Hurricanes at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning emerged from a taxing road trip with at least a point in four of five games (3-1-1) and have two more contests before enjoying their off week, beginning with a visit from the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. The Lightning suffered their second straight defeat 6-3 in Ottawa on Saturday, but rebounded 24 hours later to win 5-2 at Detroit in a physical affair.
“I thought (the response) was outstanding,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters after the victory. “You challenge these guys and they continue to answer the bell. This was an easy one to mail in. It’s a five-game road trip, back to back, you go through customs. Pretty gutty effort by the guys.” The Lightning should have No. 1 goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (league-best 26 wins, .935 save percentage) back in net after he was rested Sunday, and have earned at least a point in seven straight encounters (6-0-1) with the Hurricanes, including a 5-1 decision in Carolina on Oct. 24 despite being outshot. The Hurricanes have cooled off after winning seven of eight by going 1-2-1 in their last four, capped by an embarrassing 7-1 loss at Boston on Saturday in which they surrendered five first-period goals. “Not the way we want to come into the midpoint of the season,” Carolina coach Bill Peters told reporters, “but the reality is we didn’t play very well.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FS Carolinas, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (19-14-8): Left wing Sebastian Aho, who shares the team lead in points (33) and goals (13), left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury but practiced Monday and is considered day-to-day. Left wing Teuvo Teravainen has posted four points in the last three games to tie the 20-year-old Fin for the top spot on the team and Jeff Skinner matches Aho in goals. Veteran right wing Justin Williams has cooled of late with one of his 25 points in the last seven contests and has not scored a goal in his past 10 outings.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (30-9-3): Tampa Bay had a big scare when Daniel Girardi was hit on the neck by a slapshot in Sunday’s game, but the veteran defenseman is considered day-to-day after all tests came back negative Monday. Nikita Kucherov tied Alex Ovechkin for the league lead with his 27th goal Sunday and tops the NHL with 59 points - 25 of them in the last 19 contests. Forward Yanni Gourde recorded a “Gordie Howe hat trick” Sunday - the second of the season for the Lightning (also Brayden Point) - with a pair of a goals, an assist and a fight.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina activated F Lee Stempniak (upper-body) from injured reserve Monday and sent F Lucas Wallmark to AHL Charlotte.
2. The Lightning have killed all 15 power plays in the last five games and the Hurricanes are 17-for-18 over the past eight contests.
3. Carolina G Cam Ward was 8-0-2 in his previous 10 decisions before being pulled Saturday after allowing two goals on two shots.