Tampa Bay hands Hurricanes first preseason loss

The evaluation period, also known as NHL preseason hockey, continued Wednesday for the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes suffered their first exhibition defeat, losing 4-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in their first preseason game at PNC Arena. Lucas Wallmark, Derek Ryan and Sebastian Aho had the Canes’ goals, and goalie Cam Ward got his first work, and some younger players got another look or their first look in preseason.

Martin Necas, the Canes’ first-round draft pick this year, put in his second game and will play more. Defenseman Jake Bean, one of the Canes’ two first-round picks last year, also was in the game.

There were some plays in the game that can make a general manager cringe.

The Canes’ Jordan Staal, playing his first preseason game, took a stick in the face and had to leave the ice. Staal, who centered a line with Aho and Elias Lindholm, soon returned.

Early in the second period, Ryan took a hit from behind from the Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli along the boards near the Canes’ bench. Defenseman Haydn Fleury quickly dropped the gloves and landed a few heavy punches on Cirelli in taking him to the ice.

Ward played the first two periods before Jeremy Smith took over in net, giving up three goals on 22 shots. Adam Erne scored a first-period goal for Tampa Bay, and Tye McGinn and Mikhail Sergachev scored in the second – Sergachev on a shot from the left circle that Ward couldn’t track.

Boris Katchouk pushed the lead to 4-2 in the third after a Tampa Bay rush into the zone.

Goalie Peter Budaj, who played the first two periods, was Tampa’s best player over the first 40 minutes. Budaj made several sharp stops, denying the Canes’ Gregory Hofmann on a breakaway in the second period.

It was expected that goalie Scott Darling might make his first preseason start Wednesday for the Canes on home ice. Canes coach Bill Peters said Darling was a little “banged up” but might be able to play this weekend.

The Lightning was the more active team much of the night, clogging the neutral zone and winning board battles.

Fleury, battling for a roster spot, was given a 10-minute misconduct after the fight with Cirelli, leaving the Canes a man short on the back end for much of the second period.

The Canes were finishing a stretch of three preseason games in three days, topping the Lightning 2-1 on the road Tuesday –both teams with different lineups.

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Tampa Bay hands Hurricanes first preseason loss."