Lightning lose to Hurricanes in OT, fail to lock up Atlantic

The Tampa Bay Lightning failed to clinch first place in the Atlantic Division and the top seed in the Eastern Conference on Saturday, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.

Tampa Bay (54-23-5) leads the Atlantic with 113 points, one more than the Boston Bruins, who will win the division and finish with the top seed with a victory against the Florida Panthers on Sunday. The Atlantic winner will play the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the second-place finisher will face the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were third in the division.
WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Hurricanes highlights]
"You never want to leave things into the hands of another team," Lightning forward Alex Killorn said. "But there's still a chance for us to be the first seed, so we'll wait and see."
Carolina gained possession off a turnover by Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov, and Elias Lindholm scored on a one-timer off a pass from Teuvo Teravainen 49 seconds into overtime.

It was the final regular-season game for each team.
"We catch them changing, next thing you know [Haydn] Fleury makes a great play to find Teravainen and then [Lindholm] finished it," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "Really good way to end it, and that's win No. 318 for [goalie Cam] Ward's career, so good for him."
Ward made 32 saves for Carolina (36-35-11), which missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a ninth consecutive season.
"We came in tonight and tried to finish the right way," Ward said. "I thought the effort was there all night. They are going to get their looks, they are going to get their chances, but if I made the save, the guys were right there to help bail me out."
Jordan Staal scored 19 seconds into the game to give Carolina a 1-0 lead. His shot deflected off Lightning forward Ondrej Palat's back and past goalie Louis Domingue.
"It was a fun game," Staal said. "Kind of an up-and-down game, I guess. Always nice to get a win against good teams, so we'll take that. Hopefully, everyone works hard in the summer and we'll come back and keep winning like we did tonight."
Justin Williams made it 2-0 at 17:36 with a shot into a partially open net after Domingue was taken out of the play on a collision in front of the net. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper challenged for goaltender interference by Phillip Di Guiseppe, but the goal was upheld after video review.

Ryan Callahan cut the Carolina lead to 2-1 at 3:30 of the second period on a shot that beat Ward to the far post.
Palat tied it 2-2 at 11:11of the third period on a one-timer off a feed from J.T. Miller.
"Down two in the first period, it's tough in this league to come back, but we did," Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi said. "We knew we had to get it done in overtime, but it wasn't our night. We'll need a little help to get that division title, but either way, we're happy with our season."
Domingue made 39 saves for the Lightning, who were coming off a 7-5 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
"We turn the puck over, it goes off our skate in the net, and you're down one," Cooper said. "The second one ... what do you say about that? There's the two goals. Give the guys credit, they battled back hard playing less than 24 hours earlier. We get it to overtime and then make a mental mistake on a change, and that was it. Those things happen, and they tend to happen in a back-to-back."

Goal of the game

Lindholm's goal 49 seconds into overtime.

Save of the game

Ward stopping Killorn at 6:42 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Palat's goal at 11:11 of the third period.

They said it

"I'm really proud of the way the guys worked and everything they've done. That was our goal -- let's get to the playoffs. Where you finish, who you're going to play, a lot of that is out of your control. What was in our control was to make the playoffs. They did that. Now, let's see who we play." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"It's disappointing. Obviously, we wanted to be in the playoffs and we expected big things out of our hockey club this year and fell short. But I think today we can enjoy ending the right way and ending on a good note with a big win." -- Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward

Need to know

Lindholm ended a 27-game goal drought dating to Feb. 6. ... The Lightning will open the Stanley Cup Playoffs at home for the fourth time in the past five years. ... Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury but is expected to be ready for the playoffs. ... The Lightning have not scored on their past 13 power plays.

What's next

Lightning: Game 1 of Eastern Conference First Round, TBD
Hurricanes: Season over