Despite holding a one-goal lead going into the third period, the Carolina Hurricanes fell 6-3 to the NHL’s top team in the Tampa Bay Lightning at PNC Arena Thursday night.
Forwards Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Staal and defenseman Dougie Hamilton scored for the Hurricanes (40-26-7). Goalie Curtis McElhinney stopped 27 of 32 Lightning shots on net. Special teams were a major culprit in this one, as the Canes went 0 for 3 on the power play while Tampa went 2 for 5.
“That’s the game,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We knew going in. You watch it every game they play. If you turn it into a special teams game you’re probably not going to win those too many times against them. That’s basically what happened.”
The Canes took a 3-2 lead into the third period, but the Lightning scored four times in the final frame for the comeback win. Tampa Bay tied the game 3:35 into the third period; forward Anthony Cirelli took a cross-ice pass from forward Steven Stamkos and outmuscled Teravainen for the tap-in to make it 3-3 on a 4-on-4 situation.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Brind’Amour said. “If you’re going to play a team like that, everybody has to be dialed right. In. We took a breath on a couple goals; that’s inexcusable. A guy’s tapping in plays on the back door when you’re right there and you’re not there. That can’t happen. We worked hard. We had some opportunities, but not good enough against a team like that.”
The Lightning took a 4-3 lead with 9:51 to play as forward Ryan Callahan tipped in a point shot from defenseman Victor Hedman. Lightning forward Brayden Point gave his team some insurance with a power-play goal that made it 5-3 with 3:24 left, and defenseman Ryan McDonagh sealed it ith an empty netter with 1:05 left.
“I don’t know what it was,” forward and team captain Justin Williams said. “We pissed it away and it’s unacceptable.”
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead a little over three minutes in. After an interference penalty to Niederreiter, the league’s best power play converted, as a wide-open Stamkos zipped a shot past McElhinney from the left circle.
“We needed to keep the game 5 on 5 and it got away from us on that end of it,” Brind’Amour said. “They’re too good. We weren’t good tonight, and they’re too good to not be good if you know what I mean. So that’s a double whammy. We got what we deserved, really, at the end of the day, because they were the better team.”
The Canes tied it about halfway through the first on a slick play by the top line; Niederreiter took a backhand feed from forward Sebastian Aho, cut open between the circles and fired a wrister through a screen from Williams to make it 1-1.
The Canes took a 2-1 lead just 1:19 later; rookie forward Andrei Svechnikov cut to the net and had the puck knocked away, but Hamilton was trailing the play and snapped a shot over Tampa Bay goalie Louis Domingue’s glove to put Carolina up 2-1.
With 5:51 left in the first period, the Canes got a scare when Staal, who missed over two months with a concussion earlier this season was hit in the head by Lightning forward Yanni Gourde. Gourde was given a five-minute major and match penalty, ejecting him from the game. The team was able to take a breath of relief, however; as Staal only missed the rest of the first period and returned to the game.
“It is what it is,” Staal said. “I haven’t really watched it or seen it. But you know, it’s a fast game, things happen. Obviously you never want to see those hits. I was fortunate enough to come out of it feeling all right.”
The Lightning tied the game at two with 25 seconds left in the first; forward Tyler Johnson swept a rebound over McElhinney on the doorstep.
The Canes got another scare in the second period when Aho and Niederreiter inadvertently collided knee on knee. The team dodged another bullet, however; as Niederreiter stayed in the game and Aho returned after a brief trip to the locker room.
Just after Aho and Niederreiter’s accident, Staal gave the team a jolt of energy with a breakaway goal off a stretch pass from forward Teuvo Teravainen on a 4-on-4 sequence that put Carolina up 3-2. Defenseman Brett Pesce earned the secondary assist on Staal’s goal to set a new single-season career high with 19.
“It was a good game for the first two,” Staal said. “I thought everyone was engaged and it kind of fell off in the third. We kind of let them creep back in. The PK could have been better. The faceoffs … There was a few things that we weren’t quite engaged fully and they obviously have the talent to burn if you take your foot off the gas.”
The loss, coupled with a win by the Montreal Canadiens, reduces the Canes’ lead on the second wild card to two points, although Carolina does hold a game in hand on Montreal. The Canes trail the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division by four points, but hold two games in hand. Carolina leads the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first team outside the playoff picture, by three points with a game in hand.
Carolina will continue this five-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild Saturday.
