Jordan Martinuk suffered a lower-body injury in the win over the Predators

The Carolina Hurricanes continued their winning streak with a 4-1 road victory over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday. However, the victory came at the cost of forward and vice-captain Jordan Martinuk, who left the game in the second period due to a lower body injury and he didn’t come back.

Carolina had to adjust after Martinuk’s injury, moving Eric Robinson from the fourth line to the third, where he spent 15:03 on the ice and hit five shots. If Martinuk misses the extra games, Jesperi Kotkaniemi will likely return to the bottom six position.

Martinuk has been in Raleigh since the 2018-19 season, and has been a reliable presence on the line of scrimmage, teaming with Jordan Staal and William Carrier to keep things steady. In 33 games this season, the Alberta native has collected 11 points with four goals and seven assists. He exits the 2024/25 season with 36 career points, which included 15 goals and 21 assists in 79 games. Martinuk’s NHL career includes 753 regular season appearances, where he scored 99 goals and added 145 assists for 244 points. He also contributed 33 points, including eight goals and 25 assists, in 76 Stanley Cup playoff games, all with Carolina.

The Hurricanes dominated Wednesday, outscoring Nashville 37-33 and keeping the puck in their favor for most of the game. Piotr Kochetkov made 25 saves for his sixth win in eight starts this season, while Juuse Saros stopped 33 shots for the Predators.

Carolina opened the scoring at 13:00 of the first period when Jackson Blake scored his ninth goal of the season, finishing off a rebound off Logan Stankoven’s kickoff. Sebastian Aho added a power-play goal at 2:43 of the third period to make it 2-0, followed shortly by Seth Jarvis converting an Aho feed for a 3-0 lead. Filip Forsberg got a rebound for Nashville at 8:06, tipped by Kochetkov early on. Aho later added an empty-net goal at 19:15 to seal the 4-1 victory. Andrei Svechnikov contributed two assists, and Blake had a goal and an assist.

The Hurricanes maintained their top spot in the Eastern Conference at 22-9-2, five points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders, winning six of eight games this month. Now riding a five-game winning streak entirely against Metropolitan Division teams, Carolina will continue its three-game road trip in Florida. They face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers on Friday before wrapping up the match against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Hurricanes will then return home to host Florida again on December 23rd.