Prospect and PTO-Heavy Lineup Falls In Nashville

Saros stops 39 out of 40 for Nashville

By Walt Ruff

@WaltRuff Hurricanes.com

October 06, 2023

NASHVILLE, TN. - The Carolina Hurricanes wrapped up the road portion of their preseason schedule on Thursday, being handed a 5-1 defeat from the Nashville Predators.

Broadway boys 🤠 pic.twitter.com/WIEwMEdHSN
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) October 5, 2023

Youngsters Hook Up Early

With Friday's preseason finale at PNC Arena expected to be an "NHL dress rehearsal" of sorts, this evening was an opportunity for the up-and-coming talent, as well as the tryout players, to make one final impression.

Three players who made the most of the chance were Jamieson Rees, Felix Unger Sorum, and Ryan Suzuki.

Inside the first five minutes of the game, the trio worked into the Nashville zone and went tic-tac-toe past Juuse Saros to open the evening's scoring.

Nice job by Rees to get the pass over the defender's stick, but even better patience and poise from Unger Sorum to fit the extra pass instead of firing right away.

That's an easy one for Suzuki to tap home. pic.twitter.com/AwYY98blXw
— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) October 6, 2023

Suzuki Suffers Upper-Body Injury

Unfortunately, the night would not be all positive for Suzuki.

While chasing a puck on the forecheck during the second period, the 2019 first-round draft pick caught an unnecessary elbow up high from Nashville's Alexandre Carrier. The Predators defenseman was given a penalty for it, but the impact sent Suzuki down and immediately to the locker room.

He would not return.

No further update was available on his status post-game.

Suzuki has had an unfortunate history of injuries over the past few seasons.

Raanta, Kochetkov Both See Action

From the onset of training camp Rod Brind'Amour had stated that the plan in net for Carolina was to get Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta's workload ramped up as preseason play went along.

Although ideally, Raanta would have played all 60 minutes tonight, a 5-1 score after two periods (to no fault of Raanta) allowed the team to get Pyotr Kochetkov the final 20 minutes.

Raanta stopped 18/22, with one of the goals against coming while down a man.

Kochetkov turned away all seven shots faced.

It is expected that Andersen will partner with Yaniv Perets tomorrow night.