Lightning ends Canes’ three-game win streak
Fatigue may have been a factor Sunday as the Carolina Hurricanes were beaten 4-3 by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Granted, the Lightning did play at home Saturday, then flew to Raleigh to complete the back-to-back. That’s never easy. But the Canes were playing their third game in four days, having spent much of October away from home.
“For the most part I thought we played a pretty good game and competed,” said Canes forward Kris Versteeg, who had a goal and two assists. “You don’t make excuses but it’s been a long grind here, so it will be nice to get a few days off and get some rest.”
The Canes, who had a three-game win streak end, weren’t sharp Sunday. They had some sloppy penalties. Canes coach Bill Peters said they were too loose with the puck, and Carolina finished with 15 giveaways, almost twice as many as the Lightning (6-5-2), which ended a four-game slide.
“We turned it over too many times, which led to goals against, led to penalties, which led to momentum for them,” Peters said. “Our decision-making wasn’t good enough.”
Eric Staal scored a power-play goal in the first period and the Canes successfully killed off hooking penalties against Versteeg and Brad Malone for a 1-0 lead after the first. But rookie defensemen Brett Pesce and Noah Hanifin each were called for high-sticking in the second period and Tampa Bay converted the Hanifin penalty into a Steven Stamkos score and 2-1 lead.
Stamkos, ever dangerous in the offensive zone, had gone without a point the past four games and without a goal for five. But he ripped a bullet from the point late in the second for his sixth of the season and had other good scoring chances in the game.
The looseness with the puck led to some odd-man rushes for Tampa Bay in the third. Forward J.T. Brown, the son of former N.C. State football great Ted Brown, and Tyler Johnson both were able to convert as Canes goalie Cam Ward, who made several high-quality stops during the game, had little help.
“We really found our legs in the second and third,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “You could feel our swag coming back during the game.”
The Lightning, which got an early second-period goal from Ryan Callahan for a 1-1 tie, led 4-1 in the third before Versteeg broke in one-on-one to beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy with 4:35 left in regulation. Jordan Staal scored with less than a second to play as the Canes pulled Ward for an extra attacker.
“I don’t think we executed as well as we have, out of our end or through the neutral zone and across the offensive blue line, with the forwards making the right decisions with the puck,” Eric Staal said. “I think we could have made it harder on their defense, being physical, being aggressive. In the third we were ready to push but a couple of quick breaks the other way wound up in the back of our net.”
The Canes (5-7-0) had six first-period shots but finished with 35. They had 18 in the third, forcing Vasilevskiy to make some tough, scrambling stops.
Jordan Staal’s goal, with a tenth of a second remaining, was his first of the season and earned Victor Rask his third assist of the game.
Vasilevskiy was recalled Sunday from Syracuse of the American Hockey League. He underwent surgery in September for a blood clot near his collarbone and was making his first NHL start of the season as workhorse Ben Bishop was rested.
The Canes don’t play again until Friday, when they host the Dallas Stars at PNC Arena. They’ll get an off-day Tuesday but will put in what Peters said should be three productive practices.
“We need to clean up our power play,” Peters said. “We’re going to have to make some personnel changes on that. It’s not good enough.”
This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Lightning ends Canes’ three-game win streak."