Preds Put Forth Solid Road Effort but Fall to Hurricanes in Overtime

Matt Benning and Ryan Johansen tallied for the visitors, but Jordan Staal scored in overtime as the Nashville Predators fell to the Carolina Hurricanes by a 3-2 final on Tuesday night at PNC Arena. The loss is Nashville's third of the season against the Hurricanes, but the Predators still collected an important point in the standings when the night was through.
"We played a really solid road game, to be honest," Johansen said. "We did a lot of good things with a lot of key guys out of our lineup. A little penalty trouble in the second [period] there, but I thought we were the better team 5-on-5 play throughout the game, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I loved our guys' effort and compete tonight."

The Preds put forth that effort without their captain in the lineup, as the Preds announced prior to the game Roman Josi was week-to-week with an upper-body injury, yet another challenge for the group with the current road trip still in the early stages.
"Roman is such a valuable guy on the ice, as well as off the ice," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "The way he goes about his business, the way that he practices, the way he conducts himself, really everywhere… The good thing is he's still with us here, and he's still in and around the guys…but I feel like you're never going to replace Roman's voice, and no one is going to replace him on the ice or off the ice. But I think [if] guys just step up a little bit in their role and experience, that always helps."

The game's opening 20 minutes didn't deliver any goals, but two came for each side in period No. 2. The Predators jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and it began as Benning tallied his first of the season, with a wrist shot from the point that eluded everyone on its way into the cage just one minute into the frame.

Next, Johansen tipped a Dante Fabbro point shot past Carolina goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to extend the lead, but the Preds got into penalty trouble late in the period, and the Hurricanes potted a pair of power-play goals from Staal and Sebastian Aho.
The two teams traded chances back and forth in the third period and in overtime as well - including a Calle Jarnkrok shot that hit the post in the extra session - before Staal won it when he beat Rinne with fewer than a minute to play in OT.
"There's a lot of positives," Benning said of the overall game. "We've got to stay out of the box in the second there. Any good power play, as they get their chances, they're going to score…but [our] group [battled] tonight, so there's definitely some things we can build off."

With Josi out, defenseman Jeremy Davies entered the Nashville lineup and made his NHL debut, recording three shots on goal and two hits in 14:02 of ice time, including 5:17 of that spent in Josi's place on the top power-play unit.
"Jeremy came in and played well," Hynes said. "He had good poise, skated well, I thought maybe that first power play he was a little bit nervous, but we stayed with him and I thought the powerplay got better and better when he was on those units. Then 5-on-5, he was good, he moved the puck, jumped up into the play well, so I think it was a good first night. We'll go through some clips with him and things like that and see if we can continue to get him going, but it was a good first night for him. It's good to see, because he's a guy that we think has a bright future for us, so it's nice he's able to get in."

Davies may hear his number called again on Thursday when the Preds and Canes get back together, and with Josi joining the growing list of Predators out of the lineup due to injury, the team will once again look to others to step up.
Nashville isn't making excuses either, and the next contest provides another opportunity to fight their way back into the thick of the division standings.
"You can't really replace a guy like Jos, but our guys did everything they could to have an impact for our club," Johansen said. "Our young guys have been great, and they did great tonight."

Notes:
Nashville scratched forwards Rocco Grimaldi and Erik Haula on Tuesday night. Forwards Rem Pitlick and Mathieu Olivier were both recalled from the taxi squad prior to the game, and both played against the Hurricanes.
Nashville's road trip continues with another meeting in Carolina on Thursday night (at 6 p.m. CT) before the club jets off to Tampa Bay to meet the Lightning this weekend.