Blake, Ehlers each has 3 points, Hurricanes defeat Predators

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jackson Blake and Nikolaj Ehlers each had three points, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Nashville Predators 6-3 at Lenovo Center on Saturday.

Brandon Bussi made 19 saves for the Hurricanes (17-8-2), who have won three of their past four. The rookie goalie won his sixth straight start and is 8-1-0 on the season.

“‘Blaker’ especially had a real solid game," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “You don’t even have to know hockey. Just watch it; he stands out almost every shift.”

Matthew Wood and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (10-14-4), who had won two in a row. Juuse Saros made 32 saves before he was replaced in the third period by Justus Annunen, who made two saves.

“Too many penalties in the first period. That was a focus coming in,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We started off OK, then we got in penalty trouble and were on our heels basically the rest of the game.

“We’re giving them freebies, free momentum. We keep doing this to ourselves. It was self-inflicted.”

Taylor Hall scored on the power play for a 1-0 lead at 8:01 of the first period. Saros stopped Logan Stankoven’s backhand at the top of the crease, but Blake followed with a tap-in at the right post that went in the net off of Hall’s skate.

The Hurricanes scored on a 5-on-3 power play to extend the lead to 2-0 at 9:55 when Ehlers one-timed a shot in right circle off a cross-ice pass from Seth Jarvis.

“The lane opened up, and I just skated into a nice pass from ‘Jarvy,’” Ehlers said. “But on the first [power play], we were finding the holes in the middle and were able to get them running around a little bit.”

William Carrier skated the puck beyond the goal line on his backhand before cutting to the net and chipping the puck past Saros for a 3-0 lead at 19:44.

Blake scored on a fine individual effort during a 4-on-4 to extend Carolina’s lead to 4-0 at 15:46 of the second period. Blake took a pass from Ehlers and cut to his backhand into the slot before going forehand-backhand for the finish at the left post.

The second-year forward, who plays on a line with Ehlers and Stankoven, had been held without a point in his previous six games.

“As a line, us three are known for being pretty skilled I would say,” Blake said. “When you're not providing offense for the team, it’s kind of a mental struggle a little bit. Tonight was good for all of us to get rewarded.”

Sebastian Aho made it 5-0 at 4:45 of the third period when he created a defensive zone turnover, skated in on a breakaway and scored on a snap shot.

Michael Bunting scored a power-play goal on a sharp-angle shot below the right circle to make it 5-1 at 6:26.

Blake grabbed a loose puck at the left post and scored for a 6-1 lead at 8:12.

“[Blake] is skating, holding onto the puck, making some good plays,” Ehlers said. “And shooting the puck as well. For me it’s the same. When I shoot the puck, that’s when I’m at my best. When us three are able to have that shoot-first mentality, we’re a pretty fast line.”

Wood scored at the top of the crease on a shot between his legs to make it 6-2 at 9:09.

Forsberg cut the lead to 6-3 at 11:36 when he redirected a pass from Nick Blankenburg in the crease. The goal gave the forward 700 points (328 goals, 372 assists) in 808 NHL games.

“Too much pride and character in this room to quit, but at the same time, we’re down by five, it’s going to take something extremely special to come back,” Forsberg said. “I thought we played well enough [late in the game], and it’s easy enough for them to take their foot off the gas a little bit too.”