Hurricanes use big second period to turn back Lightning 4-1
It was a short sequence but a telling one, ending with Jordan Staal scoring and the Carolina Hurricanes on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Canes led the Lightning 1-0 in the second period Tuesday after a Nino Niederreiter goal and were quickly up 2-0 after a second goal. Staal went to the front of the Lightning net, where he encountered forward Yanni Gourde.
Staal is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. Gourde is listed at 5-9 and 173. For a few seconds, it was like Staal was playing with his young son, Henry. Gourde, after being knocked to the ice by Staal, rose to beat on Staal, cross-check him in the back over and over.
Staal never flinched. He stood his ground, got his stick on a Dougie Hamilton shot and redirected the puck past Gourde and past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for what would be the winning goal in a game that kept the Canes (30-10-5) in first place in the Central Division.
As Gourde turned to complain to a referee, Staal turned and raised his arms high.
“Those are kind of special, right?” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said of the Staal play. “Jordo does that every shift, and it’s nice to get rewarded. He’s had so many looks the last few games, and it was nice to see him get rewarded for the dirty work and battle level.”
In Monday’s game with Tampa Bay, Staal had a chance to end it early in the overtime but couldn’t stuff the puck past Vasilevskiy. Gourde then won it 3-2.
But the Canes were game and willing for any battle this night. After Niederreiter’s goal, off a Vincent Trocheck setup pass, Tampa Bay’s Barclay Goodrow wanted to tangle with the Canes’ Jordan Martinook. That was fine with Martinook and off came the gloves.
“It’s obvious we don’t like them and they don’t like us,” Niederreiter said.
Staal scored for a 2-0 lead 25 seconds after Niederreiter’s goal. and Steven Lorentz made it 3-0 in the second, getting open in the slot and taking a pass out of the corner from Morgan Geekie. Brayden Point’s 20th of the season got the Lightning (30-14-2) on the board before the period ended.
Martinook, active all game, finished off the scoring with a late empty-net goal in the third to seal it.
Point’s goal was all Canes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic would allow, making 26 saves in earning his 11th win of the season as the Canes kept their Central lead over the Florida Panthers — both have 65 points but the Canes have two games-in-hand on Florida.
“We’re poised to make a deep run hopefully and games like this are only going to push us in the right direction,” Nedeljkovic said. “We’ll most likely have to go through these guys one way or the other.”
Vasilevskiy’s start was a surprise. He had not played both games in a back-to-back since November 2017, but Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper wanted him in this one, underscoring the importance of the final regular-season matchup.
For now, the Canes will settle for a 4-3-1 record in the season series and three points in the final two games. The only downside Tuesday was an upper-body injury to defenseman Brady Skjei, who was forced to leave the game.
Brind’Amour had no update on Skjei after the game but did not like Blake Coleman’s hit from behind on Skjei. He indicated Skjei was in the concussion protocol, and his status for the upcoming two games with Florida is unknown.
“That was a 60-minute effort all the way through,” Brind’Amour said. “We were a little more invested in the game and probably they weren’t. It was probably a reversal. It was solid, top to bottom.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 6:44 PM.
