Hurricanes defeat Predators for sixth straight win

RALEIGH, N.C. --Jordan Staal scored his second goal with 35 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Carolina Hurricanes extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-2 victory against the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

Staal carried the puck from Carolina's defensive zone before scoring on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
"I looked over and didn't see much for a pass," the Hurricanes captain said. "I thought I had a decent angle to get a good shot. It went in, so I'm happy with that one."
Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, Vincent Trocheck had two assists, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 21 saves for the Hurricanes (18-6-1), who are 9-1-1 at home.
"I think it's a good sign to win on tough nights," Aho said. "We're a pretty deep team, and [Nedeljkovic] gave us a chance to win. Obviously, the power play got us back in the game."

Matt Benning and Ryan Johansen scored, and Pekka Rinne made 32 saves for the Predators (11-14-1), who are 1-3-1 in their past five games.
Nashville was playing its first game without defenseman Roman Josi, their captain who is week to week with an upper-body injury.
"Roman is such a valuable guy on the ice as well as off the ice," Predators coach John Hynes said. "What you do miss when your captain is out of the lineup is just the voice in-between periods. No one is going to replace him on the ice or off the ice, but if guys step up just a little bit in their roles and experience, it always helps."

Benning scored his first goal of the season on a wrist shot through a screen by Nick Cousins to give the Predators a 1-0 lead at 1:01 of the second period. Johansen made it 2-0 at 13:37 when he deflected Dante Fabbro's point shot.
"I thought we played a really solid road game," Johansen said. "We did a lot of good things with a lot of key guys out of our lineup. … I thought we were the better team in 5-on-5 play throughout the game. That's the way it goes sometimes, but I loved our guys' effort and compete tonight."
Staal cut it to 2-1 at 14:58 of the second when he received a pass from behind the net by Aho and one-timed a shot from the low slot on the power play. Dougie Hamilton then set up Aho for his own one-timer on the power play to tie it 2-2 at 17:38.
"The way [Staal] plays is kind of the reason we're where we're at right now." Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It's infectious. He's the reason why tonight we won."

Nashville had two chances to win it in overtime, but Viktor Arvidsson missed a wide-open net when he slid a backhand through the crease at 1:09, and Calle Jarnkrok hit the post from the slot 51 seconds later.
NOTES:Carolina has scored at least one power-play goal in each game during its winning streak. … Staal has scored 10 goals in 23 games after scoring eight in 68 games last season. … Trocheck (four goals, four assists) and Hamilton (seven assists) each extended his point streak to six games. … Predators defenseman Jeremy Davies had three shots and two hits in 14:02 of ice time, including 5:17 on the power play, in his NHL debut. "He's a guy we think has a bright future for us," Hynes said.