Saturday’s bout between two teams near the top of the Eastern Conference standings didn’t disappoint in theatrics, but it was the Tampa Bay Lightning that ended on the losing side of the scoresheet.
A slow start sunk the Lightning at Benchmark International Arena despite a second period push in the 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Tampa Bay is now 40-21-4 this season.
Carolina was the first team on the scoreboard in Saturday’s matchup, and it was an early start—Andrei Svechnikov snapped a shot into the net from the left hashmark after he snuck into the slot and accepted Sebastian Aho’s pass from the right corner 36 seconds after the opening faceoff.
The same duo made it 2-0 when Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy denied Aho on a breakaway, but the rebound found Svechnikov. He passed to Aho at the right post for a one-timer and the two-goal lead with 2:32 left in the opening frame.
“I just thought we had a terrible start. You can't give that out. It felt bad, it looked bad. So now we're down 1-0 the first shift. And it's what Carolina does, that's what they do. They jump on you hard, you’ve got to weather it or you’ve got to respond. And we just didn't,” coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning found their magic in the middle frame, scoring two goals in just over a minute to tie the score at 2-2.
Yanni Gourde began the pushback on a short break, flying down the right boards and then ripping a shot through the blocker of Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen with 5:50 left in the second period.
Defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous then knotted the score 1:21 later, burying a backdoor chance at the left post thanks to a saucer pass from Brayden Point.
“We like to be part of the breakout,” D’Astous said. “So I was just in a good spot, our winger gave me a good pass, and I saw Pointer going, and I knew if I give him the puck and I just keep going, he's gonna give it back to me. So it was just that.”
Vasilevskiy made plenty of jaw-dropping saves along the way, including one in the opening minutes of the third period on Taylor Hall in which he threw the leg pad down to deny the Carolina forward on a solo look at the net.
The Lightning appeared primed to grab their first lead of the game on a Brandon Hagel chance minutes later, but Carolina defenseman Sean Walker kicked his foot out to block the shot from entering the open cage.
“That’s hockey, that’s gonna happen,” Gourde said of such chances not finding the back of the net sometimes. “You’ve gotta work for your breaks, and you’ve gotta work for your opportunities.”
Carolina then got a bounce for the game-winning goal with just over 10 minutes left to play when Jordan Martinook’s shot from the left circle went off a Lightning defenseman in front of the net and caromed in for a 3-2 advantage.
The Hurricanes added an empty-net goal for a 4-2 final score.
“I thought our pace tonight was good for most of that game too,” Gourde said. “We’ve got to get back to being connected and moving the puck North fast. When we do that, I think we're a good team.”
Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves on a night Tampa Bay was outshot 35-19.
The team will now hit the road for a four-game trip that opens on Tuesday in Seattle.
“Keep playing our way. Keep taking the positives of what happened this week and keep building on that,” D’Astous said of what to bring forward. “We have a big road trip coming up. We’ve had success in the past on the road, so we just have to keep working, keep playing our way. If we do that, good results will happen for us.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
- Sebastian Aho, CAR (Goal, assist)
- Andrei Svechnikov, CAR (Goal, assist)
- Charle-Edouard D’Astous, TBL (Goal)
