RALEIGH — The Hurricanes squandered a pair of two-goal leads and lost in overtime to the visiting Predators 6-5 Friday at PNC Arena.
Stefan Noesen, Tony DeAngelo, Jalen Chatfield, Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas scored for Carolina, and Antti Raanta lost his fourth consecutive start.
Three observations
1. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour warned a couple of hours before the game that his team could be in for a tough night.
“It was a lot of ups and downs in there and travel and everything,” Brind’Amour said of the six-game, 12-day road trip from which the Hurricanes just returned. “To play right away is a little worrisome. I know how these sometimes can go.”
Go it did.
Carolina didn’t have any trouble finding the net, scoring five times on 30 shots, but the team lacked energy and made mental mistakes that its goaltending (more on that below) couldn’t bail out.
“We didn’t have any jump,” Brind’Amour said after the game. “You could tell, we were just late on everything. … I give the guys credit for trying.”
Noesen wasn’t willing to give the Hurricanes a pass.
“We don’t make those kind of excuses around here,” he said. “It’s just we were a little loose and (it) kind of is what it was tonight. We scored a lot, we lent up a lot, and that’s just not the way that we play the game.”
2. The Hurricanes’ power play has gotten back in a groove with DeAngelo’s return to the lineup. DeAngelo, dressed as the seventh defenseman for the third straight game and played just 2:41 at even strength — 17 seconds fewer than he played on the power play — but he helped Carolina go 2 for 3 on the power play.
“We know the kind of player he is,” Brind’Amour said of DeAngelo. “That’s not ideal to get his game going, just using him on the power play.”
He helped facilitate a goal on the Hurricanes’ first power play, a Noesen redirection of a Jack Drury one-timer.
Then on Carolina’s second power play, DeAngelo’s point shot got through after Michael Bunting lifted the stick of a Nashville defender in the shooting lane and the puck got past Kevin Lankinen (25 saves) to give the Hurricanes their first lead at 2-1.
Carolina is 4 for 9 on the power play in the last three games since DeAngelo returned to the lineup.
3. Brent Burns was held without a shot on goal for just the second time this season, but both have come in the last nine days. Burns’ first zero-shot game of the year was last Thursday in Calgary, and he had only four such games last season.
Still, Carolina got two goals from its defense, with DeAngelo’s power play goal being followed later by Chatfield’s third of the season during the wild six-goal second period. Chatfield’s goal was the first even-strength goal by a Hurricanes defenseman since he opened the scoring Nov. 30 in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders.
Number to know
400 — Games behind the bench for Brind’Amour, who is now 242-119-39 in his sixth season as Hurricanes coach.
Plus
Jaccob Slavin, Hurricanes defenseman — Slavin was all over the defensive zone on Friday, showcasing his positioning and stick work. After an uncharacteristically mediocre defensive start to the season, Slavin seems to have fully rediscovered his game.
Minus
Antti Raanta, Hurricanes goalie — It’s been tough sledding for Raanta, and after giving up six goals on 30 shots Friday, he has allowed three or more goals in eight of his 14 appearances this season.
Raanta was sitting dejected in his locker when the media first came in, and teammate Jordan Martinook walked up to the goalie and patted him on the pads.
“You can struggle as a forward or a defenseman, and no one really knows it,” Brind’Amour said. “(The media doesn’t) even talk about it very much because you’ve got guys covering you up. It’s just a hard position to play.”
The starting job is Pyotr Kochetkov’s to lose at this point, and Carolina may need to look for a second option if Raanta can’t shake himself out of this funk.
They said it
“I hope they just kind of see some family and refresh, and then hopefully come back with a little more fight to our game.”
— Rod Brind’Amour, Hurricanes coach
