After its wild and disappointing one goal loss to the San Jose Sharks at the Forum on Saturday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning went on the road the next day and defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 in a Sunday evening matinee.
With the win, the Lightning are once again tied (for the moment) with the Bruins for the Atlantic Division lead.
The Lightning were on the board first when defensemen Mark Barberio scored the first goal of his career on the power play at 6:09 of the first period. Barberio scored one more time; his goal at 8:12 of the second period gave Tampa Bay its second three-goal lead of the evening.
Goaltender Ben Bishop was peppered by Carolina skaters until the horn went off to end the game, but he commanded the net by making 48 saves on the 51 shots he faced. Bishop’s 48 saves sets a franchise record. The 51 shots by the Hurricanes also sets a franchise record for the Lightning (most shots faced), however, Tampa Bay defenders stepped up by blocking an additional 28 shots.
In the past two days, Bishop has faced 83 shots while making 75 saves.
Despite being outshot, Tampa Bay took a commanding 3-0 lead with 4:53 left in the first period as Nikita Kucherov scored from the front of the net. After letting three goals in on seven shots, Carolina replaced Justin Peters with Anton Khoubodin in net.
Forward Teddy Purcell scored :24 seconds into the second period, extending the Lightning’s lead to four goals. With the goal, Purcell is the Bolts’ eighth skater to score 10 points this season. No team has that many skaters in the double digit goal category.
Less than two minutes after Purcell’s goal, Hurricanes forward Alexander Semin scored on the man advantage, cutting the Lightning’s lead to 4-1. With more offensive pressure, Carolina cut Tampa Bay’s lead to two goals at 5:40 of the second period when Eric Staal scored an unassisted goal.
At 8:12 of the second period, Barberio’s high-slot blast gave the Lightning another three goal lead.
The Hurricanes scored the only goal of the third period as Ron Hainsey scored at 6:14.
Game notes:
–Ondrej Palat had a three point night with one goal and two assists.
-Sunday’s 5-3 win over Carolina marks the fifth game in seven nights for Tampa Bay.
-Mark Barberio scored his first and second goals of his career on Sunday night against the Hurricanes. No NHL player has scored his first two goals of his career in the same game since Los Angeles Kings forward, Slava Voynov in 2011.
-With an assist on Tampa Bay’s second goal (scored by Ondrej Palat), Tyler Johnson sits one point behind Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon for the points lead among rookies. Johnson has 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists).
-Marty St. Louis’s assist puts him on an eight game points streak (eight goals, four assists) which is the longest streak in the league.
– Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop is now 4-0-0 against the Hurricanes in his career.
–Victor Hedman did not travel to Raleigh; he exited the third period and suffered an ankle injury on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks.
