.
In the intermission, the Canes took a breath, made a few adjustments and came out and played their game.
"Shift after shift, we played our own game," Aho said. "We competed hard. It was a good game by us, even though the start wasn't ideal."
Cedric Paquette got the Canes on the board about two-and-a-half minutes into the second period, and 62 seconds after that, the game was tied. By the time the two teams headed back into the locker room for the second intermission, the Canes had a 3-2 lead.
"The guys just kept playing. I was proud of the effort tonight," head coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "Whether we got the two points or not I thought it was just a solid game all around."
Cedric Paquette
Paquette is a role player, an important one for the Canes, as he provides a sandpaper element up front that was sorely missing before the team acquired him in February.
But, as seen in the last two games, he can also chip in offensively, sometimes even when the team needs it most.
Paquette slid a puck past an old teammate to get the Canes on the scoreboard in the first few minutes of the second period. As the Lightning tagged up on a delayed offside and rolled a line change, Brett Pesce made a quick play up the ice to Necas at the far blue line. Paquette snuck behind his old teammates to skate in on a breakaway and got just enough on his wrist shot. Vasilevskiy reached behind him in desperation, but by the time he got to the puck, it had just rolled over the goal line.