Nashville Predators break out the goals, beat Carolina 5-2

The Nashville Predators pushed their winning streak to three games in high-flying style, scoring 5 goals for the first time all season in a 5-2 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes. Anders Lindback shook off some early jitters to push his record to 4-1-1, making 28 saves, and Martin Erat led all scorers with 3 assists.

Follow after the jump for highlights, reaction, and of course your advanced even-strength stats...

The Preds' next home game is Saturday, December 11 against Tomas Vokoun and the Florida Panthers. Use the OtF discount to save $8-24 each on your Nashville Predators tickets for that game, or look through the schedule and buy some as a Christmas present!

First, the video highlights (may not be available until roughly 10:30 Central), and Hurricanes vs Predators boxscore:

• Two things require some explanation; Patric Hornqvist getting just 10:14 of ice time, and J.P. Dumont with just 4:30 (an insultingly low figure), never hitting the ice after midway through the 2nd period. Yes, J.P. let Joe Corvo deke him on a play which helped lead to the first Carolina goal, but the guy is one of the best offensive players on team, and pushes the Shots For/Against ledger in Nashville's favor better than anyone these days. In his post-game press conference, Barry Trotz was very curt when asked about J.P.'s ice time, just calling it a coach's decision.
• Hornqvist's goal was particularly good to see, considering the fact that he hadn't scored since November 7 (11 goal-less games). Classic going-to-the-net while Franson fired his initial shot.
• While that first goal against looked pretty bad, Anders Lindback got better as the game went on. 
• The penalty killing ran its success streak to the second-longest in franchise history, now at 32 straight. The team record is 34, from April 2006.
• The power play finally got its chance in the 3rd period, and while they didn't score, they were very effective in terms of puck control and shot creation. Marcel Goc looked especially good there. While he's not aggressive enough for my tastes in terms of driving the net, his elusiveness with the puck (and solid faceoff skills) makes for a nice addition to the PP.
• So what do you think, was that O'Reilly goal the best one of the year so far for the Preds? They don't score too many on the rush like that. That handily makes up for an awful night on the faceoff dot, winning only 3 of 17 draws.
• Do the Predators have some chemistry developing between the line of Erat-Goc-Kostitsyn? Certainly they need something going outside of O'Reilly's line.
• Perhaps Erat's most impressive effort may have been on the defensive side, where he took away a sure goal from Carolina, I believe it was in the second period. He took out a Cane cutting to the backdoor and broke up the play. Is he finally getting close to 100%?
• From here, it's on to Atlanta, where the Preds will face one of the hotter teams in the league. Can they keep the good times rolling?

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