The Carolina Hurricanes were defeated 4-2 by the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday night in a see-saw affair at PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes (27-23-10) played a strong overall game and at times looked to clearly be the better team, but ultimately taking five penalties came back to haunt them as the Lightning’s (33-22-4) best player came through in the clutch.
“It was a tight game. It was a good game,” Carolina captain Eric Staal said. “It was physical, up tempo and tight. There wasn’t a lot of room on either side. [It was] unfortunate to give one up in the third to get their lead, but we had enough looks after that to tie it up.”
As they have in three of their last four games, the Hurricanes jumped out to a lead in the first period, thanks to the team’s second shorthanded goal of the season.
Carolina forward Jordan Staal found himself on a 2-on-1 rush into the Lightning zone after getting ahold of a loose puck in his own end. Staal placed a beautiful pass over the sticks of two Tampa Bay backcheckers, to teammate Joakim Nordstrom, who backhanded the puck past Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.
“I thought I held it long enough where [Bishop] might thought I was gonna shoot it,” Jordan Staal said. “I was fortunate enough Nordy did a great job of finding the back of the net.”
Things took off offensively in the second period, starting with a Lightning goal from a name familiar to many in the Raleigh area.
Tampa Bay forward J.T. Brown, the son of the legendary NC State football running back and ACC all-time leading rusher Ted Brown, tied the game as a point shot deflected through traffic, and found its way on his tape while alone in front of the net.
Just a few minutes later, the Lightning took the lead on a slapshot blast from forward Ryan Callahan. Canes netminder Cam Ward had a good look at the shot, but was simply beaten cleanly on the short side, over his glove.
It took the Canes less than five minutes to respond and make it a tie game once again. Carolina defensemen Michal Jordan left Bishop without any chance of making a save, after pinching in from his defensive position and quickly circling behind the net to the far side for an easy goal.
On a night where the Hurricanes took five total penalties, it was the one that led to the Lightning’s fourth and final power play that proved to be costly.
With less than six minutes in the final period, Carolina penalty killers lost track of Lightning forward Steven Stamkos — one of the most dangerous goal scorers in the league. Stamkos was left all alone in the slot where he ripped the game-winning goal past Ward.
“It was a bad penalty by myself,” Jordan Staal said. “They capitalized on it. I thought we had, still, a lot of chances to tie it up again, and we just couldn’t get it.”
Despite a fleury of quality chances in the final five minutes, the Canes were unable to beat Bishop to tie the game.
Callahan added his second goal of the game on an empty net in the final seconds to seal a 4-2 win for Tampa Bay.
“We’re gonna have to learn how to get on the right side of (tight games),” Eric Staal said. “We’ve gotta find a way to get on the right side of it the next time.”
