In Nashville, the Predators punched their ticket to the postseason on Saturday, with a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
“You always want to play at home,” Carolina’s Jesper Fast said. “If you look at our record this year, we had a really good record at home (20-3-5), so of course that’s an advantage for us. Of course it shows what a great accomplishment we’ve done so far this year, but at the end of the day you want to be the last team standing and that’s what we’re focused on right now. It’s going to hopefully be a good journey here when the playoffs start.”
Luke Kunin struck for two goals to give Nashville a 2-0 lead in the third period.
“I think it’s a lot different than every year we’ve made the playoffs since I’ve been here,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “First of all, it’s a different season, obviously, but I think just the way we got in and the start we had. Nobody was happy with the way we played. I’m just really proud of the guys. We definitely earned it the hard way. We worked extremely hard to clinch a playoff spot. Just looking back at the last 20 games, it felt like every game was so important and we were in a playoff race every game. Everyone in our locker room played really well.”
Juuse Saros made 21 saves in the win.
“I think tonight was a step in the right direction,” Predators head coach John Hynes said. “We had to win to get in. We had to win the game, which is what we knew, but also what we talked to our guys about was there was a certain way that we needed to play. I thought the assistant coaches did an excellent job coming up with a few different things over the last couple of days to present to the guys today. I thought the way that we competed and the way that we played, that was one where you had to win to get in and you’re also playing the team that you’re going to play. We thought we played a pretty good game here tonight.”
Morgan Geekie scored the Canes only goal to cut the Nashville lead to 2-1.
“It was kind of a broken play,” Geekie said. “[Max McCormick] tried to take a shot, and his stick broke, unfortunately. But I ended up in the right there. I just tried to get open, and [Lorentz] kind of drew the defender and made a nice play through him, and I was just lucky enough to be in the right place in the right time and get it up over [Saros’] pad.”
Erik Haula iced the game and the playoff ticket with an empty-net goal.
“They’re a heck of a hockey team,” Nashville’s Ryan Ellis said. “They work. They have skill. I can’t speak enough about them. They’re a great hockey team. I think we’re somewhat similar. Both teams bury their head and work and work and work. It’s going to be a fun series. I think tonight was hopefully what you’ll get out of this team, out of us, because we want it and we work for it.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves in the loss.
“I actually give our guys a ton of credit,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I thought we had a lull there in the second period after that one penalty we took that was a little iffy. They just got momentum and poured it to us there in the second, but I thought we had a good bounce-back in the third and played pretty hard considering everything that was going on. I give our guys a lot of credit, and their team too. Obviously, they did what they had to do.”
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