TAMPA, Fla. — The first of back-to-back games between Central Division heavyweights began Monday night with the Lightning sending a message.
Tampa Bay had lost a two-goal, second-period lead when forward Alex Killorn laid out a hit on Carolina’s Martin Necas near center ice midway through the third period, electrifying the limited-capacity Amalie Arena crowd.
When the Hurricanes enforcer — in this case, Jake Gardiner, chased Killorn into the corner, he was game. And it was Killorn handing out discipline with a flurry of punches. After the scrum was over, Killorn skated toward the penalty box, looked into the crowd and — as if taking a page from a WWE superstar — emphatically waved his hands into the air to get the crowd going.
It’s still roughly a month before the playoffs begin, but Monday night’s game held the feel of the postseason.
If it wasn’t the Lightning’s best game, it certainly was one of their most exciting, with their 3-2 overtime win ending with Yanni Gourde’s putback goal. Playing on wide-open ice in the 3-on-3 overtime, Gourde found himself open in the slot, and after his initial wrister was stopped by goalie Petr Mrazek, he charged the net and put a loose puck in the back of the net.
The Lightning know Carolina well. Coach Jon Cooper likened the Hurricanes to a basketball team playing an entire game of full-court press: constantly in your face, uniquely aggressive and fast on their feet.
“One of the most, if not the most, aggressive systems that you’ll see, and it works for them,” Cooper said before Monday’s game.
There are no secrets on the scouting report this time of the year. And after six meetings with Carolina, these might be the most important two, at least as far as the regular season goes. With Carolina leading the Central Division and just 12 games remaining, these matchups with Carolina offer the Lightning valuable opportunities to position themselves atop the division.
The Lightning played with speed, but also showed their physicality. Both teams were eager to finish hits, possibly sending non-verbal, chest-puffing messages that they’re ready for each other in the postseason, where the first two rounds will be played within the division.
Killorn scored the first goal with 5:18 left in the opening period on a breakaway created on a nice pass from Tyler Johnson. Killorn broke loose on a bad line change and called for the puck. With open ice in front of him, Killorn looked like he was going to take a wrister, but deked Mrazek and beat him with a backhand top shelf.
After going without a goal for nine straight games, Killorn’s score was his second in his past three games.
The Lightning jumped up 2-0 when Brayden Point scored his team-high 19th goal of the season on the power play, deflecting Ondrej Palat’s shot from the right circle 2:08 into the second period.
A Carolina team that has the league’s top power play unit cut the Lightning lead to one on Alex Svechnikov’s goal three seconds into the Hurricanes’ second power play of the night. Defenseman Erik Cernak was called for an interference penalty.
The Lightning still dictated the pace throughout the second period — a period the have struggled in lately — outshooting Carolina 8-1 to close out the period after the Svechnikov goal.
The Lightning had two big scoring opportunities in that stretch but no goals to show for it. Pat Maroon had the puck in front of the crease, but his backhanded shot was turned away, and Point’s wrister off a faceoff scramble sailed just wide of the net.
Then just 68 seconds into the third period, the Hurricanes tied it when defenseman Brady Skjei skated into the slot and used a screen by teammate Sebastian Aho in front of the net to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.
