Coming off a thrilling 5-4 overtime win in Washington, the Tampa Bay Lightning headed to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second half of a back-to-back. In a season in which they’ve broken multiple individual and team records, the Lightning had a chance to earn Head Coach Jon Cooper his 300th career NHL win.
On the other side, the Hurricanes entered this game two points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. Currently occupying the first wild card spot, the Canes sought a valuable two points to improve their position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
A high-intensity opening period
The Lightning came out with a slight edge to start this game but Carolina came out with just a bit more. However, the tide turned quickly as Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter was called for interference and Tampa capitalized on the power play. Steven Stamkos scored his 38th goal of the season on a great pass by Victor Hedman. Stamkos added to his record of most regular season goals by a Lightning player after surpassing Vincent Lecavalier’s record of 383 goals earlier this week.
Soon after, the Hurricanes looked to gain energy and stormed Lightning goalie Louis Domingue, picking up a goal from Nino Niederreiter to tie it 1-1. Carolina just stop there, as defenseman Dougie Hamilton tallied a goal to make it 2-1 for the Canes.
The game takes a chippy turn
With about 7 minutes left Carolina’s Jordan Staal had the puck in his own zone and was elbowed right to the head by Tampa forward Yanni Gourde. Staal went down to the ice and Trevor Van Riemsdyk came to the aid of the fallen Staal, dropping the gloves with Gourde. Staal skated off on his own and Gourde was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check to the head, while Van Riemsdyk was handed a roughing minor. Tampa Bay ended up killing off the major penalty, followed by Tyler Johnson scoring with 25.8 seconds left in the first period to tie it 2-2 ending an eventful first period.
Mixing fire with fire.
The second period began with both teams playing aggressively. At one point, Carolina teammates Sebastian Aho and Niederreiter collided and were both slow to get up, soon after Hamilton hit Cedric Paquette with an elbow. Paquette went down hard, then skated off on his own. He was fired up about the call and visibly angry and frustrated while flexing his jaw. It just got worse, as bodies continued to bang against the glass and hits were being thrown. Carolina capitalized on a miscue by the Lightning as Staal skated right by defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, scoring a goal to make it 3-2. After Staal’s goal both teams turned up the pace, playing in each zone equally and ramping up their play.
Depth comes in handy.
Going into the third period down a goal, it became evident that Tampa Bay wanted to win this one in regulation. Just under three minutes in, a tripping penalty on Erik Cernak and an embellishment call on Warrne Foegele led to 4-on-4 hockey. Anthony Cirelli capitalized on a great net-front battle to tie the game, helped out by a tremendous individual effort from Steven Stamkos.
As the Lightning once again stormed the Hurricanes’ zone, Hedman took a shot that Ryan Callahan tipped in to break the tie, giving the Bolts a 4-3 lead. Later on, the Lightning just wouldn’t stop, as Stamkos fed Brayden Point in front of the net to make it 5-3 on Point’s league-leading 20th power play goal. Ryan McDonagh tallied an empty netter as insurance marker to complete scoring in a 6-3 win. Despite being on the second half of a back-to-back, and despite missing Gourde for much of the game, the Lightning helped Jon Cooper secure his 300th career win in the NHL in just his 500th career game.
The Lightning return to action on Saturday, March 23 in St. Louis when they take on the Blues at 8 pm.
Our Three Stars of the Game
3. Ryan Callahan: Scored the game-winning goal and tallied seven hits in his return to the lineup.
2. Steven Stamkos: Scored the first goal of the game and also added two assists.
1. Victor Hedman: Turned out to be the play-maker of the night, tallying three assists and making heads-up defensive plays to preserve the lead and the win.
