TAMPA — The Carolina Hurricanes spoiled a 52-save performance by Andrei Vasilevskiy with a 4-3 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Sebastian Aho scored in the sixth round, beating Vasilevskiy to the short side. The Lightning goalie came within two saves of tying his NHL career high set March 20, 2019, in a 5-4 win at the Washington Capitals.
“He was unbelievable, he’s unbelievable every game,” Tampa Bay forward Vladislav Namestnikov said. “That’s on us. We’ve got to defend better and not allow other teams to shoot that much.”
Video: CAR@TBL: Aho makes nifty move for shootout win
Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas and Brady Skjei scored, and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the Hurricanes (7-2-1), who have won three straight, two in a shootout and one in overtime.
“I just loved the way our guys played all game, just solid top to bottom,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You come in playing these guys and you know that they’ve got a great goalie and you might have to fire 50 or 60 on him.”
Nikita Kucherov scored for the fifth straight game and extended his point streak to nine games for the Lightning (6-4-1), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games.
Skjei tied it 3-3 with a short-handed goal at 13:34 of the third period.
“I was trying to break it up at the blue line,” Skjei said. “[Aho] found me and I saw a little opening right at the defender’s pads, and luckily it went in.”
Video: CAR@TBL: Skjei snipes puck home to tie it up in 3rd
Jarvis gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at 8:29 of the first period with a snap shot from inside the left circle.
“I thought 5-on-5 we controlled the game completely,” Hurricanes center Jordan Staal said. “Obviously they got some momentum on their power play…but we found a way to battle through it.”
Ross Colton tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 5:50 of the second period on a redirect shot from Mikhail Sergachev.
The goal came 2:32 after an apparent goal by Namestnikov was nullified when video review determined he kicked the puck into the net.
Nicholas Paul put the Lightning ahead 2-1 at 9:19 on a redirect from a shot Steven Stamkos.
Necas tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 14:01, a one-timer from inside the left circle. He has scored three goals in the past four games.
“We all know he has a lot of talent; we saw that from Day One,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s shown that every year, it’s just the consistency part. He’s done that so far, so obviously there’s no reason for him not to continue that.”
Video: CAR@TBL: Jarvis scores PPG in 1st period
Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead at 19:00 on a 5-on-3 power play.
“In the end, we had a one-goal lead with under 10 [minutes] to go and give up a shortie,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “You can’t do that, and now it’s happened two games in a row.”
The Lightning played their second straight game without a defenseman Victor Hedmanwho is out with an upper-body injury.
“We just gave up 50-some shots, so obviously we can do a lot better,” the defenseman Ian Cole said. “He’s an All-Star defenseman, elite defenseman, one of the best in the League. That being said, we can step up as a group and play better. Not just defensemen, forwards as well. Our goalie is certainly doing his job, I think we can do a better job in front of him.”
NOTES: Paul left the game early in the third period and did not return. Cooper did not have an update. … Necas’ five-game point streak (three goals, four assists) is an NHL career high. … Kucherov has five goals and 10 assists in the nine-game point streak. It is his sixth goal streak of five or more games, fourth among active players behind Alex Ovechkin (12), Stamkos (11), Sidney Crosby (nine) and Austin Matthews (eight). … Tampa Bay defenseman Cal Foote played his 100th NHL game. … Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, three assists). At 37 years, 239 days, he is the first defenseman in Hartford Whalers/Hurricanes history with a five-game point streak at age 37 or older. … Jacob Slavin played his 518th game to pass Niclas Wallin for fifth by a defenseman in Whalers/Hurricanes history. … Jarvis is the sixth player in Hurricanes history to score 20 goals behind age 20 or younger Jeff Skinner (64), Andrei Svechnikov (53), Aho (53), Elias Lindholm (29) and Eric Staal (20).
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