Carolina Hurricanes fight past Tampa Bay Lightning for 3-2 win, end four-game slide
The game ended with the players facing off en masse Tuesday, engaging in a tense team staredown near center ice for several moments.
The Carolina Hurricanes had just beaten the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 at PNC Arena. In the final minute of regulation, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov had put an open-ice hit on the Canes’ Sebastian Aho that left Aho down and staggered for a few seconds, Kucherov headed to the penalty box and everyone on the ice in a foul mood.
A lot was said but no punches thrown after the game, when Kucherov lashed out at Aho and the teams quickly gathered for a faceoff. The Lightning finally accepted the loss, skating off slowly to their locker room, leaving the Canes (42-15-6) to stage their postgame Storm Surge celebration after ending a four-game winless slide.
Playoff-type game? It surely had the chippiness of one.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour questioned a late-game cross-checking penalty to Jordan Staal, calling it a “phantom call” and adding “Jordan didn’t do anything.” Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev also was called for roughing on the play with 2:41 left in regulation, and Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker and a five-on-four advantage.
“That’s a power play and that’s what’s frustrating to me,” Brind’Amour said. “It led to all the chaos that happened in the last two minutes.”
The “chaos” had the Lightning (39-17-6) pull within 3-2 on an Alex Killorn goal with one minute to play in the third. It then had Kucherov taking out Aho on the hit, Aho slowly getting back to his feet and shouting at Kucherov as Kucherov left for the penalty box with 26 seconds remaining.
Soon, there was the “incident” after the game, as Brind’Amour called it.
“I don’t know what to say about all that,” he said. “It’s just boys being boys, really. At that point I think there’s a lot of phony toughness going on. Everyone is smart enough to know if you doing anything there you’re going to get a huge suspension.”
Canes goalie Frederik Andersen allowed two goals, both on redirections, in stopping 27 of 29 shots for his 31st victory of the season. Vasilevskiy faced 41 shots from the Canes, 34 in the final two periods.
The Canes, without a power-play goal the past six games, had two in the second period. Martin Necas scored from the top of the right circle and defenseman Tony DeAngelo had a shot from the right point go off Sergachev and past Vasilevskiy for a 2-1 lead.
“The power play was good,” DeAngelo said. “We’ve had a million of those chances on the last 15, 16 power plays (and) it just hasn’t gone in. When you’re playing a team like Tampa those need to go in and they did tonight.”
The Canes continued to push the pace in the third, testing Vasilevskiy until Aho squeezed the puck past Vasilevskiy’s left pad at the post for his 28th and a 3-1 lead at 8:07.
Then, the chaos.
“There’s a good chance we can play against these guys in the playoffs,” Necas said. “It was a good game, a good atmosphere, as well. We still have 20 games to go, so we want to get on a (winning) streak again and get ready for the playoffs.”
The Lightning, the Cup champions the past two years, added forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul in trades in gearing up for the playoffs. It was Paul who had the first Tampa Bay goal Tuesday, rushing down the ice in transition to redirect a pass from Ross Colton.
The Canes had a slow start, managing one shot in the first 12 minutes after 44 against the New York Rangers in their 2-0 loss Sunday. But after seven shots in the first period, Carolina had 20 in the second as Vasilevskiy allowed more rebounds than usual and the Canes had more chances.
Sitting on the top level of PNC Arena was forward Max Domi, the Canes’ new “piece” after the deadline. He should get in the game game Thursday against Dallas.
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 9:59 PM.
