With a shot at sweeping a four-game road trip along with extending their six-game winning streak, the Tampa Bay Lightning marched into Raleigh with a boost of confidence on their side against the Carolina Hurricanes. One might have expected a slow start from the Bolts due to playing on back-to-back nights.
However, you could not even tell the Lightning just played the night before with the way the team took total control of tonight’s game.
Stephens and Stamkos get the party started for the Lightning
The Lightning wasted little time getting things going this evening. Just 2:35 into the first period, Mitchell Stevens buried a pass from Carter Verhaeghe past Petr Mrazek to make it 1-0 Lightning. Captain Steven Stamkos then blasted a wrist shot after Nikita Kucherov forced a Dougie Hamilton turnover to make it 2-0 Bolts shorty after. The Lightning maintained solid defensive play to keep the Hurricanes from scoring in the first period.
Defense remains unbreakable
The Lightning kept up the pressure going into the second period and dominated the Hurricanes early on. The Lightning added onto their lead 5:19 in the period thanks to a backhand goal from Brayden Point. However, just like the first period, the Lightning couldn’t capitalize on the man-advantage and the score remained 3-0. Once again, the Bolts commanded the game for the remainder of the period to keep the shutout going. After getting out-shot 13-5 in the first, the Lightning held a 22-18 lead in shots over the Hurricanes after two periods of play.
Hurricanes find an answer
The Lightning played more of a controlled game in the third period to keep the shutout alive and trying their hardest to prevent the Hurricanes from storming back into the game. Unfortunately for the Bolts, the shutout would not last as Andrei Svechnikov put the Hurricanes on board 11:48 in the third period. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy would continue to look like the Vezina Trophy winner he is while the defense did a stellar job yet again to keep the Hurricanes from getting back in the game.
Penalty kill seals the deal
Towards the end of the game, Pat Maroon took two penalties, one for holding and another for unsportsmanlike conduct. Presented with a tremendous opportunity, the Hurricanes found no answer for the Bolts’ penalty kill. Despite missing an empty net opportunity, Yanni Gourde made some solid blocks on the other end of the ice. Thanks to those blocks, the Lightning nullified any hopes the Hurricanes had of scoring to extend their win streak to an impressive seven games with a 3-1 victory. The Lightning return home Tuesday to face off against the Vancouver Canucks, who have also won seven straight games, at 7 pm. Be sure to check out our YouTube channel for postgame coverage following that contest.
Three Stars of the Game
1st Star: Andrei Vasilevskiy: Stopped 28 of 29 shots on goal to earn the victory
2nd Star: Steven Stamkos: Scored an unassisted goal and notched an assist on the Point goal
3rd Star: Andrei Svechnikov: Scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes.
