Hurricanes defeat Lightning for split of back-to-back games

TAMPA -- Alex Nedeljkovic made 26 saves for the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.

Nino Niederreiter and Jordan Staal scored 25 seconds apart in the second period for the Hurricanes (30-10-5), who lost 3-2 in overtime here Monday and are 3-0-1 in their past four games.
"That was a 60-minute effort all the way through," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were just a little more invested in this game, probably they weren't. It was probably a reversal [from Monday]."
Brayden Point scored for the Lightning (30-14-2), who are 3-3-0 in their past six. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
"We gave up too much," Point said. "'Vasy' made some great saves. It's [defensive] zone stuff. If you're giving up four a night, it's tough to win games. Lots to clean up in the D-zone."
The Hurricanes are tied with the Florida Panthers for first place in the eight-team Discover Central Division, three points ahead of the Lightning, who are in third, 11 points ahead of the fourth-place Nashville Predators. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"All these games now, they mean a lot," Nedeljkovic said. "We're poised here to make a deep run, and games like this are only going to push us in the right direction. We'll most likely have to go through these guys one way or another come playoff time, so any time you can kind of beat 'em a little bit and at least I think we evened up the series with them for the year (each team is 4-3-1)."
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said, "We split against Florida (3-2 overtime win Thursday, 5-3 loss Saturday), we split against Carolina, and unfortunately we gave them points in the two that we won. We got a good look at two teams that lead the division and we know we can play with. We've just got to be more consistent."

Niederreiter put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0 at 7:48 of the second with a shot from the high slot off a pass from Vincent Trocheck.
"It was a terrific pass," Niederreiter said. "I had a lot of speed on that play, and he found me perfectly. I was glad to get the goal."
Staal made it 2-0 at 8:13 when he tipped Dougie Hamilton's shot. Niederreiter had an assist for his first multipoint game since March 4, a span of 22 games.
Steven Lorentz extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:45 with a shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle off a backhand pass from the right corner by Morgan Geekie.
"I think there was a little more at stake here tonight," Lorenz said. "I think our group did a really good job of bouncing back today, and I'm really proud of the way we responded. Once we got on the board, we kind of got energized … and we put a couple more by a really good goaltender in Vasilevskiy. So we're very proud of the way we responded tonight, and we're very happy taking 3 of 4 (points) from Tampa."

Point made it 3-1 at 17:09 of the second when he redirected a centering pass from Ondrej Palat on the rush for his Lightning-leading 20th goal. He has scored a goal in three straight games and four out of five.
"I thought they were just quicker than us," Point said. "They were quicker to pucks, quicker to get on top of us … didn't give us much time and space. I think that's it. They were winning races, and it resulted in a lot more zone time for them."
Jordan Martinook scored an empty-net goal with three seconds remaining for the 4-1 final.
"We didn't do quite as good of a job skating," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said. "Obviously, there's a hole in the offense right now (with forward Steven Stamkos out with a lower-body injury), and guys like myself and other guys need to start stepping up and carrying the load."
Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei left the game at 3:15 of the second period with an upper-body injury. Brind'Amour said he is concerned Skjei may have a concussion following a hit by Coleman with 1:39 left in the first.