Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup chances are quickly crumbling after another loss to Lightning
The Carolina Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup chances are quickly crumbling.
The Canes had the Tampa Bay Lightning at home for the first two games of their second-round playoff series, having won the home-ice advantage as Central Division winners. The Canes now have lost both games after a 2-1 defeat Tuesday to the Lightning in Game 2 at PNC Arena.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the second period on a deep shot by Alex Killorn, and Anthony Cirelli scored with a backhander in the third. The Lightning then turned to goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to protect it.
Vasilevskiy, named a 2021 Vezina Trophy finalist on Tuesday, did that although the Canes’ Andrei Svechnikov scored with 1:30 left in regulation after goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was pulled for an extra attacker. Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves.
The Canes continued to jam at the net in the final 90 seconds but could not tie it.
The series now shifts to Tampa for the next two games, with the Lightning in position to end it with two wins on home ice. Game 3 is Thursday at Amalie Arena.
A concern for the Canes will be the availability of center Vincent Trocheck, who appeared to injure his right knee after a collision with teammate Warren Foegele late in the second period. Trocheck tried to play in the third period but left after one shift.
In a near repeat of Game 1, the two teams spent a scoreless first period trying to find some good shots and trying to manage the puck, neither with a lot of success. Tampa Bay then took a 1-0 lead in the second period, just as it did in Game 1.
Killorn supplied the goal in this game, turning and firing a 60-foot shot through traffic that Nedeljkovic did not see until it was too late. Killorn’s fifth goal of the playoffs came unexpectedly, stunning the 16,000 Canes fans -- and the Canes.
Two of the Canes’ best scoring chances of the game came shorthanded in the second period.
Jordan Staal nearly had a breakaway but a good stick play by Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman knocked the puck away. Later in the period, Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas had a two-man rush but Necas was unable to convert on a backhander that would have had the arena rumbling.
Cirelli then made it a 2-0 game with his third goal of the playoffs, skating past defenseman Brady Skjei and then beating Nedeljkovic, making his eighth straight playoff start.
The Lightning had just 15 shots in the game but made them count. Killorn’s goal in the second period came on Tampa Bay’s eighth shot.
“If you had said to me that we were going to give up 15 and 20 shots to the Tampa Bay Lightning, I’d probably say, ‘Really? That’s pretty good,’” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after the game. “There’s a lot of positives here but unfortunately, we’re down 2-0. That’s the negative. We’ll take it one game at a time and see where it goes.”
Second period: Tampa Bay takes lead
Alex Killorn’s deep shot has found the net and the Lightning have taken a 1-0 lead.
Killorn, with Teuvo Teravainen hounding him, turned and fired a shot through traffic from 60 feet, the puck hitting the ice at the top of the crease and skipping past Alex Nedeljkovic at 7:09 of the second. Steven Stamkos had the only assist.
The Lightning had a power play early in the period and the Canes nearly had a shorthanded breakaway. But Victor Hedman knocked away Brock McGinn’s flip pass to Jordan Staal to thwart it.
The Canes’ best chance of the game came on a shorthanded rush later in the period as Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas rushed into the zone, but Necas could not convert on the backhander.
A concern for the Canes was center Vincent Trocheck limping off the ice late in the period after an open-ice collision with Warren Foegele. Trocheck was taken back for treatment, returned for the third period but then returned to the locker room after a shift.
After allowing the Killorn goal, Nedeljkovic made two key stops to keep it a 1-0 game, denying Nikita Kucherov off the rush in the second period and then Killorn from the slot in the third.
First period: Few shots, no goals
Good shots and scoring chances were hard to come by in a scoreless first period as players on both teams have closed down shooting lanes and puck management has been an issue at times.
The Canes, who had the only power play in the period, finished with eight shots on net, missed the net seven times and had one “high-danger” scoring chance (Naturalstattrick.com). Tampa Bay had 6 shots in the first and three high-danger chances.
Tampa’s Barclay Goodrow, who scored on a sharp-angle shot to win Game 1, tried it again Tuesday but goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was ready for it.
The Canes Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal teamed up for a good chance, Svechnikov centering a pass to Staal in front, but defenseman Mikhail Sergachev broke it up with a good stick play.
The Canes had a three-on-one rush into the zone late in the period but Martin Necas was offside. Brady Skjei did not hear the whistle and got off a shot on Andrei Vasilevskiy that the Lightning’s Steven Stamkos took issue with after the play.
Necas did force the first penalty of the game with a quick move into the zone that caused a holding call against Alex Killorn.
Game setup: short checklist
The Hurricanes have a pretty short checklist Tuesday for Game 2 against the Lightning.
-- Find a way to make Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy more uncomfortable.
-- Continue to limit the offensive chances of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos.
-- Clean up their own play coming through the neutral zone.
-- Finally, find a way to win the game regardless of what it takes.
Having been beaten 2-1 in Game 1, the Canes should be in desperation mode. It’s not an elimination game, but an 0-2 hole with the next two games in Tampa might make Tuesday’s game feel a lot like one.
“It always comes down to the puck battles, playing in their end more than you’re playing in your end,” Brind’Amour said Tuesday morning, adding another check-off item. “I think that’s where we’ve got to make it tougher, harder on all their guys. Take away more time and space, all the generic things you talk about. But that’s how you win hockey games.”
The Canes need to score more goals and find a way to beat Vasilevskiy, who on Tuesday was named a finalist for the 2021 Vezina Trophy. Canes forward Cedric Paquette, who played on the Lightning’s Stanley Cup championship team last season, was asked how to make the big goalie more uneasy in the crease.
“Good question,” Paquette said. “I think he doesn’t get frustrated a lot. Obviously, like with any goalie, it’s traffic in front, lots of shots, lots of backdoor plays. But obviously, he’s the best goalie for a reason and we need to make him uncomfortable.”
It also would help to have smoother play in the neutral zone to set up more offensive looks. Defenseman Brett Pesce said Tuesday that Brind’Amour had noted that the Canes had 11 turnovers in the neutral zone to Tampa Bay’s three in Game 1. Too many.
“I feel like every time we got the puck in their end we were rumbling around,” Pesce said. “I think that’s our best asset, with our forwards getting in on the forecheck and getting on their D.”
The lineup
Brind’Amour said Tuesday morning there would be no lineup changes from Game 1. Alex Nedeljkovic will be the starting goalie, Nino Niederreiter will miss another game with an upper-body injury and Paquette again will draw into the lineup.
Brind’Amour said Tuesday that he expects a bounce-back performance from Nedeljkovic, who allowed a soft goal to Tampa Bay’s Barclay Goodrow in the third period that was the difference in the 2-1 loss.
“We all have things that don’t go our way and little mistakes here and there,” Brind’Amour said. “What always defines who you are is how you respond to that stuff. “
The lines at the morning skate had Sebastian Aho centering Brock McGinn and Teuvo Teravainen; Vincent Trocheck centering Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas; Jordan Staal with Andrei Svechnikov and Warren Foegele, and Steven Lorentz centering Paquette and Jesper Fast.
In the power-play drill at the skate, Pesce and defensemen Jake Bean continued to work with the second unit with Staal, Fast and Svechnikov.
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup chances are quickly crumbling after another loss to Lightning."
