Hurricanes 2, Predators 1
Jeff Skinner scored a goal and set up another as Carolina held on to halt its three-game home losing streak.
Victor Rask also tallied for the Hurricanes, who evened their record at 1-1-0 on their five-game homestand. Cam Ward finished with 32 saves, including 14 in the third period.
Mike Ribeiro netted the lone goal for Nashville, which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Pekka Rinne turned aside 23 shots as his string of six straight victories came to an end.
Carolina opened the scoring with 61 seconds remaining in the first period. Playing in his fifth game since being claimed off waivers from Detroit, rookie Andrej Nestrasil made a backhand pass from along the left-wing boards to Skinner, who tipped the puck past Rinne from the doorstep.
Rask made it 2-0 less than a minute into the third, when his blast from the top of the left faceoff circle glanced off Nashville defenseman Roman Josi's stick and past Rinne. Ribeiro spoiled Ward's shutout bid with 4:46 remaining, sliding a backhander around the sprawled netminder after getting the puck alone in front from Josi at the left point.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The 23-year-old Nestrasil, who was a third-round pick of Detroit in 2009, notched two assists in 13 games with the Red Wings before being claimed off waivers on Nov. 20. The Czech scored his first NHL goal in his initial contest with Carolina two days later. ... The game was the 2,400th as an NHL general manager for Nashville's David Poile. ... Predators LW James Neal registered a game-high eight shots on goal.