The Tampa Bay Lightning erased a three-goal deficit on Thursday, but the Carolina Hurricanes denied the Lightning comeback bid by handing the visitors a 5-4 loss at the Lenovo Center.
Carolina took a 3-0 lead in the game’s first seven minutes with goals from Nikolaj Ehlers, Logan Stankoven and Taylor Hall, but the Lightning battled back to tie the game.
Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov scored 35 seconds apart to close the second period, and rookie Dominic James tied the score early in the second period. Carolina took the lead back on a Seth Jarvis goal in the second period, but Brayden Point tied the score again on a power play.
A power-play goal from Sebastian Aho in the third period proved to be the difference.
Jake Guentzel had three assists for the Lightning, and Point finished with a goal and one assist.
Tampa Bay is 38-15-4 this season and now returns home to close the month of February with Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Scoring summary
First period
CAR 1, TBL 0
1:43 Nikolaj Ehlers (15) - K’Andre Miller, Jordan Martinook
Nikolaj Ehlers gave Carolina the early lead with a shot from the right faceoff circle.
CAR 2, TBL 0
2:56 Logan Stankoven (11) - Taylor Hall, Jalen Chatfield
Carolina extended their lead with a rush chance that ended with Logan Stankoven burying a pass in the slot.
CAR 3, TBL 0
6:41 Hall (13) - Jackson Blake, Stankoven
A 2-on-1 chance was buried by forward Taylor Hall, making it 3-0.
CAR 3, TBL 1
16:30 Brandon Hagel (28) - Scott Sabourin, Jake Guentzel
The Lightning found their first goal with Brandon Hagel’s shot at the left circle.
CAR 3, TBL 2
17:05 Nikita Kucherov (31) - Brayden Point, JJ Moser
Tampa Bay scored shortly after to cut the deficit to one goal, this score coming from the right circle on a shot by leading scorer Nikita Kucherov.
Shots on goal: CAR 13, TBL 11
Second period
CAR 3, TBL 3
1:58 Dominic James (6) - Guentzel, Ryan McDonagh
Tampa Bay rookie Dominic James tied the game for Tampa Bay early in the second period, breaking between the defensemen and scoring on a shot at the left hashmark.
CAR 4, TBL 3
7:21 Seth Jarvis (26) - Andrei Svechnikov
The Hurricanes took the lead back with a chance in the slot.
CAR 4, TBL 4
14:02 Point (14) - Guentzel, Darren Raddysh - PP
Tampa Bay again evened the score, this time on a power-play one-timer from Brayden Point.
Shots on goal: TBL 11, CAR 10
Third period
CAR 5, TBL 4
7:17 Sebastian Aho (21) - Svechnikov, Jarvis - PP
Carolina got the game-winning goal with Sebastian Aho’s power-play shot that went in off the crossbar.
Total shots: CAR 33, TBL 28
