Lightning use power play to defeat Hurricanes

TAMPA -- Brian Boyle and Jonathan Drouin scored power-play goals in the first period to help the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning (19-15-4), and Nikita Kucherov had two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for his 10th win of the season.

Tampa Bay is 4-0-1 in its past five home games.
WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Lightning highlights
Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina (16-13-7), and Cam Ward made 22 saves.
Boyle scored his 10th goal of the season at 7:35. He was in front of the net and was able to gather the rebound off a slap shot from Kucherov and beat Ward on the put-back.
The Lightning made it 2-0 on Drouin's goal at 19:50.

"I think we executed, first of all, had a shooting mentality, and that first goal was a typical example, hit a stick, get a rebound, and Boyle was right there," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "Then the 5-on-3 that turned into a 5-on-4, so just having that shooting mentality helped a lot, and that was the bottom line."
Killorn gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead at 13:22 of the second period with his 12th goal of the season. Matthew Peca carried the puck along the boards and passed it to Killorn, who beat Ward with a backhand flip to the near post.
"They have a great [penalty kill], and for us to get two goals was a huge momentum boost for our team," Killorn said. "I think we could be better throughout the full game. I think our starts is something that's been missing and I think [Saturday] we did a good job having a great start."
Aho scored 1:58 after Killorn when he beat Vasilevskiy on a breakaway.
"I think we were playing back-to-back, and [when] you come out on the road you have to build a game, especially when the other team is fresh," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. "It would have been nice to be able to have the opportunity the build a game a little more 5-on-5. Unfortunately we didn't kill the penalties that were assessed and we fell behind the eight ball."

Hurricanes equipment manager Jorge Alves, signed to a professional tryout contract Saturday to be the emergency goalie, played the final 7.6 seconds.
"It was obviously a big day for him," Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said. "He's worked hard for us, he's been at practice a lot and taken a lot of high heat from us. He deserved a day like that."

Goal of the game

The Hurricanes threatened several times in the second period before Aho capitalized by going to the five-hole to beat Vasilevskiy. "I think [Aho's] comfort level has risen," Peters said. "That line was very good."

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Save of the game

Lightning center Tyler Johnson forced a turnover and had a shorthanded breakaway opportunity but Ward made the stop at 13:53 of the first period.

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Unsung performance of the game

Peca got his first NHL point with the assist on Killorn's goal. He had 12:05 of ice time on 19 shifts and won four of eight faceoffs.

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Highlight of the game

Drouin scored on a low wrist shot from the top of the left circle with 10 seconds remaining in the first period.

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They said it

"When I did realize it was going to happen it was kind of disbelief. For years it's always been kind of a joke around the locker room that I might go in. That was an amazing experience." -- Hurricanes equipment manager Jorge Alves on his time as a goalie

"I think there was a point there when [Ben Bishop] went down, I think [Vasilevskiy] might have been feeling a little bit of the weight of the world on him that now [he's] got to carry this team, and that's not the case at all. We have to carry the team, and all he has to do if we do break down is try and bail us out when he can." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Alves led the Hurricanes on the ice for warmups but the rest of the team waited about 15 seconds to join him. "Yeah, I definitely didn't see that coming," Alves said. "I don't know how I missed that. But I took a little wheel around and looked over and said 'all right'." Alves was also seen sharpening skates and taping sticks during the first period while in full goalie gear. ... Boyle left in the second period with a lower-body injury.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-SE, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, TSN3, NHL.TV)