Recap: Canes Fall to Lightning

The Carolina Hurricanes were bested by the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-3 loss on Thursday in Raleigh.
The Hurricanes brought a one-goal advantage into the third period, but the Lightning scored four unanswered goals to win their league-leading 58th game of the season.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday night in Raleigh.

One
The Presidents' Trophy already belongs to the Lightning for a reason. They've proven they're one of the elite teams in the league.
The Hurricanes have been one of the league's best teams in 2019, and they gave the Bolts a good run, at least for 40 minutes.
"It was a good game for the first two [periods]. Everyone was engaged," Jordan Staal said. "Kind of fell off it in the third and let them creep back in."

"We pissed it away, and it's unacceptable," Justin Williams said.
"It wasn't good enough. When you play a team like that, everyone has to be dialed right in. We took a breath on a couple goals, and that's inexcusable," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We worked hard and had some opportunities, but not good enough against a team like that."
Two
The Hurricanes have lost just two games this season when leading after two periods. Thursday night's game was the second. The first? Jan. 10 … in Tampa.
In both games, the Canes got into penalty trouble in the final period, and that spells disaster against the league's top power-play team.
Down by a goal entering the final frame, the Lightning netted four unanswered goals, including an empty-net tally late, to claim victory. Anthony Cirelli tied the game in the opening minutes of the period when he finished off a nice pass from Steven Stamkos. About midway through the final frame, Ryan Callahan redirected a Victor Hedman point shot to stretch the visitors' lead to two.
"They had an emotional game last night. We should have been the ones in the third period to have the jump and push them out, but we didn't," Williams said. "They came back and do what they do: win games."
"It was not our style. That's frustrating. It's not what you want to see. We lost our tenacity and took a few penalties that killed us a bit," Staal said. "All in all, that third period was not what we wanted to see out of the group. We'll have to learn from it, put it aside and move forward."
Brayden Point's power-play marker at the 16:36 mark of the third, Tampa's second power-play goal of the game, was the back breaker.
"That's the game," Brind'Amour said. "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."
Three
Tampa Bay opened the scoring just 3:20 into the game, converting early on their first power play chance. Steven Stamkos was left alone at the left circle, and he made no mistake burying his shot.
The Canes knew they needed to stay out of the box against the Lightning's lethal power play, and they didn't. The Bolts then converted at a 40 percent clip on the man advantage (2-for-5).
"Best case scenario, you don't want to be in the box," Staal said. "Our PK has been good as of late. Tonight, wasn't our best. They move the puck well and do a good job of finding the opening wherever it is. We didn't close on them quick enough and take away their options."
"We needed to keep that game 5-on-5, and it got away from us on that end of it. They're too good," Brind'Amour said. "We weren't good tonight, and they're too good to not be good. Double whammy. We kind of got what we deserved, really, at the end of the day because they were the better team."
Four

The Hurricanes twice had leads in this game. Nino Niederreiter scored his 21st goal of the season at the 9:51 mark of the first period to even the score, and then not even two minutes later, it was Dougie Hamilton jumping on a rebound in between the circles to put his team ahead, 2-1.

In the second period, Staal netted an emphatic goal on a breakaway, getting Louis Domingue moving before slamming on the breaks and depositing the puck into the net. That gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 advantage early in the second period, which they carried into the third.

Five
The Canes can't afford injuries down the stretch of the season, and they seemed to have dodged two bullets.
In the first period, Yanni Gourde caught Staal with a dangerous shoulder-to-the-head check. Staal was slow to get up and immediately skated off to the room for the balance of the period before returning at the outset of the second period.

Gourde received a five-minute major and a match penalty for an illegal check to the head. It was a dangerous hit that has no place in this game. Though he was being slightly obstructed by Ryan Callahan, Staal's body positioning never changed. He was crouched and skating with the puck, and Gourde was watching him the whole way. Instead of playing the puck, which Staal was losing control of, Gourde recklessly played the body.
"It's a fast game, and things happen. Obviously, you never want to see those hits," said Staal, who missed 32 games this season with a concussion and its after effects. "I was fortunate enough to come out of it feeling all right."
"The hit on Jordo was really scary," Brind'Amour said. "Hits to the head are always scary, especially with the history. He seemed to bounce back pretty well. He had a pretty good game."
In the second period, Sebastian Aho and Niederreiter collided knee-on-knee. Aho looked to take the brunt of the impact, and he left the game before returning later in the period. Question marks may remain, though.
"We're still not sure how that's going to go," Brind'Amour said.
Up Next
The Hurricanes wrap up their homestand this weekend with a back-to-back set against Minnesota and Montreal.