Skinner scores winner in Hurricanes 2-1 victory over Predators

RALEIGH, N.C. – Even with more injuries incurred recently, the Carolina Hurricanes found a way to extend their win streak to four games with a 2-1 decision over the Nashville Predators at PNC Arena on Sunday.

Forward Jeff Skinner (1g, 1a) scored his 20th goal of the season, the game-winner with 3:31 left in the third period to win it for Carolina as his shot snuck under the pads of Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton.

It was Skinner’s line which included Alexander Semin (1g, 1a) and Tuomo Ruutu (2a) that combined for a total of six points and powered the Carolina offense while strong lower-six support helped to seal the win.

“He keeps on ticking,” Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said of his leading goal scorer.

“Really happy for him; very happy for our hockey team. He’s scoring, but he’s scoring clutch goals.”

Carolina goaltender Anton Khudobin made 31 saves and recorded his third win in as many games as he backstopped a slightly different group in front of him than he did the night before.

Upon returning from Uniondale, N.Y. with a 3-2 win earned over the New York Islanders on Saturday, Muller was busy dealing with personnel issues before the puck dropped.

Carolina activated defenseman Jay Harrison from injured reserve (IR), while goaltender Cam Ward (lower body) and forward Riley Nash (lower body) were both placed on IR retroactive to Dec. 31.

The Hurricanes also recalled forward Aaron Palushaj from their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, as captain Eric Staal was held out with a lower body injury and was expected to miss the next five or six days.

Regardless of the adjustments, Carolina faced off against the Predators for the second and final time this season, and didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard.

Alexander Semin scored at 4:28 of the opening period, tallying his sixth point in his last seven games (2g, 4a) with a bank-shot goal from behind the net that Hutton lost sight of and ended up bouncing off his pads and into the net.

The Hurricanes kept Hutton busy throughout the game as he turned away 23 pucks while his team worked to even the score.

Carrying the 1-0 lead into the third period, the Hurricanes were on their second power play of the game, looking to add to their lead when an interference call to defenseman Ryan Murphy negated the extra-man opportunity and gave Nashville the opening that it needed to tie the score.

With 25 seconds left in Murphy’s penalty, Nashville evened the score 1-1 at the 6:46 mark as Patric Hornqvist knocked the puck in while battling for it at the edge of Khudobin’s crease after the goaltender made the save on a shot from Predators defenseman Shea Weber.

Mike Fisher recovered the rebound in the corner and slid the puck towards the net where Hornqvist tapped it in.

“I saw the shot,” Khudobin said.

“I stopped it, but the rebound wasn’t really good. It was behind the net, but they found a way to put the puck behind the line.”

With ample time for either team to break the tie, the play of all four of Carolina’s lines continued to pressure Nashvile in its zone until Skinner found the net.

“I was pretty happy with the units which were pretty much intact for the most part,” Muller said.

“Everyone worked hard. I didn’t really have to change it as much. The fourth line gave us great energy, great time in the offensive zone and the other lines had to just grind.”

As Palushaj was the third Checkers player to be recalled in recent weeks, Muller decided to put the team’s other call-ups from Charlotte, Zach Bochuk and Brett Sutter, together with him.

The group made sure to follow the directions they were given.

“The message was pretty clear,” Palushaj said.

“I was playing with Sutts and Boychuk who I was pretty familiar playing with before. We were playing fourth line, so the message was to play a hard style of game, grind it out in their zone. I thought we had some decent chances. We controlled the puck in their zone during the second period especially. I thought we executed pretty well.”

While the fourth line did its job to support the three others, and as Khudobin made stops with the game tied, it was not surprising for Skinner to be the game-breaker according to Muller.

“When it comes down to it, he’s a dynamic player, an opportunist, he’s a game-breaking kind of guy,” he said.

“Tight game, 1-1, you give him one chance, he can make the difference.”