Sebastian Aho returns, but Lightning beat Hurricanes 3-0 in third-straight loss
Posted October 24, 2023 11:07 p.m. EDT
Updated October 25, 2023 6:48 a.m. EDT
Jonas Johansson made 32 saves, Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Alex Barré-Boulet and Nicholas Paul had the other Tampa Bay goals.
Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 20 shots for the Hurricanes, who have lost three in a row and wrapped up a six-game road trip at 2-4.
Johansson is filling in for Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had back surgery last month and is expected back in late November or early December. He made a nice save midway through the third on Martin Necas for his first shutout this season and second overall.
Point, who had 51 goals last season, broke a season-opening six-game goal drought with a deflection of Victor Hedman's shot during a power play with 54 seconds remaining in the first.
Barré-Boulet made it 2-0 on a redirection at 17:51 of the second. Point picked up his eighth assist on the goal. Paul scored with about three minutes to play in the third period.
The game had a chippy ending with a couple of scrums and a fight during the final three minutes following Paul's goal.
Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho returned after missing three games with an upper body injury.
QUOTABLE
Lightning coach Jon Cooper when asked if it surprises him that chemistry on defense sometimes doesn’t carry over from year-to-year:
“I’ll be honest. One player who will go unnamed is not with us any longer, he said he needs a complete system review coming into camp every year because he’s completely forgotten it by the time the summer is over," he said. "So that will tell you what the players need and I think he’s speaking for a lot of players.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Hurricanes: G Frederik Andersen, who took a shot off the mask a week ago and missed two games, was the backup. … RW Andrei Svechnikov (knee) took part in the morning skate but didn’t play. … D Brett Pesce (lower body) didn’t make the trip.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: Return home Thursday night to face Seattle.
Lightning: Host San Jose on Thursday night.
