Lightning drop preseason opener to Carolina

In the first preseason game of the 2023-24 season, the Tampa Bay Lightning opened the scoring with a goal from Alex Barre-Boulet, but eventually fell 5-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

The Lightning faced a test early in the opening period when Gage Goncalves was sent off for holding just 2:44 into the game, but in the first special teams opportunity of the night, Tampa Bay came out on top and successfully killed off the penalty to get back to even strength.

Then, with 5:11 left in the first, it was the Bolts turn on the power play when Brendan Perlini was whistled for slashing Tanner Jeannot in the Carolina zone. With a first unit of Darren Raddysh, Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul, Conor Sheary and Barre-Boulet, the Lightning opened the scoring 50 seconds into the man advantage with Barre-Boulet netting the first goal of Tampa Bay’s preseason.

Taking a pass from Raddysh near the top of the right circle, Barre-Boulet calmly skated into the high slot and wired a perfect shot over the blocker of Frederik Andersen and into the top left corner to make it a 1-0 game with 4:21 left in the first. Sheary picked up the secondary assist on the goal.

“It’s always good to get that one out of the way,” said Barre-Boulet. “At the same time, it’s preseason. It was a power-play goal. I’ve got to focus on the five-on-five play first, but it’s good for confidence.

“The first game is always the hardest. You have to remember all the systems that you practice during camp. You play with a lot of new guys. But I think we did good.

“Obviously I played with Jeannot and Paul the first two scrimmages, so I think our chemistry was pretty good tonight.”

The Bolts quickly saw the 1-0 lead vanish when Japlen Halbgewachs jumped on a loose puck in front and jammed it past Hugo Alnefelt to tie the game just eight seconds after the Barre-Boulet goal.

Two minutes and 13 seconds later, the Lightning quickly found themselves trailing when Caleb Jones floated a shot from the point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with two minutes left in the first.

After failing to score on two chances with the man advantage in the second period, the Bolts surrendered a third goal to Carolina when Tony DeAngelo hammered a slap shot past Alnefelt to make it 3-1 with 3:13 left in the middle frame.

Going into the third period in a two-goal hole, Tampa Bay got caught in a line change early and allowed Noel Gunler to get in all alone before beating Alnefelt to the glove side to make it 4-1 with 15:48 left in regulation.

But just as Carolina responded quickly when Tampa Bay opened the scoring in the first, the Bolts answered with a goal from Sheary just 1:16 after Gunler made it 4-1.

Working to maintain possession in the offensive zone, Hagel sent a pass to the point for Raddysh, who quickly fired a wrist shot towards the net where Sheary was waiting to redirect the puck past Pyotr Kochetkov and make it 4-2 with 14:32 remaining.

“It’s always good to see a puck go in,” Sheary said. “Coming to a new team, you want to get that first one out of the way. I know it’s preseason, but it definitely feels good to score. I didn’t know I had an assist, so that’s nice.”

Skating on a line with Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, Sheary’s style of play meshed well with the two forwards that have a knack for hounding pucks and forcing turnovers in the offensive zone.

“I think it’s tough when you’re playing your first game and Shears did a heck of a job,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. “He’s got a motor himself. Your first one’s always tough because in practice, you’re playing your own teammates. It’s much different than when you’re playing against opponents.

“As this game went on, I thought everybody got better. As for Shears in his first game with us, he was great. There’s so much more time left in this preseason. It’s great for these guys to get their feet wet. You want to come away with a W. There’s no question about that. But if you keep up that effort a lot of the guys gave tonight, we’ll be OK.”

While Tampa Bay continued to push in an effort to tie the game, the deficit was too much to overcome after Kieffer Bellows jumped on a rebound in front of the Lightning net and jammed it past Alnefelt to make it 5-2 with 12:20 remaining.

That score would hold until the sound of the final buzzer, despite the Bolts finishing the game with a 28-24 shot advantage over the Canes.

“It’s going to say 5-2 against us, but I didn’t think we deserved that result,” Cooper said. “Just some unfortunate plays. A tough change and one ends up in the back of our net. None of the guys were meaning for that to happen.

“Another tough bounce and the puck’s in the net. But other than that, our guys tried. They tried to do the things we asked of them. As that game went on, I thought the ice was tilting in our favor.

“We had chances. We just lacked a little finish tonight. But I liked the way the guys responded. Every time we kind of got knocked down, they came right back. That’s a good sign for a lot of those guys in that room.”

The Lightning will travel back to Tampa Tuesday night before jumping right back on a plane Wednesday afternoon for a flight to Nashville and an 8 p.m. ET matchup against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Fans can stream the contest live at NHL.com/Lightning.