2023-24 Regular Season, Game 7: Hurricanes at Tampa Bay Lightning (Pregame)

The Hurricanes have returned to the correct time zone after a road trip that saw them go 2-3-0 against some solid Western Conference opponents. Injuries played a significant part in the last few games, and they only got worse for the game in Colorado on Saturday night, with Brett Pesce announced to miss the game. For the first half of the game, the Hurricanes were in a good spot. They scored the first goal of the night, courtesy of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and even after Colorado scored twice to regain the lead, the Canes struck back for two of their own from Brent Burns and Michael Bunting. Pyotr Kochetkov looked solid for 30 minutes in his first start of the season. All of the good times changed in the final eight minutes of the second period. The Avalanche scored four unanswered goals to finish the period, including two on the power play, to take a 6-3 lead into the third period. Jaccob Slavin scored in the third to pull within two goals, but the Canes couldn't get more, losing 6-4 to finish the trip. 

The Opponent: Tampa Bay Lightning (2-2-2, 6 Points- 5th in the Atlantic Division)

For the first time this season, the Hurricanes will travel to Florida to battle the Tampa Bay Lightning. After opening the season with a 5-3 win over Nashville, the Lightning have just one win in their last five games, going 1-2-2. Their loss to Toronto on Saturday was a tough pill to swallow. They scored goals on three of their first four shots, with two coming from Nikita Kucherov, but were denied on their final 29 by Joseph Woll as the Maple Leafs came back to win 4-3 in overtime. Jonas Johansson faced 52 shots in the loss, but the Lightning secured a point. The usual suspects continue to charge the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov has six goals and nine points to pace the team. Brayden Point has yet to score a goal but has seven assists. Brandon Hagel, Steven Stamkos, and Victor Hedman all have six points. They're still an excellent team. They're just missing their all-world goaltender as Andrei Vasilevskiy continues to recover from his surgery. 

Last Season's Meetings- The Hurricanes won two of the three meetings against the Lightning in 2022-23. The best of the three games came in Tampa in early November. A short-handed goal in the third period from Brady Skjei helped the Canes force overtime before Sebastian Aho scored the sealing goal in the sixth round of the shootout to win the game 4-3. The next game in Raleigh came in early March, and the Hurricanes dominated. Teuvo Teravainen recorded a hat trick. Jesperi Kotkaniemi finished with a career-high five points. The Hurricanes scored four times on the power play. Frederik Andersen stopped all 14 shots he faced as the Canes cruised to a 6-0 victory. The Lightning returned the favor at the end of March. Their stars all took over, as Brayden Point scored twice, Steven Stamkos had three points, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 31 shots to win the game 4-0. 

Stories of the Night

1. Playing Short-handed

This point is two-fold for the Hurricanes. First, there's the likelihood that they're without Sebastian Aho and Frederik Andersen for this game. Playing without your superstar against a team carried by superstars didn't end well in Colorado on Saturday. I'm unsure how much better it'll go for them against the Lightning. Second, there's playing short-handed on the ice against this Tampa Bay power play. In recent history, the Hurricanes have struggled against the Lightning's power play. It was the determining factor during the 2nd Round series in 2021, and it's operated at a high clip in recent seasons. This season, Tampa Bay is converting on 35% of their power play, the 4th-best in the league, while the Hurricanes are 29th on the kill. Staying out of the box has been tough for the Hurricanes this season, so if they take penalties, they need to be prepared to kill for their lives. 

2. Back on the East Coast

Returning to the EST zone will be a welcome change for all Hurricanes fans. My sleep schedule for the West Coast games was terrible. We'll finally get a 7 p.m. start time for the first game since Opening Night against Ottawa tonight. The team had an extra day after the Colorado game to get their bodies right, so I expect them to look good when the puck drops. These long trips make you grateful for the things you have, namely Hurricanes hockey being played at the correct time. 

3. Life Without Andrei Vasilevskiy

The Lightning were dealt a huge blow at the beginning of the season when Andrei Vasilevskiy needed back surgery and would be out for 8-10 weeks. This left Jonas Johansson carrying the bulk of the load in the net with little starting experience. Through five starts, life hasn't been easy for him. He's faced the most shots in the league (184) and made the most saves (166), but he's also allowed the most goals (18). He's allowed at least three goals in all five starts. Johansson's backup, Matt Tomkins, just made his first career start at 29 years old, allowing four goals in a loss to Ottawa. Johansson did pitch a shutout in the preseason against the Canes, but those stats don't matter. Given recent history, the Canes could easily fall victim to a goalie playing the best game of their career against them. He's never faced the Hurricanes, so it will be interesting to see which narrative comes to the surface if he starts on Tuesday night. 

4. NHL Frozen Frenzy Takes Over

This is less specific to this game, but all 32 teams will play on the same night for the first time tonight. All 16 games will have staggering start times, beginning with Toronto in Washington at 6 p.m. The Canes and Bolts are the fourth game in the order, beginning at 7 p.m. This is a new thing for the league, and I'm very intrigued to see how it plays out.