With two empty-net goals, Nikita Kucherov recorded his sixth career hat trick as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 to open the season. Kucherov ended up contributing to all four goals as he assisted on Brayden Point’s power-play goal in the second period before scoring a special team goal of his own in the third period. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20-of-21 shots to pick up his 294th career win.
Conor Geekie made his NHL debut and recorded one hit in 10:07 of ice time. Jake Guentzel recorded two assists (both on empty net goals by Kucherov) in his Lightning debut. JJ Moser, also making his Lightning debut played 18:54.
The Bolts ended up 2-for-6 on the power play while erasing all 4 of Carolina’s chances. Strong play in the first and third periods bookended a second period that the Canes controlled most of, but were unable to beat Vasilevskiy.
First Period:
18:02 First solid chance of the game comes from, who else, Nikita Kucherov as he jumps on a loose puck, but can’t beat Freddie Andersen. Kuch was on a line with Conor Geekie and Cam Atkinson as part of the 11/7 rotation. They quickly follow with a shot off the post, then Vasy has to come up big after Andrei Svechnikov was able to get around Ryan McDonagh.
14:56 The first power play of the year is under way for the Lightning as Shayne Gostisbehere goes off the ice for high-sticking. The first unit was deployed with Hedman, Darren Raddysh, Kucherov, Point, and Guentzel. They aren’t able to generate any real chances. The power play ends early as Hagel goes to the box for holding.
8:49 We head to the TV break still knotted at zeros. The Lightning penalty kill was very strong over the second half of the Carolina power play. They didn’t allow anything from a dangerous area and spent most of the last 30 seconds in the neutral zone or Carolina zone.
7:19 There is a delay on the ice as the Canes’ video monitors aren’t working on the bench per the ESPN crew. As they get back to action, Mitchell Chaffee with a strong move on net that Andersen keeps out.
5:28 The first goal of the game goes to Carolina as Jordan Staal puts home a wraparound pass from William Carrier. Felt that one coming after Hagel tried to skate his way out of trouble behind the net before losing the puck to Jordan Martinook. 1-0 Carolina Jordan Staal (William Carrier)
0:00 The last three minutes or so weren’t great for the Lightning. First, Jaccob Slavin got behind the defense on a breakaway that he fired wide. Then another turnover led to a three-on-one that JJ Moser broke up nicely. Vasy had to be sharp with a couple of nice shoulder saves to keep it 1-0. It was a really good first 15 minutes and then a pedestrian final 5 minutes.
Second Period:
17:39 Boos rain down as Sean Walker whacks the former Cane, Jake Guentzel, in the mouth and it will be another Lightning power play. Braydon Point scores! A nice passing play from Hedman to Kucherov starts it off. Kuch slipped it into Point, who went backhand, forehand and roofed it over Andersen. 1-1 Brayden Point (Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman) Power Play
12:11 The Lightning with a way too-casual icing after getting buried in their own end for several minutes. Zemgus Girgensons and Geekie failed to clear the puck, which led to Vasilevskiy having to put on a show.
7:32 After a couple of bumbling shifts, the Lightning have regrouped a little. The Svechnikov line is giving them fits, but Vasilevskiy has looked really sharp tonight. He’s made several blocker saves as the Canes look to go high on that side with a lot of their shots.
7:07 We’re at four-on-four as Seth Jarvis “slashes” Cernak’s stick on the face-off following McDonagh’s tripping penalty.
3:53 Conor Geekie with a nice feed to Atkinson in the slot, but the shot is deflected into the crowd. For a rookie, Geekie has had a solid game so far.
3:09 As he is checked to the ice, Chaffee trips up Jackson Blake and the Canes are back on the power play.
0:50 The Lightning kill off the penalty rather easily despite their first unit getting stuck on the ice for over a minute. Kucherov then slips through the defense and draws a slash from Brent Burns. Nick Paul comes close as a shot from the point hit him, but he couldn’t quite corral the loose puck to wrap it into the net.
Third Period:
18:17 The power play didn’t convert to start the period, but we saw a little more of what they want to do with the first unit. Raddysh had a snap shot from distance on the left side while Guentzel wheeled out from from the side of the net with a couple of stuff attempts.
16:37 The Canes are back to the power play as Emil Lilleberg is forced to hold Eric Robinson after the Carolina forward cut inside Nick Perbix.
15:03 Girgensons breaks up a play at the top of the zone and gets tripped as he breaks out. That’s a penalty and the teams are back to four-on-four. Carolina finally had a shot on net on their power play. Lightning aren’t able to get anything going on their portion of the power play.
9:00 Tony Two Goals is behind the defense, but his shot is blockered away. Dmitri Orlov heads to the box for hooking on the play.
8:54 Kucherov with the blast from distance! An absolute laser from the top of the right circle beats Andersen on the glove side. 2-1 Lightning Nikita Kucherov (Victor Hedman, Nick Paul) Power Play
4:42 With less than five minutes to play, the Lightning are going to see a lot of pressure from the Canes. So far in the third period, they’ve done a pretty good job of dampening Carolina’s charge. Now, be smart with the puck and bleed the clock.
2:19 The net is empty for the Canes. McDonagh doing McDonagh things as he blocks a pass and then blocks a shot. Carolina has had some possession, but they are choosing to fling the puck at the net from random spots.
2:07 Kucherov doesn’t mess around as he gathers the puck at his own blue line before whipping it down the ice and into the net. Guentzel will pick up an assist for his first Lightning point. A ho-hum three-point night for Kuch. 3-1 Lightning Nikita Kucherov (Jake Guentzel, Erik Cernak) Empty Net
0:16 Kucherov hangs out by the red line and gets the puck. He casually puts it into the net for his sixth career hat trick. Hedman finishes with three points and Guentzel gets another assist. 4-1 Lightning Nikita Kucherov (Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman) Empty Net
The Charts:
Game Thread Notes:
We’re going to try something new here this year. For games that we’re able to cover live (which should be most of them) we’re going to have a live game thread that is updated throughout the night. Once the game is over, it will become the recap for the night. Hopefully, it will spawn a little more interaction on the site while still allowing those who missed the game, the chance to see what happened in a coherent manner. Well, as coherent as anything is on this website.
It’ll also give us a chance to post some game notes that we might have missed in the preview as well as anything that might have happened in the morning skate. Without further adieu, let’s get to it!
Pregame:
The Lightning are going 11/7 to start the season. Eyssimont scratched as well as Conor Sheary. All of the defensemen draw in while Glendening centers Girgensons and Chaffee. Geekie will skate with Cam Atkinson.
We’ve got a rookie lap:
The lines from the Morning Skate:
Some notes from the Lightning about tonight’s game:
- Your leading scorers against the ‘Canes – Nikita Kucherov with 35 points (9 goals, 26 assists) in 26 games. Brayden Point has 14 goals in 27 games against Carolina.
- Newcomer Cam Atkinson has 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 43 games against the boys in red.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy is 13-5-3 with a 2.28 GAA and .929 SV% in his career.
- The two teams have met 144 times in the regular season with the Lightning having a 71-52-21 record.
- Ryan McDonagh’s next point will be his 100th as a Bolt. Welcome back Mack!
Coach Cooper talked to the press after the morning skate.
