Lightning eliminate Hurricanes in Game 5 of Stanley Cup Second Round

RALEIGH, N.C.-- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes with a 2-0 win in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Second Round at PNC Arena on Tuesday.

Vasilevskiy is the first goalie to end three straight Stanley Cup Playoff series with a shutout. He made 22 saves in a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, and 29 saves in a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the first round. They are his only three playoff shutouts.
"The road is a tough place to win, and you've got to tip your hat to the guys," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "They won three games in this building, and it's not easy. A big thing is experience. We've been down this road, there's a formula in place and you need the players to execute. I'm proud of them and I'm proud of their effort."
Brayden Point and Ross Colton scored for the Lightning, the defending Stanley Cup champions and No. 3 seed in the Discover Central Division. They will play the Boston Bruins or New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. The Islanders can advance by winning Game 6 of that best-of-7 series Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Alex Nedeljkovic made 23 saves for the Hurricanes, the No. 1 seed.
"Our talent is close, right? But clearly, we got beat in the talent area," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "The big areas, the power plays, the penalty kills, that's the area where we have to get better. We were good all year but when you get up against the best, that's a great comparison, right? To see, 'OK, well, that's how it's done.'
"That's my biggest takeaway right now. But again, They're a great team for a reason. There's no weaknesses. They've got the best goalie in the world, got the best couple of players in the world, they're stacked everywhere and they have great coaching. They don't miss a beat. So they have it all."
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:06 of the second period. Point took a pass from Alex Killorn and faked to his forehand before lifting a backhand near the left post.
"I go to the forehand and the goalie's got me, and I make a move to the backhand," Point said. "I think it's just kind of a reaction. I don't think I'm thinking too much on it."

The goal came 48 seconds after Vasilevskiy reached to make a glove save on Vincent Trocheck's redirection at the right post with Carolina shorthanded.
"I tried to get across as fast as possible," Vasilevskiy said. "[Trocheck] made a good shot. It was kind of awkward, a knuckleball. I think I touched it with my glove. After that save, we scored. So we helped each other."
Point credited Vasilevskiy for bailing out the power-play unit.
"He's done that a lot for us this year," Point said. "It was a pretty messy power play. They were all over us, pressuring us hard, giving us a lot of fits. We get one chance and we were able to make it count. Just another great game for 'Vasy' tonight."
The Hurricanes outshot the Lightning 21-15 through two periods.
"You're trying to close a team out, they played fantastic," Point said. "I think that game could have gone either way. We were lucky to get that one."
Colton capitalized on a turnover in the neutral zone by Steven Lorentz to make it 2-0 at 9:04 of the third period. The forward gathered a loose puck and skated in for a short-side wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

The Lightning had 22 blocked shots, including a game-high five by defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.
"It was a great effort by our guys, blocking shots, getting in lanes, not letting them go east-west and shoot one-timers," Sergachev said. "Guys were really locked in, and Vasy was locked in as always."
The Hurricanes, who have qualified for the playoffs for three straight seasons, are 2-12 in the three series when they've been eliminated.
"We have to be better," Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. "We got beat in a lot of different aspects of that series. I think throughout the lineup, including myself, there are guys who need to be better and we need to be more committed to our system and play stronger. I think we're right there, we're very close, but a very good team obviously got the better of us."
NOTES: Carolina defenseman Brett Pesce left the game at 12:50 of the third period after a hit by Tampa Bay forward Ondrej Palat, who was called for an illegal check to the head. … The Hurricanes gave up the first goal four times in the series and in nine of 11 playoff games. The Nashville Predators scored first in five of six games in the first round. Carolina won both games when it scored first. … Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter, who missed the first four games of the series with an upper-body injury, had two hits in 17:48 of ice time. Trocheck returned after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury. The forward had two shots on goal, two hits and a blocked shot in 20:58. … Tampa Bay was 1-for-2 on the power play and finished the series 7-for-16 (46.7 percent).