more challenges for the Preds, and they know they'll need to put forth a better effort Saturday for a chance at success.
"We knew this season was going to be an unusual one," Ekholm said. "It's a short one, and we know that normally if a guy's out for a couple of days, a couple weeks, usually that's not that much of a season… but this year is a very short one. So, for us, we've got to keep moving forward. Just that next game, that kind of mentality the whole time; it doesn't matter win or lose, not too high, not too low. It's all cliche, but it really comes into play when you're in this kind of situation.

Notes:
Preds defenseman Mark Borowiecki left Thursday's game with an upper-body injury and did not return.
Prior to Thursday's contest, the Predators placed Captain Roman Josi (upper-body) and forward Brad Richardson (lower-body) on injured reserve to give Nashville seven total players currently on IR.
Nashville was also without defenseman Dante Fabbro on Thursday after he was suspended two games for an elbowing infraction committed during Tuesday's game.
The Predators recalled forwards Michael McCarron, Rem Pitlick and Mathieu Olivier, plus defensemen Alexandre Carrier and Ben Harpur from the taxi squad ahead of Thursday's game, with all five players participating in the contest.
Fabbro, Rocco Grimaldi and Erik Haula were scratched for Nashville on Thursday.
The Preds will now travel to Tampa Bay for a two-game set against the Lightning on Saturday and Monday as their eight-game trip continues.