Hurricanes knock out Predators

Sebastian Aho and the Carolina Hurricanes got into a groove after Micheal Ferland tangled with Austin Watson.

Aho had three goals and an assist to help Carolina beat the Nashville Predators 6-3 yesterday in Raleigh, N.C.

The Hurricanes won for the seventh time in eight games. There was no score when Ferland fought Watson 8:19 into the first period.

“That set the tone,” Aho said. “We were all fired up.” Ferland, who also had two assists, did the dirty work and Aho handled the scoring. With the early start, Ferland figured the team needed a shot of energy.

“Being an early game, you’re not really sure how you feel,” Ferland said. “I think it got everyone going on both benches. It was good.”

Justin Williams, Saku Maenalanen and Lucas Wallmark also scored for Carolina, which has won five straight at home. Petr Mrazek made 20 saves for his third win in his past four starts.

It was the first hat trick of the season for Aho. The AllStar center has five goals in the past two games, running his team-best total to 21 for the season.

Nashville, which had earned at least a point in seven straight games, got two goals from Filip Forsberg and another from Colton Sissons, but goaltender Pekka Rinne was chased in the second period.

Islanders 5, Lightning 1 — Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck each had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss stopped 38 shots, and host New York beat Tampa Bay.

Brock Nelson, rookie Devon Toews and Josh Bailey also scored as New York had three goals in the opening five minutes and went on to get their 11th win in 14 games. Matt Martin had two assists to give each player on the Islanders’ fourth line two points.

Ryan McDonagh had a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 23 saves for Tampa Bay, which was 18-1-1 in its previous 20.

Jets 4, Ducks 3 — Bryan Little scored at 4:49 of overtime to help host Winnipeg extend Anaheim’s losing streak to a franchise-record 11 games.

Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine and Ben Chiarot also scored and Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves to help the Jets improve to 5-2-0 in their past seven games. They have won four straight at home.

Brian Gibbons, Rickard Rakell and Andrew Cogliano scored and John Gibson stopped 30 shots for the Ducks. They are 0-7-4 during the skid.

Blue Jackets 7, New York Rangers 5 — Nick Foligno scored twice, Sergei Bobrovsky returned from a team suspension and stopped 22 shots and host Columbus held off a late surge and defeated New York.

Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and an assist, Ryan Murray had two assists and nine other players picked up points in the offensive explosion for Columbus. But, two goals by the Rangers late in the third period turned it into a closer game.

Canucks 5, Panthers 1 — Ben Hutton’s game-winner sparked a run of four straight goals in the third period as host Vancouver pulled away from Florida.

Hutton, Brock Boeser, Jay Beagle and Markus Granlund all scored after Florida’s Frank Vatrano tied it 1-1.