Jarnkrok tapped in a centering pass from Ekholm near the right post on the power play to make it 3-1 at 6:00 of the third. Ekholm then cut it to 3-2 at 8:17 when his shot from the point deflected off the stick of Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook.
Aho scored a power-play goal into an empty net with 14 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final.
The Predators outshot the Hurricanes 17-7 in the third period.
"In the third, we were all over them," Ekholm said. "To expect us to score three goals in the third going into it, it's obviously a tough task. But the way it played out, I thought we had chances to do it."
Reimer helped preserve the lead by making a glove save on Filip Forsberg from the right hash marks at 8:42, a pad save on Matt Duchene driving the net at 11:28, and another pad save on a one-timer from Jarnkrok at 16:22.
"They were on full-court press and they were coming at us," Brind'Amour said. "Two or three great stops. Any successful team is going to have goaltending that comes up big when they need it and that's what we had tonight."
Reimer said, "As a goalie, when you're seeing it, that's a result of how well your teammates are battling in front of you to clear guys out and to tie up sticks. The guys are working incredibly hard right now."
NOTES:The Predators announced before the game that defenseman Ryan Ellis will be out 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury, forward Luke Kunin will be out 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury, and that center Ryan Johansen was placed on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list. … Nashville forward Tanner Jeannot blocked one shot in 6:28 of ice time in his NHL debut. … Trocheck has scored in three straight games and leads Carolina with 10 points (five goals, five assists) on the power play.