In his 600th game coaching for the Carolina Hurricanes, head coach Rod Brind’Amour led the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-2 victory, earning his 367th win with the franchise.
The Canes (42-18-6) heavily out-skated the Tampa Bay Lightning (40-21-4) in the first period and built a two-goal lead that Tampa Bay couldn’t overcome. With their mothers in attendance, the Canes delivered a strong third-period performance to secure the win and advance two points.
With each team tallying two goals in the first 40 minutes, it came down to the third period. The Canes turned it up a level and outpaced the Lightning, matching the first period and notching two more goals. Almost halfway through the final 20 minutes, winger Jordan Martinook jumped on a loose puck and wristed it into the corner of the net, out of reach of goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, to tally the game-winner.
The game-tying goal and second goal for the Canes came from center Sebastian Aho near the end of the first period. After Aho was stopped on a breakaway, winger Andrei Svechnikov swooped in to collect the loose puck and sent it back to Aho, who repositioned himself to the left of Vasilevsky. Aho fired a one-timer into the back of the net, giving the line its second point of the night.
“[Svechnikov], he’s been flying,” said center Seth Jarvis. “Like you saw, right from the start, him and [Aho] have been playing really well, so I just try to get the puck to them and continue this thing.”
During the second period, the Canes had a decline in urgency that Tampa Bay picked up on. Scoring two goals less than two minutes apart, Tampa Bay was back in the game. Center Yanni Gourde capitalized on a breakaway opportunity that goaltender Frederik Andersen couldn’t get a glove on.
After cutting the deficit in half, the Lightning had a three-on-one opportunity that defenseman Alexander Nikishin couldn’t stop. Receiving a pass across the paint, defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous tipped it in to the back of the net to tie the game.
36 seconds after the opening whistle, Svechnikov got a breakaway opportunity, but failed to capitalize. Gaining back control of the loose puck, he sent it to the top of the zone to defenseman Sean Walker, who found Aho deep behind the goal. Aho fed the puck to Svechnikov as he was crashing in, who one-timed it past Vasilevskiy to put Carolina on the board.
“I love playing against [Vasilevskiy],” Svechnikov said. “It’s always a hard match. He’s probably the best goalie in the world, and it’s always fun to play against him. It’s hard to score against him, but we’re going to find some ways for sure.”
Pulling the goalie for an extra skater, Tampa Bay gave one last push to try to tie the game. A save for Andersen kept the Canes in the game and allowed center Logan Stankoven to secure the win with an empty net goal.
The Hurricanes will suit up against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, March 17, with a 7 p.m. puck drop.
