Hurricanes Riddled By Penalties In Loss To Tampa Bay

In what was the season series finale against Tampa Bay, Carolina saw their two-game winning streak come to an end with an 8-2 loss.

Three power play goals in the second period propelled the Lightning to victory, as they were 4-for-5 on the man advantage for the night.

After 20 minutes, Tampa Bay had recorded just one shot on goal and Carolina appeared to be in a rhythm.

A Stefan Noesen score saw the Hurricanes hold a 1-0 lead, but the second frame led to the defeat.

After Andrei Svechnikov was whistled for tripping in the offensive zone, Steven Stamkos knotted the game at one.

Two goals would ensue in the next four minutes, as Tampa Bay took the lead and extended the advantage just 14 seconds apart.

Nikita Kucherov secured the lead after a Jesperi Kotkaniemi trip and Brayden Point scored the first of three goals following a major high-sticking penalty on Michael Bunting.

The three scores all occurred within six minutes.

With Tampa Bay a perfect 3-for-3 on the man advantage at the time and taking control of the contest, Carolina was unable to answer on their first power play of the night.

However, after securing another penalty, Michael Bunting took the pass from Andrei Svechnikov on a faceoff draw, and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to cut the lead to one.

Entering the third period, the Hurricanes seemed to possess the momentum until a barrage of goals saw the lead balloon from one goal to six.

Tampa Bay netted five goals in the final frame on six shot attempts, and scored eight goals on just 15 shot attempts for the game. Four different Lightning found the back of the net in the final frame, including Brandon Hagel, who amassed three points in the road win.

Brayden Point, who earned the hat trick, and Nikita Kucherov each finished with five points on the night, pacing the Tampa Bay attack.

In his season debut, Andrei Vasilevskiy did Andrei Vasilevskiy things, stopping 22 of Carolina’s 24 shot attempts en route to the win.

Allowing four power play goals was ultimately the detriment for Carolina, who recorded 25 shots on goal, but a .467 save percentage in net was not going to hold up and help even the strongest of offensive games.

Eight goals allowed is the most in NHL history when recording a save percentage of .500 or lower.

Just one of the Lightning’s five goals in the third period were on the man advantage, but the initial spurt of scores in the second allowed Tampa Bay to continue their style of play.

Michael Bunting guided the Hurricanes in the defeat, tallying two points for his third multi-point game of the season.

With the loss, they fall to 11-8-0 overall and 6-2 on home ice.

Carolina returns to action on Sunday, when they welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final game of the homestand.