Thoughts From My Couch: Carolina Hurricanes v. Tampa Bay Lightning, Round 2, Game 2

The Canes return to the ice following a 2-1 loss to open the series against Tampa Bay. Both teams played well, especially the goalies, and we'll be treated to the exact same matchup tonight. No line changes on the Canes side as it was announced Nino Niederreiter is going to miss the entire series. Andrei Vasilevskiy dominated the game on Sunday and was the biggest reason why the Lightning took a 1-0 series lead. Tonight is going to be about putting the loss in the background and scoring more goals. They had plenty of chances, but they need to generate a lot more. Get bodies to the net and make Vasilevskiy work to make saves. The more people we get in front of him, the harder it is to do his job and the more likely the Canes are to even this series. 

1st Period: Lightning 0, Hurricanes 0

This period ends tied but the Canes look very sloppy with the puck the entire period. Their passes were not crisp at all and they turned it over a considerable amount. They've also missed the net way too much on their shots. That's not new for this game since they've been doing it also all season, but they've missed the net way too many times on Grade A chances. They drew the only penalty of the period because Martin Necas outmuscled Alex Killorn to draw a hold. The power play didn't look awful and will have about 30 seconds left, but it didn't look good to end the period. Tampa had a few good chances that Ned stopped. He looks like he's let the game-winner from Sunday go. Mikhail Sergachev stood out for me in the period for the Lightning. His stick prevented several chances from the Canes in tight on Vasilevskiy. Speaking of him, Andrei Vasilevskiy wasn't challenged a whole lot with anything that did hit him. After Game 1 had a ton of shots in the first period, this one was rather tame. Neither team looked like they wanted to make the first mistake, so they played very conservatively. The Canes need to tighten up in the second period. They need to protect the puck more and play much smoother than they did in the first period.

2nd Period: Lightning 1, Hurricanes 0

The game should be tied after the 2-on-1 during that last penalty kill that Necas forked wide with Vasilevskiy down, but that's hearsay. The Lightning scored on a seemingly harmless shot from Alex Killorn near the blue line that somehow beat Nedeljkovic. I guess he just didn't see it, but it just felt like a cheap goal that should've been stopped. The Canes took way too many shots that weren't challenging for Vasilevskiy at all. The Necas chance was the most dangerous of the period and it didn't hit the net. Ned did redeem himself after the goal by stopping Nikita Kucherov on a partial breakaway to keep it a one-goal game. We're in a similar boat like in Game 1, playing from behind yet again. We can't allow any more soft goals and we need to find a way to beat Vasilevskiy with a strong net-front presence. I'm not sure how I feel about the way the Canes are playing right now. I didn't think the first was all that great, but they certainly played better in the second period. They could still be crisper with their passes, but the most glaring problem is the lack of scoring.

3rd Period: Lightning 2, Hurricanes 1

The Anthony Cirelli goal was a back-breaker and it was completely avoidable if Brady Skjei had played it cleanly. The Canes have given up too many goals to this point in the playoffs on stretch passes that they have the chance to defend but get beaten anyways. The sign of bad things to come for me was the power play opportunity the Canes earned after Pat Maroon was called for a high-stick. The Canes looked awful on that power play, which was par for the course with the man advantage tonight. Thankfully, Andrei Svechnikov was able to beat Vasilevskiy with 90 seconds left to keep the Canes from being shut out. The defense put a blanket around the Lightning for most of the period, despite allowing a goal, but it just wasn't enough. They sustained pressure after cutting the deficit to one goal, but they just couldn't beat Vasilevskiy, which is hard when you're trying to win hockey games. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Jordan Staal- 1 A

This almost feels like it's by default because I didn't think the forward group played all that well tonight. Staal always feels like he's winning the battles down low and he helped to get the Canes on the board late with a great feed from below the goal line. He had a good night in the face-off circle (59%) and laid seven hits, most on the team. 

Second Star- Brett Pesce- 23:53 TOI, 3 SOG, 2 Hits

Of the defensemen, I felt Pesce was the most notable at many times. I also thought Jake Bean played a decent game as well, but Pesce to me felt dangerous on both sides of the puck. He put a good shot on net through traffic that hit Vasilevskiy in the head and might have gone in if Vasilevskiy hadn't been in the perfect position to stop it. He's going to break through and score one in Tampa Bay, I just have that feeling.

First Star- Andrei Svechnikov- 1 G

I thought Svechnikov was the best player on the ice for the Canes all night, and frankly, I thought that before he scored their lone goal. He put six shots on Vasilevskiy and put the only one past him, so he got his chances. I hope he can use this game as a springboard for the rest of the series. He's picked up two points, factoring in on both of the team's goals in the series, so he's quite literally been the most productive Hurricane thus far. 

Final Thoughts

This is not a good situation to be in, but it is not unprecedented territory for the team. In 2006, they lost the first two games at home to the Montreal Canadiens and rattled off four straight wins in their first-round series. They went down 2-0 to Washington in 2019 and came back to win, though they didn't have a home-ice advantage in that series. My point is this lead isn't insurmountable, it just looks really bad on paper, especially since both losses were by one goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy has been the MVP of this series so far. You almost have to get lucky to beat him. Both Tampa Bay goals tonight were avoidable, but that's easy to say while watching it on television at home after the fact. This isn't going to get any easier going to Tampa Bay for the next two games. One win forces the series back to Raleigh for a fifth game. The Canes are more than capable of winning both, but one will have to do for now. Their backs are against the wall. It's time to see how this team faces adversity against the defending champions.