In their second-to-last game in March — and final game in a stretch against Stanley Cup Contenders — the Carolina Hurricanes put up a goose egg against the Tampa Bay Lightning, losing 4-0 on Tuesday, March 28 in PNC Arena.
The Hurricanes have now been shut out three times this month, while in all other games this season have only been blanked twice. The well-oiled machine that was the Carolina Hurricanes has seemingly hit a roadblock right in front of the opposing team’s net.
Just by looking at the scorecard, you may think that Carolina was not in this game at all, but the tape will show that the Hurricanes were playing better for the majority of the game, if not all of it. Whether because of a black cat or a broken mirror, the Canes are downright unlucky and can’t find the back of the net.
The majority of the Canes’ chances came in the third period after going into the final frame down 2-0. In the middle of the third, defenseman Jalen Chatfield missed a wide-open goal right on the doorstep, which perfectly summed up the Hurricanes’ struggles in one play.
Carolina got off to the start it normally has. Putting in good forecheck after forecheck, they were creating good chances from the rip, but nothing was finding the net. In the first period, left wing Jordan Martinook found himself one-on-one with Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. However, Vasilevskiy bested him with his blocker, sending the puck away from danger.
Vasilevskiy and center Brayden Point carried the Lightning to a win, stealing two points away from the Canes — who need more if they want to win the Metropolitan Division. Standing on his head the entire game, Vasilevskiy made no mistakes. Even when things got dicey around the net, he always found a way to make crucial stops.
Point also got two important goals to lift his team to victory. The first came in the second period when he shot the puck from below the goal line and banked it in off the back of Canes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov’s pad. Just as Carolina was building some momentum in the third period and hunting for its first goal, in the blink of an eye, Point got away from Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns and fired one past the glove of Kochetkov, hitting the back bar.
It has been nothing but disappointing for many Canes fans this past month with the team’s goal-scoring abilities seeming to vanish into thin air, especially since the team hasn’t been significantly worse in terms of its play.
In the playoffs, the only thing that counts are wins and losses. It doesn’t matter if you win by eight goals or take eight overtime periods to get the winning goal — you need 16 wins to win the Stanley Cup.
From now on, the Hurricanes will have a far easier schedule to finish off the season than they had the past several weeks. These games will be of the utmost importance as they are still fighting with the New Jersey Devils for first place in the Metro and will look to regain some confidence against weaker opponents.
Injuries are continuing to plague the wingers of Carolina as another injury occurred late in the second period when right wing Stefan Noesen went to the locker room after a hip-to-hip collision with Tampa Bay left wing Nicholas Paul. Noesen was listed as doubtful to return to the game with a lower-body injury and never came back on the ice. He has been a productive goal-scorer on the fourth line this year, so if he is out long-term it will be a devastating blow to a team who needs depth scoring as of late.
The Hurricanes will look to find a much-needed win against the Detroit Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m.
