Evangelista scores twice, Predators defeat Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Luke Evangelista scored two goals for the Nashville Predators in a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center on Tuesday.

Michael Bunting also scored, and Marc Del Gaizo had two assists for the Predators (27-36-8), who have won two of three.

“It feels good for our group,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We’ve been on the other end of that one, it seems, all year. For us to get a win where I think (Carolina) dictated most of the game, I thought we hung in there. (Saros) was unbelievable and we got timely goals.”

Juuse Saros made 34 saves for his 200th career NHL win.

“Obviously pretty cool,” the 29-year-old said. “Growing up as a kid, you always dream you’ll get maybe one game. It’s gone by fast. It shows I’ve been fortunate to play with a lot of great groups in my time here. Cool milestone.”

Taylor Hall scored, and Pyotr Kochetkov made 13 saves for the Hurricanes (43-24-4), who have lost two of three after winning eight in a row.

Carolina remained nine points ahead of the New Jersey Devils for second place in the Metropolitan Division with one game in hand.

“Tip your hat to the goalie. Let’s give him some credit,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “They capitalized when they needed to, and Saros was elite tonight.”

The Predators scored on the power play to take a 1-0 lead at 5:14 of the first period. Kochetkov thought he had covered Kieffer Bellows’ shot from the point, but Bunting found the loose puck behind the goalie’s left pad and put it in the open net.

Nashville then went ahead 2-0 at 4:01 of the second period. Evangelista took a pass from Filip Forsberg and deked to his backhand before taping the puck into an open net.

“'Fil' made a great play along the wall and he gave me a ton of time and space,” Evangelista said. “I just kind of threw a fake in up high and saw (Kochetkov) bit, and I just had the cage open around him.”

Carolina cut the lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 6:02. Hall scored on his backhand after taking a pass from Seth Jarvis and cutting to the net through the left circle.

“Big goal at the time. Obviously, it got us back in the game,” Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho said. “You need that out of the power play, and there were a few good looks before that goal.”

The Hurricanes outshot the Predators 16-2 in the second period.

“We took three penalties. They seemed to get going,” Brunette said. “We kind of took on water, we turned over way too many pucks. Credit to them. They’re fast, they’re relentless on you. We just didn’t manage it.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we knew coming in it was going to be a muddy kind of game, and that’s what it was.”

Saros came up big six seconds into the third period, stopping Jarvis alone in front.

“He’s the backbone of this team. A lot of nights, he’s our best player,” Evangelista said. “Tonight, for example, we were super fortunate to have him back there. We have a ton of confidence playing in front of him.”

Evangelista tipped a shot from Del Gaizo to give the Predators a 3-1 lead at 12:48 of the third period.

NOTES: Saros got his 200th win in his 402nd NHL game (200-146-38). ... Nashville’s 16 shots tied a season low. … Evangelista has five points (three goals, two assists) in the past three games. … The Predators swept the season series, including a 5-2 win on Dec. 23. ... Hall has six goals in his past six games.