Another night and another effort from the Tampa Bay Lightning that just wasn’t good enough. An inability to sustain offensive pressure early in the game led to a 4-0 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes. To add sadness to misery, Nikita Kucherov missed the game due to an illness and Erik Cernak went to the locker room in the second period and didn’t return after suffering an apparent upper-body injury.
The Lightning started with a little jam in their game as Tanner Jeannot dropped the gloves with Michael Bunting less than three minutes into the game and then Luke Glendening was sent to join him in the penalty box a few minutes later he picked up a roughing call in front of Pytor Kochetkov’s net. Which was really the only action in front of the young Russian’s net for most of the game.
With Glendening in the box it didn’t take long for Carolina to take the lead as Teuvo Teravainen one-timed a nice pass from Sebastian Aho to beat Jonas Johannsson easily. There was a little pressure from the Lightning following the goal, but a lot of their shots came from distance and Kochetkov was able to swallow them up to prevent rebounds or second chances.
As the period (and game) wore on, Carolina kept foiling the Lightning’s offense. They took away the middle of the ice in the neutral zone, preventing Tampa Bay’s ability to complete the diagonal passes they prefer to gain entry into the offensive zone. With that taken away, the Lightning did try to dump the puck in and retrieve, but Carolina was first to the puck and able to clear easily.
Not only did that keep the Lightning from getting any type of cycle game going, they also ended up chasing the puck for most of the second period. When your forwards are caught in deep trying to forecheck, they have to skate hard to backcheck and often overcommit to getting back.
That led to the second Carolina goal as Aho was able to stay open for a rebound when the Lightning weren’t able to get set after turning the puck over in the offensive zone. They were skating hard all night, just not with the puck. Against a team like Carolina, that’s not a path to success.
Down two goals going into the third period (and without Erik Cernak, who appeared to tweak something after getting checked into the boards) there was a little push, but Carolina continued to get their sticks in the way of passes and disrupted the Bolts offense. Tampa Bay did have two power plays in the final frame, but really didn’t generate much as they were credited with just one shot attempt in four minutes.
Following one of those power plays, they were a bit lax in their backcheck and Brent Burns coasted to an open spot on the far post. Brady Skjei was able to center it to him and the veteran tapped it home, virtually ending any hope the Lightning had at coming back. Stefan Noesen added an extra goal as he deflected one past Johannsson, who finished with 28 saves, to cap the scoring.
The Bolts finish 0-2 on their brief homestand and will look to get back on the winning side in St. Louis on Tuesday.
The Lines
The Goals
Teuvo Teravainen (Sebastian Aho, Martin Necas) Power Play, 1-0 Hurricanes
Sebastian Aho (Andrei Svechnikov, Jaccob Slavin) 2-0 Hurricanes
Stefan Noesen (Michael Bunting, Brent Burns) 4-0 Hurricanes
