Hitting the Right Notes in Music City
The Hurricanes followed up their most lopsided loss of the season with a 5-3 win in Nashville on Saturday.
Nino Niederreiter scored two goals, and the power play struck twice to lead the Hurricanes to their sixth consecutive victory over the Predators.
"We had to make sure we bounced back, and that's what we did," Niederreiter said. "We stuck to our game plan, got pucks in deep and found a way to score goals."
PROJECTED LINEUP
It was exactly the type of bounce-back effort the Canes were in search of.
"Two points. Absolutely," said Justin Williams, who scored a power-play goal early in the third period. "We played hard. We played it right from the onset, and we atoned from a dismal performance last night."
"I expected it," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "These guys have been really great all year with their effort."
30 and 20
The Canes' first line of Sebastian Aho, Niederreiter and Williams each hit milestone goal markers on Saturday. With an empty-net goal to seal the victory, Aho scored his 30th goal of the season, a new career high for the third-year forward. He became the seventh player in franchise history to score 30 goals in a season before turning 22 years old.
Niederreiter reached 20 goals for the fourth time in his last five seasons. He's totaled 11 goals and 21 points in 22 games since joining the team.
Williams scored his 20th goal of the season, the seventh time in his career he's done so and third time with the Canes. Four of his seven 20-goal seasons have come after his 30th birthday, and he's the third player in franchise history to score 20 after turning 37 years old.
The Last Meeting
After beginning the season 4-0-1, the Hurricanes were handed their third straight regulation loss by the Colorado Avalanche in a Saturday afternoon game in Raleigh. Philipp Grubauer made 42 saves and Gabriel Landeskog netted two goals in the Avs' 3-1 win. Micheal Ferland scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes.
The Opposition
The Avalanche are pushing for a playoff spot in a wide-open Western Conference wild card race. They currently sit two points back of the Minnesota Wild, with the Arizona Coyotes occupying the space in between. The Avs, who are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, are coming off a 3-0 shutout win over the Buffalo Sabres in the first match of a four-game homestand. Grubauer has posted two shutouts in his last three starts and has stopped 80 of his last 82 shots faced.
ADVANCE AUTO PARTS KEYS TO THE GAME
