RALEIGH, N.C. — Rod Brind’Amour was disappointed by much of what he saw in the Carolina Hurricanes’ last game, but the coach had to like much of what he saw Thursday.
The Canes did nearly everything right against the Nashville Predators, taking a 4-1 win at PNC Arena with the kind of play Brind’Amour expects and keeping their hold on first place in the Central Division.
Goalie Petr Mrazek was his feisty, competitive self in net. Warren Foegele, Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck and Sebastian Aho scored goals. The Canes’ penalty killers got the job done.
The Predators came into PNC Arena off a 7-2 beating of the Tampa Bay Lightning, having won 13 of their past 15 games despite a host of injuries. But they ran into a Canes team smarting from a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday that soured everyone, with Brind’Amour also pointing a finger at himself and saying he didn’t coach a good game.
One blip for the Canes: on a third-period power play, they mishandled the puck and allowed Erik Haula to score shorthanded on a breakaway against his former team. But Aho later scored on the power play, getting his 18th goal off a Trocheck pass as Svechnikov also earned an assist.
Defenseman Jani Hakanpaa made his Canes debut after the trade Monday from Anaheim. He started the game and had the fans in the arena roaring when he flattened the Preds’ Mikael Granlund with a hit in the neutral zone.
The Canes (28-10-4) led 1-0 after the first period and 3-0 after two. Foegele scored off a Jordan Staal pass late in the first, and Svechnikov then scored 14 seconds into the second period.
Svechnikov backhanded a shot past goalie Juuse Saros, who has been on-point in a torrid stretch of games. It was the 11th of the season for the winger, who later in the period tangled with defensman Mattias Ekholm in front of the Preds net.
Trocheck followed up his own rebound for his 17th of the season, beating Saros with a tight-angle shot.
