The Bolts lost to the Carolinas 0-6 on shots 14-38.
NHL. Regular season
“Carolina” — “Tampa Bay” — 6:0 (2:0, 2:0, 2:0)
Goals: Svechnikov — 22, 6:30 — 1:0. Teriaväinen — 8 (ill., Kotkaniemi, Gostisbeer), 17:13 — 2:0. Teriaväinen — 9 (Nechas, Kotkaniemi), 31:57 — 3:0. Gostisbeer — 12 (ill., Nechas, Kotkaniemi), 35:50 — 4:0. Teriaväinen — 10 (ill., Gostisbeer, Kotkaniemi), 51:03 — 5:0. Kotkaniemi — 12 (ill., Burns, Nechas), 56:34 — 6:0.
Goalkeepers: Andersen – Vasilevsky.
Penalty: 16 — 22.
Throws: 38 (12+11+15) — 14 (4+0+10).
Our: Svechnikov (17.37/6/+1) — Kucherov (17.38/4/0), Sergachev (23.40/0/0).
5th of March. Roles. PNC Arena.
The head-to-head confrontation “Tampa” and “Carolina” approached in different forms – the Lightnings won only three victories in the last ten matches, and the day before they lost to Buffalo with a score of 3:5. The Hurricanes lost only three out of ten meetings, and the day before yesterday they defeated the Arizona (6:1). It was especially interesting to see how Nikita Kucherov will prove himself. Despite the ongoing streak of 8 matches, during which the striker scored 10 (2 + 8) points, the head coach of Tampa, John Cooper, during the match once morest Buffalo, put the entire top three, including Kucherov, on the bench, the third period was the leaders teams held on the bench.
Carolina began the match more actively than their rivals – the hosts actively pressed Tampa, which made it as difficult as possible for the guests to move from defense to attack. In the fourth minute of the period, Kucherov earned a removal on himself, but Tampa might not convert it, and a few seconds following the end of the penalty, Carolina opened the scoring in the match – Andrey Svechnikov entered the zone and irresistibly threw it into the near nine. After an abandoned puck, the teams began to play more accurate and organized hockey and did not allow each other to create dangerous chances. Only Jeannot Tanner’s removal in the 16th minute revived the game – Carolina played a beautiful combination and increased the lead – following a cool cross pass from Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Teuvo Teräväinen scored. The first period went to Carolina not only in terms of the score, but also in terms of the quality of the game – the Hurricanes created more dangerous chances and threw the opponents three times – 12-4.
At the beginning of the second period, the game became more closed, the teams did not succeed in attack – in nine minutes, Carolina made two shots on target, Tampa – zero, and the first dangerous moment had to wait almost half the period. In the 30th minute, Brent Burns on the right flank dragged the puck into the Tampa zone and gave an accurate pass to Jordan Staal, who shot the goal at close range. Andrey Vasilevsky saved the guests from another missed puck, but a minute later the Russian goalkeeper scored with a minus sign – Vasilevsky came out of the gate and gave the puck to the Carolina players, who cut the entire defense and the goalkeeper in two passes – Teryaväinen scored a double. After the third puck, the Hurricanes felt courage and began to threaten the Lightning goal more and more often, creating dangerous moments at the Vasilevsky goal over and over once more. Cooper’s wards looked confused and tired, the team might not enter the Carolina zone and fought back the entire second half of the period. The only dangerous moment at the gates of the Hurricanes arose at the end of the game segment – Brandon Hagel, in the minority, went one on one with Fredrik Andersen, delivered a biting shot, but hit the post. After that, the Carolina players picked up the puck, placed themselves in the Tampa zone and scored for the fourth time – Shane Gostisbeer from the blue line threw it exactly to the nine. The teams went to the break with a score of 4:0, and the Lightning did not make a single shot on target for the entire second period.
At the beginning of the third period, the teams seemed to switch roles – Tampa unleashed a flurry of attacks on Andersen’s goal, and Carolina might not leave their zone and regularly dropped the puck. In the first three minutes of the final stretch, the Bolts made one and a half times more shots on target than in the first two periods combined. Kucherov had the most chances to score. The Russian striker landed several dangerous shots, but he failed to break through Andersen. Tampa’s attacking impulse was knocked down by his own player – Alex Killorn knocked down the Carolina striker in the middle zone and received a two-minute penalty for this, which the hosts converted – the hat-trick was scored by Teryaväinen, who quickly played on finishing. After the fifth puck, the Lightning stopped threatening the Carolina goal once more. Toward the end of the match, the Tampa players began to lose their nerves – Kucherov put Brett Pesci to the board, who at that moment was without a puck.
After this forceful reception, a major brawl ensued, as a result of which the guests were forced to spend two minutes in a 3×5 format. The Hurricanes converted this majority too – Burns threw from the blue line, and Kotkaniemi successfully set up a stick.
As a result – 6:0 in favor of “Carolina”! The main heroes of the match are two Finns, Teräväinen with a hat-trick and Kotkaniemi with 5 (1+4) points. And the “Tampa” suffers the fifth defeat in a row.
