Hurricanes, Lightning battle to the final seconds in Game 1 of the second round
This was the way hockey is supposed to look, especially playoff hockey.
Two teams pushing the pace. Hard play, but no cheap shots. Good goaltending. Strong work on special teams. Intense for 60 minutes.
The Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning supplied plenty of that Sunday in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series at PNC Arena, the Lightning emerging with a 2-1 victory.
Barclay Goodrow’s goal at 12:39 of the third period, on a shot that beat Alex Nedeljkovic to the short side, gave the Lightning the 2-1 lead and proved to be the difference.
“I think we were fine,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We worked hard. We just made some mental errors. Our execution can be better on some things. It was a pretty good game for us. Tough way to end it, but I felt like were OK.”
The Lightning scored the first goal of the series on a Brayden Point power-play score in the second period. The Canes tied it 1-1 with a power-play strike by defenseman Jake Bean early in the third.
Bean’s score, on a shot from the point, came just as it appeared Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy was going to completely stifle the Canes. With a crowd of 16,000 becoming antsy with each Vasilesvkiy save, Bean had Canes fans standing and roaring,
But Goodrow’s score lowered the volume. The forward played one game in the opening round against Florida and the goal was his fourth career playoff score in 49 games.
“They’re a good team. We’re a good team too,” Bean said. “They might have managed it better than us tonight in some scenarios, and we might have been better in some. We know we have another level. We knew this wasn’t going to come without any kind of adversity.”
Game 2 of the series will be Tuesday at PNC Arena.
The Canes carried over power-play time into the third period, then turned it into a tying goal by Bean.
Bean unleashed a shot through traffic from the point, with Jesper Fast in front of the net, to finally get the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy at 1:41 of the third for a 1-1 tie.
“He’s the best goalie in the league,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said. “We’ve got to get in front of him and make it hard on him. You look at the goal we scored, it was a good net front. I think we can get there a little more.”
Tampa Bay’s Blake Coleman was called for tripping Martinook with 13 seconds left in the second period. The Canes had difficult time setting up early in the third before Bean found a lane and got off his shot for his first career playoff goal — Andrei Svechnikov and Fast with the assists.
Updates from earlier in the game:
Second period: Tampa Bay leads 1-0
The Canes said a top priority against Tampa Bay was staying out of the penalty box. The Canes’ first penalty of the series resulted in the Lightning’s first goal of the series and a 1-0 lead after two periods.
After Brock McGinn was called for high-sticking, the Lightning scored as Brayden Point redirected a shot by Victor Hedman at 8:15 of the second period. The Lightning were 8-for-20 on the power play in the opening-round series against Florida.
Point was able to get inside position on Canes defenseman Jani Hakanpaa in scoring his fifth of the playoffs. It was Hedman’s ninth assist of the playoffs.
The Lightning had another power play but Nikita Kucherov was called for cross-checking McGinn in the back of the neck to abbreviate it. The Canes are 0-3 with a man advantage in the game.
Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has had some high-stress moments in net as the Canes have gotten some good looks but has stopped all 26 shots and been Tampa Bay’s best player.
First period: No score, plenty of action
The first 20 minutes of the game were scoreless but not action-less, and the Canes spent a lot of it in the Tampa end during the first period to please the crowd of more than 16,000.
The Canes had the first two power plays of the series and had some decent chances, including a shot in tight by Vincent Trocheck. His line has been active throughout the period, and winger Martin Necas had a shot ring the post.
With Nino Niederreiter out with an upper-body injury, Jordan Martinook has been moved on the Trocheck line.
Canes center Sebastian Aho took a puck off the foot early and was in some pain but was quickly back on the ice.
The Canes had a 15-12 shooting edge in the first, Trocheck with a high-quality four shots, and an 11-8 edge in scoring chances (naturalstattrick.com).
The Lightning are playing without defenseman David Savard, a surprise late scratch with an upper-body injury.
Game setup: It’s fun, folks
Win or lose, hockey fans can all agree on one point: the playoffs are fun.
But what about the players? Can there be any fun n the Stanley Cup playoffs with so much at stake, or is it an intense, physical grind from game to game?
“It is a grind but it is a ton of fun,” center Vincent Trocheck said Sunday before Game 1 of the Canes’ second-round series against Tampa Bay. “The whole purpose we play hockey is to be playing in the playoffs, to be playing for a Stanley cup.
“Everybody’s goal is the same, to win a Stanley Cup. I mean, this is our dream. I definitely would that this is fun.”
Tampa Bay had the most fun last year in winning the Stanley Cup, even in the bubble and silence of Edmonton. The Lightning now go into the series with the Canes with the look of a team with its full lineup in place and with the intent of repeating.
More than 16,000 fans will be at PNC Arena on Sunday hoping to help make things miserable for the 2020 champs. There were more than 12,000 at the three home games against Nashville in the opening-round series and Trocheck said they were a factor.
“It was rocking, and it got our hearts pumping a little bit faster and the adrenaline pumping,” he said.
That support helps, but the Canes must get the job done on the ice and Trocheck and his line could be a big part of that.
Trocheck was remarkably productive much of the regular season, with 17 goals and 19 assists in his first 33 games. He then went the last 14 games without a goal, with seven assists, and had two goals and no assists in the six-game playoff series with Nashville.
If there is an “X-factor” for the Canes, it could be Trocheck returning to the offensive form he showed much of the season. One of his linemates, right wing Martin Necas, was the team’s top scorer in twill he eight games against Tampa Bay with three goals and five assists, and the Canes need the Trocheck line to do its part this series.
The Trocheck line be missing left winger Nino Niederreiter. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Sunday morning that Niederreiter, who left Saturday’s practice session early, was questionable for the game although he did not specify an injury.
How important is winning Game 1?
“They’re all important but you don’t want to get behind if you don’t have to,” Brind’Amour said. “You have to find a way to get four (wins). And to get four you have to start with the first one.”
Preferably in Game 1.
This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 4:34 PM.
