@jayRecher
Mikhail Sergachev, Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow each scored and Curtis McElhinney made 31 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.
After losing the first of four straight games against Carolina, Tampa Bay bounced back in a big way winning the next three.
Gourde's goal was the game-winner, coming at the 6:22 mark of the 3rd period.
Following a save by McElhinney and a beautiful stretch pass from Victor Hedman, Gourde raced up the right wing and snapped one high over the blocker of Hurricanes goalie James Reimer to give Tampa Bay a lead they would not relinquish.
The first period was not pretty by any means for the Lightning. They were outshot 12-6 and trailed going into the first intermission when Brett Pesce scored on McElhinney to put Carolina up 1-0.
And even though the second didn't look much better, the Bolts were able to even things up on the scoreboard.
Fresh off a clean faceoff win from Brayden Point, Sergachev took the puck and raced toward the Hurricanes net. The Tampa Bay D-man flipped one past Reimer for his first goal of the season to even the score at one.
The Lightning didn't give up a goal in the middle stanza but they did lose something, or more specifically, someone.
Defenseman Erik Cernak didn't play the final 12:13 of the period and the team announced that he would not return to the game after sustaining a lower-body injury.
Goodrow added an empty-netter for the second straight game to send the roughly 100 fans in the arena home happy.
Reimer stopped 19 of the 21 shots he saw on the evening.
*****
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Carolina - Pesce - (Fast, Aho) - 14:23
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Point) - 12:39
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Gourde - (Hedman, McElhinney) - 6:22
- Tampa Bay - ENG - Goodrow - (Unassisted) - 18:14
*****
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Carolina - Hamilton - (Holding) - 8:44
- Carolina - Pesce - (Delay of Game) - 14:31
- Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Slashing) - 15:07
- Carolina - Staal - (High Sticking) -
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Maroon - (Slashing) - 2:36
- Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Holding) - 6:59
- Carolina - Necas - (Holding) - 9:16
- Tampa Bay - TEAM - (Too Many Men) - 16:46
- Carolina - Lorentz - (Interference) - 19:28
3rd Period
- Carolina - Martinook - (Roughing) - 7:48
- Tampa Bay - DOUBLE MINOR - Maroon - (Roughing) - 7:48
*****
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Saturday night as they host the Dallas Stars in the final game of their homestand. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm with the pregame show starting at 6:00pm on NewsRadio WFLA.