The Carolina Hurricanes prospects just couldn't be stopped as they completed their clean sweep of the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase Monday morning with a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators.
The win was spurned along by the Canes scoring in the opening minutes of every period as well as the strong play of Jakub Vondras who turned aside 33 of 35 shots.
Within the first minute of the game, a Predators defenseman ended up gaffing a pass behind his own net, which Vasily Ponomarev hopped on and pushed home as Nashville goaltender Yaroslav Askarov was caught completely unaware.
Then to open the second period, Ryan Suzuki forced a turnover at the blueline and went the full distance for a breakaway which he converted on.
Suzuki would do the exact same play, to the exact same defenseman, just minutes later and ended up drawing a call.
Then to open the third, Vasily Ponomarev led the charge down the ice and fed Blake Murray unmarked in the slot for the third score.
The Hurricanes prospects were strong on the forecheck and really played the role of the antagonizer, as they visibly frustrated the Predators.
The match overall was a pretty consistent back and forth affair, but both goaltenders had strong showings and kept the scores down overall.
It was the best game of the showcase for Suzuki and Ponomarev was just as good as he had been all weekend. Defensively, Domenick Fensore and Bryce Montgomery had good games as well.
The final shootout featured a lone goal by Suzuki who scored in all three of his shootout opportunities over the course of the showcase and Vondras stopped all five shots he faced.
The prospects will return to Raleigh were most of the draftees will presumably join the main team for training camp.