Hurricanes fall to Lightning again as Tampa Bay’s Vasilevskiy notches the shutout

After a loss to Tampa Bay on Monday, Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said 40 good minutes of hockey were not good enough to win.

The Canes had a lot less than 40 minutes Wednesday. The end result was the same — another loss to the Lightning, which took a 3-0 victory at Amalie Arena as Andrei Vasilevskiy earned his first shutout of the season and 22nd of his career.

The Canes (12-5-1) fell behind 2-0 in the first period and spent much of the game chasing the puck and trying to put together some semblance of sharp play. But as the shifts went by nothing seemed to click as goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was called on to try and keep the Canes in the game.

Russ Colton’s first NHL goal, on his first NHL shot, gave the Lightning (12-4-1) the lead at 6:43. When Blake Coleman scored on a first-period power play at 17:27, breezing down the slot for an easy shot, Tampa Bay had a two-goal cushion. Barclay Goodrow had a late empty-net goal.

With Vasilevskiy turning back the few Carolina forays around the net, making 25 saves, the Lightning in stayed in charge. Vasilevskiy, 11-3-1 this season, made a timely pad save on a Warren Foegele shot midway through the third and stopped a Foegele backhander a few minutes later as Foegele charged the net.

Here’s how things went for the Canes, who came off dead-legged much of the game and now have lost two straight games for the first time this season:

Sebastian Aho had a good scoring chance and shot the puck over the net. Brock McGinn had a good look off the rush and instead forced a pass to Aho. On one line change, Andrei Svechnikov ran into Jordan Staal, face to face.

On a Canes’ power play in the second period, the Lightning had the best offensive chance. After Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck mishandled the puck at the blue line, Tampa Bay’s Yanni Gourde skated in shorthanded and forced Nedeljkovic into a tough blocker save.

Brind’Amour shuffled the lines for the third period, putting Martin Necas and Jordan Martinook with Aho, Svechnikov and Jesper Fast on Trocheck’s line, Jordan Staal centering Nino Niederreiter and Brock McGin, and Steven Lorentz with Cedric Paquette and Warren Foegele.

The Canes believed they could not play any worse than they did in the first period Monday, when they lost 4-2. But the first period Wednesday was more of the same as the Canes were slow getting to pucks and made some defensive mistakes.

On the Colton goal, the Canes’ Martin Necas lost coverage as the Lightning entered the Carolina zone as defenseman Victor Hedman carried the puck through the zone and around the net and found Colton open in front.

Carolina will need to find some quick answers — they face the Lightning again Thursday to complete the string of four straight games against the 2020 Stanley Cup champions.

Tampa Bay leads 2-0 after two

Ross Colton scored on his first NHL shot, in his NHL debut, and Blake Coleman has a power-play goal as the Lightning grabbed a 2-0 lead after the first period and maintained it in the second.

Colton’s goal came after defenseman Victor Hedman carried the puck behind and around the net and got it to Colton in front of the crease. Hedman earned his 14th assist.

Coleman scored in transition with an easy shot from the slot to beat goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, taking a pass from Yanni Gourde.

Neither team appeared overly sharp in the first but the Lightning made the most of its scoring chances as the Canes passed up some good shots at times and forced other plays. Tampa Bay had a 12-9 shooting edge in the first.

The Canes made an offensive push late in the second period, but Vasilevskiy turned back shots and the Tampa Bay defense did its work effectively enough.

Game setup

Carolina Hurricanes goalie Alex Nedeljkovic picked up his first NHL shutout Saturday and did it against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2020 Stanley Cup champion.

Nedeljkovic has now faced the Lightning. The Lightning now have faced him. It evens out.

The Lightning rebounded from that 4-0 loss to beat the Canes, with goalie James Reimer in net, 4-2 on Monday. Now it’s two games in Tampa Bay, with Nedeljkovic in net again Wednesday and Andrei Vasilevskiy going for Tampa Bay.

Given the shutout, there were questions if Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour would stick with Nedeljkovic on Monday, then come back with Reimer on Wednesday. But Brind’Amour stuck with a goalie rotation and will have Reimer rested and ready for Thursday’s game with the Lightning.

The lineup

Brind’Amour made one lineup change from Monday, inserting defenseman Jake Gardiner back in the lineup and making Haydn Fleury a scratch.

The lines will have Sebastian Aho centering Brock McGinn and Andrei Svechnikov, Vincent Trocheck centering Nino Niederreiter and Martin Necas, Jordan Staal at center with Warren Foegele and Jesper Fast, and Steven Lorentz centering Cedric Paquette and Jordan Martinook.

The D pairs: Jaccob Slavin-Dougie Hamilton, Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce and Gardiner-Bean.