RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Jordin Tootoo and David Legwand scored 41/2 minutes apart in the second period to lead the Nashville Predators past the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 on Friday night in a preseason game.
Patrick O'Sullivan scored on the power play for the Hurricanes, who fell to 1-2 overall and 0-2 at home this preseason.
Anders Lindback made 15 saves for Nashville (1-1) after coming on midway through the second to relieve Mark Dekanich, who finished with six stops. Justin Pogge stopped 25 shots for the Hurricanes.
Tootoo scored the go-ahead goal with 7:54 left in the second, beating Pogge with a blast in transition.
That goal came minutes after Legwand tied it. Pogge left the puck behind the net a teammate, but Legwand skated in, snatched it up and scored on a wraparound.
O'Sullivan put the Hurricanes up 1-0 late in the first with time winding down during a two-man advantage.
He took a feed from Anton Babchuk behind the right circle and unloaded a slap shot that got past Dekanich. O'Sullivan, who grew up in Winston-Salem and signed with Carolina last week, had two goals in two nights against Nashville and three points in three preseason games.
| POST-GAME ANALYSIS |
| Just like last night, it is hard to read too much into the score. It is always nice to get a win, but the preseason schedule is more about roster battles, individual performances, and building chemistry for forward lines and defensive pairings. All that said, the line of Jerred Smithson centering Matt Halischuk and Jordin Tootoo was very effective for the Predators tonight, especially during the second period. The coaches recognized their play; in the third period Nashville juggled around all of its forward lines with the exception of that unit. David Legwand was active in the game tonight. Yes, his goal was helped by a gaffe from Carolina, but he skated hard, created chances with his speed, was strong in the faceoff circle, and was good on the penalty kill. When the momentum was shifting against the Preds, he and Joel Ward would come through with a key shift to turn the play back in Nashville’s direction. Jonathon Blum looked more comfortable tonight paired with Francis Bouillon than he did last night playing alongside Alexander Sulzer. Both Blum and Bouillon were active in joining the offense, but did so at times that didn’t allow Carolina to catch them out of position. The pairing of Aaron Johnson and Teemu Laakso rebounded from a shaky first few shifts to post a solid night’s work. They both finished the game with +2 ratings. Laakso made a nice play that led to Tootoo’s game-winning goal, while Johnson was active breaking up plays with his stick (he finished with x blocked shots and disrupted or intercepted several other pass attempts). Ryan Flynn, playing in his first NHL preseason game (college players can’t play in preseason games while they still have NCAA eligibility), didn’t look out of place, but wasn’t as impactful as he had been in the intra-squad scrimmages or rookie games. Anders Lindback was impressive in his debut. He didn’t get a lot of action and sometimes went long stretches without seeing a shot against, but he came up with a couple highlight saves in key situations. Not taking anything away from Mark Dekanich – Dex just didn’t have the same opportunities tonight as Lindback. Including his two rookie game appearances, Lindback has now played three half-games with shutouts in all three appeances. --Jay Levin, NashvillePredators.com |
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OT | GF | GA | PTS | ||
| 1 |  |
p - CHI | 48 | 36 | 7 | 5 | 155 | 102 | 77 |
| 2 |  |
y - ANA | 48 | 30 | 12 | 6 | 140 | 118 | 66 |
| 3 |  |
y - VAN | 48 | 26 | 15 | 7 | 127 | 121 | 59 |
| 4 |  |
x - STL | 48 | 29 | 17 | 2 | 129 | 115 | 60 |
| 5 |  |
x - LAK | 48 | 27 | 16 | 5 | 133 | 118 | 59 |
| 6 |  |
x - SJS | 48 | 25 | 16 | 7 | 124 | 116 | 57 |
| 7 |  |
x - DET | 48 | 24 | 16 | 8 | 124 | 115 | 56 |
| 8 |  |
x - MIN | 48 | 26 | 19 | 3 | 122 | 127 | 55 |
| 9 |  |
CBJ | 48 | 24 | 17 | 7 | 120 | 119 | 55 |
| 10 |  |
PHX | 48 | 21 | 18 | 9 | 125 | 131 | 51 |
| 11 |  |
DAL | 48 | 22 | 22 | 4 | 130 | 142 | 48 |
| 12 |  |
EDM | 48 | 19 | 22 | 7 | 125 | 134 | 45 |
| 13 |  |
CGY | 48 | 19 | 25 | 4 | 128 | 160 | 42 |
| 14 |  |
NSH | 48 | 16 | 23 | 9 | 111 | 139 | 41 |
| 15 |  |
COL | 48 | 16 | 25 | 7 | 116 | 152 | 39 |
| SKATERS: | GP | G | A | +/- | Pts |
| S. Weber | 48 | 9 | 19 | -2 | 28 |
| D. Legwand | 48 | 12 | 13 | -6 | 25 |
| M. Fisher | 38 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 21 |
| C. Wilson | 25 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 19 |
| R. Josi | 48 | 5 | 13 | -7 | 18 |
| G. Bourque | 34 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| S. Kostitsyn | 46 | 3 | 12 | -5 | 15 |
| P. Hornqvist | 24 | 4 | 10 | -1 | 14 |
| K. Klein | 47 | 3 | 11 | -1 | 14 |
| N. Spaling | 47 | 9 | 4 | -10 | 13 |
| GOALIES: | W | L | OT | Sv% | GAA |
| P. Rinne | 15 | 16 | 8 | .910 | 2.43 |
| C. Mason | 1 | 7 | 1 | .873 | 3.73 |
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