In order to snap their season-long four-game losing streak, the Lightning needed to navigate through a tight-checking, closely contested game against a quality opponent. They did it, thanks to strong defensive work in all three periods and a dazzling play made in the third period’s final minute.
Let’s start at the end. As the third period neared its conclusion, the line of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, and Jake Guentzel came out for an offensive-zone faceoff. Point had struggled on draws for much of the evening, but with 1:11 remaining in the third, he won the faceoff against Jordan Staal. Moments later, Point had a Grade-A scoring chance in the low slot that Pyotr Kochetkov stopped. The Hurricanes cleared the zone, but Victor Hedman fired it back in. Near the left circle, Guentzel collected the puck as it came around the boards. He rimmed it back to the other side of the ice, where Kucherov took it off the wall and centered it to Point. Point played the puck on his forehand as he moved through the low slot. He stickhandled to his backhand and then back to his forehand before spinning and shooting it past Kochetkov’s stick. Point’s goal at 19:08 snapped a 2-2 tie and was the game-winner.
It was a dramatic finish to a tense contest. Both the Lightning and Hurricanes battled to limit opposition time and space, so open looks were hard to come by. Both clubs had segments in which they carried play. The Lightning owned most of the possession in the first period and scored the only goal of the frame. Darren Raddysh held in a Carolina clearing attempt at the blue line and, with Brandon Hagel open in front, backhanded the puck toward the net. Kochetkov stopped the first shot and Hagel’s rebound attempt. But Hagel got the puck again and snapped in the third shot of the sequence at 16:38.
In the second period, the Hurricanes spent more time in the offensive zone, recording 15 shots on net. They evened the score off a Staal offensive-zone faceoff win. Andrei Svechnikov stepped to the slot and took a backhand shot that fluttered off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove and in the net at 6:31. But less than three minutes later, the Lightning regained the lead. Just as a power play was expiring, Raddysh took a center-point shot that hit off Carolina defenseman Sean Walker and caromed to Nick Paul at the side of the net. Paul slammed it in at 9:17.
The third period was the inverse of the first. Carolina pressed throughout the frame and held a big possession advantage. Credit the Lightning for keeping the scoring chance number low, however. They defended tenaciously without the puck, limiting both shots and attempts. The Hurricanes did tie the game off another Staal faceoff win — Brent Burns fired a point shot that Staal deflected past Vasilevskiy at 9:56. But the Staal goal was one of only seven Carolina shots on net in the frame. Still, the Lightning were forced to spend much of the final 10 minutes in their own zone, battling to keep the game tied.
With 1:34 left, there was a faceoff at center ice. The Lightning had a tough time in the circle during the game, winning just 42 percent. It was a faceoff-heavy contest. There were 78 faceoffs taken on the night, including 30 in both the second and third periods. But beginning with that center-ice faceoff at 18:26, the Lightning won three draws in a row against Staal. Paul’s faceoff win allowed the Lightning to get the puck into the Carolina end, and the ‘Canes iced the puck. Paul won the ensuing draw and soon after, Raddysh’s point shot was deflected out of play. That set up another o-zone faceoff, and Jon Cooper sent out Point’s line for the shift that culminated in the winning goal.
This was a grind-it-out, tough game. In the third period, the Lightning, who were coming off a cross-country flight the day before, had to dig deep to successfully withstand Carolina’s surge. They gamed it out and were rewarded with two important points in the standings.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
- Darren Raddysh — Lightning. Two assists.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 30 saves.
- Jordan Staal — Hurricanes. Goal and assist.
