It’s the perfect storm for meteorologists that also like hockey as the Tampa Bay Lightning took Game 1 on the road against the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1, at PNC Arena on Sunday.
Barclay Goodrow scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period as Andrei Vasilevskiy (5-2, 2.41 goals-against average, .936 save percentage in seven games played) made 37 saves on 38 shots against in the win for Tampa.
Carolina netminder, Alex Nedeljkovic (4-3, 2.20 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in seven games played) stopped 28 out of 30 shots faced in the loss.
David Savard (upper body) was out of the lineup for the Lightning, while Nino Niederreiter (undisclosed) was not available for the Hurricanes in Game 1.
Rod Brind’Amour told reporters after Sunday’s game that Niederreiter might be out for the entire series against Tampa.
Meanwhile, these two clubs are meeting for the first time in a Stanley Cup Playoff series.
Midway through the opening frame, the Bolts botched a line change and had too many skaters on the ice, yielding a bench minor for exactly that– sending Pat Maroon to the box to serve the infraction– and presenting Carolina with the game’s first power play at 9:13 of the first period.
The Hurricanes, however, did not convert on the ensuing advantage.
Nor did the Canes find the back of the net on the following power play at 14:45 as Nikita Kucherov cut a rut to the penalty box for tripping Sebastian Aho.
After one period of action in Raleigh, the score remained tied, 0-0, while the Hurricanes outshot the Lightning, 15-12.
Carolina held the advantage in giveaways (3-2), while Tampa dominated in just about everything else, including blocked shots (4-3), hits (18-13) and faceoff win percentage (63-37).
Both teams had two takeaways each as the Lightning had yet to see time on the power play and the Hurricanes were 0/2.
Brock McGinn caught Mikhail Sergachev with a high stick to kickoff the second period with a power play for the Bolts at 6:56.
Late in the ensuing skater advantage, Victor Hedman sent a shot pass to Brayden Point (5) for the redirection through Nedeljkovic’s five-hole from point blank to give Tampa a, 1-0, lead at 8:15 of the second period.
Hedman (9) and Kucherov (9) notched the assists on Point’s power-play goal as the Bolts got on the board first.
Less than a minute later, Tampa was back on the power play as former Lightning forward, turned current Hurricanes player, Cedric Paquette, was penalized for interference at 8:56.
Tampa’s power play didn’t last long, however, as Kucherov cross checked McGinn at 10:11 and presented both teams with 46 seconds of 4-on-4 action before an abbreviated power play for Carolina.
Neither team managed to score on the ensuing special teams play and the Lightning got one more chance on the skater advantage late in the middle frame when Dougie Hamilton tripped Point at 15:06.
In the dying minute of the middle frame, Blake Coleman tripped Jordan Martinook and was sent to the box at 19:47 as a result.
Through 40 minutes of action, the Lightning led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite Carolina holding a, 26-21, advantage in shots on goal, including an, 11-9, advantage in the second period alone.
The Hurricanes led in blocked shots (14-9), takeaways (6-5) and giveaways (7-6) after two periods, while Tampa led in hits (32-23) and faceoff win% (55-45).
The Bolts were 1/3 and the Canes were 0/4 on the power play entering the second intermission.
Carolina started the final frame with 1:48 left on the power play and used all but about seven seconds of it to wire one into the back of the net.
Jake Bean played catch with Andrei Svechnikov as Svechnikov tossed the puck back to Bean (1) for the shot past Vasilevskiy’s blocker side while Jesper Fast acted as a screen in front of the net.
Svechnikov (3) and Fast (2) had the assists on Bean’s first career Stanley Cup Playoffs goal as the Hurricanes tied things up, 1-1, at 1:41 of the third period.
Midway through the period, Anthony Cirelli got a stick up high on Vincent Trocheck and was assessed a minor infraction at 8:04 of the third period.
Carolina couldn’t score on the ensuing skater advantage, however.
Moments later, Goodrow (1) beat Nedeljkovic on the short side as the Canes netminder took his pad off the post to fall into the shot with his chest except the Bolts forward sent the puck low– beating Nedeljkovic and putting Tampa ahead, 2-1, at 12:39.
Coleman (3) had the only assist on Goodrow’s goal.
The Hurricanes tried to even things up– even after pulling Nedeljkovic for an extra skater with less than two minutes remaining in the game, but they couldn’t muster anything else past Vasilevskiy as the final horn sounded on the night.
Tampa had won, 2-1, and taken a 1-0 series lead despite being outshot by Carolina, 38-30, in total shots on goal, as well as, 12-9, in shots in the third period alone.
The Lightning wrapped up Sunday’s action leading in blocked shots (18-16) and hits (37-31), while the Hurricanes led in giveaways (12-7) and faceoff win% (53-47).
Both teams managed to score a power-play goal as the Bolts went 1/3 and the Canes went 1/5 on the skater advantage in Game 1.
The Lightning grabbed a 1-0 series lead as a result of stealing Game 1 on the road as the two clubs head into Game 2 on Tuesday night in Raleigh.
Puck drop at PNC Arena is expected to be around 7:30 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to NBCSN for coverage, while those in Canada can choose from SN or TVAS.
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