RALEIGH, N.C. — Jani Hakanpaa scored his first goal with Carolina to break a tie in the third period and the Hurricanes beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 Saturday night.
Hakanpaa, a defenseman acquired Monday at the trade deadline from the Anaheim Ducks, was in his second game with Carolina. He blasted in a shot with 11:05 left after receiving the puck when Vincent Trocheck won a face-off.
Hakanpaa didn’t have a goal in any of his 42 games with Anaheim this season. This tally marked just his second goal in 49 career games in the NHL.
Jaccob Slavin scored in the first period and Andrei Svechnikov had an empty-net goal for the Hurricanes, who completed a season-high homestand at 5-2-1.
Roman Josi scored for Nashville, which has lost back-to-back games for the first time in more than a month. Juuse Saros had 45 saves.
Hurricanes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27 shots. He played for the first time since an April 8 shutout of the Florida Panthers.
Carolina’s first goal came on its 24th shot on net in the first period. Morgan Geekie delivered a pass to Slavin, who was between the circles.
Josi tied it with an unassisted goal following Nashville’s successful penalty kill.
Defensemen scored the game’s first three goals.
YOUR TURN
Center Matt Duchene returned to action for the Predators after 22 games missed with a lower-body injury. Duchene hadn’t played since March 4.
Defenseman Erik Gudbranson made his Predators debut. He was acquired in Monday’s trade with the Ottawa Senators.
GETTING THEIR SHOTS
The Hurricanes registered 24 first-period shots, marking their most in any period since Nov. 21, 2018. Slavin had five of the shots, equaling the most for any Carolina player in a period this season.
In two games this season, Carolina failed to produce 24 shots in a full game. In two others, they finished with 24 shots.
Nashville ended up with 20 shots in Thursday night’s meeting with the Hurricanes.
UP NEXT
Predators: Host Chicago on Monday night.
Hurricanes: At Tampa Bay on Monday night to open a two-game series.
