RALEIGH — Sometimes, the hockey gods just aren’t your side.
It sure seemed like that was the case for the Hurricanes on Tuesday at Lenovo Center.
Carolina relentlessly pressured the visiting Predators, but goalie Juuse Saros continued to mystify the Hurricanes with 34 saves and Luke Evangelista scored twice in a 3-1 Nashville win.
“I like our game tonight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I can’t complain.”
His players, however, did find some things to gripe about.
Sebastian Aho, whose line with Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake was credited with eight scoring chances at 5-on-5, said he and Carolina’s top players weren’t satisfied with just creating opportunities to score.
“It doesn’t matter,” Aho said of his line threatening in the offensive zone. “Other guys have been bailing us out as of late. We got some good wins, but as our top line, we’ve got to produce.”
Taylor Hall had Carolina’s lone goal, a power play tally in the second period that was his third man-advantage goal in the last five games, but he was mostly interested in talking about Nashville’s third goal.
“There’s always things to correct,” Hall said, “and if you’re on for a goal against, you always feel a little culpable.”
It hardly sounded like a team that has won nine of its last 11 games, but that will happen when the two losses have come in the previous three.
“That’s a tough one to lose,” Hall said. “You think you deserve a better result, but sometimes the score is what it is.”
Three familiar faces put the Hurricanes in an early hole by scoring on the power play with the Predators’ first shot on goal after Carolina goalie Pyotr Kochetkov (13 saves) misplayed a shot attempt.
Former Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei, playing his first game in Raleigh since signing with Nashville in the offseason, set up Carolina preseason PTO Kieffer Bellows for a one-timer. The shot was well wide of the net, but Kochetkov stopped it with his pad yet failed to cover it. Michael Bunting — who played part of last season with the Hurricanes before being traded to Pittsburgh — located the puck and put it in the net at 5:14 of the opening period.
“You’ve got to have that. … He knows,” Brind’Amour said of Kochetkov on the first goal.
A bad line change in the second period led to a breakaway for Evangelista, who froze Kochetkov with a move to score his eighth goal of the season at 4:01 of the period.
“Now you’re down two,” Brind’Amour said.
The Hurricanes halved the lead just over two minutes later when, on the power play, Hall streaked up the left wing and got a pass in stride from Seth Jarvis.
Hall cut across the front of the net and deposited the puck past Saros for his 16th goal of the year and fourth in the last two games.
“I just think with that much speed, I’m trying to get it to the other side of the net and beat him there,” Hall said. “When you’re kind of going that fast, you black out a little bit. And like I said, I just tried to sell a fake and get it to the other side as quickly as possible.”
But it was the only goal Carolina mustered in a period during which it outshot Nashville 16-2. Evangelista added his second of the night at 12:48 of the third to reestablish the Predators’ two-goal lead, and the Hurricanes could not claw back.
“You tip your hat,” Brind’Amour said. “I think they capitalized when they needed to, and Saros was elite tonight.”
Notes: Aho, Jarvis and Blake combined for 12 shots on goal, and Logan Stankoven and Jack Roslovic both had four. … Gostisbehere assisted on Hall’s goal and extended his point streak to four games. He hit 40 points for the fourth straight season and sixth time in his career.
