Sebastian Aho scores twice as Hurricanes top Predators to win 5th straight

Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist for the Carolina Hurricanes, who extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory over the host Nashville Predators on Wednesday.

Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist, and Andrei Svechnikov had two assists for the Hurricanes. Pyotr Kochetkov made 25 saves.

Filip Forsberg scored and Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Predators, who lost for just the fourth time in their past 11 games (7-4-0).

Carolina dominated the first period, building up a 6-1 advantage in shots on goal and 10-2 in total shot attempts just past the six-minute mark. Nashville didn't get its second shot on goal until seven minutes in.

The Hurricanes finally capitalized on one of their chances, with Blake giving them a 1-0 lead at 13:00. Saros made the save on a Logan Stankoven shot from the right circle, but the rebound bounced off his pad and deflected off defenseman Nick Perbix in front. Blake collected the loose puck and backhanded it past Saros' right skate.

Aho doubled the lead on the power play at 2:43 of the third period. Blake sent a pass from the bottom of the right circle to Aho at the near hashmark, where he quickly fired a wrist shot that beat Saros blocker side.

Seth Jarvis made it 3-0 less than two minutes later. Nikolaj Ehlers carried the puck into the zone before sending a short feed over to Aho, who then dished a cross-ice feed to Jarvis for a one-timer from the left face-off dot at 4:33.

Forsberg cut it to 3-1 at 8:06. Kochetkov stopped Ryan O'Reilly's shot off the rush but couldn't contain the rebound at the right side of the crease, and Forsberg, at the top of the paint, spun around to put the puck into an open net.

Aho capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:15.

Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault and Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook both left the game in the second period with lower-body injuries.