RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes were playing their third game in four days and the first of four straight games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2020 Stanley Cup champion.
The Canes were playing without forward Teuvo Teravainen, sidelined with an upper-body injury.
But there was no fatigue Saturday for the Canes as they fought past the Lightning, 4-0, at PNC Arena behind goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. Carolina moved into first place in the Central Division with 25 points. Nedeljkovic earned his first career shutout with 24 saves.
The Canes (12-3-1) need Teravainen, who took a big hit in Friday’s game against Chicago. But Carolina’s Vincent Trocheck continued to score. Sebastian Aho scored, with Andrei Svechnikov taking Teravainen’s spot on line and setting up his center for a goal.
Svechnikov would later score an empty-net goal, his first in eight games.
Then there was Cedric Paquette. Drafted by Tampa Bay in 2012, the center helped the Lightning win the Cup last year but was traded to Ottawa after the season. That didn’t work out well and the Senators dealt him to the Canes on Feb. 13 in the trade that sent Ryan Dzingel to Ottawa.
Taking a pass from defenseman Jake Bean, who continues to get playing time and impress, Paquette was unchecked and fired a shot from the slot to beat goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. It was his first goal with the Canes and made it a 3-0 lead.
It was up to Nedeljkovic to see if he could bring in the shutout. The injured Petr Mrazek did it the first time the two teams played on Jan. 28. The Lightning swarmed around the net in the third, but Nedeljkovic stopped everything.
The Lightning (10-4-1) and Canes go at it again Monday at PNC Arena, then go to Tampa Bay for two more games.
