Hurricanes score final five to erase 5-1 hole and beat Predators 6-5

Nashville owned the opening script

The Predators wrote the first 20 minutes so convincingly that the eventual result feels almost borrowed from another night. Vitali Pinchuk opened the scoring at 1:48 of the first period from Tanner Molendyk, Cole O'Hara made it 2-0 at 7:09 without an assist, and Jonathan Marchessault pushed the lead to 3-0 at 15:24 off a feed from Pinchuk. Three goals, three different finishers, and Carolina had spent the period chasing the shape of the game.

That early stretch also framed Nashville's best individual work. Pinchuk finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Molendyk piled up two assists from the back end. The Predators did not rely on one line to build the advantage; they spread the scoring around, and that usually travels well in this league. When a team gets that kind of distribution, the opponent cannot simply spend the night hunting one matchup.

Carolina did answer early in the second, with Logan Stankoven scoring at 1:19 from Taylor Hall and Noel Fransén, but the Predators immediately restored order. Adam Edstrom answered at 3:20, again with Molendyk involved, and Jack Drury extended the margin to 5-1 at 8:24 off Felix Nilsson's assist. At that point Nashville had scored five times before Carolina reached two, and the game looked less like a comeback candidate than a lesson in how costly a poor start can be.

The comeback began before the third period

What kept Carolina alive was not one burst at the end, but the refusal to let 5-1 become 6-1. Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored at 12:38 of the second period from Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Juha Jaaska followed at 16:19 with Kotkaniemi supplying the assist. That did not finish the rally, but it changed the arithmetic. Instead of needing four goals in the third, the Hurricanes went to intermission down 5-3 with a path back into the night.

Kotkaniemi's line on the scoresheet mattered because it gave Carolina both a finisher and a connector. He scored once and assisted once, directly driving two of the six Hurricanes goals. Stankoven added a goal and a team-high four shots, while Hall and Fransén each chipped in an assist on the first Carolina breakthrough. Those are not overwhelming totals, but in a game with only 21 Carolina shots, the important contributions were the ones that turned pressure into actual scoreboard movement.

The missing names from the third-period scoring log do not change the central fact of the finish: Carolina scored all three goals of the final period and Nashville scored none. That is the whole story of the reversal. The Hurricanes did not need a power play to get there, either. Carolina finished with six goals despite having zero power-play opportunities, which means the comeback was built entirely at even strength.

Our take: a wild scoreline that says something real about both teams

Our take: Carolina deserves credit for making the game answer a harder question than it seemed to be asking at 5-1. A team that falls behind 3-0 in the first period and 5-1 by 8:24 of the second has already made the night too difficult. That is the part the Hurricanes should carry forward as a warning. But there is another truth sitting beside it: once Carolina finally broke through, Nashville never found a reply. The Hurricanes scored five unanswered goals from Stankoven's marker onward, including the entire third period, and that kind of recovery reflects more than luck.

For Nashville, the improvement point is plain because the scoreboard made it plain. A team that leads 5-1 cannot come away with a lesson about starting well; it needs a lesson about finishing. The Predators still outshot Carolina 25-21 and made their lone power play count, but neither edge survived a scoreless third period. Carolina's task is different and just as obvious: do not ask for a miracle after 28 minutes. If the Hurricanes can pair their third-period urgency with a cleaner opening, this game looks less like an escape act and more like a blueprint. On this night, though, the comeback is the only proper headline, because Carolina turned a four-goal hole into a 6-5 win.

Scoring moments

1. 1st · 1:48

   Vitali Pinchuk Goal (1) , assists: Tanner Molendyk (1)

2. 1st · 7:09

   Cole O'Hara Goal (1) , assists: none

3. 1st · 15:24

   Jonathan Marchessault Goal (1) , assists: Vitali Pinchuk (1)

4. 2nd · 1:19

   Logan Stankoven Goal (1) , assists: Taylor Hall (1), Noel Fransén (1)

5. 2nd · 3:20

   Adam Edstrom Goal (1) , assists: Tanner Molendyk (2)

6. 2nd · 8:24

   Jack Drury Goal (1) , assists: Felix Nilsson (1)

7. 2nd · 12:38

   Jesperi Kotkaniemi Goal (1) , assists: Pierre-Olivier Joseph (1)

8. 2nd · 16:19

   Juha Jaaska Goal (1) , assists: Jesperi Kotkaniemi (1)

9. 3rd · 8:26

   Juuso Valimaki Goal (1) , assists: Taylor Hall (2), Logan Stankoven (1)

10. 3rd · 18:36

    Logan Stankoven Goal (2) , assists: Taylor Hall (3), Jackson Blake (1)

11. 3rd · 19:57

    Felix Unger Sorum Goal (1) , assists: Bradly Nadeau (1)